Space:  The Final Frontier!
Wow!  We spent three months studying space.  We finished our last project with computer webs about the planets.  We enjoyed making our 3D mural and sharing our knowledge about the planets with each other.  We are now on an adventure across Canada.  Stay tuned for more from the creative thinkers in Division 7!

Creative Thinking Challenge:

What can you design with 25 straws and connectors?  Take a look at three of our future engineers at work!

Creative Thinking Challenge:  

What kind of hat can you make with a piece of paper and tape?

Lego Challenges                                          

We were given the challenge to create something from Lego with a pattern.  We were then asked to create something different using a different pattern.  Some of us created several things.  From this challenge, we went to the computer lab to use the program 30 Hands on the Ipads.  We organized our pictures, wrote and talked about them.  We were very excited to complete our first Ipad project.  Be sure to ask your child about his/her work and see if you can find time to come in and see it first hand.

More Creative Challenges

No, it's "not a Stick"!  It's a ...
We designed plans for the many things you can do with a stick.  We created and then redesigned as needed to complete our finished projects.  We hope you enjoy our creative processes.

Reporting Growth and Change

Thank you to all the families that have visited for conferencing.  The students have worked very hard this past term.  They have demonstrated creativity, perseverance and determination.  We have enjoyed creative challenges, writing creatively and working in computers to explore outer space.  The students have thought about their areas requiring more support and have been very honest about how you and I can best help them.  I look forward to hearing more from them about their extra practice at home.  Thank you for the time you invest in our partnership.  They are well on their way to being ready to take the next step and become Intermediate students in Grade Four.  They should be very proud of their efforts.  

Today's challenge involved boat building.  We looked at some popular designs for speed boats and talked about what would make a strong boat.  Then we used plasticiene to design our boats.  The challenge was to design a boat that would float and hold as many passengers as possible.  We returned to the drawing board on many occasions  to change our designs. Some of the things that we learned about boats are:  if a boat is too skinny it will sink, if a boat is strong on the side and the bottom that helps it to float, if a boat is too heavy it will sink, an oval shape is a good design for a boat and sides on a boat are helpful.  As you can see, we had many great conversations and a lot of fun designing our boats.  Stay tuned to more creative challenges.  

Creative Challenges

We have begun our Creative Challenges.  Students are presented with a problem and given a challenge.  For this challenge, we needed to create something with a small piece of plasticene.  Here are some of our many creative ideas.  Watch for our next blog where we create "not a stick" items from sticks found on the playground.  

Just a friendly reminder, that math games are coming home each week.  Students are encouraged to play the game with a family member and to complete the assigned activity sheet.  These games are designed to support our math curriculum as well as provide the necessary practice of completing home work, a pre-requisite for Grade Four.  Thank you to all of you whom have helped your child explore math.  Happy counting!

We had an exciting afternoon with High Tech.  We were given several different challenges to take as engineers.  We had to work together in teams to complete our structures.  Here is some of our work.

We have begun our challenges for our Structures unit.  In this challenge, we had to build several different houses with a defined shape.  The houses were required to support our text book.  Many interesting designs came about as we tried to reach our goal.  Some were successful, some were not.  We all had fun!  What a delicious way to learn!

The crooked Little Christmas Tree

Just before the holidays, we read the touching story of the Crooked Little Christmas Tree.  We created our own versions of the tree.  We talked about the true meaning of Christmas and the spirit of giving to those less fortunate than ourselves. We celebrated how very lucky we are to live in such a great country! 

We have finished our unit on Plants and the Temperate Rain Forest.  We learned so much about the life cycles of trees, pumpkins and slugs and snails.  Did you know that when you leave a pumpkin on a window sill, you get a lot of rot and bacteria?  We loved watching for the different signs of decay.

Now, we are studying space for the next term.  Watch for our class mural as it begins to unfold with our knowledge. We are looking forward to completing computer studies on the different planets that make up our galaxy.  It promises to be an exciting term.  We are also studying Structures.  We have High Tech visiting us next week to provide a hands on workshop designed to excite our engineering brains!  Watch here for more pictures in the next few days!