October 16-20

Ask me About...

"We're All Wonders" Astronaut Challenge 

Pyper and Keenan discovered a different fulcrum...the table! 
Their astronaut flew SUPER high.  Why?

What did you and your partner discover?  Which of your fulcrum's worked the best?  What did you have to consider?  Some groups wanted to change the length of lever.  Why?  If we did this activity in the future, would you ask for different materials?  How did your partner work go?  Was it easy to communicate and figure out how to take turns?  Did you have any challenges?  


"Giraffes Can't Dance" and the "Power of Yet"
Gerald can't dance...but not for long!

What do you have trouble doing YET?  How can you become more confident?  Was your answer the same as someone else's?  Why or why not?  Were you able to draw Gerald very easily?  How did we make Gerald easier to draw (broke him down into shapes, and went step by step, looked at the model)?  What do you think might be coming next in this art/reading activity?

Patterning Math Assessment

Students in Grades One and Two are asked to make repeating patterns with one or two attributes.
This problem solving context gives them a partial rule to follow, allowing many possibilities, along with a particular
constraint.  We will use the strategy "Guess and Check", which many students used here in our next unit.

Was this activity challenging for you?  What piece of information from the problem did you have to "keep in mind"?  What kinds of attributes did you think about using?  How could using different pattern families help you think of more answers?  Is it possible to make a growing pattern and still keep the blue triangle third (this was offered to the Grade 2's, however many Grade 1's chose to try it out.  I was thinking of something like ABC, ABCC, ABCCC, ABCCCC, however saw many solutions such as ABC getting larger and larger in size or AAA increasing in size.  Guess there are many interpretations to the word "grow")!  

Students from Gr. 1-8 are offered "Success Criteria" so that they
know exactly what is required to achieve a level 3 or 4 in their work.

Look at Brooke's AABBC solution.  She is arguing that the blue triangle is still third.
Do you agree or disagree?  Why or why not? 

Thinking and Learning Time

Jackson and David discover that they can build some very cool
structures out of Kapla!

Einin's beach and ocean creation

Ella is cooking up something for the Pet's Club

What have you persevered at during Thinking and Learning Time?  Share something that you learned.  Do you always choose the same types of activities, or do you think it's good to do a variety?  

Stay tuned for next week!