May 22nd, 2015.

You We kicked off the week with our new units in Science, "Wheels and Levers" and "Building Devices and Vehicles that Move".  We opened by reading the book, "Iggy Peck, Architect" by Andrea Beaty.  We looked at different building techniques as we worked collaboratively to complete the "Marshmallow Challenge".  You can learn more about the challenge at the following link: 
http://marshmallowchallenge.com/TED_Talk.html 

We then read another book by Andrea Beaty, "Rosie Revere, Engineer" and began exploring the different ways that small machines and objects in our lives move.

In connection with our new science units and our "Tea Tuesdays", the students were asked to come up with a solution for getting the excess water out of a tea bag.  The students worked in their visual journals, generating amazing solutions to this problem including intricate machines and devices.  It was wonderful to see the students work through the problem by brainstorming, sharing, developing and critiquing.  Here is some of the work that came out of this create writing activity:

In Math, we continued working on the concept of division.  This has been a tricky concept for many.  We also worked on solving problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  The students have been working on reading questions to determine what the question is asking and how to solve the problem. 

A highlight of the week was working on painting the wooden shapes that will go on the fence leading up to the school.  Each student is painting either a butterfly, bird or bunny.  It has been wonderful to be able to be a part of something that helps us to come together as a school community and adds beauty to our space.

Please remember that we have our trip to Confederation Park on Monday afternoon.  During our guided walk, we will learn about the history of the park, explore the habitats within the wetlands of the park, play nature games and record our discoveries in our journals.