January 19th, 2017

Today in Math we mailed our donations to the Centre of Hope, the Fort McMurray SPCA, and the Salvation Army. I want to quickly thank all of the families for their support in helping us to complete this project. It was wonderful getting to watch the students utilize the Math skills we have been learning first-hand, but none of it would have been possible without all of the families who helped organize our events and encouraged their students. Thanks everyone! We also started a new Math project today in our Whole Numbers unit. We are going to be creating a book together with examples of how we can use estimation to help us in the real-world. Students are going to be finding an image and explaining how you could use estimation to find how much, how far, etc. I'm really excited to work on this project tomorrow and then to send our completed books home so that everyone can see them. 

In Social Studies today we continued to work on the next part of our final regions project. Students are pretending to take an imaginary train journey through their region. They are writing postcards describe their trip, the places the visit, the landmarks, bodies of water they visit, etc. I am really excited to get to share these when they are completed as well. Students have been working hard and VERY cooperatively on this project. I was really impressed all day long with the level of work students are putting into them. 

In Language Arts today we explored two more versions of Cinderella. The first was the Grimm version, "Ashputtel." We noted a lot of similarities between this version and Charles Perrault's version that we read yesterday: the step-mother, step-sisters, magic, she loses a slipper, etc. but this version was missing some elements that many of us strongly associate with Cinderella, such as the pumpkin and the glass slipper. Other differences were the trials that Ashputtel undergoes (finding peas amongst the ashes), no fairy godmother - instead there is a magic tree and bird growing on her mother's grave that assist her, a golden slipper, etc. This version also demonstrates more clearly to students that fairy tales were not always considered children's stories; in this version the step-sister cuts off her own toe to try and squeeze into the golden slipper. Students are doing really well at mastering making comparisons as our current reading strategy. We also watched a fractured fairy tale version of Cinderella today. This version has modernized the text in an interesting way... it is entirely Taylor Swift lyrics. Be sure to visit the "Reading" page if you want to watch either of these versions again.

In Science today we reviewed the path of electricity. We also reviewed that electrons create friction as they move, heating up wires, etc. If we don't use the proper materials, the correct, voltage, etc. we can create too much heat and cause electrical fires. Today we demonstrated this by heating up some steel wool. Initially, the wool begins to glow, much like other resistors (eg. the filament in a lightbulb), however, steel wool is not a strong enough material to withstand too much heat. It eventually sparks and begins to burn. Tomorrow we will learn about other resistors and then begin practicing making circuits. We also had two groups present their safety posters to the Grade 2 class today. It was great to see students sharing their learning. The other two groups will be sharing with Grade 3 tomorrow. 

Agenda
Language Arts:
- Read 20 minutes
- Book Talk (January 31st)
- Family Literacy Night (Wednesday, January 25th, 5:30 pm)

Math:
- Practice 8x, 9x, 3x, 6x, 12x, 5x, 10x, 7x, or 11x tables

Health:
- PEAK Basketball (Friday - classroom)
 
Music:
- Recorders (Friday)

Ski Day - January 23rd 
Tech & Trades Academy - Mondays (3:00-4:00 pm)
Grade 5/6 Guitar Club - Thursdays (2:45-3:45 pm)
CG Recyclers - Day 1 (lunch recess) and Day 4 (lunch)