Thinking with the Kindergarten students across the hall on Tuesday

Today we decided to visit Mrs. Steckly's Kindergarten classroom to compare the growth of our bean plants to theirs.  It was very inspiring to learn together with these young minds.  Here are some photos: 

 Here are their bean plants

 Here are ours.  Can you guess which ones have been growing longer? Notice the different pots used.  How might this make a difference for plant growth? 

We made many inferences about difference in leaf size and the specific needs of plants when we looked at the roots of the Kinder bean plants.  Can you inference what we discovered?

Some student's used their background knowledge to inference how long the Kinder beans had been growing compared to ours. 

Here are some of our findings:

What is happening to the roots?  Why?  

The answer is photosynthesis.  What is the question? 

Why do plants have leaves?  What makes plants green? 

Mindful Monday -- Is it a drum or is it a fitness ball? You be the judge.

First day of drum fit today.  What a wonderful resource this is ... combining athletic skill and musical rhythm. 
Check out the link to find out more about the benefits.  https://www.drum.fit/
Here are a couple of photos and a short video to give you a taste:

Reading Strategies to Practice

Swimming Schedule For Room 105 -- June 11-19

We begin swimming starting June 11 to June 19
Here is the schedule and important information.

A Parent Letter and Acknowledgement of Risk Forms as well as a form to fill in student's current swimming level will be sent home on Monday, May 28, 2018.  Please return the signed forms by Friday. 

We are also looking for parent volunteers who may be available to help out during our swimming time.  We would appreciate any dads who can help out in the boys change room.  If you are available and have volunteer clearance please let me know.  Thanks in advance for your support.

Plants, Decimals, Percentages and Diaries on Thursday and Friday

Plant Growth and Change is our final science exploration.
Following are the learning objectives:

Students learn about the structure and growth of plants. They also learn to recognize and describe different forms of leaves, stems, roots and flowers and learn their functions in supporting the growth and reproduction of the plant. They learn various ways of starting new plants and the plants' requirements for growth. Through hands-on activities, students learn that different plants have different needs, and they gain skills and attitudes for their care.
Here is an essential question we are exploring:  Why are plants so important to humans?
What is your inference?

Here are some photos for you to discuss at home:

Finding Plants in the playground at school.  What kind of plant is this and how does it spread its seeds?  

A close up look at the same plant above.

Plants in the community (Nose Hill Park).  Do you recognize this plant from previous posts?  What is the connection to First Nations people?    http://plantwatch.naturealberta.ca/choose-your-plants/golden-bean/

Growing plants in the class.  We are watching the growth and changes of 4 different types of plants:  Lavender, Sage, Blanket Flower and beans.  

Sprouts emerge.  Can you inference which plant germinated first?

Germinate means:  when plant begins to grow and put out roots and shoots after a dormant period.

What are the basic needs of plants?

Students are recording the observed changes in a diary format based on the books Diary of A Fly, Spider and Worm.  In this case students are creating a diary in their visual sketch journals to incorporate humour along with subject specific vocabulary and transition signals.  This will be a great way for them to synthesize all the writing techniques that we have been focusing on through the year.

Have a look at some of their first diary entries.  They are writing from the perspective of the plant.  We are able to use the figurative device personification in this writing task.  Students will also be able to add in the six thinking hats perspectives to enhance their writing.

Here we  are reviewing the connections between percentages and decimals using the tiles:  Can you see connections as you view the pictures?

How are decimals and fractions and percentages connected?

A Few More Photos From Our Glenbow Ranch Trip

Here are a few more shots from our Field Trip last Wednesday.  You can see the connections to Calgary's history and the Grassland Ecosystem.

Wondering about History and Nature at Glenbow Ranch

 Oki,

What an amazing field trip we had today and how great for us to connect to the history of Alberta.  Did you know that 100 years ago Glenbow Ranch was a thriving village?  How about that there was a quarry there?
We made so many connections to Plant Growth and Change in science.  In fact, we recognized several of the native plant species that we had been researching earlier in the year.  For example, buffalo bean, wolf willow, prairie crocus, wild rose, and fireweed.  Did you know that the grasslands covers about 14%  of the land in  Alberta? http://advancededucation.alberta.ca/englishexpress/articles/pdf/ra11_09_l3.pdf

The day was a glorious one for a hike and thank you to our marvellous guide Matt for expanding our background knowledge about this provincial park.  It is really interesting for us to learn how history shaped the city we live in today, and how human development can alter the land.  For example, ranching, agriculture, oil and gas have all contributed to a changing landscape, this is why it is import to protect parks such as this.

Here are some photos from this amazing day:

On our way!

The bus ride.  

Smiles all around 

We have arrived!

Getting ready to begin our hike.  

Orienting ourselves using the map 

Let the walking begin.  

Our first plant sighting, it's the buffalo bean!

Insect hotel!

The old post office.  

Biodiversity search.  

Some hot and curious students!

Recording our answers to the scavenger hunt.  

Our wonderful volunteers 

Searching for pollinators -- but finding a grasshopper.  

Wolf Willow bushes

Entering the Aspen Grove 

Did you know that Aspen tree's have there own sunscreen?  And that it is made from chrolophyll

Field scientists in action, recording the data.

Light and shadows fall over the prairie crocus.  

Matt tells us about the specially adapted bison hoof that allows them to scrape snow in the winter to get at the fescue grass.  

Everyone enjoys feeling the bison hide.  

Did you know that bison were able to support the grassland ecosystem because they migrated to different parts and so they didn't deplete and eliminate the fescue grass from over grazing?

Heading back.  

We meet two beautiful conservation horses.  These two travel into the backcountry to support the protection of vulnerable species.