Our short "week" back after the long weekend was certainly one for the books! Although we had a limited time together, we certainly made the most of it with fun, hands on activities!
In math, we began a new math unit on probability. We read a book that uses key probability vocabulary, we reviewed important terms, then, we played a game where students were given scenarios and had to stand near the probability term that they felt best represented the chances of the scenario occurring. This was a fun way to be introduced to this topic!
In language arts, we were lucky enough to have Ms. Burke from the Thursday-Friday K/1/2 cohort come in and share her story workshop with us! Story workshop is an activity that encourages students to play with materials and loose parts to create a story. Then students share their stories orally, and finally complete a story brainstorm map to document their creativity! This was an absolutely amazing activity and we will be doing it again!
After lunch, we read "We are Water Protectors", a story about how Indigenous Peoples can share their knowledge on the water cycle. Then, we wrapped up our whole-class inquiry project on the water cycle by completing some experiments to help answer our wonders. We did a class vote and decided on two wonders on which to focus: 1) What happens to the water cycle when the weather changes?; 2) Why do we even have a water cycle?
To explore the first wonder, we looked at what happens when there are different amounts of moisture in our air and condensation in our clouds. To do this, we created two different "weather environments" by having two jars or water, topped with shaving cream (these were our clouds). Then we added a tiny bit of condensation (blue food colouring) to one jar, and a lot of condensation to the other. Then we observed that an environment with a lot of moisture and condensation ends up with a lot of rain, while the other does not rain at all. Students loved watching the "rain" fall!
To explore the second wonder, I performed an experiment using one pot of water that was made "dirty" (like the water in our streams, oceans, etc) using salt and food colouring. This water was brought to a boil and another pot containing ice cubes was held overtop. This forced the evaporation from the boiling water to be turned into condensation and finally precipitation - we made it rain in the classroom! To prove that the water cycle cleans our water, we tasted the condensation on the bottom of the pot and, sure enough, it was not salty or coloured! From this experiment we learned that one of the reasons we have a water cycle is to our water systems!
These hands on experiments allowed students to explore the answers to their wonders about the water cycle, all while practice science skills such as making and recording observations, and questioning the natural world.
Finally, we ended our day off with a visit to the library. We picked new books, we were read a story by Mrs. Lewis, and we got to vote on our favourite book of the year!
This was, perhaps, one of my favourite days this year as we did so much ands-on learning and explored our curriculum through a fun, interactive lens!
See you next week!
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