Weeks Twenty & Twenty One: STEM For A Better World
It is hard to believe that STEM for a Better World: Linden's Inquiry Fair is behind us. I was so proud of the girls on Wednesday; they spent a ton of time preparing their ideas, graphs, and conclusions for display, thinking deeply about libraries, and presenting their learning to students, faculty, and parents with confidence. Thank you to each of you who supported the girls throughout this impressive inquiry, encouraged her to think about the libraries in her community, and came to hear her share her learning with you. I hope that you all had a restful Family Day weekend and enjoy the photos from the week.
O experiments with capacity using water and different materials at the Discovery centre. First she fills up the squeeze bottle, and then she caps the top with another container to prevent any excess water from coming out.
A has found herself inside an expanding ball while playing at Drama this morning.
O and A collaborate on building a zoo. The animals have a couple of different options of ponds to swim in, as well as a slide for fun.
A is proud to share this beautiful design that she has made on a practice board. She explains that it's a different kind of rainbow.
A spends a few minutes finishing up her bar graph for the STEM fair.
This morning A has brought in a beautiful set of pencil crayons to school this morning and is excited about going to Art and Light to colour a bookmark.
During her play at the Drama centre, O has set up a pet shop. Here is the sign that she has made that tells customers which animals are being sold. It reads: "I have elephants. I have camels. I have a donkey I have dinosaur. I have owl. I have cheetah. I have monkey. I have bunny."
AB and AK show their exciting purchases from O's pet store: A monkey for AB and an owl for AK.
AB uses the Light Table to tell a story about animals that like both water and the snow. The animals can go swimming in the water, or go stand the soon-to-be-constructed campfire on land to warm up.
A uses the colourful materials at the Math centre. Carefully, she places a bear on top of each cube, ensuring that they are all facing the same direction.
AK wants to measure how tall she is on the stool, and she asks AB to give her a hand reading the number at the bottom of the measuring tape. AB tells AK that she is "60 tall" because that number is touching the floor.
A plays in the class-constructed library during morning Learning Centres time. She is writing notes to describe the scene that is a happening: "baby in library".
O reads her levelled reading books to Melody, who stopped by the classroom for a visit. O is excited to show Melody the progress that she has made in her independent reading this year.
O and A add details to our co-constructed class library. After observing that there were windows in all of the libraries that we have visited, they thought windows would be important to include in our library.
"We love STEM Fair!" The Early Learners are super excited to present their learning about libraries to students and faculty this afternoon, and then again to parents and other willing listeners tonight.
N stands in front of the jumbo graphs that the girls have put together to represent the data that they collected about all of Linden through their surveys. Behind each graph is a poster about each student's question, hypothesis and conclusions.
O gives me a smirk as she waits for willing listeners to arrive. She loves touring folks around the class library that all of the girls planned and created as a team.
A takes Z (grade 6), Kristy, and Molly into the class library for a tour. She shows them the phones, shelves, books, and other details.
O holds up the bag that she has decorated on Valentine's Day to store any cards or goodies that she receives from her peers (and teachers). She has used the stickers to make a smiley face on her bag.
While sketching out her heart map, N is thinking about all of the things that fill her heart. She has chosen to include her pet guinea pig, her family, herself, and a set of paints.
O and A are moving onto the next steps of making heart maps - tracing over the pencil drawings with Sharpie and painting in the images using watercolours. I can't wait to see what their heart maps look like when they are finished.
It is Skate Day and we are skating at Wallace-Emerson public skating rink. O is supported by A and M (both in grade 6) as she practices her skating strides.
We had a fantastic afternoon outdoors skating our hearts out, and then we warmed up with some hot chocolate and freshly baked cookies at the rink. Thanks to all of our parent volunteers for their support on and off the rink!