Week Twenty-Two: Length, Width, and Mass

The Early Learners are back in the classroom after a relaxing long weekend. This week we are extending our math understandings as we return to learning more about all-things measurement. As well, the girls have been exploring broken electronics and tinkering with their insides to develop a better understanding of how they work. On Friday we headed on a short trip to Young People's Theatre to see the play We Are All Treaty People. The play was amazing and we learned so much about Treaty 7 in Alberta and British Columbia. I hope that you enjoy a glimpse at the week through the photos. 

O is showing N the restaurant that she is designing at the Building centre.

A takes a sip of the delicious drink that O served her at the restaurant. 

A practices printing lowercase letters, with a focus on "tall" letters. 

A is proud to show off the morning question that she planned out for today. She even drew the outline of the graph so that we could fill it in together. 

After reviewing the digraphs /sh/ and /ch/, the Early Learners play a picture sorting game to consolidate and show their understanding. This is a fun game to play at home; you can draw out a set of pictures that go with each sound, and then try to match them, "read them" or play a version of Go Fish with them.

O uses a screwdriver to remove screws from the inside of a broken computer. She is practicing using one hand to support the screwdriver so it is flat, and the other to turn the screwdriver to take the screw out.

A inspects a motherboard that she and AK removed from a different computer. 

N constructs a new type of condo tower this morning - one with windows that open and close so that the residents can see outside more clearly. N has placed different animals to live on different floors and explains that only the top windows open up.

A paints a picture at the easel this morning, using lots of bright colours. She was trying to decide if it was a picture of her, or a picture of me. Either way, the colours brighten up this winter day.

We are exploring measuring using non-standard units, so we chose one of our favourites: magnatiles! AK uses the clipboard to ensure that she starts measuring with the magnatiles at the place that N's body begins.

A measures O's body length using magnatiles and counts them up to determine her length: 15 magnatiles.

O and A spend time at Discovery experimenting to answer the prompt: "What is the mass?". Together they are finding different combinations of materials that are either equal mass, heavier and lighter, or lighter and heavier. O observes that the two large shells are quite heavy, compared to the corks which are light.

With a little bit of help, A is able to measure her length, or height, using counting chips. She even used a meter stick to organize the chips in a straight line for the most accuracy. 

N starts adding watercolours to her heart map.

A is excited because she has finished painting all of the components of her heart map and is getting started on the background colour.

A and O talk to each other about their heart maps as they add colours to the different components. Both girls have included their family members and chocolate chip cookies, but also have some different parts as well. 

A is thinking about some ideas to improve the Linden library: add in a living wall, add in a robot, add in a bean bag chair, add in a 3D printer... We are brainstorming some lists of ideas after getting input from the community at the STEM Fair, and then we will be proposing our ideas to Janice sometime in the next couple of weeks.

We have lots of excited faces this morning as we wait to head into Young People's Theatre to see We Are All Treaty People. 

A is constructing a farm house with some recycled materials at the Art centre. She uses the glue gun to connect some of the larger pieces of cardboard, but then chooses a glue stick as a better material to attach the bubble wrap. 

O is invested in measuring the width of the classroom using counting chips. She has tried her best to line them up in a straight line, and she explains that she is going all the way to the carpet.