March 2-5

Springing Ahead into March

Science Update

Our unit on testing materials and designs is continuing at a nice pace. Students are enthusiastic and excited to be engineers in charge of testing various concepts.

This past week we revisited the pillar experiment and I demonstrated the test to the whole class as in our previous attempt - the experiment did not go quite as planned. The demonstration clearly allowed students to come to the conclusion that four small pillars on the corners of a structure are stronger and more stable than one central pillar in the middle of the structure. 

Students are also quite eager to work on their structure slideshows in google Classroom - in which they are investigating different structures around the world.

Social Update

This week in social studies we started off the week discussing how communities work together and how as a community we make decisions. The topic of leaders was addressed which led us into quite the discussion on how decisions are made in Canada - and the importance of our freedom to vote for our leaders in elections. We will continue to investigate this topic and how decisions are made in each of the four countries we have been studying: Peru, India, Ukraine and Tunisia.

On Thursday, our class celebrated the culture of Tunisia. Students were excited to try Tunisian cuisine - which included dates, pomegranates, couscous, flat bread, a Tunisian vegetable stew, as well as mint tea. I am so impressed by the students willingness to try new things - as a child I was not quite as adventurous!

Here are some of the pictures I managed to take - unfortunately there are not too many as I was quite involved in helping the students with their straw weaving. 

 One of the activities that the students were introduced to is an ancient game called Mancala.

The students created some great art making mosaics out of beans. Mosaics are popular in Tunisian culture.

And of course, students love to colour! What better to colour than the important symbols and animals found in Tunisia.

Students also enjoyed the translation activity in which they used Google translate to explore the Arabic language, and listened to some Arabic music on youtube.com. 

I absolutely love sharing in these types of activities with the students - their eagerness to learn and excitement to 

see new things is so contagious and 

such a pleasure to see. 

I can't wait for our next culture day coming up in the beginning of April to celebrate the Ukraine!

Hope you all have a fabulous week!