April 6 - 10

Welcome Back!!!

Welcome back to a nice short week to get us back in the swing of things. I hope everyone had a fabulous break! It`s hard to believe it but the school year is coming to an end quicker than we expect. There are less than 3 months left to go!!!

Science

This week in science we wrapped up our Testing Materials and Designs unit by looking reviewing adhesives, as well as the strengths of different shapes such as triangles, arches and squares. We also talked about how bricks are layered to make them more stable by completing a class demonstration to show how boxes stacked together in a layer are more stable than boxes stacked directly on top of each other without a interconnecting layer. As always, students love anytime we get to know things down!!!

We further discussed the strength of triangles by testing different designs of trusses built from popsicle sticks. Those trusses built using triangles were clearly stronger than ones without triangles. 

To end off our unit - I challenged the students. 
In groups, the students were given:

1 piece of paper

1 foot of tape

1 - large marshmallow

20 - mini marshmallows

20 - spaghetti sticks

The challenge was for each group to work together to build the tallest
 free-standing tower that they could using the above supplies. The one condition was that the large marshmallow had to be at the top of the tower.

Congrats to our winners at 41.5 cm tall:

A close 2nd 40 cm:

And here are the rest of the towers:


Good job using your triangles: 24 cm.

Also a good job trying to use triangles to strengthen their tower: 18.5 cm.

Good try: 10 cm

 Tough time getting it to work: 0 cm

It can be challenging to apply some of the things that the students have learned in this unit and then to be able to work in a group on the task. It was definitely a fun, yet great learning activity!


Social Studies 

This week in social studies we reviewed what makes a good leader by reviewing our Working Together brochures, and then students completed a Show What You Know. The sheets were sent home to be signed and returned so that I know that you are aware how your child is understanding the concepts. Overall, I was very impressed with how well students did - a number of the students received 100%!!!

 Have a fabulous week!!!