January 20, 2017- Blackfoot Plant Hunt

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: practice multiplication facts


What did we do today?

• We had the opportunity to read while we waited for everyone to get in and be ready.
• Today we went out into the Whispering Woods as ethnobotanists!  With a folder with plant pictures and information, we were tasked with matching the plant with symptoms we were given on a separate card.  We then had to do a sketch in our journals and write three things it would help cure or do.  We also had to map where we found each plant on our Whispering Woods map.
• We learned that most of the plants, such as buckbrush and the wild rose, helped with a sore throat and can be made into teas. We can use buckbrush berries to create soap to wash clothes and you can use the powder off of a trembling aspen as a natural sunscreen. The pulp inside a trembling aspen can be used to cure snow blindness.  

Questions:
1. What other plants could be used to cure a sore throat?
2. Which plant can you use to make a canoe waterproof?
3. How many different indigenous groups live in Alberta?
4. Will we do this again next Friday?  Will it be done differently?
5. What is the most common plant or tree in the Whispering Woods?
6. Will we be making any of the remedies from these plants?

January 19, 2017- Math Marathon

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: practice multiplication facts
Dress to be outside tomorrow in the Whispering Woods

What did we do today?

• At the start of the day, we worked on our estimation skills by estimating on given word problems.  If we finished, we got to go on Mathletics.  We had math before and after gym, as well as for 20 minutes after recess.
• In gym, we played two games.  First we played a mini game of volleyball.  Then we played a game called bump ball, where we were only allowed to bump the ball after it was served over.
• In music, we kept practicing our ukelele songs.  Then we got into groups and we practiced a new way to strum the strings.
• During Daily 5, we had an extension of time, because we did not get much time yesterday.  We had time to finish our art, and to work on our weekly activities.  We have to have six done by next week.
• At the end of the day in social, we had to answer two questions about non-renewable and renewable resources.  We learned about different energy sources that do not use fossil fuels.  One Hudderite colony in Viking uses methane gas from pigs...talk about piggy power!

Questions:
1. What other energy sources do people use in Alberta?
2. Which natural cleaning product was used the most in class when we were creating our cleaners?

January 18, 2017- Rainbow Ukeleles

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: math mystery case due tomorrow, estimation sheet due tomorrow, practice multiplication facts

What did we do today?

• At the start of the day, we worked to finish our estimation sheets.  Grade 3's had to estimate addition and subtraction problems while the grade 4's had to finish multiplication and division equations.  After gym, we got to try out the estimation soccer game if we finished our work in class.
• For gym, we had to get a partner and we had to set and bump against the wall.  We also played a volleyball game and we had to choose whether we were going to bump it back over the net or to catch and set up a play.
• After recess we had science.  We went over to room 5 and Ms. Cowdy showed us some pictures she took from the Whispering Woods last Fresh Air Friday during our producer, consumer and decomposer scavenger hunt.  After we got to add a fact to our title pages about what we learned from Green Calgary yesterday.
• In health, we got back into our groups from the previous health class and we worked on our Superflex vs the Glassman assignment.
• Because we didn't finish our art projects on Monday, we continued working on our food chain collages.  The ones that got finished today are now up on our bulletin board.  We continued our art class into our Daily 5 time as well.  If we finished early, we worked on a Daily 5 choice.
• During music, we practiced our C, F and G chords.  We also learned and practiced a song called Alice the Camel Had Five Humps.  The school has bought some new ukeleles and they are very colourful!  

Questions:
1. Which environmentally friendly household cleaner will we make in class?
2. What animals did we miss from our food chain collages?

January 17, 2017- Nature Friendly Chemistry

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: math mystery case due Thursday, practice multiplication facts
We have a special visitor coming from Green Calgary tomorrow afternoon
Treat Day tomorrow- bring 25¢

What did we do today?

• At the start of the day, we worked on our division brain stretches.  Then we worked on an activity where we had to estimate to solve about how much a given operation should be.  After gym, we got to try out the estimation soccer game Ms. Jones showed us last week.
• For gym, we practiced settting and bumping by doing ten of each against the wall.  We also played a game called fish in the sea, where we had to serve over the net.  If your ball didn't go over, you would sit on the other side and try to catch a ball.  Lastly, we played a mini game of volleyball.
• After recess we had buddies.  We helped them get onto Photobooth and take pictures. Then we helped them save the pictures onto our buddies' Network Drive.
• In social studies, we finished a point of view activity on whether fossils should be protected or should they be collected and sold for money.
• A special visitor from Green Calgary came today and she talked to us about how some cleaning products we find at the grocery store can be dangerous to our health and the environment.  She gave us ingredients that we could mix together to clean a number of items.  These included a toothpaste splattered mirror, a dirty piece of hardwood, a piece of carpet with a coffee stain and a dirty cookie pan.  Some ingredients we used were: vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, baking soda, castile soap, hot water, cold water and borax.
• At the end of the day in Daily 5 we worked on our activities.  We also cleaned out our book boxes and had library.

Questions:
1. How many people will make a different cleaning spray at home?  Will their parents use them?
2. Did you know that Windex tested itself for being environmentally friendly?

January 16, 2017- The Art of the Food Chain

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: math mystery case due Thursday, practice multiplication facts
We have a special visitor coming from Green Calgary tomorrow afternoon
Treat Day tomorrow- bring 25¢

What did we do today?

• At the start of the day, we worked on achieving our Multiplication Ninja Belts.  We also went over last week's Math Mystery and were shown this week's.  It is about a camp cookout.
• For gym, we practiced setting against the wall.  After, we did a game, where we had the first person to catch it had to set it to a team member.  They would pass it to another teammate who would have to bump it over the net.
• After recess in science, we finished our biodegradability graph and Ms. Jones checked to see if we finished our home garbage audit.
• During health, we watched a Superflex video about Glassman, and how Superflex can defeat him/her.  We also partnered up and we talked about when we have had a Glassman moment.
• To start the afternoon in Daily 5/ language arts, we were introduced to our new work on writing center, which is on describing a setting and "painting a picture" the reader can see.
• At the end of the day in art we planned out a food chain of Canadian animals that included a producer and at least two consumers.  Once we showed Ms. Jones, we were allowed to collect construction paper to create our collage and we started to cut out our animals.

Questions:
1. What will our special guest talk about with us tomorrow?
2. What job title is our specialist?  Are they an environmental scientist or a chemist?

January 13, 2017- A Walk on the Wild Side.

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: science garbage audit due Monday, practice multiplication facts

What did we do today?

• At the start of the day, we did math.  We did an activity called Four Square.  We had to circle four numbers that were together on a grid that would add up to 200 and 500.
• After that, we went outside on a Waste in Nature scavenger hunt.  We had to find different types of producers, consumers and decomposers.  Some groups found garbage while others found natural waste.  Some of the things we saw and found were: rabbit tracks and poop, coyote footprints, mushrooms growing on trees, lichen on tree trunks, willow trees, a bird's nests, a Manitoba Maple and the Alberta Wild Rose.
• Lastly, we played the nutrient tag game again, but this time we added ominvores and the teachers were humans.  The humans would "chop down the trees" by taking away hoops with nutrients in them, so there wasn't as many to recycle.  They also made the space smaller to play in.  Because of this more animals died in the game.  We also learned how hard it is to live as an animal near humans. 

Questions:

1. Next Friday if we play this again, will the humans still be in the game, or are there more players to be introduced?
2. Which animal found it the hardest to survive?

January 12, 2017- Snowshoe madness!

Agenda:

Read 30 min

Homework: science garbage audit due Monday, practice multiplication facts

Be dressed to go outside tomorrow to learn, as it will be Fresh Air Friday

http://www.abcya.com/estimating.htm

What did we do today?

• This morning in language arts, we finished our Too Good to Waste journals, so that Ms. Jones could look at them.
• In gym, we got back into our teams from yesterday and played a game of volleyball, focusing on controlling our bump passes.
• In math, we worked on deciding whether situations needed an estimate or an exact answer.  We were also introduced to a estimation soccer game, that we can practice at home.
• Today we tried out the new school snowshoes!  When we were running with them, the snow would fly up.  We walked around the field and naturegrounds and we looked at the grade 1/2 ice village.
• In music we kept on practicing with the ukelele, and we played a new song called Drip Drop, drip drop, splash!  We also had time to practice Row Row Row Your Boat.
• At the end of the day in science, we had to use a chart of biodegradability to estimate how long it would take a leftover hamburger, a t-shirt and a toy figurine.

Questions:

1. We ran out of time...