Week 3 - We're getting used to this.

 Title: We're getting used to this

Author: Mr. Hodgkinson

Date: October 5, 2020 

Quote of the week: "Stop with the cap!" from Babooshka Boys Drama Group (It means: "Stop Lying")

Song of the Week: - In the Air Tonight - Phil Collins. We talked about having an open mind to try new music and watched this engaging Reaction Video. This would launch our Quote of the Week, Multi-Media Tech Sets and Animoto (those videos are coming soon).

The Best Thing About This Week (The Rose)

There was a lot to celebrate this week. Our classroom tech arrived - it's a lot less than we are used to but...we're adaptable. We've also supplemented it with some of our own devices. 

We began a Mystery Search for another class using the program Padlet. Next week, we will begin reading one of this year's selections for The Global Read Aloud, a novel called Prairie Lotus. 

We have connected with another class, somewhere in the world, and are trying to find out where they are located by asking YES or NO questions to them. Meanwhile, they ask us YES or NO questions to try to find us. We're getting close. We now know that they are located in Southwest Florida, somewhere between Sarasota and Tampa. They have found our city and are currently trying to find our school. 

We plan on trying a live Mystery Search for another class this week, using the video conferencing tool Google Meet.

The Worst Thing About This Week (The Thorn)

Sadly, we learned that we had to say goodbye to two students in our class. Fortunately, they are only moving across the playground to Portable Nine and Ms. Petrosyan's class. Still, we really enjoyed learning with these two terrific learners. 

Mathematic Mentions

We continued our work into decomposition strategies, including the connection to Make 10 and the Commutative Property of Addition, to reinforce smarter strategies for finding the sum of numbers and enhancing our mental math fluency. 

In Data Management, we connected our study of data and averages to a drama activity. Students collaborated in groups of four, looking at the seven sprint times for three runners. It was their job to determine which of the runners should go to the Valley Finals. After presenting their computations on chart paper, they presented a comedic or dramatic sketch in which a coach reveals the news to his three runners.

Student example of three strategies for finding the average sprint time for three runners,
Literacy Links

Students submitted their final drafts for a first person writing assignment called "The Eyes Have It". 
We will connect this to an Eyes art activity in pastels next week - see below. 

Science

How do honey bees collaborate? Through Swarm Thinking. We tried to apply the same logic in a Jellybean Guessing Challenge and didn't fare as well as the bees. They are unencumbered by ego and manage a perfect democratic system where the best choice for all is always endorsed. Learn more here.

The Arts

As mentioned, we connected Math to Drama and the students delivered some outrageous performances of a sketch involving a Track & Field coach delivering good and bad news to three runners.

We also began to work with pastels, learning four techniques for creating texture: tissue blending, finger blending, stippling & scribbling. 

Blending Pastels 
Next week, we create our pastel eyes, inspired by the work of Katiana Andrade.

What are we looking forward to? (The Bud)

We have so much going on ... when asked, students listed the following activities they were excited to begin and continue next week.

  • Pastel Eye Art
  • Foot Golfing with Mr. de Gryp's class
  • Creating Chromebook & Covid Rule Memes
  • Making videos using Animoto
  • Preparing and Presenting a Drama Tableaux
  • Making a "Spooky Songs" Playlist
  • Starting Prairie Lotus for the Global Read Aloud
  • Terry Fox Day (October 9)

Also, next week Mikul will be taking over this blog while Afsa prepares our Quote of the Week.

Quote of the Week

We're not sure if Frank Zappa said it, but we certainly took the advice this week.






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