Minor Details - January 20

January 20 - 24, 2020

My Appreciation

Some days I find I can fall into a rabbit hole by thinking about all the things that didn't work out the way I'd hoped, or the things I didn't get done, or the mistakes I made.

The reality is that there are always way more things that go well during the day. The way to remind myself of that is to take time to be grateful.

This morning as several students greeted me with a firm handshake, a smile and "Good morning Ms Minor", I reflected on how much I look forward to seeing them every day, I was reminded about how profoundly grateful I am for the opportunity to learn along with 26 wonderful people. I appreciate their resilience when they make mistakes and their forgiveness when I make mistakes, their sense of humour, their willingness to take risks on unknowns (ie. our business venture) and their wonderful ideas. I am so fortunate to work at a job I love.

Thank you.

January 24

Flexible Thinking with Fractions

Today we used pattern blocks to think about representing fractions in different ways. In the past, we considered the large yellow hexagon as "the whole". But what if the red trapezoid represented the whole? Or what if 3 hexagons represented the whole?

In the example to the right, if the rhombus represents half of a whole, what fraction would the other shapes represent?

What if the rhombus represented 2 wholes? How would that change the fractions each of the other shapes represent?

Gum Experiment

As part of our investigation to understand solutes and solvents, we were curious whether the mass of gum would change after being chewed.

The important first step was to use the scientific method that we used earlier in the year to design the Barbie Bungee drop experiment. We will be designing many more experiments this term.

January 22

Math Challenge

This week we are thinking deeply about fractions. What is the relationship between ratios and proportions and fractions? What are our misconceptions? Why is it important to think about a fraction as a number (and not two separate numbers)? Why should we say 3/4 as "three quarters" and not "3 over 4"? How do we make reasonable estimates of problems involving fractions?

We also spent some time solving the problem to the right. The wonderful thing was that students spent at least 10 minutes asking questions to clearly define the problem. And they stuck with it until they solved it! That's exactly the mindset that we need when solving challenging problems of ALL kinds.

We want YOU to take time to think about a solution to the problem.

Gator Gardens Website Design

We are using Google Sites to build websites for our business venture. We reviewed websites that we consider highly effective and discussed what we feel is important to share on our Gator Gardens website. The final website design is due on January 29. The image opposite shows Juliette's website design (so far).

January 21

We've Selected the Charity for Gator Gardens' Profits!

We have been doing research on charities in order to decide which charity we want to support with the profits from our business venture. We narrowed it down to Pelham Cares, Wellspring Niagara, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Welland Heritage Council and Plastic Oceans (Canada). We had thoughtful class discussions about each of them and after a vote, Plastic Oceans (Canada) won with a very wide margin. You can read more about Plastic Oceans (Canada) here.

What do we Know about Sugar?

We have been learning about macro- and micronutrients, the role they play in human health and how marketing companies can manipulate nutrition labels on foods to make their products appear healthier (ie. making the serving size of cereal much smaller than what the average person consumes as a serving).

We've also been investigating the role of fat and sugar in processed foods. Some of the questions we're asking are: What happened in the 1980's that changed how and what we eat? Which is worse: fat or sugar?

Geography Test Corrections - Homework

We are working on mastery in all subject areas. One of the strategies that we are using is to make corrections to all work that is assessed. We are using the Edwin.app application on our chromebooks as the resource to make corrections on our geography tests. This takes longer for some people (some people had fewer corrections to make than others). Everyone had time to make corrections in class. If class time wasn't enough to make sure all corrections are done, this would be an excellent task to complete for homework.

January 20

Be the Particle Assignment

Understanding the Particle Theory is important to mastering concepts in the Solutions and Heat strands (grade 7 science) and Fluids (grade 8 science). To reinforce our understanding of the Theory, we are working in groups to create a demonstration (see the assignment opposite and criteria below).

The one substance we can't use as an example is water. Ask us why!

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