Patterning Entry Card

Entry cards are opportunities for us to check to make sure that learning "sticks". We work independently to answer the questions and then discuss solutions right away. This gives everyone an opportunity to make corrections and reflect on next steps.

Today's entry card is shown in the image to the right. Solutions to all the questions on the entry card are included in today's lesson slides that are posted in our Google classroom.

There is a patterning quiz next Tuesday!!

Composite Pattern Rules

Being able to identify patterns and explain pattern relationships is a really important building block of mathematical thinking and problem-solving.

Today, we practised identifying, explaining and applying composite rules to represent relationships. A composite rule is a relationship that has a multiplier and a constant.

In the image to the right, we looked at a pattern made of coloured tiles. The data chart shows the relationship between the position of the tiles and the number of tiles. We also used the variable "n" to stand in for any position number. We concluded that the pattern rule for this relationship is: Position # x 3 + 3 = # tiles

To prove that we understand composite rules, we are all going to explain our thinking to someone at home tonight! All the slides from today's lesson are posted in our Google classroom.

Food Separator Challenge

One of the most important skills we need to master is how to collaborate effectively. We discussed what happens in groups that work well and what happens when groups don't work well. We developed strategies to show leadership when working in groups:

• when people get off task, we can ask them to help, make sure everyone has a role and gently remind them to stay on task

• we can make sure everyone is encouraged to share their ideas

• we need to listen attentively to each other

• when we disagree, we need to compromise and treat all group members with respect

This year, the Ministry of Education has updated the Math curriculum to include a strand called "social emotional learning" that will help students develop the skills they need to build resilience and thrive as learners.

In order to practise these skills, we are working on an exciting hands-on challenge to build a food separator! The learning goals of this challenge are to:

• ask questions to clearly define a problem

• collaborate effectively

• think critically and creatively

• maintain positive motivation and perseverance

The food separator design challenge is to use only 4 index cards and some masking tape to design a simple device that will separate a mixture of dried rice and chickpeas into 2 separate cups WITHOUT damaging the cups or handling the food mixture.

You can see some examples of our work in progress in the images on the right.

Once we've designed devices that work, we will be using the skills we learned during the Unplugged Coding task to write procedural instructions to make each device.

Our Class Flag Project

Our first whole class project this year is to design and create a flag that reflects our common shared experiences and represents our unique values and mission.

The first thing we did was to learn about the history of the Canadian flag. Then we had a class discussion about our shared experiences, values and mission (see images to the right).

We learned about the psychology of different colours so that we could match up colours with our values and mission. We chose the colours purple (creativity, loyalty), yellow (fun, optimism) and white (fresh start) as the main colours for our flag and green (growth), blue (responsibility) and pink (compassion, friendship) as additional colours.

We are working on sketches now (see images below) and once we agree as a class on what we want our flag to look like, we will make it!

Unplugged Coding - Part 1

Today we worked on a challenge to write simple, brilliant, easy-to-use instructions (ie. "code") to build a shape of made of cubes in an exact location on a grid. The twist to the challenge is that we couldn't use any words! We had to develop symbols to communicate the instructions. We discussed how frustrating the challenge was at first, but we were inspired by Kamron saying, "We can fix that!" All of our codes improved when we tested them out and made changes. When we looked at each other's codes, we recognized that there were so many different ways of writing code that worked.

You can see some examples of codes below and to the right.

Our next step is to share our codes with Mr. Fraipont's class for feedback so that we can improve.