Minor Details - June 13

June 13 - 17, 2022

The Big Project Update

This week was a big week for The Big Project!

First, our greenhouse arrived in the mail! We haven't had time to unpack and build it, but we will in the next weeks. We hope to meet again with Mr. Rogers to finalize the measurements for the buddy bench so we can purchase everything we need for the bench and the outdoor gardens.

Finally, a package arrived in the mail from Mark Eldridge. You'll remember that Mark has volunteered his time to be our executive project manager, helping us along the way. Several months ago, he guided us through a weight factor analysis that determined our vision for the schoolyard.

He took time to write letters to each student to remind them that what they have achieved is remarkable and that they should rise above anyone who tells them that their dreams are impossible. He also reminded them that they will now need to carry the torch to inspire the next group of students who will move The Big Project to the next phase.

Fluid Pressure Test

Many students should be very proud of their achievement on the fluid pressure test.

Fluid pressure is a challenging concept that involves using math and physical science concepts to make sense of the real-life applications of applying a force over a surface area in fluids.

Several students reflected that this was their favourite unit in science. We discussed the correlation between "liking" something and their willingness to spend time to learn complex ideas. I hope they will leverage this experience and realize that making a choice to "like" something has a profound effect on their success.

Plant Experiment Update

It was exciting to meet with our grade 3 scientist partners to discuss the results of their experiments. In every case, they had the same results as their grade 7/8 partners! In this picture, William and Nevada are discussing the results of their experiments using compost.

We're looking forward to collaborating again next year.

Spatial Reasoning - Understanding Dilations

Dilations are the final transformation we are exploring. Students reflected that the key to working with all these transformations is to practice ... and take time to make sure they don't make mistakes plotting points.

Spatial Reasoning - Understanding Rotations

A key strategy for rotating a shape about a point outside the shape is to draw a "flagpole" to a point on the shape so that it is easier to see where the rotated shape will be.

Spatial Reasoning - Understanding Reflections

It seems that students found the most challenging part of reflecting a shape was understanding how to draw the reflection line. We talked about "line y = -2" being a line created by points that all have a y-coordinate equal to -2.

Here is an example of a reflection problem.

Spatial Reasoning - Understanding Translations

Whenever I think of translations, I think of the character "Vector" in Despicable Me saying, "I'm Vector because I commit crimes with direction and magnitude!" (for fun, here's the clip).

We are reviewing how to plot points on the Cartesian plane and how to "slide" a point using a translation.

Notes are posted in the Google classroom. Students who are feeling fragile can go to Khan Academy to view a short lesson on translations and follow up with some practice problems.

Applications of Atmospheric Pressure

Today we did several demonstrations that show real-life applications of atmospheric pressure.

First, we imploded a pop can.

Then we siphoned water. You can watch our video of a siphon here.

Finally, we demonstrated how atmospheric pressure on a single sheet of paper can act as a "clamp" to hold down a paint stick so that it can be karate-chopped in half.

In preparation for our fluid pressure test on Tuesday, students should take time to explain how all the applications of fluid pressure we discussed work, including diving "bends" to aircraft pressurization and high altitude pulmonary edema.

Solving Multi-Term Equations

Today we solved multi-term equations to determine the value of an unknown variable.

A week ago, this problem looked scary. It is exciting to reflect on how much we have learned for us to be able to solve this.

Students reflected on the importance of slowing down, taking one step at a time and remembering operations with integers.

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