The Tablets Are Here

Each day this week I was getting asked, "Do we get our tablets today?" Today was the day each of the kids in the class (thanks to our grade 4's being a part of a Telus/Samsung pilot project) were given a Samsung Galaxy 10 tablet to use at school. Today we spent time getting familiar with them and adding some of the apps we will be using. This week we are going to be using them for collaborative work using Google Docs and to film commercials for our Internet Safety study.

In Math we started exploring  fractions. This coming week we are going to dive deeper into fractions, comparing, ordering and finding fractions of a set.

In Language Arts this week students researched constellations after reading the story, "The Orphan Boy". This African folk tale follows a lonely elderly man who tends to his cattle and looks forward to  the stars coming out because to him they are all the family he has. However one day, a star goes missing and a young boy walks into the mans life to take care of him. That is until his curiosity about the boy gets the better of him.  After we read the folk tale, the class became very interested in the stars and some of the mythology behind them. Each of the kids then researched a constellation and created a fact sheet on it. Then using marshmallows and toothpicks they created models of the constellation they chose. These are displayed in our hallway if you have a chance to stop by and see.

Science - If you scroll down you will see some pictures from the simple machine centers we have been working through these past 2 days and will continue with at the start of next week. The first center had students building a gear system enclosed in a box with 90 degree angled gears. In the next center, we were building mechanical arms out of popsicle sticks. If any of the kids want to make these at home, I can always send you instructions. The last center had students sorting levers by class, labelling the fulcrum, effort and load and then building a paper animal that uses our learning to have moving parts controlled by just one lever.

Online Safety - On Thursday we began discussing how to stay safe when online and how to be responsible online citizens. A lot of discussion came from watching Keeping Kids Safe. Using the 10 rules outlined in the video, students are going to be creating their own commercial messages on how to stay safe when online.