Testing Stable Structures -- TIMBER!

On Monday we put on our scientist hats and did an experiment to test whether taller structures were more stable than shorter ones. Based on what they knew about structures already most students hypothesized shorter structures would be more stable. Using three heights of cardboard tubes, we conducted an experiment where the students placed three cardboard tubes (short, medium and tall) in a shoebox lid. We then gently tipped one end of the lid up and observed what happened. As hypothesized by most students, the tallest tube fell over first, followed by the medium tube, then the shortest one. Some enterprising scientists even went further and tried rearranging the order of the tubes to see if that made a difference, and in most cases, it did not. The only time the shortest tube fell over first was when it was placed directly in front of the taller tubes, and they knocked over the short tube on their way down.

We learned that this is important for construction workers to know when they are building, but then that led to the question: "Why then are there so many tall buildings if they're not as stable?" Until next science class...

Poppy Art

In honour of Remembrance Day, we created poppies by using red crepe paper that was cut out into the shapes of petals. We then lay the paper petals onto white paper and wet the crepe paper. After we peeled the wet crepe off, the red ink had bled onto the white paper, leaving a watery effect. The designs turned out to be quite striking and the kids commented on how "cool" the art project was.

The Boy Who Loved Words

On Friday, we read the book "The Boy Who Loved Words" by Roni Schotter. It's a story about a boy named Selig who is passionate about words-their sounds (tintinnabulating!), their taste (tantalizing!), and the way they moved his heart. An avid word-hoarder, he delights in discovering new terms, recording them on paper scraps, and stowing them in pockets. Unable to comprehend their son's strange predilection, his practical-minded parents worry about his future, and his classmates cruelly add oddball to his collection. After dreaming about a Yiddish Genie who advises him to embrace his passion and seek his life's purpose, Selig embarks on a journey of self-discovery. Feeling weighted down by his vocabulary slips, he climbs a tree and carefully attaches them to the branches. Fantastically and fittingly, several of them blow into the hands of a poet who is struggling for the right adjectives to finish his verse. Selig realizes that his mission is to bestow his word wealth upon others. He tosses out luscious to accentuate a baker's wares, halts an argument with harmony, and invigorates an elderly man with spry. He grows up to find personal fulfillment and even true love. (http://www.amazon.ca/)

After reading the story together and inspired by the "ransom note" look to the words , I pulled some of the new vocabulary words out of the text and the kids spent time sifting through magazines to reproduce some of the words with different fonts and letters. The effect was quite striking. I also challenged some of the kids to go home, share the words with their parents, and inform the class of the definitions. Thanks to Matia, we learned that voracious means excessively greedy, and luscious means delicious to taste and smell.

Visiting Reader - Constable Linda Nethercott

Linda has been my best friend for the last 30 years and she is a police officer with the Ottawa Police Service (if you had known the two of us as kids and teenagers, police officer and teacher were probably not at the top of the list of our chosen professions!). On Monday, she and her recruit, Constable Katie Ste. Marie came to visit us. Constable Katie read us Fancy Nancy, then Linda took some time to talk about safety and what to do in an emergency. She was very impressed with how much the kids knew about safety precautions, and we got a good laugh at how many of them were quick to try and turn their parents in for their lead foot!

Afterwards, Constables Linda and Katie took us for a tour of their police cruiser. The kids got to sit in the back, "ride" shotgun and even sit in the driver's seat. They even put the siren on as they left, much to the delight of the neighbours, I'm sure! It was a great event and the kids really enjoyed meeting some of our uniformed helpers up close!

I'M BACK!

After a few weeks of family craziness and then a few weeks of not being able to remember the password to get in to the site, I'm finally back and will be updating the blog ASAP! Thanks for your interest and patience!

~Mrs. Paynter