A revisit to the Venn Diagram - Friday

My Ragdoll Tuna decided to check out the investigations...

I am not sure just how impressed he was...

I will be requesting  that students revisit their Venn diagrams comparing a square to a cube tomorrow and over the weekend. We will have a sharing session tomorrow to deal with some of  misconceptions and inaccuracies evident in some of the investigations.  Students need to focus on:

faces, edges, vertices, surface areas, volume where applicable, angles, lines of symmetry, parallel lines and to use diagrams to explain/support their mathematical thinking. 

Think outside the square!

The first Pinballs Assignment

Here are some other editions of The Pinballs, our current class novel. Students have to complete one of the 8 possible activities from their contract tonight for homework. We read three more chapters today, discussed the use of their Writer's Notebook. Students were given nearly an hour to plan and start their chosen activity in class.
The possible activities were:

1.  Write a letter pretending you are one of the main characters, describing the foster home and the other foster children.

2.  Prepare a comic strip version of one of the chapters or one of the significant events in the novel.

3.  Write another chapter for the book.

4.  Design a new jacket for the book. Remember to include a blurb on the back. You could get some ideas by looking at the various versions that have been published.

5.  Harvey makes lit of things that have happened to him to try to come to terms with his life. Make some lists of your own.

6.  The children talk about having fifteen minutes of fame. Write about what you would like to happen if you had fifteen minutes of fame.

7. Write a poem with each line beginning "I remember when..." OR "I would like to forget..." You may like to alternate these lines.

8. Make a PhotoStory or PowerPoint presentation promoting the book. (Students were shown four examples of book promotions this morning in class.)

Students were also given a rubric clearly outlining what they are being assessed on. They need to complete three of the activities over the next week. There are also some questions to be addressed in section one of the contract after we finish reading the novel. We are at the halfway mark.

Today students also had their first music lesson after recess and a book buddies session in the afternoon where they conducted an interview each and got to know their buddies.

Unfortunately, we are still waiting for computer logons, and  it turns out there are some 18 000 students waiting statewide, so I am hoping we are not too far down the list. We also don't have a class log on as this classroom didn't exist last year.  It is a little frustrating so if students have access to a computer at home and can use it for PowerPoint presentations and publishing top copies of their drafts it would be great.

First Art lesson, 2D vs 3D, and...a Softies update

Another busy day with a long meeting at the end, but a productive one. First up it was Spelling Bingo and a partner test on the individual words and then we had two more chapters of the class novel, The Pinballs, before my darlings trotted only next door for their first art lesson with Mrs MacCrum. Students are designing their own personal banners which will be hung in the classroom when they are done.

After recess I took them through compass usage and students constructed their own Venn diagrams to compare the attributes of a plane shape and a 3D shape. This was completed in their large activity where will will do some problem solving and other lessons in the Measurement and Geometry strand of the National Mathematics Curriculum. Some students decided to take it home to add more to it. We will revisit their efforts on Friday and students will add missing detail in another colour.  I am endeavouring to make students aware of book presentation and to take pride in their work. We played three quick games of Guess the Number just to break up the double maths lesson. I was impressed to see so many students taking the initiative to consult the wide variety of Maths dictionaries in the room to clarify their thoughts and to investigate angles, area, volume and axes of symmetry..

In the afternoon I tested a handful of students working on level 4 of the demon words(tricky words) whilst the grade five students went off to do a music test. All students have had a test on level 1 (fifty words) and about a third on level 2 and a sisxth on level 3.  The words they are having trouble with are listed on their Individual Spelling Card and I would appreciate any testing parents can do on these at home and sign off on any words which have had five partner tests. The remainder of the grade 6 students did some quiet reading. Then I sat the grade 6 students down and talked about threading needles, using blanket stitch in order to make their needle holders. Each students has a large, resealable storage bag which at the moment houses the felt for the holder, four pins, a needle and a double-sided sheet demonstrating some basic stitchery they could use when sewing their softies. Two of my grade 6 boys really surprised me with their amazing sewing skills and both were very helpful when I was trying to teach so many students to thread needles, knot cotton and use blanket stitch. About half of the grade 5 students have made a start on this, we will catch up with the remaining group tomorrow. Homework was to finish the design of their softie in their Writer's Notebook and to make notes about materials etc. on the other side of the page. Students need to think carefully about the application of their practical skills to the design, too fussy or too many sharp small angles or thin sections can be a disaster when it come to the actual cutting out of the felt and the  sewing. I have also asked students to personalise their notebooks so they are special. We will be using this book a great deal for planning and producing quality written pieces. I have encouraged them to review the PhotoStory of softies made by students their age in the third last blog,  and keep it simple. I didn't take any photo as I was far too busy threading needles and sorting out some quite amazing knots. 

Also, after a hectic day,  I also now  know how to do a canteen duty at lunch and a supervision on the top car park after school,  which will be  my pleasure every Wednesday. Gotta love the fluro jacket! The ultimate fashion statement.

She'll be right - Tuesday 21st

Today we got off to a flying start. We read four more chapters of the class novel The Pinballs and students made their contribution to the being positive poster which will be displayed in the school hall later. They made a sign from shells and added one thing positive from the last week. A large number of students also learnt how to use a glue gun. The shells are from our very own beach at Blackmans Bay. My neighbour Sonia and I collected them last night and they were washed and bleached, hosed down and ready for use. O did a great job of organising the shells and also explained the task well  to classmates.

Students also started three lists of describing words about the main characters in the novel. This will be useful when they come to do the associated unit of work which goes with the novel. Students also had a punctuation exercise to do on an excerpt from the novel and they could work individually on it or in a mall group. We also watched the first part of the tele-movie based on the novel which helped reinforce some students' understanding of the plot, and the relationships the children in the foster home are beginning to form with each other.

After recess students completed a small skills test in mathematics and then did some reading.

In the afternoon, after three quick "riddle offs" where students learn about play-on-words (puns),  I introduced the Softies unit and shared what materials we have in the room. Any donations of cotton, ribbons etc would be greatly appreciated. Students have started their preliminary sketches of their monsters. Overall, it was a most productive day.

Be Positive - Monday 20th

Be Positive,this was the central message delivered to students today in a half hour assembly first up. I then went to Japanese up until recess with the students and learnt a few new words. Students  focused on writing their name in Japanese, months and dates and prepared there books with a page for 2012. Following recess the students had Physical Education and then Library. In the afternoon we started our spelling contract on a-e words, which are the ones we use in the Spelling Bingo game using the Smart Board each morning. The words for this week are:

haste               separate

taste                demonstrate

inflate              appreciate

imitate             calculate

slate                evaporate

isolate             participate

rate                  generate

educate           vibrate

eliminate         concentrate

fate                  operate

Students play two games each morning selecting from these words, a game of five and then a game of eight. To win the words must be correctly spelled, there must be a margin and date, and the words need to be signed off by another students after they have checked them for mistakes. The winner's write their name in the Spelling Bingo Book and there is a prize for the most wins at the end of each term. The words change each week. Every Monday night the focus will be either on a spelling unit of a component of grammar.We talked about time management skills and book work. Students also have a card with their own individualised spelling lists of words taken from their writing. and spelling tests. There is going to be a focus on handwriting...

Softies Unit

Over the next month as a sideline to the major Science unit on Micro-organisms students will be working on this unit. They have received a copy of the sheet below to keep them on track as to what they will be doing and the skills they will be learning. The above softies were made by some students of mine two years ago.

Softies Unit: art, ICT, literacy, numeracy (space)

In this unit on monster toys you be:

1. Designing and making a monster soft toy from felt and other materials

2. Designing an advertisement promoting your toy and publishing it

3. Designing and constructing a suitable box for your toy

4. Writing a children's story book featuring your toy and some of those of your

    classmates to share with your book buddy and your peer group

You will be learning how to:

thoroughly plan and persevere with a larger project

design and make pattern pieces

use straight and blanket stitch

use the supplied materials in an economical way

make a net for a box and construct the box

take a clear photo of your toy and import it into your advertisement

use you Writer's notebook to plan for your picture book

reflect on, and evaluate your finished products

Please Note

You will be making a needle and pin holder first up to keep your sewing gear organised and also to practise the two stitches you will need for the project. You will also receive a zip lock bag to keep your materials organised.

Donations of ribbons, cottons, pins or needles would be greatly appreciated.


Students watched this PhotoStory I made to motivate them and help them envisage the types of softies they could design for themselves:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bpU01oTKsA&feature=youtu.be

Maths Dictionaries

Luckily I love maths and have been an avid collector of maths dictionaries over the thirty years I have been teaching.  I have every edition of the Illustrated Maths Dictionary by Judith De  Klerk, and both of my own children found their copy of this useful right through until the end of their college years at Hobart College. The latest edition comes with a Cd. So I have installed all my dictionaries plus some recently-purchased ones into the classroom so we have a sound resource base that I wouldn't have otherwise had. I already know this particular  student cohort will look after them.  Enjoyment of mathematics for me began  only when I started having to teach it, and because I struggled with it so much as a youngster and only made it through due to dear old Dad's constant explanations, patience, kindness and assistance, that I feel I understand why so many students feel daunted by the topic and even tell me that they don;t like maths like today. I felt very sad and hope to turn things around for them.

Today, in class, my  students explored the terms ratio using three different dictionaries. These dictionaries are an invaluable resource withing the classroom and aid students in independence and increase their confidence with mathematics. Today the students also learnt to play the game Guess the Number which is a great warm up activity to any maths lesson. I have a tin  full of cards made from recycled Christmas and birthday cards and on the back there is a number, a maths term, a shape or a measurement quality which the students have to guess. The student running the game is only allowed to say yes or no. It is a fabulous game for developing literacy in mathematics, recording skills, and questioning strategies. Past students have always really loved this game and in self assessments have written that it is one part of maths they enjoy. The student running the game is allowed a calculator to help them with the more trickier questions, and I am always there for back up to give little clues.  I usually prepare three cards for each lesson concentrating on the major strands of the current national curriculum which are:  Number & Algebra, Measurement & Geometry and Statistic & Probability. If the card has a number on it students might ask questions such as:

Is it an odd number?
Is it a prime number?
Is it a cardinal number?
Does it have three digits or less?
Is it an ordinal number?
Is it a square number?
Do the digits added together make less then 10?
Is it less than 100?
Is it greater than 10?
Is five one of its factors?
How many factors does this number have?
In Roman numerals is it represented by an x
Is it a fraction?
Is it a mixed fraction?
etc.
As the terms  progress so does the sophistication of  the students' questioning strategies and their  knowledge and understanding of mathematical terminology.

Another book I recently purchased which is well-aligned with the national curriculum and I think all teachers should have a copy of,  is reviewed in my classroom book blog:

http://littlelibraryofrescuedbooks.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/blakes-maths-guide-by-bev-dunbar.html