3rd Grade - Pumpkin Math

Working with authentic numbers, or numbers that have relevance to them, is a great springboard for math learning.

Over the past two weeks, the third grade classes have dug out and counted the seeds for twenty-three pumpkins.

The question investigated was whether a large, medium or small pumpkin had the most seeds.

Ask your student what we discovered. Hint: the point of the lesson was to learn that not every question has an easy answer and we don't always get what we expect in science.

In addition to the science portion of the lab, this lesson gave us the opportunity to manipulate large numbers. The most seeds found in one pumpkin this year was 901. That is a lot of counting!!!

The third grade will have on-going opportunities to work the numbers that add up to over 9,000 seeds including how to share large numbers equally. (Remember, we don't know how to do long division yet!)

Work with authentic numbers at home. Have your student decide on how to share the grapes evenly amongst family members or how to cut a cake into equal shares. This develops richer understanding of important mathematical concepts. .

1st - Gas Detectives

Gas is invisible but on Oct 23rd, the first grade used their sight, hearing, touch and smell to find clues that it exists. We watched a candle extinguish when we covered it with a jar.

Ask your student why they can smell good food when it is cooking?

We moved ping-pong balls without touching them. Ask your student for a demonstration.

Finally we closed our eyes and listened to various sounds including a drum, bell, harp & tuning fork. We discussed how gas is needed for the vibrations of the sound to be carried to our ears.

Ask your student where the three smallest bones in their body are? (their ear)

Have a fun & safe Hallowe'en.

5th - Digestion

In keeping with our theme of the human body, we moved on from respiration to digestion. There are no lack of giggles when discussing digestion with fifth graders . We discussed the

- role of the esophagus in moving food to the stomach

- two forms of digestion

- where the body absorbs nutrients.

Ask you student what the two types of digestion and how they happen.

We "digested" crackers to model physical and chemical digestion at work.

Ask your student to tell you about Mrs. A's friend who just had a remarkable surgery.

1st Grade - Liquids

We carried on our investigation of matter with a lesson filled with liquids.

We used our eyes, hands, noses and tongues to develop an understanding of the common properties and differences between liquids. The students came well-prepared by their classroom teachers and are showing a great understanding of how liquids fill their containers and behave.

Ask you student to show you how two water droplets become one.

We learned a new word that can be used to describe liquids: viscosity.

Ask your student if they remember what the word means and whether viscosity helped to predict the winner of "The Great Liquid Race"

Measurement is an important theme that will be developed throughout elementary school. Providing your child with opportunities to measure at home when cooking will help them acquire a good practical and academic foundation of volume.

5th Grade - Respiration

Today's lab focussed on the role of the diaphragm in respiration.

Ask your student to show you where the diaphragm is in their body and how it works.

We built models of our respiratory system with soda bottles, balloons, plastic wrap and tape. It's a project that is easily replicated at home.

You can find an example similar to the one we built at:

http://www.adprima.com/respdiagram.htm

The lesson also provides me with the opportunity to share the very personal story of my father-in-law, who we lost to lung cancer in October of 2008. The understanding of the respiratory that the students develop in 5th grade allows them to understand the conditions of emphysema and alveolitis that dad developed. He had a lung transplant but eventually succumbed to cancer two years later.

We discussed how important it is to no take up smoking despite peer pressure that one might have during middle and/or high school. We also remembered that smoking doesn't make someone a bad person but instead that smoking is a very difficult habit to give up and one that shouldn't be started by young people who are informed.