Mr. Wideman (Room 104) - Dec 9 - Dec 13

The students in Room 104 have been working hard to finish several of our assignments and projects before the end of the month. The final week before the holidays is almost here, and we have some fun and exciting activities planned for the upcoming days:

Monday - Favourite Sweater Day
Tuesday - Holiday Hat Day
Wednesday - Dress The Same Day
Thursday - Pajama Day - last day of school for students
Friday - PD Day - no school for students

Our work in Language Arts has been connected to our Invention Convention projects in Science, as each student group has completed writing their presentations to share their invention and the real world problem that their designs intend to help solve. Each group included students from both Grade 4 and Grade 5, and this gave us the opportunity to combine our knowledge and understanding of both electrical circuits and waste management to build a model of our invention using our collective designs. During the upcoming week, each group will present their work via Google Slides, as well as a live demonstration of their inventions, and the class will gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which each design helps to solve a critical question related to waste management within the City of Calgary.

     

Through working with Tinkercad, our students continue to explore the elements of planning for design purposes. By incorporating aspects of measurement, converting units, and properties of 2D and 3D shapes, our work with designing practical, but creative, supply containers has helped us to understand the importance of the role that these mathematical concepts play in the design process. Students in Room 104 are evaluating their designs as we investigate the results that our 3D printing has produced, and we're finding that even with accurate measurements, our final products don't always fully match the results that we intended. During the upcoming week, this will continue to lead us into further evaluations and redesigning of our plans for our projects.

Our student teacher, Miss Yanko, has completed her first classroom practicum with us, and she will be returning to Room 104 for March and April 2020. During her time with us, Miss Yanko led several of our lessons in Social Studies, Language Arts, and Phys Ed. We would like to thank her for all of the hard work and support that she demonstrated within our learning community. We're looking forward to having her return in a few month's time.

With all of the excitement that tends to come along with the final week of school, we'd like to remind students to continue to demonstrate the values of empathy that we've been discussing regularly in the classroom, as well as in our family groupings. While many of us have fun and exciting activities planned with family and friends, the holidays can be a difficult time for some of us too. By understanding the different feelings and perspectives that the holidays bring, we can all gain a better understanding of each other as well.

Take care, and enjoy the upcoming week!

-Mr. Wideman