Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Reading Like a Scientist, Triangle Math, Dirty Water Experiments and Instructional Writing

Important Information about Mrs. Lagrana's Home Reading Program:

Starting this week Home Reading will only be switched on Thursdays. Student's will bring home the new books in their Home Reading bags as usual. The bag will include a page with instructions for strategies to practice for that week. On the back of the paper is the Parent Pipeline sheet for you to review. It is also on my blog for future reference. Please fill out the side of the sheet that has room for you to do so. Support your child's reading progress by working on these strategies all week with the two books that are in their home reading bag. Sometimes in the bag might also be additional reading material, connected to what we are doing in class. The Home Reading books can be returned by the following Thursday. This give a full week to work on the same strategies that we are working on during our Literacy time at school and to ensure your child is re-reading text to gain FLUENCY and build COMPREHENSION. 

Thank you for your continued support. 




Reading Like a Scientist!




Today in Literacy time we continued to "Read like a Scientist". We have been reading small reading excerpts about scientific topics such as Dispersion, Leeching, Absorption, Water Contaminants, Molecules, Particles, Pollutants, Water Run-Off, Fertilizer, Pesticides and the benefits of wetlands. 

We have been working on using highlighters to notice new and interesting vocabulary when we read. Sometimes we can figure out the meaning from what would make sense in the sentence. Sometimes we can ask a friend in our reading group (or an adult) to define a new word. Sometimes we need to use a dictionary or thesaurus to look it up. 

When we are reading like a Scientist it is normal to have more difficult vocabulary. 

The two reading strategies that we will be highlighting this week are:

Accuracy (A) from our Literacy Cafe: FLIP THE SOUND:




And 

Expand Vocabulary (E) from our Literacy Cafe: Tune In To Interesting Words





Triangle Math

Today we continued practising adding two numbers using Triangle Math. This is a continuation of first exploding the numbers into their friendly 10's, 5's and Extra's. Often it is called Decomposing. In grade 2 we like to call it triangle math!

First: Break the numbers into their friendly 5's, 10's and Extra's








We will be working on this addition strategy for the week. Ask me to show you one or two at home to practice!


SCIENCE

DIRTY WATER!

Yesterday we brainstormed many CONTAMINANTS that could be in water to make it dirty, or unsafe. 

We were challenged to make dirt water using a variety of materials

-dirt
-oil
-sand
-rocks/pebbles
-gras/moss/plants
-organic material (carrot peels)
-animal poop (kidney beans and clay)
-fertilizer and pesticides (fine sand)
-dispersed chemicals (tea)








Today we looked at the concept of DISPERSION in more detail to understand how some harmful chemicals can disperse and eventually  not be seen in the water (hiding in the water) and that some water while it might look clean and clear could have hidden contaminants. 



Dispersion: is a process by which concentrated particles are separated from each other in water or another substance.


Water is made up of tiny particles called molecules. When materials mix with water, their molecules mix together and the materials disperse (spread out) in water and become less strong (concentrated). We call this action dispersion.

We were then challenged with the task of tryign to CLEAN our dirty water.

We will be focusing on attempting to clean our water for the rest of the week. Ask me what happened to my water today when I used a strainer to try to make it clean again?

Instructional Writing: HOW TO WRITING!

Yesterday we were challenged to write instructions for: How to Make Dirty Water? We were given no guidelines only asked to write instructions for Marvy the Martian (who knows nothing about earth activities) in a way that he would be able to understand!

Today we talked about the importance of being specific, putting things in proper sequential order and adding descriptive words so that the reader understands each step of the instruction. Today we practiced: How to Brush Your Teeth Writing. Tomorrow we will make a second attempt at How To Writing.

We watched a video on Ordinal Numbers. When I write instructions I can follow the: First, Next, Then, After and Finally. I can also use ordinal numbers to label the order of steps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfGQBfm0T4M


Pumpkinella was so much fun! We were so excited to see and sketch our favorite pumpkins. We were amazed at everyone's creativity and imagination!












Monday, October 30, 2017

Book Orders and Pumpkinella!

Reminder: Book orders are due back by Friday November 10th. Please pay online or send in a cheque no cash please!





Reminder: Tomorrow for Halloween the student's will be visiting the pumpkinella gallery and sketching their favorites in their visual journals. Feel free to wear Orange and Black. NO COSTUMES PLEASE.





Friday, October 27, 2017

Pumpkinella, Wetlands Expert!

Reminder: PUMPKINELLA is on Tuesday October 31st. Please drop off your pumpkin on Monday October 30th between 4pm and 5pm.

If your stuck for ideas the sky is the limit!

Here are a few we googled today as a class! Basically if you have an idea, google it and it will probably come up with some ideas on HOW TO:





If you ave a favorite book character...maybe you could make that character:


What about a Superhero Pumpkin??





Wetlands Expert and Walk


Today we were so lucky to have a  Water Resource Engineer come to our school. Ask me what a Water Resource Engineer does?

We walked to the wetlands and talked about the importance of wetlands to:

Animals
Humans
Environment

Ask me why wetlands are important?

 Where does this drain go to? What water drains into this?

 Why does this water tunnel have a grate on the front? Where does the water come from and go to?
 What kind of plants grow around out wetlands. Why are these plants important to the wildlife that live here?