This week our Letter & Number Magic centres allowed the students to continue working on their digraph sounds, addition & subtraction, and writing skills. They also expanded their animal track knowledge with a new set of cards that introduced them to tracks they had never seen before. They got to challenge themselves to make the matches and will choose some of their favourite to illustrate in their portfolios next week. We also read a book about animal tracks on Monday that challenged us to be nature detectives in the snow and not only identify tracks, but follow them to see where these creatures may have gone. The book shared about body prints that can be left behind by sleeping or sitting animals as well. We used this knowledge on our Tuesday trek along with our track finding tools.
In the spirit of snowflake season, we made borax snowflakes this week. Using pipe cleaners and a borax solution, we let our snowflake shapes sit over night. After making some predictions about what may happen, we observed the results today. The Sprouts were in awe of the final product: crystals grew on the pipe cleaner snowflakes! Prior to beginning this experiment we discussed the different movement of water molecules in hot and cold water, as we were using boiling water for our experiment which would then be cold by the morning. We discussed how when water freezes, the molecules have slowed down and stick/vibrate together. Conversation was had around states of matter and the different states of water that we were observing (noting that the solid state of water is ice). The students learned that when the molecules begin to slow down within the Borax solution, they will cling onto the pipe cleaner and begin to form layers of crystals. We also connected this to crystals formed within the earth, noting that they also form in layers.
Badge Work began this week. For those who are not familiar; we have a Badge Program at TSOM where students have the opportunities to engage in project-based learning around topics of their choice to earn badges in the variety of ‘magic’ areas of our curriculum. Some of these badges require researching a topic, creating a poster and presenting it in front of the class. Kennley & Preston completed their first posters this week in the areas of Crystal & Plant Magic. They presented today and did a wonderful job! 👏🏼
It will be Oakley’s turn for Mystery Bag on Monday.
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