Dear Division 3 families,
I hope you all had a fantastic Spring Break! I sent you a few emails updates since January, but I didn't have time to update the blog. As you will see below, students in Division 3 have been really busy with all sorts of fun projects and activities while practicing some important Core-Competencies like Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking and Communication.
I hope you all had a fantastic Spring Break! I sent you a few emails updates since January, but I didn't have time to update the blog. As you will see below, students in Division 3 have been really busy with all sorts of fun projects and activities while practicing some important Core-Competencies like Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking and Communication.
Physics and STEM: Newton's Laws and Gravity
In January, we learned about Newton's 3 laws of motion and about gravity. Students applied the concepts studied in two design challenges: the "Slowest Marble Run" challenge (in small groups) and the "Gravity Car Challenge" (individual). In these STEM challenges, students work on Core-Competencies such as:
- Communication (collaborating, listening to other's ideas, sharing our ideas),
- Creative Thinking (generating innovative ideas, building on other's ideas) and
- Critical Thinking (working through problems, assessing and reflecting on your ideas).
English Language Arts and Career Education
In English Language Arts, we studied the novel The Giver (by Lois Lowry) while connecting to Career concepts. Students had the choice to read their own copy of the novel or listen to the teacher read-aloud, and they answered comprehension questions for each chapter. As we read the novel, we had interesting discussions on the novel's themes (individuality vs sameness, pain, love, etc). As a connection to the story, students also did some exploration into their interests, personality traits and strengths to identify potential career paths that might suit them.
ECH Carnaval Week
Our Carnaval week was another occasion to practice our Creative Thinking competencies. Thanks to a generous donation of cardboard, our class had a lot of fun building a drawbridge, a castle, and multiple cardboard sculptures as well as beautiful props for the Parade. Our class won second place for the door decorating contest! We also had a lot of fun with the Festival du Film and Bingo!
Math
In math, we worked on operations with decimals, focusing on multi-digit multiplication and long division. We also worked on a math situation/problem where students were opening a movie theatre and calculating all sorts of related things using long division. For the last few weeks before Spring Break, we have been working on perimeter and area of squares, rectangles, parallelograms and triangles. After the break, Grade 6 students will review some of these concepts and Grade 7 students will learn the perimeter and area of circles.
Drama Challenge
The school's Drama Challenge was held in March. In this challenge, students work together in groups of 4-5 to create a 2 minute skit. The skits had to include a camping disaster, a farm animal and a poem! We had many great skits in the class and a lot of good acting! We chose two winning teams to participate to the school finals... and both teams were chosen to participate in the District finals! Congratulations to Keira, Rio, Teddy, Daniel, Malea, Emma, Beatrix, Juliet and Aoife who will move on to the District Drama Challenge!
Expo-Santé: Science, French Language Arts and Communication
In Science, students were to asked to demonstrate their learning about Human Body Systems & Health and share it with other intermediate students at our Expo-Santé (Health Fair). In previous months, the class had studied each body system using various French resources (print and educational videos). Together, we constructed a mind-map for each system, taking notes of the main organs, functions, possible illnesses/injuries, and ways to support health of the system (nutrition, exercise, sleep, healthy habits, etc).
In groups of 2-3, students prepared a booth on one human body system using their mind-map, the reading material provided in class, and researching online sources for more details as needed. Required elements for the booth included: a model of the system or an organ in this system, an educational (science and health) poster and a healthy recipe. We invited all intermediate classes to visit our Expo-Santé and learn about the human body and health. The great posters, detailed models and delicious smoothie samples were a big hit and everyone learned a lot! Great work Division 3!
In groups of 2-3, students prepared a booth on one human body system using their mind-map, the reading material provided in class, and researching online sources for more details as needed. Required elements for the booth included: a model of the system or an organ in this system, an educational (science and health) poster and a healthy recipe. We invited all intermediate classes to visit our Expo-Santé and learn about the human body and health. The great posters, detailed models and delicious smoothie samples were a big hit and everyone learned a lot! Great work Division 3!
I hope that you enjoyed this window into your child's learning over the past few months. Please see my other blog post for current messages.
Sincerely,
Nathalie
Sincerely,
Nathalie
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