Tuesday, December 5

 Hi parents,

Today was a lot like yesterday. I'm having to be more strict than I'd like to be because of all the calling out and general 'laziness' we've all observed lately (things like leaving messes in the hallway, backpacks left wide open, books shoved into baskets haphazardly, etc.) We had a few serious talks which I hope will set the class back on the right track.  All that being said, there were also some wonderful shining moments from the day that really stood out.

The best part of the day was the presentation about The Mustard Seed and homelessness in Calgary. Th students listened extremely attentively, asked thoughtful questions, and showed empathy on a level that was nothing short of heartwarming. It was awesome. They also did an excellent job with their follow-up journal task.

The struggle really began when we tried to do paragraph planning, using the classic 'paragraph burger' template. For some reason it was extremely difficult for the kids to group similar information together and turn the jot notes they were provided with into sentences. I'm confused because this is basically the same thing we already did when we were writing about tanks, and horses, and earth, so it should be pretty familiar by now... 

We ended our day by learning about another simple machine - rollers - and how they are different from wheels. We talked about whether wheels or rollers would be more useful when constructing a Mars Rover.

We also talked about different levels of 'questioning' - using fun nature vocabulary. Puddle questions are questions that you can easily answer, without any real depth. Lake questions have some depth, but with some research and brainstorming, you can probably reach an answer. Ocean questions are incredibly deep - the types of questions that philosophy professors with elbow-patch blazers argue about for centuries, and sometimes never manage to answer. The students came up with their own questions about space, for each of the three levels. This was another shining moment in our day.

Have a nice night,

Zac

PS: We are planning to do a Room 6 "Secret Santa Sock Exchange" soon! More details to come.