Tuesday, May 7

 Hi parents,

We had a good day today. In the morning, we did an art project (top secret), and then moved on to math. In math, the Grade 3 students worked away at division and multiplication problems with missing numbers, while the Grade 4s did long division work with the golden beads. We're starting to move away from the beads and more towards the algorithm (see below).

The algorithm is of course way more efficient than using the golden beads, but if you don't understand why it works, it can kind of limit your understanding of division. The beads are always great for helping kids understand the 'behind-the-scenes' of math algorithms.

In science, we watched a Bill Nye video about pollution. It was cool to see how much technology has changed since the 90s - in the video, they were talking to scientists who were working to develop a biodegradable plastic, but it wasn't nearly ready for commercial markets. They also referenced electric cars as a hypothetical future innovation.

In the afternoon, we had our first Sound Kreations Dance class, which was super fun. A lot of kids came up to me after and said "I'm really glad I did that". Many of them were skeptical at first.

Tomorrow is Hats On For Mental Health Day!

Have a nice night,

Zac