This week the Super Kids were invited to join our neighbouring 1/2 classroom for a Skype call with a Neuroscientist! We learned how the brain sends and receives messages. I was so impressed with the questions that my amazing kids asked. One student made a connection to our lesson on sight last week and asked why people were blind. They wanted to know if it was because their eyes didn’t receive messages from their brain. Another asked how do we feel hot and cold. Wow!
We also re-read the book Press Here and used it in a different way. We focused on learning the words cause and effect. As Newton said “For every action there is an equal or opposite reaction”. We decided to put this to the test! I challenged the class to get into groups and create their own chain reactions. The class used marbles, balls, blocks, dominoes, and their imaginations to engineer their reactions.
The class loved it and didn’t want to stop. This week we will be learning about incline planes, how things move, and testing our theories. Your child is welcome to bring in anything that they would like to use, to create another chain reaction on Wednesday. Ideas the kids came up with were paper towel rolls, toilet paper rolls, toy cars, etc.
We have been busy practicing math games so we can start our guided math rotations this week. The Super Kids will be put into groups that will cycle through different math activities that focus on developing their number sense. Students will be working with me, in their guided math group, as one of the rotations. We tested it out on Friday and the class did great! The two groups that meet with me learning about number lines and how they can help us count up and back from a number. The grade one group focused on adding with a 1-10 number line and the grade two group used a 1-20 number line to share their knowledge of addition.
To celebrate the first day of fall, we invited our 5/6 buddies to join us for our apple investigation. Each Super Kid became an investigator. They had to predict if the apple would sink or float, how many blocks tall was their apple, how long of a string would fit around the apple, and how many bear counters would match their apples weight. Lately they estimated how many seeds were inside their apple before I cut it open for them. Then they shared it with their buddy!
What a week of learning!
Have a great weekend! 🙂
