It has been quite a roller coaster week. Not sure if sports was a go or not, find out that on both days it could not go, having a swim time for the team on Thursday, making Ice Cream and Butter and starting with eggs in vinegar, writing our first Literary Essay, finding area when one or more sides has a fractional piece to it, and a myriad of other things has made this week fly by. We even had our first visits to the middle school in preparation for next year.
Next week sees us completing the current math unit on volume and area. We have been working a lot recently on word problems and problems that require more than one step to solve them. An example was a wall to be painted that has two windows. What is the area to be painted? We also revisited the area model to look at ways of proving our calculations are correct. Quite enlightening for some of the students.
Our science unit on Transformations is also coming to a close with a look at chemical and physical changes. Several experiments, some of the 'yummy' type have been done and we are writing them up with a modified version of a lab report. Again, this will help students as they move forward in their science learning. I am pleased to see some fantastic questions coming out of our explorations of matter and change.
Writing a literary essay is no easy feat. It takes a lot of reading, note taking and then showing supporting evidence for a thesis statement. So far students are on track with this but I do not expect that it will take hold the first time. There are further opportunities until the end of the year to continue writing literary essays based on the books they are reading. This will replace our reading blogs for the remainder of the year.
Of high importance is CASTA (Celebrate And Share The Arts) starting next Thursday. As I write this I do not know when 5HD's performance time is, but as soon as I do, I will make sure that it is taken home in the daily planners. Students have also made a CASTA shirt and need to wear it on Thursday as part of the celebration. We will take in several of the performances for the day and also look at the other work around the school with a critical, but positive, eye.
I will be at the final MSIS (Math Studies in International Schools) course on Wed night, Thursday afternoon and all day Friday. The sub will have plans to keep the learning alive and moving forward. I am in the school for this course, just not in my class on Friday.
Next week is also Earth Week and the events are Beefless Monday, Trashless Tuesday, Water Bottle Wednesday, Save Paper Thursday and Lights off Friday. Some of these are sure to bless your dinner table as we talk about them throughout the week. I have indicated to students that everyone must be involved if we ever expect a significant change to happen to our planet.
I think this missive has gone on long enough. Have a great weekend and I am already looking forward to seeing everyone again next week.
