Building Structures

Students have been very engaged in building structures recently. They are building castles, train tracks, tunnels, ramps, and subway overpasses!

Our 3D Neighbourhood

As part of our unit on 3D shapes, students used boxes to create a neighbourhood. First we brainstormed a list of special places in our community. Then students worked in small groups to design a building and select the materials they needed (e.g., scissors, glue, paint, construction paper, markers, etc.) We displayed their finished work on the counter, and added some little people and vehicles for role play. 

Using 2D Shapes to Build 3D Shapes and Objects

Cubes

 

                                  Pyramids (square based and triangle based)

Triangular Prism

Rectangular Prism

A Rocket Ship

Meet our Class Pets!

Our class has been taking care of two snails for the past few months. We learned that snail habitats are local to our community here at George Peck (we found many snails on our nature walk to the forest early in the fall). We have been feeding the snails greens such as lettuce and spinach and have noticed that one has grown very big recently. We observed that our snails also like to eat carrots. Today we fed them an apple slice and they loved it! Students take turns spraying the snails with water daily as it is important to keep their shells moist. We are learning to be responsible in caring for our class pets.

Hot Water Experiment

What will happen to hot water outside on an extremely cold day?

Here are some of our students' predictions:
"It will turn to cold water."
"It will turn to ice."
"It will melt the snow."
"It will turn to frozen."
"It's going to evaporate into smoke."
"It's gonna turn warm."

We conducted an experiment to find the answer to our question. First we boiled hot water in a kettle, and then poured it into a cup. We took the hot water outside, and threw it up into the cold air. The hot water instantly turned into ice crystals! Look carefully at the picture above to see the ice crystals.

Ice Inquiry

We conducted an experiment to investigate the effects that different elements have on ice. First we froze water to make ice cubes. Then we added water, salt, and sugar to the ice. Students predicted what would happen when each element was added, and we recorded their predictions. We observed the ice throughout the day and then checked our predictions. We learned that ice melts indoors because of the heat and that salt makes ice melt the fastest. We tried the experiment again the next day with different elements (e.g., oil, vinegar, and sand).

100 Days of School Celebration!

Students counted 100 fruit loops and strung them on yarn to make fruit loop necklaces. They tasted yummy!

We used 100 toothpicks and marshmallows to create 3D structures.

                         

Students worked cooperatively as a group to build structures using 100 cups. We had a fun day!