We've started a unit on geometry--which is all about shapes and solids. Shapes are 2 dimensional things and solids are 3 dimensional objects. Our teacher read us a book called "The Greedy Triangle" by Marilyn Burns.
In the story, the triangle gets tired of all his jobs and wants to be different. So, he goes to the shape shifter and every time, he gets one more angle and one more side. He ends up having so many sides and angles that he rolls down a hill and so he decides he wants to go back to being a triangle. This book showed us all of the different polygons--quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, octagons, nonagons and decagons--and in a really fun way! Each polygon also talked about where it can be found in the real world.
Then it was time for us to try making some polygons. We worked with a buddy and a big piece of string to make the polygons our teacher asked for.
Above: These boys have made a triangle.
Above: These boys have made a quadrilateral.
Above: These girls have made a special kind of quadrilateral called a rectangle.
We really had to work together when it came time to make hexagons and octagons! It was really tricky when we were asked to make them with sides of equal length.
Next, we used geoboards to create polygons. Can you tell what the names of these are?
And finally, we had to create all of the different polygons on our geoboards and then draw them on dot paper. Each type of polygon was drawn with a different color on our sheet.
We were wondering...
What activities have you done to learn about polygons?
Where do you see the different polygons in the real world?
What is your favorite polygon and why?
In social studies, we have been learning about four different countries -- Peru, Ukraine, Tunisia and India. On Tuesday, we had a multicultural day full of activities, guest speakers and a feast.
Our day started off learning some Ukrainian dancing with Mrs. Tubb. Then, we learned more from Mrs. Fahrlander about Peru's nazca lines and did an art project using colored sand. Our last activity was with Mrs. Braybrook, learning more about India. We talked about the clothing in India. Did you know that "juhmuh" means loose fitting clothing and that is where our word "pajama" came from? Mrs. Braybrook showed us 2 saris. We couldn't believe how long they were!
Mrs. Braybrook also showed us a video about how to put on a sari. It sure doesn't look very easy!
We then got to make mandalas, which can also be called "healing circles". People from India sometimes make them out of sand in front of the door of their house to ward off evil spirits and show everyone that their house is clean and welcoming. In this picutre, you can see one of our classmates working on her mandala.
We also had some guest speakers. Starting from the left and going around the table, there is Kevin (from Nicaragua and part of the Canada World Youth Program); Mrs. Fahrlander (who isn't looking--she's not a guest speaker but one of our teachers); Esther (from Peru); Kate (from Nova Scotia and also part of the Canada World Youth Program); Avery (coordinator from the Central Alberta Refugee Effort).
Esther shared information and some videos from Peru. Avery did a presentation for all of us at the end of the day about how we can all make a difference. He shared the stories of different Canadians (Craig Kielburger, Ryan Hreljac, a girl from Sylvan Lake & some kids from Olds) and how they are making a difference. Kate and Kevin told us more about the Canada World Youth Program and how they are making a difference through it.
The highlight of the day though had to be the feast! Each class brought food from one of the countries. Our class had to bring food from India. Check out all of the amazing food!
And here we are digging in! It was so great to have some of our parents there to help!
We all took some time to think about the day and what we learned and liked about this experience. Here are our thoughts...
Brady -- I liked dessert and the food. The chicken was juicy. The Ukrainian dances were fun.
Colten -- On cultural day, I liked the tasty food for the Indian section. We ate downstairs. I liked the chicken. It was juicy.
Orion -- On cultural day, we ate Indian food. We also danced a Ukrainian dance. We also met a girl from Peru. We couldn't understand her that well though.
Quintin -- Nazca lines are giant pictures that people made on land in Peru. We got to make a nazca line with glue and then sprinkle sand on it.
Brooke -- My favourite part of the day was dancing. It was so fun. We got to be a tricycle. Then we got to see someone from Peru. It was so awesome!
Logan -- I liked eating because I got to try something new. My favourite food was samosas! They were spicy but good. My favourite dessert was fudge.
Anthony -- I liked all of the food because I like trying new food. It was fun doing all the fun dancing. It was cool that we got to meet someone from Peru.
Scott -- My favorite part of cultural day was learning about Peru because the guest speaker from Peru told us about some interesting things about Peru that I think are cool. I learned they have nazca lines.
Trystan -- I liked all of it because I got to try so many new foods. I got to try new dances. I got to learn new things.
Cooper -- I liked when we tried new food. My favourite food was naan. I learned to try new food -- you might like it, you might not. Naan is a bread Indians eat. Naan can be cut into any shape or size.
Zoe -- I liked eating other food at lunch time like cold fruit soup and coconut cake.
Summer -- My favorite part of the day was when we were dancing because I like to dance. I liked it because dancing is fun.
Kira -- My favorite part of the culture day is dancing because you get exercise. You get to know how to dance and try new things.
Jordin -- My favorite thing was dancing because it was fun and we learned something new. My favorite dance was the first one we did.
Dominik -- The Ukrainian dance is my favorite thing because it was very fun.
Angus -- My favorite thing was trying new food. My favorite food was perogies. We tried different foods. We tried new dances.
Hunter -- My favorite part of the day was the feast because it was delicious. I sat with my friends at the feast. When we were done, I was full.
Koby -- I like the great food. It was delicious. I liked the great activities there was. I made coconut cake. It was awesome. I liked when I colored.
We were wondering...
What do you know about these countries?
Have you ever been a part of a cultural celebration?
Our class learned about the geography and environment of Peru this week. We found out that Peru has 3 regions--the coastal plains, the Andes Mountains and the Amazon Rainforest. Mrs. Braybrook started reading the Magic Tree House book, "Afternoon on the Amazon" to us. The rainforest is a fascinating place, full of many different plants and animals.
One of the interesting animals from the rainforests of South and Central America is the quetzal. We learned more about this bird by reading the information from the quetzal page on the Enchanted Learning website. In one of the activities we did, we had to read a question, then highlight the answer in the text. This helped us to search for information in what we read. Here are some facts we learned about quetzals:
~They were sacred to the Mayans.
~They can be found on the money from Guatemala.
~ A male quetzal’s tail feathers can be up to 1 meter long!
~ They make their nests in rotting trees.
We then got to do an art project to create quetzals. After we looked at pictures and a short video of quetzals, we created a unique pattern to the coloring of the quetzal. In this picture, you can see some of our completed projects:
