Dance Routines

In P.E. we just finished our dance unit.  For their final assignment, students worked in groups to choreograph original routines using steps learned in class and their own creativity.  It was great to see wonderful teamwork and terrific performances. 

Please note: Unfortunately, one video does not have sound due to technical difficulties.

Mealworm Experiment

In Science, we have just begun our study of habitats. One of the first concepts we learned was that habitats have five key features:

-amount of light

-amount of water

-temperature

-food

-shelter

To put this idea into practice, on Thursday we conducted an experiment to find out whether mealworms prefer a light or a dark habitat, and a wet or a dry habitat.  Mealworms like oatmeal, so for both parts of the experiments we put ten mealworms in a pan full of oatmeal.  

For the first part of the experiment, we covered half the pan with a board to create a dark habitat, and shone a light on the other half.  We put the mealworms in the middle of the pan and waited for three minutes.  Then we counted how many mealworms were on each side.  We did two trials and these were our results.

             Trial 1          Trial 2

Light         4                  1

Dark          6                  9               

For the second part of the experiment, we followed the same procedure, but this time we made half the pan wet and the other half dry.

              Trial 1           Trial 2

Wet          3                      0

Dry          7                     10

From our results, we were able to conclude that mealworms prefer a dark, dry habitat.

We conducted the experiment as a group, so after we finished, students got an opportunity to do some closer individual observation of the mealworms at their desks.  Some students even gave their mealworms names!

 

Mealworms eventually turn into beetles.  We will keep a few in the classroom, so we can watch this metamorphasis.  If you are in Division 9 and would like to take a mealworm home, remember to check with your parents, then bring a container to school on Tuesday.

Smoothie Competition

 

As the culmination to our nutrition unit in Health and Career Education, we had a smoothie making contest.  The goal was to find recipes that provided servings of fruits/veggies and dairy, didn't have added sugar and tasted delicious!

Students worked in pairs to find recipes they felt best met the criteria.  They then created posters to advertise their smoothies.  Next, everyone got to vote on their favourites.  Finally, as a class, we taste tested the top four vote-getters to crown the ultimate smoothie champion of Division 9!

Unfortunately, Ms. Birdsall was so busy blending up delicious smoothie goodness, she forgot to take any pictures of our taste testing!  It was lots of fun though, and all of our finalists were really tasty.  In the end, Jonas and Erika's Sweet Summer Smoothie, featuring strawberries, peaches and bananas was declared the winner.

If you would like to try out any of the smoothies for yourself, click on the link here (smoothie recipes) to find all of the recipes. Enjoy!

Learning about Serving Sizes

Currently in Health and Career Education, we are talking about making healthy food choices based on the Canada Food Guide.  For most students, learning the food groups is pretty straightforward, so is remembering the recommended number of servings for each group.

For 9-13 year olds the number of servings are:

Fruits and Vegetables - 6 servings

Grain Products - 6 servings

Milk and Alternatives - 3 servings

Meat and Alternatives - 1-2 servings

Where things start to get tricky, for kids and adults alike, is trying to figure out just what exactly makes up a serving.  For different foods, one serving equals different amounts of food.  For example, one serving of milk = 1 cup.  One serving of peas = 1/2 cup.

To help students get a better understanding of what one serving actually looked like, I brought in  several different foods and set them up as stations for pairs to rotate through.  For each station, one person needed to measure out the amount of that food that they would typically eat.  Next, they checked the station card to find out the amount of food that equaled one serving. Finally, using measuring spoons, they measured the food they had served themselves to find out how many servings they would usually eat of that food.  

The results were sometimes surprising!  For rice and pasta, one serving equals 1/2 cup which isn't very much.  For most students they were eating a lot more than that; some students realized they were eating as many as nine servings of grains when they had pasta for dinner!

Hopefully this hands-on practice will make it easier for students to estimate the number of servings they are eating when the begin their food diaries next week.

 

 

Art Gallery Field Trip

 We recently took a field trip to the Surrey Art Gallery where students took part in a mask-making workshop.  Our fantastic instructor, April, explained the basics of hand building with clay, then guided students as they worked through the first few steps of creating their masks.  Once everyone had prepared their clay, it was time for the creativity to flow as students created animals, people, superheroes and even the ocean!  As you can see in the photos, the masks turned out wonderfully.  I was very proud too when April commented several times on what a respectful, attentive, hardworking class I had!

The masks are now in our classroom drying out.  They will then be fired in our kiln and painted.  I'm sure the final products will be amazing!

A special thanks to all our volunteer drivers who took time out of their schedules to accompany us.  As always, this trip would not have been possible without you!