Hat's On For Mental Health!

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Math we learned a new game called 4x4 and we first drew a grid in our Math journal. And then the teacher flipped a card and we had to decide where we put the number on the card on our grid. How you win is whoever has the highest sum." M.C.
2. "In Gym we played game called Tail Tag." J.V.
3. "In Social Studies we are starting to learn about what makes Calgary important." L.M.
     "In Social Studies we also learned what other people's traditions are." S.M.



Reminders:
1. Tomorrow is Hats On For Mental Health. Tonight I need to find an appropriate hat to wear to school tomorrow.
2. We need volunteers for our trip to the Weaselhead on Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a full day field trip.

Follow Your Passion Friday Kicks Off!

Today was our first day of our Follow Your Passion Friday. We had a lot of fun and we learned several new things! Here's some things we'd love to share!
1. "I was in the art group and we had a free paint day. I painted a picture of a bunch of different things." M.C.
2."In FYPF I was in handwriting and I learned how to do an 'a', 'c' and 'd'. S.M.
3. "In crafts in FYPF I almost finished my puppet I made. It is a Scientist and it actually has a lab coat and it's not mean. It's a happy scientist." L.L.
4. "In helping animals in FYPF we did flower seeds instructions. How you do it is, get clay and water and dirt and then get the seeds and put in the ball. And you throw it. It takes a while and it grows flowers." C.S.
5. "In architecture we tried to make a letter out of lego. We cannot do L or I." S.C.
6. "In Make Your Own Jewelry I learned how to make a friendship bracelet. It was very fun." K.H.
7. "In Science Experiments we watched a video and one of the experiments on it included milk, food coloring and a cotton ball. You put the cotton ball in the food coloring milk and then the food coloring gets sucked up and it looks like a rainbow." D.T. and M.S.
8. "In drama we did a challenge that is you and your partner to keep a ball on your stomach, on your back, on your shoulder, your forehead and on your nose. You also had to pretend to be a bicycle. It was hard." N.G.
9. "In coding we learned how to use Scratch Jr. and to code on Scratch. Jr. " O.S.
10."In gardening I learned a weed is just a plant you don't want." L.S.
11."In coding I made a circuit that includes going forwards or down." M.S.
12. "In Helping Animals we made flower balls. You get clay, and you mix it with dirt then after you get a little bit of clay and you put seeds inside. You turn it in a ball. You throw it in a garden. Then you wait and it starts to grow." D. G.

Reminders:
1. Do my  Science Home Journals this weekend.
2. We need 4 volunteers for our Weaselhead Field trip on May 22nd. Please email Miss. Moore if you come.

Time for the Spring Gala!

We have been SO busy at Maple Ridge School getting ready for our Spring Gala tonight.

3 Things We Were Learning/Working on Today:
1. "In Science we had a new problem. We had to figure out what an orange with no peel and an orange with a peel will sink or float in water." L.S.
2. "In Gym we learned 2 new games and they're called Ring Stop and Treasure Rush." J.V.
3. "In Science we learned how to make a Scientific Theory that is green light. A green light theory has to have I think, because how and why." S.M.

Reminders:
1. I need to be at school tonight no later than 6:40pm. I can wear my fancy clothes if I would like.
If I arrive early tonight (between 6 and 6:30, I can wander around the school to look at the artwork around the school).
2. Kernals Fun Snack tomorrow.

What could it be?

Today we were trying to find and object that would have the same height, length and mass. We tried several different objects and used different non-standard items to measure the object. We were discovering this was more difficult than it appeared!

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Math we had a problem and we needed to find an object that has the same length, same height, same mass." D.T.
2. " With Mr. Cartier we did not do Ozobots today, instead we sketched or read a book." M.C.
3. "In coding we learned how to log on to Code.Org." O.S.

Reminders;
1. NEW field study on May 22nd to Weaselhead. We need 4 volunteers to make this field study happen. Please email me if you can help out.
2. Go back to Thursday's blog and look at the special Easter question. Can I solve it? If I can, I need to bring in my answer on a piece of paper.

Happy Easter!

I'm sure many of you will be busy with family and friends on the weekend celebrating Easter. I'm hoping that each of you will have a wonderful and relaxing weekend. With that said, there is NO Science Journal for this weekend.

We have added a field study onto our list for this Spring. We will now do another trip to the Weaselhead area on Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a full day field study. We will require 4 volunteers to make this trip possible. Please email me if you think you can help out.

Today was our last day with our University of Calgary teacher, Miss. Rana Omar. We will miss her as she's been a wonderful addition to our classroom over the past 4 weeks. We wish her the best as she completes her program at the University of Calgary.

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Yoga we learned new poses. For example the Double Boat and Rock and Lizard." M.S.
2. "In Math we did a scale with a sort of mystery and not a mystery item. It told us how long, and how tall and heaviness it was." O.S.
3.  "In Music we finished the rest of Peter Rabbit." S.M.

Easter Question: Miss. Moore decided to decorate Easter eggs on Saturday. She puts 2 eggs in the water. One egg sank and one egg floated. Why did this happen? 

Reminders:
1. Some of us got to go on www.code.org. It's a great website to build my coding skills!
2. We have a long weekend. No school tomorrow and Monday.

Which story is the right Story?

Today we read a story that we all know very well-Little Red Riding Hood. However, it was told from the viewpoint of the Big Bad Wolf. This led to a conversation about which story is true? We discussed the reasons why the original version might be the right one and why the new version may be the right one. I'd encourage you to have a conversation around the reasons why they chose the certain version they did.

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. 'In Math we did a new math problem with Mr. Emery going to the Bow River and him seeing 12 boats go by. Some were canoes and some were rafts. There were 2 people in the canoes and 3 people in the rafts. How many people did he see?" D.G.
2. "In Writer's Workshop we learned what the wolf's story in Little Red Riding Hood was. This was the wolf's perspective. The book was called The Wolf's Story by Toby Forward.
3. "In Music we practiced our Spring Gala shows and for Who's Hootin' we practiced with our owl masks and the other songs are Fireflies and I Love the Mountains. We watched Peter Rabbit because it was close to Easter and also it was break time." N.G.

Reminders:
1. Book orders due to Miss. Moore tomorrow. You can either order online or bring the actual order form in.
2. The doors open at 6:00 for the Spring Gala  and Room 2 needs to be in the classroom by 6:40.

Using contour lines to create animals

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Art we were drawing a bear, a coyote and a rabbit using contour lines." J.V.
2. "In Math we learned the difference between height, length and mass. We did a scavenger hunt for things that equal a number of blocks and my group found one of the mystery objects which was the case of markers." S.C.
3. "In Gym we learned some more Yoga poses. One of them was the Warrior poses." S.M.

Reminders:
1. Spring Gala next Thursday. Be in Room 2 no later than 6:40pm. Doors open at 6pm.
2. Science Home Journals due back by Thursday.
3. Book orders due back no later than Thursday, April 18th.

Robot Perimeters

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Writer's Workshop we learned what the word perspective means." M.S.
    We looked at the perspective of the different people in our story from last week, 'Letting Swift River Go. We will continue to look at the hidden stories that can be found within books. This will hopefully allow us to understand perspective a bit better.
2. "In Math we drew a robot to learn how much size the squares were." C.S.
     "We learned a new word called Perimeter. It means how big the outside is." D.T.
3. "In Gym we learned how to do Yoga. Some people had problems with the first rule which was keep your mat flat." M.C.

Reminders:
1. No school Friday.
2. No school Monday.

Correction to Spring Gala date

My apologies as there was an error on the blog post yesterday in regards to the Spring Gala date. The correct date is Thursday, April 25th. Thank you to the parents who brought my attention to this.
Have a great weekend.

Estimating Mass

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Art we learned how to make an owl mask and we also made an owl mask using fabric masks, feathers, glue and felt for the nose." N.G.
2."In Math we were practicing estimating mass." S.C.
3. "With Mr. Cartier  we were finishing our Ozobot stories." J.V.

Reminders:
1. New book orders came home today. They are due back no later than Thursday, April 18th.
2. No school next Friday, April 19th.
3.  Spring Gala, Thursday April 15th. Students need to be in their classroom no later than 6:40pm.

The Story of Swift River

Today we finished our book called, Letting Swift River Go. It was a story about a town called Swift River and they traded their water to Boston for a better life. Did it work? You will need to ask one of us what happened!

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Math I learned how many blocks it took to balance an eraser." O.F.
2. " In Science we learned how much blocks and height we need to make our insulator for our animal because they have mange, they're coming out of their dens when it's not time and they're losing their blubber and insulation." S.M.
3. "In Music we used our flashlights for the song named Fireflies by Owl City." D.G.

Reminders:
1. If you have an animal like a coyote, grizzly bear or polar bear at home (stuffed animal or plastic animal) we would like to borrow it to help us build our insulators.
2. Fun Lunch tomorrow.

Studying Nature in our very own Backyard!

We felt so lucky to not have any rain today on our trip to Voiter's Flats. We had a great time with our guide, Lisa who deepened our knowledge around how temperature affects movement. It was gerat to learn so much in a place right in the heart of our city!
Here's some things we learned today:
1. "I learned that frogs have supernatural powers. They have antifreeze type blood which allows them to survive under the ice for a long time in the Winter." Miss. Moore
2. "I learned that a beaver's predators are coyotes and big birds." S.C.
3. "Today I learned about the updraft that keeps flying. Without the updraft the birds would fall." M.S.
4. "I learned that snakes cuddle up in the winter to stay warm in dens." D.T.

Here's an ant hill we discovered today on our hike! We enjoyed watching the ants move.



5. "I learned that female ducks camouflage into their nest." O.S.
6. "I learned the ducks have webbed feet so they can peddle in the water so they won't sink in the water. Their feathers are light which helps them to float." J.H.
7. "I learned that beavers can breathe under water for 15 minutes because they have lips behind their two front teeth." S.M
8. "I learned that woodpeckers make holes and leave it for other animals." O.F.
9."Today I learned that groundhogs get really fat to hibernate." M.S.

Reminders:
1. Please bring flashlights for the Spring Gala. We are practicing with them in Music now.
2. If you have a plastic of stuffed animal of a bear, polar bear or 'coyote' (dog type animal), could we please borrow it to help us build our devices? Thanks!

What is Mass?

Today we learned what the word 'Spring Fever' means. Some of us are beginning to behave and listen like we have Spring Fever. We are going to think tonight about what we each need to do to make sure that we are continuing to do our job and show our classroom expectations while at school.

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Math we learned what mass is and we did this thing where we needed to put the bags in an order from heaviest to lightest by measuring their weight." D.T.
2. "In Gym we went outside to play Badminton Golf." C.S.
3. "In Reader's Workshop we learned a blend and it is called 'ight' " M.M.

Reminders:
1. Field study to Voiter's Flats TOMORROW. There is rain in the forecast. I will need to put the following in my backpack:
  - a plastic bag for wet clothes
 -extra socks
  -mitts and a toque
 -a garbage free lunch
  -rainjacket
2. Wear my red Maple Ridge School shirt tomorrow.
3. The Spring Gala is on Thursday, April 25th. Grade 2 students will need to be in their classroom NO LATER than 6:40pm. Doors open at 6pm.

Developing Scientific Theories

Today we looked at the results of our 'Keeping Hot Hot' experiment. The data revealed that feathers were the best insulator as after 1 hour the hot water was 60 degrees celcius. The plastic pieces were the poorest insulator because it after 1 hour the water was 35 degrees celcius. We are now going to use our Science Home Journals to develop a theory around why the feathers were the best and the plastic was the worst.
Next week we will use what we learned about the different insulators to help us design and build our insulators for our 'hurt animals'.

Reminders:
1. Field study to Voiter's Flats on Tuesday. If you have not yet returned your signed forms, please do.
2. Green Science Home Journal homework.
3. Fun lunch next Thursday, April 11th.

Where The River Flows

This afternoon we had a beautiful day for our walk down to the Andrew Sibbald bridge. We enjoyed watching the river move and all the different activities that were happening there including fly fishing, dogs swimming and people skipping rocks. We really slowed down and tried to zoom in on the river and what we noticed under the water, along the shoreline and the movement of the water.

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Math  we measured a piece of yarn because we are learning about measuring. The yarn measured differently when it was straight from when it was  wiggly" L.S.
2. "On the Walk to the River we learned how to draw the river and a diagram of the river." D.T.
3. "We  read a book called Max's Words and we learned some new triple scoop words." K.H.

Reminders:
1. Tomorrow I will be receiving a new Science Home Journal question. Please return my journal back to school if I have not done so yet.
2. Our Spring Gala is on Thursday, April 25th. Stay tuned for details for times.

Keeping Hot Hot!

This afternoon we furthered our investigation around hot and cold by learning how to develop theories. We learned that Scientists use the data they studied to make a theory as to why something happened. Yesterday we learned that styrofoam is:
-light
-staticky
-is made up of little balls
-the little balls have air between them when altogether that can't escape
Plastic is:
-sealed together
-hard
-thin
-air inside gets trapped and hot

We used these observations from our playful inquiry to develop theories. We then were asked the question: Will the same material (styrofoam) keep hot things hot? Will plastic be the worst insulator to keep hot things hot?
We tested this out by eliminated some insulators from our original list that we felt wouldn't work. Above you can see the insulators we felt would possibly would insulate the hot water the best.
Tomorrow we will find out the results!


3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Writer's Workshop we learned that there is Triple Scoop words for other words like 'said', 'mad', 'happy' and 'cold." S.M.
2. "In Science we learned why styrofoam is good for keeping cold, cold because of the air." S.C. and S.M.
3. "In Gym I learned how to play badminton." O.F.

Reminders:
1. Green Science Journals due tomorrow.
2. Voiter's Flats field trip forms due tomorrow.
3. Spring Gala is on Thursday, April 25th. Time and details to come soon.
4. We are going on our community walk to the Andrew Sibbald bridge (Carburn Park area) tomorrow afternoon. Please dress accordingly.

The Styrofoam Attack of 2019!

This afternoon we learned that Scientists look at data from an experiment to help them decide their next steps. We examined our data from yesterday's experiment which tested using different materials to prevent an ice cube from melting. The results showed that styrofoam was the best insulator and the plastic cups/containers were the worst. We then played with the styrofoam and the plastic cups to try and figure out what it was about each of them that made such a difference in their ability to insulate. We quickly discovered the static power of styrofoam as our classroom became an ocean of tiny styrofoam balls which stuck to our hair, clothes, faces, etc. A good run outside was the best solution to get it off!

Tomorrow we will extend this learning to see if the same materials are able to insulate something hot. I wonder what the results will be?


3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Science I learned that styrofoam has static electricity in it." L.S.
     "In Science we got to play with the styrofoam to figure out a question: Why can styrofoam keep ice cold?" M.S.
2. "In Math we learned how to measure stuff, for example a ruler and how to measure accurately." O.S.
3. "In Writer's Workshop we learned that settings explains where your story starts and it ends and where the middle is." D.G.

Reminders:
1. Return Science Home Journal by Thursday. If you did not attend Student Led Conferences, please do not worry about our Science Home Journal this week.
2. Voiter's Flats field study next Tuesday. Please return form.

What is Measurement?

3 Things We Learned Today:
1. "In Science we learned how to test materials out, if they work for one of our Science problems. If the ice cube melts the material is not a good insulator." S.M.
2. "In Writer's Workshop we learned and talked about a setting in Maple Ridge River. A setting is a place in a story like anywhere in fiction and non-fiction." O.S.
3. "In Math we learned what measurement is and how many 'anything' long is for the Maple Ridge River. For example mine was 13 stickmen holding hotdogs long." N.G.

Reminders:
1. Bring flashlights for Spring Gala. Please put my name on it.
2. Walk to Carburn Park Bridge on Thursday afternoon. If you would like to join us on our walk please email Miss. Moore.