With the temperatures being a little chilly today, we decided to have gym indoors. The students started by warming up with 5 laps around the gym. Next, the students performed 2 sets of "suicides" (not nearly as bad as they sound). Then we played indoor soccer for the rest of the period.
Everyone began math by doing a timed minute of multiplication facts. The students recorded what they got and over time, they'll be able to see their improvements. The grade 5's started their math class by filling in a multiplication table to 12. They then worked on p. 49 #1, 2, 4, 6 and 7. The grade 6's had a lesson on using mental math. They were taught the strategies of combining compatible numbers, subtracting from the left and breaking apart and adding harder multiplication questions. They only had time to try questions on p. 22 #1 and 2.
Our language period was spent finishing the newspaper articles. Students edited and added pictures before putting their articles into columns. Some students were able to have their articles printed. All other students should have their article ready to hand in tomorrow.
To begin our unit of inquiry, we went back to our discussion about spreading out the weight on objects to help them float. The learned that density is what determines whether an object floats or not. I used the example of water bugs, boats and life jackets to explain how density results in an object floating. After, the students were put into pairs to being designing a boat that must hold up weight without sinking. Soon they will be able to build and test their boat.
