Play in Grade 5/6

 

Play is not only for little kids! 

In Grade 5/6, we inquired into the following question during visual arts: 

How can we use watercolor in different ways? 

What better way to learn than through play?

We curated resources on this Padlet to help us learn new techniques. 

Some of the techniques we tried out were...

• dry wash
• wet paint onto a wet wash
• water drops onto a wet wash
• color blending
• underpainting
• layering
• watercolor blooms

Some of us used different tools such as salt and plastic wrap to see what kind of effect there would be on the paint. 

Sometimes, our art turned out differently from what we had initially expected. 

This is OK because we learn through experimentation.

 The process of questioning, trying different approaches, and reflecting with a growth mindset is so important for developing new skills and understandings!

Now that we have learned some techniques, we can't wait to create more complex pieces starting next week!

In our Unit of Inquiry, we finished our unit on human migration last week. 

Check out our unit wall and how much we learned!

Grade 5/6 Band!

 As a connection to our first unit with the central idea "Our mindsets and understanding of the process of learning enable us to build skills and habits to reach our goals" in music, we have been working towards the goal to learn to play instruments we have never played before. 

Rather than waiting for the teacher to tell us what to do, we demonstrated agency by researching resources that would help us learn to add to this Padlet. 

We worked together in groups and partnerships and supported each other to reach our goals. We shared strategies, gave and received feedback to improve our skills!

Once we were able to play some melodies on our own, we were ready for the challenge to play a song as a group. 

Take a look at our Grade 5/6 band!

 

People who Represent Attributes of the Learner Profile

In visual arts, we have been learning about the seven elements of art. 

Check out the sketch-notes below! 

Because we are all different people making meaning through different connections, our sketch-notes are all unique!

Over the past weeks, we have been inquiring into different ways the elements of value and colour are used in art.

For our first long-term project, we practiced using acrylic paint to tint and shade colours. 

Once we developed this new skill, we applied it to create monochromatic paintings of a person who represents a Learner Profile attribute. 

We also used our research skills to find out about these people and explain how the person represents that particular attribute. 

 

Below are our finished paintings!

 

These paintings will be hung in our classroom throughout the year as a visual reminder of the attributes of the Learner Profile. 

Learning Zones, Fractions, and Halloween!

 

This week, we learned about the learning zones. The tasks we work on as learners can be sorted into the following categories: panic zone, stretch zone, and comfort zone. 

Tasks in the panic zone are too hard for us at the time. Even with help, we wouldn't be able to complete them yet. 

Tasks in the comfort zone are too easy. We would be able to complete the tasks without making mistakes. This is not good because mistakes help us grow. 

Tasks in the stretch zone are just right. They are challenging enough that we need to stretch our brains to complete them, trying out different strategies, working with other learners, or asking for help from the teacher. This idea of learning zones is an adaptation of the Zone of Proximal Development, coined by an influential psychologist Lev Vygotsky. 

As self-regulated learners, it's important that we choose tasks that are in the stretch zone. 

Once we learned about the learning zones, we applied the concept in math. 

In the task you can see in the photo above, we inquired into the following question: How can we represent fractions in different ways? We used tangram shaped paper representing various fractions to create other fractions. 

The problems become increasingly harder towards the right. 

For example, in the example above Keira used pieces representing 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16 to represent 7/4. She also converted the fractions into decimals and percent as well. 

Friday afternoon was filled with so much fun! 

We had an MPP (Multi-purpose Party) for the following purposes:

• A birthday party
• A going-away party
• Celebration for reaching our reading goal
• Halloween!!!!!

The "first student of DSKI" and "bat" above set up a treasure hunt with clues for us to solve! 

Below, you can see our decorations for the DSKI Halloween Door Contest! 

For this project, we used our social skills and communication skills to create these two AMAZING designs!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Have a fantastic fall break!

Bookshelves and Reader's Notebooks

 Boy, have we been reading a lot in Grades 5 and 6! 

In our "bookshelves", each book color represents a different genre.

You can see that many of us are challenging ourselves to read books in various genres!

In Readers' Workshop, we are almost finished our first unit on analyzing themes in interpretation book clubs. 

During this unit, we used our Reader's Notebooks in creative ways as a tool to develop our comprehension.

Take a look at some of the pages inside!

Stay safe in the typhoon, everyone!

Factors, percent, new unit, OH MY!

 

This week, the Grade 6 mathematicians explored the concept of percent through the lens of form, function, and connection. 

The sticky notes with the stars represent their new learning. 

Check out the conversation in the video below!

The Grade 5 mathematicians continued their investigation into the concept of factoring, through the lens of form, function, connection, and reflection. 

The writing in blue represents their initial understanding and the orange represents how their thinking has changed. We have been practicing asking each other "What makes you say that?" to dig deep into ideas in our conversations.

You can see in the chart above how the mathematicians' understanding developed over time. 

This week, we also started our new unit with the transdisciplinary theme: Where we are in place and time. 

We are applying the framework of a visible thinking routine called Peel the Fruit as we consider the following questions throughout the unit:

• What do we see and notice?
• What do we wonder?
• What connections can we make?
• What's REALLY going on here?
• How can we consider different perspectives?
• What's the central idea?

As we looked at some photos, we posted our questions on our Wonder Wall. 

Some of the questions which came up were...

• Why are so many people together?
• Where do the people in the pictures go and what do they do?
• How is the problem of people needing to go to refugee camps growing or shrinking?
• What happens to people who get left behind during a migration?
• What will happen if our country is not safe?

Zoom into the photos on our Peel the Fruit unit wall. 

What do YOU wonder about?

Key Concepts in Math

In math, we have been using the key concepts to develop our understanding of mathematical concepts. The Grade 5 learners inquired into "factoring" while the Grade 6 learners investigated "rounding". One goal we are working on as a class is to share the air time!

In the video above, you can see the Grade 6's discussing the function of rounding.

As we had our conversation, we used sentence starters to help us build on each others' ideas to be effective communicators. This is a skill that we have been practicing during our book clubs as a part of reading workshop!

Below is an example of the ideas that we came up with from our discussion. 

This poster below is a representation of what the Grade 5 learners thought they knew when they started to learn about factoring. We will go back to this poster next week and show in a different color how our thinking and knowledge changes!