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!

 

 

The Process of Learning

 

This week, we inquired into the question Claire posted onto our Wonder Wall: 

What is learning?

With this question in mind, we used a visible thinking routine called "chalk talk" to share our thinking when we saw the words asking, thinking, and doing.

We suggested that we use the following sentence starters in our writing to help us develop our ideas through written communication:

• I notice...
• I think...
• In my opinion...
• Adding onto what ____ said...
• I agree/disagree because...
• for example...

Some additional sentence starters introduced by Miss d'Amours were:

• So what you are saying is that... (paraphrasing)
• What do you mean by...? (asking for clarification)
• I share your point of view (agreeing)

We came to the conclusion that this visual is a representation of the process of learning! The blue sticky notes represent our thinking during chalk talk and the pink sticky notes represent examples we came up with. 

We have also been inquiring into how self-assessment and goal-setting can help us develop specific skills. 

Here, Keira is using a continuum to sort the components of research skills into the following categories:

• Shared: Others do, I watch
• Guided: I do, others help
• Independent: I do, others watch
• Leading: I do, others learn

This vital step of self-reflection helps each of us to determine which goals are appropriate to work towards. 

Making Sense of the Central Idea

This week, the central idea of our first unit was revealed: 

Our mindsets and understanding of the process of learning enable us to build skills and habits to reach our goals.  

We looked at different chunks of the central idea and considered what the words meant, made connections, and drew illustrations of our visualizations. 

Once we made sense of the four sections of the central idea, we got together in groups to rewrite it in our own words. Check out what Miles' group came up with! You can see the rewritten central ideas by the other groups on the pink slips on the photo above. 

We also used a visible thinking routine called 3, 2, 1 Bridge to reflect on how our understanding of the word "learning" changed before and after watching the video below. 

Our understanding of learning changed as we found out that our brains are malleable, meaning that they can stretch and grow like muscles! 

This realization led to our research about the concept of a growth mindset using our newly learned skill of sketchnoting. 

This visual note-taking strategy helps us as the dual-coding theory suggests that our brains process information more effectively when both verbal associations and visual imagery are being used.

Take a look at how we processed our learning in different ways by making various connections! 

We watched this video and this video as well as other resources we found through our own investigation. 

 

One-pagers

 

We are finally back on campus full-time!

During the first two days of school, we created one-pagers as we considered the question: How can we express ourselves effectively using texts and visuals?

We had a discussion about how important it is to keep checking the success criteria that we created as a class while also asking ourselves, "Is this my best work"?

The ability to self-monitor our own progress through regular and active reflection is especially important in Grades 5 and 6 and we will continue to work on this skill throughout the year. 

In order to create the one-pagers, we first created a draft design, reflected while giving and receiving feedback, and finally produced our final pieces. 

Some of the questions we considered are the following:

• What makes you unique?
• What has really affected your heart?
• What secrets have you kept in your heart that you don't mind sharing?
• What are some experiences or central events you will never forget?
• What are your hopes, dreams, and goals?

"Is this my best work? How can I make it even better?"

Natalia created a plan for her plan in her mini-journal as you can see in the photo.  

Check out our final one-pagers below!

Have a good weekend!