This week in Room 15 we have been doing a lot of collaborative building work with Room 17. We have been working like structural engineers to test and explore structures of different shapes. We tested the strength of a variety of shapes by building columns and applying weight in a fair test. Initially, students predicted that the triangle would be the strongest shape. However, we discovered that cylinders were the strongest of shapes when weight was applied to the top of the column. Through this process we began discussing how the direction of a force on a structure affects the strength or stability of a shape or structure. The vocabulary words we are using are, structure, force, lateral force, vertical force, dead load and live load.
We have been writing within the discipline of science by defining and giving examples and non-examples of our scientific vocabulary. In math we have been learning about number and calculations. Students are working at varying levels within this mathematical concept. We have been specifically working on number sense and how numbers relate to each other. Please ask your child for some examples of the work they are doing in math. Valley View School will be having our annual Terry Fox Run on Thursday September 28th. Any donations will be appreciatively accepted. September 14 - BBQ and Conferences.
Our first conferences will be on September 14. At this conference parents will be asked to work with their child and the classroom teacher to set first term learning goals. On Thursday, September 14, school will finish at noon for All grade 1 – 5 students and for VV kindergarten students. SP kindergarten students will attend school at their usual times. Dismiss students at 12:00 PM Grades I – 5 VV & SP& VV Kindergarten 3:30-4:30 Open Parent Conference, no appointment required 4:30-5:30 BBQ 5:30-7:00 Open Parent Conference, no appointment required Between 4:30 pm & 5:30 pm students and their immediate families will be invited to a barbeque sponsored by the Rotary Club of Calgary. Bruce Williams, Director of Community Services and his team will be serving Valley View families and staff a delicious BBQ supper (non-pork products, some veggie burgers a juice box or water and a granola bar (as long as the quantities last). Please come to school and head to the gym area. Classrooms will then reopen from 5:30pm – 7:00pm, for parents to visit classrooms and to meet with teachers and other staff. Kindergarten students in the Science Program will not attend interviews, they have already had interviews. The Kindergarten teacher will be available during the barbeque hour. Bridges are interesting and fun! We have been building bridges to see if they can hold heavy objects. We tested our bridges to see which ones can support heavy loads. We have also been reading books about bridges. We read, Pop’s Bridge. It is about building the Golden Gate Bridge. Non-fiction books have helped us learn about some shapes and types of bridges.
By watching many of our bridges collapse we learned to create stronger structures. Sometimes the bridge didn’t co-operate and we learned that some materials were better for building bridges than others. Building strong support columns was a challenge we faced. We researched some questions we had about bridges. We wondered, “How are bridges so strong?” we found a video to help answer this question. We will continue to experiment with structures that span gaps to enhance our understanding of bridges and how they support a load. -written by the students in Room 15 |
Mrs. MacNeil &
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