Tuesday 28 October 2014

Monday 6 October 2014

Science Updates

Catherine and the Gladiator Snails have been hard at work in Science. They have been learning, discussing, building and Imagineering.

In the Ontario Science curriculum, there are some amazing concepts that grade 3s and 4s study. This year, we've started out with "Understanding Structures and Mechanisms" and "Understanding Matter and Energy". Grade 3s have been focused on Strong & Stable Structures and Forces Causing Movement. Grade 4s have been focused on Pulleys & Gears and Light & Sound.

We have been Imagineering amazing things and planning out theme park attractions.

We have also learned about an amazing Canadian invention called "Hitchbot". Tomorrow, with Alison Evans Adnani from Maker Junior, we are going to start work on our very own "Hitchbot Jr"!


Thinker Keys - Science - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires
Structures - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires
Forces Acting on - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires
Bridge Challenge - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires
Imagineers - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires
Hitchbot - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

EPCOT Dream to EPCOT Dream Class

The year Walt Disney died, he was dreaming and sharing about his biggest dream ever: EPCOT. His dream of the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow eventually got changed into a futuristic amusement park, but we watched the original Imagineer talk about his plans for a futuristic community and we were amazed by his vision.


In our EPCOT class, we've been working together to think about the roles of all members of a dream class and what a dream class looks like. We have had lots of visitors and volunteers in our class to watch how we learn in EPCOT class. The Gladiator Snails all have business cards and can tell you what being in an EPCOT class means to them. 

What Makes Us an EPCOT Class?

What Makes Our Class an EPCOT Class?
Experimental - try new things
Prototype - something you’re testing, people come see us as an example
Classroom
Of
Tomorrow - we do things differently every day, we think about the future

What We Already Do that Makes Us EPCOT:
-that it’s an alternative school. -Sophie
-our class is like EPCOT because we have Imagineering journals and our class name is very creative. Imagineering journals are books that you draw your ideas or get you thinking and you can’t erase. You can always redo it and you can only create. -Indi
-we’re Imagineers. -Katie
-our class is Imagineers and we do things differently every day in our class -Ava Cat
-what makes us like EPCOT is that we’re Blue Sky thinkers which means that we think all the way up to the sky-Oyster
-what makes us EPCOT is that we use computers and electronics all the time -Ali
-what makes us EPCOT class is that we try new things every day -Sammy
-our school is EPCOT because we do lots of things that other schools don’t - we have animals, we’re allowed to wear hats-Hudson
-I understand why Hudson said it’s different. Walt Disney, he really tried different things and he tried to make a whole city by himself which is a pretty amazing thing and it was different, which means, why can’t we do things differently? -Oyster
-what makes our class special is that we don’t have to wear uniforms -Sophie
-what makes our class special is when we made our Dream Classes kinda like EPCOT, that kind of drawings -Robert

Our Dream (How to Really Live EPCOT in our Class)….
-that we try new things, and we are Imagineers and we should always be creative like Blue Sky workers -Ava Cat
-do more stuff that’s more creative and fun -Isaac
-for the Art Electives, we should do something based on what Walt Disney had done, we could be designers -Grace
-we should do lots of Math on the Chromebooks-Tom
-I was thinking of special days, like Pet Day! We use a chart so everybody can bring their pets, but if they don’t have pets, they can bring electronics. That seems fair. -Ava Bunny
-maybe we could do a lot of research on Walt and Roy Disney and study them and we could do a little bit of their plan in our classroom -Oyster
-we can make a big Cardboard City as a class and plan it out and stuff and make it kinda like EPCOT. Maybe we could make it a pollution free design. -Owen D
-Maybe we should start doing more, put some things out for us, we have a partner, and mix up our ideas and build something. It doesn't have to be something specific, you have to build something -Sophie
-I was thinking we could put pillows on the stage so when we’re reading or doing ECLIPSE, we can sit on them-Rowan
-I was thinking that maybe we could design our own book or something else -Mariko
-put pillows on the stage, we could do it tomorrow and make it comfortable -Sammy
-I think I want to move the bungee chairs, swap it around. Some people are getting books and it’s hard to get past the people getting the bungee chairs-Liam
-I think we should raise the stage a bit, it can hurt your back a bit right now. Get some wood. -Raphie
-try new things every day -Shane
-I think we should put some desks in so that no one copies each other and we should invent more stuff cause it’s really fun to invent something that really works -Katie
-maybe we should play some more games at Gym like the Gladiator Game-Toni
-can we see if we can do a lot of work on the Chromebooks -James
-we should have more GoNoodle time -Ali
-we’re an EPCOT class because we’re going to bring in something secret, Shauna’s going to surprise us with something -Hudson

-I’m excited to get the Chromebooks. We get our own Chromebooks for the whole entire year. We get to write with them. - Robert