I hope you’re all having a fantastic week so far!
A reminder about the upcoming science fair!
A few quick reminders:
· Tomorrow is a Day 2 (students will need their gym clothes – it is a speaker series day so our gym will be 12:20-1:20).
· Aftercare invoices for the month of October have come out and are due Friday, November 15th, 2019. Any questions can be directed to Ms. Chiappetta at echiappetta@stjudesacademy.com
· Curling permission forms and waiver forms were sent home last week and are due back Thursday, November 7th. This trip has no cost as it was already paid for in the athletic fees during registration.
Inquiry into Language – Today, we started looking at our OWA topic for term one which is fables and legends. Students were put into pairs and given samples of fable/legend writing. Their goal was to read these, list the things done well and the areas of improvement, and to try and piece together what makes a good fable/legend. We are going to be putting these ideas together tomorrow and continuing this inquiry.
Music – Then, we had music with Mr. Oliver, which you can read about on his blog (https://mrolivermusicclass.blogspot.com).
French – After this, we had French with Mme. Stella, which you can read about on her blog (https://stjudesfrench-stella.blogspot.com).
Inquiry into Flight – Yesterday, we had a lot of fun with our activity ‘Lift Off’. We began building paper planes to examine how air can impact flying devices. We had some students using their knowledge of Bernoulli’s Principle to create airfoils to help their planes fly.
We started examining all of the things that could help a plane fly and affect a plane while it is in flight.
Today, students conducted another experiment called ‘Moving Slower, Faster, Up, and Down’. This experiment was designed to test HOW we can manipulate flying devices to get different results. Students were given a page of instructions teaching them how to build a paper plane. They followed these instructions carefully and performed a series of tests to see how the plane needed to be manipulated.
We reviewed PHEOCA, variables, and what constitutes a fair test.
· P – Purpose (or question)
· H – Hypothesis (educated guess)
· E – Experiment (procedures used)
· O – Observation (what you noticed)
· C – Conclusion (is your hypothesis correct)
· A – Application (where do you or could you see examples of what you learned)
Experiments are used to search for cause and effect. Variables are things that can change during an experiment; this can vary during an experiment. An independent variable is one that is changed by the scientist. A dependent variable are the variables the scientist observes to see how they respond to the change made to the independent variable. Controlled variables are quantities that a scientist keeps constant.
A fair test has been conducted when one factor (variable) is being changed at a time while all others are kept the same. A fair comparison can only be made once variables are being controlled and only one is changing at a time.
Students will write a report based on their observations of today’s experiments.
Inquiry into Math – We started math by taking up answers for yesterday’s homework.
After this, we started the review for our test taking place on Thursday. Once again, if students are having trouble with any part of this unit, they NEED to come and seek assistance. We did question 2 together.
Lessons 3.1 & 3.2
To draw 2D representations of 3D shapes, we build the shapes and examine them from multiple perspectives (top, bottom, front, back, left, right).
To draw your 3D shapes, you first draw your vertical edges. Then, you draw all edges going diagonally to the right (upward). Then, you draw all your edges going diagonally to the left upward.
We also reviewed what makes a regular polyhedron. A regular polyhedron is one where all the faces are congruent, the same number of faces meet at each vertex, and the same number of edges meet at each vertex.
Lesson 3.3
Lesson 3.4
A variable is a letter (or symbol) that represents a quantity that can vary. For example, when we say ‘length times width’, the numbers aren’t always going to be the same. After this, we talked about area and perimeter. The perimeter of a shape is the measurement of the distance around that shape. The area is the space measure inside of a 2D shape. We measure perimeter in units as it is a linear measurement and area in units squared as it is a square measurement.
After this, we started to look at the ways we use variables in measurement formulas. We started by examining a square. A square is a shape with all four side measurements the same. We label this side with the variable ‘s’ for ‘side’. The perimeter is the distance around a shape. We write that P = s + s + s + s. Since this is repeated addition, we write P = 4 x s or P = 4s. For area, we write A = s x s or A = s2.
We use the same concept for rectangles, except rectangles use length (or base) and width (or height). For perimeter, we add all the sides together and write P = l + l + w + w, which can be written as P = 2l + 2w or P = 2(l + w). Note: You can use base and height in place of length and width. Either formula is correct. For area, we use A = l x w (or A = lw) or A = b x h (A = bh).
Let’s imagine we have a square with a side length of 6 cm.
P = 4s A = s2
P = 4(6) A = (6)2
P = 24 cm A = 36 cm2
Let’s imagine we have a rectangle with a length (base) of 5 cm and a width (height) of 4 cm.
P = 2(l + w) A = bh
P = 2(5 + 4) A = (5)(4)
P = 2(9) A = 20 cm2
P = 18 cm
Lesson 3.5
The surface area of an object is the total area of the surface of an object. This is a measurement of the area on the outside of a 3D object. When we are looking at surface area, we are using 3 different variables – length (how long is the object?), width (how wide is the object?), and height (how tall/high is the object?).
What happens when you unfold a 3D shape? You get a net (2D version). When we examined surface area last year, we learned that you can calculate the individual areas of each rectangle and then add them all together. This year, we looked more closely at our prism net. We identified all the measurements on our net.
We identified what numbers we would multiply in each rectangle to get the area. We took another step and identified what variables we needed to multiply to get each area. What we observes was that ‘lw’, ‘lh’, and ‘wh’ all occur twice in the prism.
Therefore, to calculate surface area, we add everything together…
SA = lw + lw + lh + lh + wh + wh
Since we are repeating addition in our formula, we multiply.
SA = 2lw + 2lh + 2wh
We can even go one step further and say that we are multiplying these measurements once each, adding them together, and then doubling them.
SA = 2(lw + lh + wh)
Let’s imagine we have a rectangular prism with a length of 5 cm, a width of 4 cm, and a height of 7 cm…
SA = 2(lw + lh + wh)
SA = 2 (5x4 + 5x7 + 4x7)
SA = 2(20 + 35 + 28)
SA = 2(83)
SA = 166 cm2
Lesson 3.6
Volume is defined as the amount of space occupied by an object. While we were looking at surface area, we talked about how surface area is the measurement of the area of each of the faces on the outside of the object. The volume is the measurement inside a 3D shape. Once again, you use 3 variables: length, width, and height.
Let’s imagine we have a rectangular prism with a length of 5 cm, a width of 4 cm, and a height of 7 cm…
A = lwh
A = (5)(4)(7)
A = (20)(7)
A = 140 cm3
Science Fair – At the end of the day, we worked on our cars for Science Fair. There are only 6 school days until the science fair! Students are encouraged to come earlier to school to work on their cars (I will be here for 7:30 each day). Students are also encouraged to use their recess times to complete their cars.
Homework:
- Unit review for math (due tomorrow)
- 'Moving Faster, Slower, Up, and Down' activity report (due tomorrow)
- Curling form, waiver, and concussion forms due Thursday
We do our best to complete work in class. In the event this is not possible, it will go home for homework.
As always, please feel free to email me with any questions.
Mr. Conte
