This Week's Learning

It has been another busy week.
In the technology lab, children are now finished with their sessions on coding. They can show you their games by logging into the class account at http://scratch.mit.edu/
Now that they know how to use coding, children can create other games or activities at home. Mr Matt shared his virtual pet Buddy with us as an example.

One of the students highlights this week was their first session in Minecraft. Mr Matt has set up a virtual world to allow them to make real connections to our unit. Children are grouped in 7 different farms and were given some limited starting tools (shovel, hoe, bucket) and a little money. They visit the marketplace to buy and sell the resources they need. Prices fluctuate depending on supply and demand. They made a great start this week at delegating group roles, accessing water supplies and beginning to plant and harvest their crops. Here is a brief example of what thy are doing...based on the similar virtual world created for our grade 4 students.

Last Friday we made cinnamon cookies (Snickerdoodles) after grinding the cinnamon bark from our provocation. We couldn't use the oven at school so Ms Karyn cooked them at home and brought them in on Monday. They were delicious!

 In case you are wondering where cinnamon comes from...Sokna inquired into it...here are her notes!

My Question:How does Cinnamon grow ?

My notes:

• Cinnamon is a spice that comes from the bark of a Southeast Asian tree.
• Has thick, reddish brown bark (the outside of the tree trunk).
• It’s leathery leaves have a spicy smell.
• It is used for cooking or medicine.
• It was originally grown wild in central hill country of Sri Lanka
• It grows 3-5 feet indoors and 20 -30 feet outdoors
• When the branches are 2 years old they collect it.
• They shave the outside bark off the tree.
• Then they shave the inside layer (this is the cinnamon).
• The cut it into pieces.
• They dry it.
• When it dries it curls up into quills.
• They can grind it to make it into a powder.

Students finished inquiring into their mini research questions and we started looking closely at staple crops and their importance globally. Learners are now starting to make connections and think deeper about where their food comes from and how many steps are involved in it's production.

In mathematics we have been exploring real life problems involving money. We discussed different currencies and have been using addition, multiplication and subtraction to solve word problems. We also had a fun math session with our grade 5 buddies. We practiced our measurement skills and tried to see if we had any children who could break a World record for having the longest tongue, widest mouth etc. It was plenty of fun.

Next week we have a trip to Moo Moo Farms. Parents have been emailed the details. You can view the farms website here;

http://www.khmerfreshmilk.com/why-fresh-milk-2/

This week children began to read about the farm and generate questions. We are looking forward to our field trip!