STEM Pumpkin Gates

Today some of our friends went to play hockey with the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Academy. It was their first day on the ice and they were so brave. They tried their best and didn't give up!

The rest of us had our first Project Thursday. We did a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) Challenge.

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After learning the 5 Little Pumpkins Poem we built our very own pumpkin gates. Using the materials provided students worked in partners to decide on materials, create a blueprint, and test our designs. Some teams were successful right away, while others made changes and built their gates over and over again.

We talked about that moment when you're working so hard that your brain starts to hurt. This is the moment when our brains are actually growing! Students are learning to get comfortable with this and developing a "growth mindset." We also worked on our teamwork skills and making sure that both people in the team got to contribute.

Here's what the students had to say about it:

We never give up! - Harleen and Vera

We worked so hard. We tried over and over again. - Pheonix

We super super hard at hockey but we didn't give up. We did our best! - Ethan

It was really challenging but I didn't give up! - Lillian

My team didn't give up. We tried over and over - Daphne

I liked this kind of challenge because we used our brains. -Camilo

It was the hockey kids first time on the ice. They fell down lots but we reminded our brains not to give up. We worked as a team. -Caleb, Ethan, Xydney

We tried and we tried and we never gave up. -Autumn

The STEM challenge was so hard. Me and Camilo tried our best. - Ryden

We listened to our teacher. -Micheal

My team is good. - Zhaira

When it was our first day on the ice, I was kind of scared but I never gave up. We used our hockey sticks to help us up. - Evelyn

The STEM challenge was very challenging but everyone did their best. -Noah

Fruit! Fruit! Fruit!

Today Mrs. Couch brought us some fruit to eat for healthy snacks. The food was donated from Save on Foods and a grant that our school received. 

She brought oranges, bananas, and apples.

We made a graph to show what our favourite fruits were.

Our favourite fruit was oranges. 14 children liked oranges the best. 

People liked apples and bananas the least. They were equal.

Life Cycles

We are learning about life cycles. We know that the human life cycle starts at baby, then toddler, child, then teenager, then adult, and senior citizen.

We were curious if ladybugs have the same life cycle.

We looked at a real ladybug with our microscope. Then we read a book about ladybugs. 

We thought this ladybug was dead but we noticed its legs moving just a little bit. We have figured out that it is hibernating.

The ladybug life cycle starts at eggs, then larva, then pupa, and finally, LADYBUGS!

Here's what the students learned:

Ladybugs have 6 legs - Vera

I learned about the eggs - Evelyn

I learned that the ladybug life cycle is different than the human life cycle. -Pheonix

Lady bugs are not all ladies, they can be boys or girls - Daphne

We read a book about ladybugs - Caleb

I learned about pupas - Ryden

I learned about what the larva looks like - Lillian

We learned that a ladybug uses its antenna to smell, taste and touch - Ethan

I learned that ladybugs can be different colours - Vera

A ladybug has fragile wings - Noah

A ladybug also has hard wings to protect the flying wings - Evelyn