Tints and Shades

We learned that by adding white to a colour, you can make many different tints!
For this work of art, we drew 10 lines on a piece of paper. The lines were supposed to go from one side to a different side. The lines were supposed to be straight, so we practiced our ruler skills! When the rulers were too short, we did some problem solving and used meter sticks. When the meter sticks were too long for our desks, and threatened other peoples spaces, we moved to the floor. Problems solved!
Next we drew or traced a heart shape in the middle of the paper ( it was February - hearts were on our minds! )
Then we painted -- using only red and white paint. We were supposed to paint different tints of red in every section.
These turned out fabulously!

Next we experimented with shades -- by adding black to a colour.
We then made some art using only one colour, plus black and white -- monochromatic art! We chose our colour, then used paint, and added details in crayon and marker.

( we were supposed to fill the whole page with colour, but some of us ran out of time)

Swimming

We have really been enjoying the pool!

Playing games:

Counting our lengths in the swim-a-thon:

Counting Large Numbers

We have been learning the best ways to count large numbers of objects. We began this when we were exploring the concept of 100 on the 100th day of school.
We had been counting groups of 10 by filling ten frames to count the first 100 days of school. Then we started counting other things by grouping them in 10s ( for example, the milk bags that we are collecting for Ms. Harris).

I gave the students a challenge to estimate if a collection of objects had more our less than 100 objects. Then they had to prove, and explain their answers ( we are working on explaining our answers in pictures, numbers, and/ or words - the writing in blue marker is how students explained their thinking to the rest of the class)

( we are trying to get away from ALWAYS counting by 1's -- with large numbers, it is easy to lose track of what number you are at, so if you have grouped your numbers into 10s, it is very easy to recount)

Next, we moved onto counting groups of objects by 5's (which we had already talked a bit about when counting tally marks). The importance of this skill will become more evident to the students when counting nickels because they can't count by ones to make five when counting nickels!

Mittens

Our mittens were a fantastic success for EVERYONE!

First we washed the sweaters in hot water and dried the sweaters to shrink them ( thank you to the parents who donated sweaters! Especially to the parents who went to a thrift store and bought sweaters for us to use :). We laughed a lot at the shrunken sweaters - but I forgot to photograph them!

Then we each traced a mitten pattern pattern and cut out 4 paper patterns. We learned that you have to cut accurately or the mittens would not fit you later!

We each chose a sweater that we wanted to use. Some people chose 2 sweaters so the front and back would be different colours.

Ms. Brown pinned the mitten patterns to the sweaters to make sure that the patterns went on the proper way. The mittens need to stretch going across the hands, not up and down the hand!

Next, each student cut out their own mittens, using small adult sewing scissors. No-one made mistakes cutting! Only a few students got pricked by the pins. It only hurts for a second, but it's still a bit of a shock. "Ouch! The pin bit me!".

For the next step, we chose letters to sew on the mittens ( these came from a place called Arts Junktion. Arts Junktion is a TDSB - run depot for receiving and distributing donated materials and supplies. These letters were from samples of Roots t shirts) . If we didn't have the letter you wanted, or if you didn't want letters, you could cut a decoration from sweater scraps, then sew it on. Ms.Brown helped to thread the needles, but all of the hand sewing was done by the students. Ms. Brown helped to tie the knots of the thread as well.

Then we sewed the mitten backs backs to the fronts. We had to stitch them inside out. We looked at our own clothes to see how the stitches are on the insides of our clothes. So someone stitched our clothes inside out, and then flipped them Right side out to sell them!

( some of the mittens didn't shrink and felt enough, so Ms. Brown sewed a lining that would fit inside, so they would be warm)

We hope that everyone's hands were warm during March Break!