Our Plants are Growing!

It's been one week since we planted our bean seeds, and most of us have at least a little sprout in our cups.  There are still a few plants that have not begun to grow yet, but we are hoping with a bit more time, we will see some results.  

Today we filled in our Week 1 observation in our bean plant journals.  Students sketched out what their plant currently looked like then recorded any observations.  We will continue to do this for the next few weeks as to observe our plant's development and growth.

One interesting observation we made from our experimental plants, was that the plant that has no air, has actually grown!  The question is, if plants need oxygen, how is it growing?  Mrs. Deyoe found this a little confusing as well.  The only thing we could think of is that there was some oxygen trapped in the bag.  We'll have to continue to watch to see what happens as the plant continues to not get any new air.

After we finished caring for our beans, we continued working on our plant part foldable.  This is a book we have been working on for the last couple of days.  Together as a class we came up with the function of each plant part.  We recorded it in the correct box.  On the front cover is a picture of a full plant (roots through flower), and you can open each flap to find out the function.  

Here is what they will look like when they are finished.  A couple of students have finished, but most still need a bit more time.

The Human Number Line

We have begun learning about a new strategy to add and subtract two-digit numbers.  Until now we have been using place value to assist us with these types of questions.  Today we began practicing using the Jump Method.  This method will help us to be able to add and subtract these numbers in our heads.

First we began with the first number in our number sentence.  One student held up this number on a small whiteboard.  We then added a second addend to it.  We looked at how many groups of ten were in that second number.  So for example, if the number was 27, there would be two groups of ten.  We needed a volunteer for each group of ten.  These volunteers would join the number line and hold up all ten fingers.  These students represented our jumps of ten.  We then looked at how many ones were in the number (in our previous example there would be seven ones).  We needed one volunteer to hold up 7 fingers on our number line.  When we were done, we had created a human number line representing our two-digit equation.  We then used our human number line to help us construct a written one.

We repeated the process several times until we were all comfortable using the number line.

We then asked, if we can use this strategy to help with addition, can we use it for subtraction as well.  Yes we can!  So we gave it a try.

Because we were subtracting we had to begin our number line on the other side.  Then instead of adding the groups of ten, we would take them away.

Our next step will be to try to use this strategy to answer questions along side Mrs. Deyoe.  Hopefully with a bit of practice we will be able to comfortably use this strategy with our goal being that students will be able to select the addition/subtraction strategy that makes the most sense to them.

Here are a couple more examples of us practicing the jump method.

Some Pictures From Our Week

We've been busy this week with rearranged schedules and special guests.  We are all ready for a much needed long weekend!

We played a game to practice our Mental Math.  We started by playing all together on the Smartboard, then we had a chance to play with a table partner.

Meet Pedro.  He's an exchange student from Chile, who is staying with Mrs. D. Lockhart.  He told us all about Chile and talked about lots of differences between Chile and Canada.  He even taught us a couple of Spanish words.  He was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed his visit!

The Grade 3 students have begun to learn how to add three-digit numbers.  They had a chance to practice on the Smartboard using base ten blocks.

While the Grade 3s worked with three-digit numbers, the Grade 2 students practiced their double-digit addition using a QR code activity.  Each table had a question sheet with addition questions on it.  Once the students had solved the problem they scanned the QR code to check their answer.

It's a Jungle in Here!

As part of our investigations into Plants and Soils, we are learning about the needs of plants.  Today, we began learning about these needs by planting our own bean plants.  Over the next few weeks, we will be taking care of our plants and recording the growth and changes in our Bean Plant Diaries.  

We also planted four experimental plants to see what happens when a plant is denied something that it needs to grow.  One plant does not have soil, one plant will be kept in the cupboard as not to receive sunlight, one plant will not be watered, and one plant is fitted with a clear bag so it does not receive air.  We will observe these plants as well and compare their growth and development with our own plants.

 Here are our four experimental plants (before the 'No Sunlight' plant was put away).

Our plants all ready to grow!