Working on our Tipis

We've had our final two visits with our TIA artist, Tipi Joe.  

Yesterday we began working on our own, individual tipis.  Each of us received a piece of canvas, already cut into the shape of our tipi.  We then had the opportunity to design and paint the outside.  Tipi Joe had brought stencils of lots of different animals with him for us to use.  This helped us use more realistic animals in our designs.

 Almost all of us were able to finish our designs yesterday.  They looked great!  Here are some of the finished designs.

Today was our day to assemble our tipis.  Tipi Joe called us two at a time to the back to glue our tipi together.  We then had to put toothpicks into the front as stitching and use sticks to hold open our smoke flaps.  This turned out to be a lot harder than it looked!

 Here we are with our finished tipis!

Working with Number Lines

Over the last several Math classes, Room 20 has been building our number sense by placing numbers on number lines.

We began this activity by working with a familiar number line, 0 to 100.  Using register tape we created a number line and taped it up on our whiteboard.  We placed 0 on one side and 100 on the other.  We then folded it in half to find our middle point, which we all knew was 50.  From there we added our groups of ten.  This was a little bit trickier because we wanted them spaced as accurately as possible.  Now our number line was ready for us to use.  As a whole class we took turns rolling two large place value dice, one for our tens, and one for our ones.  We then found where the number would go on the number line and filled it in.

Once we were all comfortable with the process we switched number lines.  Instead of working with 0 to 100, we made a number line that went from 0 to 1000.  We created it using the same process as before, but this time our middle number was 500 and we had to add groups of 100 instead of groups of ten.  We also decided that since 100 was a big jump, we'd add more key numbers, so we added in the 50s as well.  Then using three place value dice (hundreds, tens, and ones) we continued adding numbers.

After lots of whole group practice we were ready to practice with a buddy.  Each pair of students went through the same process to make their number lines.  Once Mrs. Deyoe had checked them to make sure we had all the right numbers on, we received our own dice and we began adding our numbers.  

We are still not quite finished.  Our next step will be to create our own number line and fill in the numbers independently.

Meeting Tipi Joe

Today we had our first visit with this fall's TIA (The Integrated Arts) artist, Tipi Joe.  We met with him in the Library and we learned a lot about tipis, and the traditional aboriginal way of life.  During this time, he set up a 9 foot tipi for us to see.  He told us the materials used for each part, the reason why these materials were chosen, and the meaning behind the set up.  It was really quite fascinating.  He also explained how tipis are quite a bit larger and designed to be set up by one person.  He then told us how tipis are designed to withstand all the weather found in Manitoba-snow, rain, heat, and even tornados!

When he was finished we all had a chance to enter the tipi.  We learned that it's considered rude to stand or walk around in a tipi unless you are entering and exiting.  We also learned that you enter or leave in a circle, you don't walk through the middle.  There is actually a safety reason behind this practice, as tipis would contain a fire in the middle.  Sitting down allowed people not to breathe in smoke that would be pulled up to the top of the tipi and out through the smoke hole, and walking in a circle would ensure that no one would accidentally walk through the fire.  

Tipi Joe is returning to work with us twice next week in our classroom.  During these visits we will all get a chance to design and build our own tipis!  

Here are some pictures from the visit.  If you click on them, they will enlarge.

Listening to Tipi Joe

 Tipi Joe setting up the tipi

The finished tipi

 Looking at the turtle shell purse Tipi Joe passed around

 Entering and spending time inside the tipi