24thSept - 28thSept

Last week we engaged in a lot of things in Maths.
Students planned for a Maths mela as a part of student-led activity on Friday. They had organized Maths activities for different grades. It was quite a success. They were appreciated for their effort.

In class students engaged in multiplication and division and also revised 2D shapes and angles. Students made shapes out of circles. Below are some pictures :

In the unit of inquiry, they have begun with a new unit. The theme of the unit is where we are in place and time.
Students were provocated with a treasure hunt. Where they had to hunt for some artefacts which were hidden around an area of the campus and they had to find it and answer some questions on it.
The purpose of the activity was to give them some idea about the work of archaeologists.

Thereafter students explained their artefacts and their thoughts on it:

16th Sept - 20th Sept

In Maths, some students did the order of operations through a game of BINGO while others did multiplication and division strategies in different centers through www.myimaths.com.

In English, students continued to write their draft with the help of guiding questions given to them. They were given a book of words to choose their vocabulary from and they were also given a list of conventions to check and edit their work.

In unit of inquiry, students continued to work on their assessments. They inquired into the role of gravity and its role on bridges and their stability. They did their assessment choosing a tool of their own. For example some students chose to construct a bridge and write about it, while some chose to draw and others chose to work on ICT.  

disclaimer: Of course some students are guided to choose certain tools which they are found to avoid constantly.

Students reflected on the raft that they constructed and the areas that they faltered and those that they succeeded. This was a part of their summative assessment. Finally they could give some structure and shape to their raft with some assistance form an adult.

week-9thSept- 13thSept 2019

In Mathematics students worked in centers on concepts of multiplication, division, and order of operations.
It is important to note that as students are progressing, their centers keep changing accordingly.
Students were also taken through some lessons of www.myimaths.com so that they are comfortable while going through the lessons themselves.

In English, students have been read a book named 'Funny stories'. The story had various incredible things, like for example a dog which flew whenever it wanted!

This was a prelude for students to think and discuss a funny story before they write one. The funny story not only had to be funny but also had to be imaginative and out of the ordinary!

In the unit of inquiry, students have been working on their assessment for the third line of inquiry. Below are some photographs of students working on their assessments.

Apart from the above students have been inquiring into the third line of inquiry- Scientific and design principles. They brainstormed on the research they did on the concepts of compression and tension and how these two forces act on bridges.

Also students have been working on their summative assessment for the unit over the last few weeks. They are designing and constructing a raft as a part of their summative assesment project. Below are some photographs of them doing it.

bridges and science

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1727660 (bridges around the world)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVOnRPefcno (what makes bridges strong?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-V_8_qmJbE&list=PLNNCbmHKSMN-rwF08cA2ek-55kR9yh_Vj (tension and compression on bridges)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_DLcS1BVc4 (experiment of tension and compression on bridges)


Reflect on the following questions: (You may use the above videos/websites as well as other websites to research on the given questions)

- What are the different types of bridges?

- What is a truss? Where is it required? How is it useful?

- Where is a beam bridge required?

- Do you think there is any science behind bridges?

PS: Reflect in your unit of inquiry note books.

week 2nd-Sept-6th-Sept

In English students did a variety of things. They began by brainstorming the different types of writing. Then they chose one type of writing to base their writing on. They wrote on their chosen type (given in the photograph below). Thereafter some of them decided to choose a different type of writing in the next lesson.

Students were given a sentence starter accompanied by a few questions. Based on the story of Paul Jennings, which was read out to them by Ms Robin, students were supposed to create a short story. They had to write adopt the writing style of Paul Jennings. Their options were limited as the criteria were: the story had to be funny and there should be minimal dialogues.

Below are some photographs of students engaged in the writing activity.

In the unit of inquiry, students had to think about a problem which they face in their daily lives and they want to solve. They wrote the problem and some of them drew images of the problem. The problems were of different variety ranging from managing time, lacking self-management skills to aggressive behaviour. They did need a lot of guidance and probing in order to come up with genuine problems. But it was nice to see them reflect.

Some students looked at large scale issues like traffic, lack of footpaths in Hyderabad, littering, etc. Although they did not impact their lives directly but they could think about what effect these issues have on the masses in general. 

Everyone had to look up and research for solutions which have been applied and which can be done (if not tried earlier).

Below are some photographs showing some problems which students have written and some research they are doing on finding solutions to the problems.

The Maths lesson usually starts with a game or a puzle/quiz twice or thrice a week. This week there were teams which were given some numbers and they had to create a few numbers in the international system for the other team, who would have to stand on the place value depending on the place value of the number!
disclaimer: You must ask your ward to explain this to you as they enjoyed playing the game.

Long multiplication, long division and BODMAS/PEMDAS were practiced in different groups apart from the above.