maps – Beyond The Desk

Cool Graphics and a Fun Video For You

November 15, 2010 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

So… In my recent travels around the internet these last few days I came across a couple of fun things to share with you to get you back into the whole school thing gently.

First of all, I found these cool graphics from a site called, “Information is Beautiful”. The site basically takes information and statistics and puts them into neat graphics to make them more interesting and useful for readers. The ones today showed some interesting ways to see our world in a different context. Many times globes, maps and other mapping devices don’t give us a very accurate view of our world. We look at the map and think that our country is the same size as a place like, say, Greenland or that we are not much smaller than Africa. However, you can see with the pictures below that that is not quite the case. Take a look!

Here is a fun Star Wars video I found made entirely out of paper! Cool! It actually goes very well with the Christmas Art students are working on right now!

No Skating Tomorrow but Social is Fun Too!

October 14, 2010 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

Well, unfortunately, I guess skating is canceled for tomorrow. Our main form of transportation has broken down and we have no other form of transportation. We are trying to reschedule and will let you know if and when that will happen. Therefore, students will need to wear their uniforms tomorrow.

We have started learning about the continents and oceans in Social Studies. I (Mrs. Goosen) showed the students a youtube clip this afternoon and they asked me to post it…so here it is! Enjoy!

A Busy Week

December 11, 2008 eoin24 Comments 1 comment

It’s been a busy week here in Grade 3. Plans are underway for our concert on the last day of school. Students received their report cards today and Parent/Teacher interviews are on Monday. These are just a few of the things that we have been doing or are gearing up to as we count down the days to Christmas and Christmas vacation.

In terms of school work, for Language Arts, we have been working hard on our paragraphs. We have started using the word “because” as a way to connect and elaborate on ideas. Each paragraph must have at least 3 “because” words in it.

For Social Studies, we have finished our look at communities and have been working on mapping for awhile. Today, we introduced the idea of a bird’s eye view. I even allowed the students to stand on their desks to illustrate the idea. I told the students that this would be their one and only chance to stand on their desks. The students were enthused and had fun. We then took a tour around Google Earth to look at the various levels of Bird’s Eye views we could explore within the program noting the amount of detail we saw as we moved further and further out towards space. We then talked about map legends.

In science, we are starting our major project in the building unit. Students have been given a choice of three projects: A bridge, two car garage or a tower. Students have also been given a budget which they must stay under as they purchase their materials. It should be a great project and I am working on putting our budget sheets onto the blog so you and the students can keep track of their expenses as well as progress on each of the projects from home. I will update you on how that will work as we get into the project. I have told the students that I will not just let them build any old thing. An engineer must have a plan and keep track of their expenses (though we won’t use the Olympic buildings as an example, eh?). It should be a lot of fun and the students have been looking forward to this for a long time.

Well, it’s been a long night and I am just about to go to bed but I just thought I would make a mention of our toy drive again. Please keep bringing in those toys! Also, cans!!! More Cans!! Yeah!! Also, I have had some wonderful moms volunteer for the craft days next week (Tues, Weds Thurs). If any other moms are interested and want to spend some fun times with the students making crafts, please let me know. The more the merrier!!!

Speaking of the concert, I though I would give you a sneak preview of one of our concert pieces. The students here are doing an amazing job and I think you will love seeing this piece performed at the concert!

Antipodr, Spelling Words and a Memory Verse, Oh My!

October 28, 2008 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

Monday was a great day. We started our spelling for the week and also worked on the 10 times tables. The students are pretty comfortable with the 10 times tables and we have worked through it fairly quickly. We worked on connecting the ten times tables to real life using dimes and relating that to how many pennies would make up each amount of dimes. The nice thing about the Math U See program is how it connects these ideas to the world around them.

In Science yesterday, we finished up discussing an experiment from last week looking at different types of beams and which would support the most weight over a fictional river. We had some great discussions and are now ready for the next experiment.

Here are the spelling words for this week:

SpellingL-6 – Upload a Document to Scribd

Students were asked to bring a old shirt for Thursday for an activity that we will be doing after the first recess. It will not involve painting but I did not want them to get their uniforms dirty (or any more dirty than they get at recess!!!).

The memory verse for this week is from Matthew 5:16. Students will be reciting this verse on Monday.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Thanks to all the parents who willingly attempted to answer that mind boggling answer to where we would end up if we dug straight through the core of the earth to the other side. Here are the answers to both questions including where we would have to be in order to end up in China.

Student Homework and the Friday List

October 24, 2008 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

Hello!

Your children probably came home with some strange homework. Their homework was to get you, the parents, to figure out something. You have probably heard the phrase, “dig a hole to China”. However, I asked the students on Thursday whether that would actually happen. If you dug hole straight down through the core of the Earth from where you are in Chilliwack, would you end up in China?

Using a map of the world, the children all guessed where they thought they would end up. There were some close answers. Next, we used the site Antipodr.com, typed in our address and found out that, actually, we would not end up in China but would indeed probably need to take our snorkel gear and rubber ducky with us if we were going to actually dig this hole as we would indubitably find ourselves in a very watery situation.

But where is that place, you ask? Ahh, that is the question and your homework!!! Take a guess and check the site out. Please let us know where you thought you would end up by getting your child to bring your guess in on Monday. Also, if you can let us know how you tried to determine where you would end up!!

But that’s not all!!! There is a second part to this!!! Where would you have to be in order to actually dig a hole to China?

Some of the answers I was given by the children were interesting. Some of them said that you can’t dig a hole to China. So the answer was “nowhere, you can’t dig a hole to China!” I said, “But that wasn’t the question”. Of course, the children are right in that we can’t actually dig a whole to China. What made me think, though, was how tough it was to think outside the box; to imagine things outside the realms of possibility. How many times do we inhibit the imagination of our students and children and force them (inadvertently or on purpose) to always think practically or realistically instead of encouraging them to imagine other worlds, places and dreams? Do we empower them consistently to dream big dreams; to reach for the stars; to say to people who say we can’t do things, “Why are you limiting yourself?”

For my Friday list this week, here is a video you may have seen before but I thought might go with this topic. If you remember last Friday, I said that every Friday I would list things that I love or would like to do or things that have made me and the class happy. Here is today’s:

Beyond The Desk

The Class Blog for Mr. Hancock's Grade 5/6 Class

Browsed by
Tag: maps