Leprechauns, Little people, Sword in the Stone, Flat Earth and Group project

Notice: 

Next Monday is Family Day.  Families can find all types of activities to make family day a thrilling adventure, to relax, or create an educational experience.  Take time to poke around an interesting museum, discover marine life, take a walk or race each other on zip lines high above the forest.

We began the day with ME  (morning exercise).  A reading, writing and math assignment.  First the students read and answered questions from a two page booklet about Leprechauns.  Many first nations peoples  also believed in little peoples and spirits in nature.  The students then had to design their own little person.  They had to discuss things like where it could be found, how it interacted with nature and men, how to catch one etc.  The students also had a quick review sheet of addition and subtraction.  After ME the students went to library and were read a book on the Metis before taking out reading book.

After recess I continued to read from the Classic series.  We are reading the legend of King Arthur.  Today we read about the myth of the sword in the stone and how, as a boy of 15, he pulled the sword out of the stone by accident, while many strong knights could not.

After reading we talked about when Columbus lived, how people thought that the earth was flat. They believed the Atlantic Ocean to be filled with monsters large enough to devour their ships, and with fearful waterfalls over which their frail vessels would plunge to destruction. Columbus had to fight these foolish beliefs in order to get men to sail with him and before he could get the queen to give him the money he needed to sail to North America .

In the afternoon the students worked on finishing their ME and Socials or Silent read for 25 minutes.  Many of the students impress me with their love of reading.  After reading the students were allowed to pick a partner and do a group report on an animal.  Group work can be an effective method to motivate students, encourage active learning, and develop key critical-thinking, communication, and decision-making skills as well as many social decision making skills.

Great day everyone, see you tomorrow, study your spelling