Month: April 2014

Every month I do a different pattern on our calendar, and the students enjoy guessing the rule.  This month the pattern was a stumper: 1 bug, 1 bee, 2 bugs, 3 bees, 5 bugs, 8 bees, and as of today 5 bugs.  They figured out fairly quickly that it was an increasing pattern, but no one could figure out quite what the rule was.  After I wrote it up on the board as 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and let everyone think about it for a couple days, Ethan discovered the rule on Friday.  If you add 1+1 you get 2, if you add 1+2 you get 3, and so on.  Anik also realized that I can’t complete the pattern because the next number is 13 and there are only 5 days left in April.

This sequence of numbers is the Fibonacci Sequence, named after Leonard Fibonacci, an Italian mathematician who wrote about it in a paper in the 13th century.  He did not discover the sequence–it was first written about in Indian mathematics–but Fibonacci did introduce it to Europe which is why the sequence of numbers bears his name.

I’ve always thought the Fibonacci Sequence is cool (I may be a math geek in addition to loving books!) and Inspiration Green shows some amazing patterns in nature, although I’m doubtful that the population distribution in Africa is a result of the Fibonacci sequence.  The Khan Academy also has an interesting video about Fibonacci spirals.  The narrator speaks really quickly so pay attention!  In case this hasn’t quenched your thirst for math, head on over to the Math Awareness Month site (did you know April was math awareness month?)  The theme this year is magic and mystery, and there are some fun videos to watch.

As you know, Division 7 has been reading the original Jungle Book as well as singing and dancing in our musical production.  A couple weeks ago the students all wrote questions to Mr. Kipling, and as luck would have it he wrote back!  There were some very thoughtful questions about his life and writing.

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Tomorrow is the big day… our Jungle Book performance!  We had a great rehearsal on Monday, the students got to perform on the stage wearing their costumes.  It is was lots of fun being in a real theatre and seeing what it is like onstage and backstage.   We had a chance to be in the audience as well and see the whole dress rehearsal.  It is looking good!  Our costume boxes are packed, and ready to be loaded on the buses first thing in the morning.  Don’t forget to have students wear their costumes to school tomorrow so they’re ready for the afternoon performance, and to meet back at the theatre at 6:15 for the evening show.  There are still a few tickets left for the evening performance, and lots for the afternoon show.  The students are so excited to perform, it will be a fabulous show!

This week we have been reading the second book of the Jungle Book (rather than chapters, the book is divided into three long books.)  In the section we just read, Mowgli has been learning the laws of the jungle from Baloo, who sometimes hits him when he doesn’t listen or is cheeky.  Bagheera disapproves, and doesn’t think the child should be beaten, but Baloo has his own way.  We’ve talked as a class about how this is different from the movie, and different from what is acceptable today.

To explore the events of the story, and the relationship between characters, students created tableaux in drama.  A tableau is like a frozen picture, the actors are not moving or speaking, and the audience closes their eyes or looks away as the actors get ready so that the tableau is a surprise.  In groups of two or three, students chose an event from the story and decided how to show it in two tableaux.  The tableaux were quite powerful, as you can see from the photos.

**April 16 update – To comply with Burnaby School District guidelines for sharing online photos of students these images were removed.  Please email me if you are interested in seeing them.

Well, it has been a few weeks since I have blogged because things have been very busy at school since spring break.  The Jungle Book show is fast approaching, and we have been busy practicing and preparing costumes.

We have also started reading the original “Jungle Book” and exploring the story through drama. We are doing what’s called a role drama, which means the teacher assumes a role as well as the students. You may have seen me dressed up as Rudyard Kipling! The students became wolf cubs and advised the wolf leader Akela what he should do about the man cub. They wrote some very persuasive letters! This week we are going to explore the relationships between Mowgli, Bagheera, and Baloo and create tableaux. We also wrote questions to ask Rudyard Kipling, so I have some research to do before he makes his next appearance!