Our students began exploring their understanding of measurement and materials to make connections to the
structures on our campus. They quickly noted different materials and why they were used, and connected that
certain materials were chosen to keep them safe. It was a pleasure to see their concentration and real-life
application of mathematical concepts relevant to their experience. 

Learning About Animal structures

This week we have been inquiring about the structures that animals make and their reasons for making the structures. We studied honeycombs, bird nests, spider webs and beaver dams. On Wednesday, students went outside to try and make some of these animal structures. These are some of the students’ reflections about the process: 

I was trying to make a beaver dam. The easy part was to get the rocks, leaves and the sticks. It was so hard to try and make the water not go through all of the holes in the sticks. I made it differently than a beaver does, and it is harder for a beaver because a beaver must first go find a tree and bite it with his teeth. I learned that beavers have iron in their teeth. Ailin 

Yesterday I made a nest with Ruslan with wood and glue and grass. Lemar

I made a honeycomb yesterday. It was a little bit easy and a little bit difficult. It was difficult to make the hexagon shape with modeling clay. It is different from a honeycomb that a bee makes because I made it not from the honey, just from modeling clay. Selim