We are a Grade 3 classroom at Bernie Wolfe Community School in Winnipeg, MB, Canada. We are excited to share what's going on in our classroom with all of our readers!
There was a contest on the Winnipeg Jets website for February for the chance to have one or two Jets come and read to your class... and we won! There were over 2100 students who entered the contest (including 9 people from our classroom), and Maddie's entry was one of the lucky ones chosen (there were only 14 students in the city that were picked)! It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have some of the Jets come to our classroom to read a book to us - it was so cool! The two Jets who came to our class were Adam Pardy and Dustin Byfuglien (they were as tall as Mr. Hoeppner!). They read a book (called 'The Home Team') to our class when they got here, and gave us each a copy of the book, so that we could follow along with them while they read. After they read the book, we got to ask the players questions about whatever we wanted to, such as "What hobbies do you have?", "How did you lose your tooth?", "What kind of pranks do you play on each other?", and "Who annoys you the most?". After the Q&A was done, we got autographs from the players - they signed our books, our jerseys, sweaters, hats, and anything else we had - it was awesome. The players signed their jerseys, and Maddie picked Dustin Byfuglien's jersey to keep, because she was a contest winner, while we got to keep Adam Pardy's jersey to display in our classroom. When the other classrooms found out that the Jets were in our room, they all wanted to come and get their autographs, but the contest was only for our classroom, not the whole school - unfortunately, they wouldn't have had enough time to meet everyone and sign autographs for them (but some of the other teachers snuck in anyway!). So ,Mrs. Folkerts (our principal) got the players to sign their autographs on a piece of paper, and then made copies for the rest of the students in the school. As the Jets left our room, we were yelling/chanting "GO JETS GO!!!" To top off the afternoon, we were having a school assembly for I Love To Read month right after that, and Adam Pardy and Dustin Byfuglien were generous enough to stop by and say 'Hello' to the whole school... and everyone went crazy! Thank you to Dustin Byfuglien and Adam Pardy for coming to our classroom - it was a Jets-tastic afternoon!
- the students of Room 18
A HUGE thank you to the Winnipeg Jets for running the contest to promote reading, and for selecting Maddie's entry out of so many that were submitted - we couldn't believe how fortunate we were! As well, thanks so much to Adam Pardy and Dustin Byfuglien - they could not have been more gracious (and funny!) with the kids. This will be something the students (and I!) will always remember - Go Jets Go!!!
In Science class this morning, we talked about sound level, and how it is measured in decibels (dB). We looked at the sound levels of some different common noises, such as:
- breathing (10 dB)
- birds singing (20 dB)
- whispering (30 dB)
- talking (50 dB)
- washing machine (60 dB)
- TV (70 dB)
- motorcycle (80 dB)
- thunder (110 dB)
- rocket (140 dB)
I showed the students a sound meter app I downloaded for my phone, and we tried it out in the classroom. This photo shows the sound level in our classroom when everyone is quiet, when there is regular conversation going on, and when they are really loud (L-R).
I mentioned how, when I was at the Winnipeg Jets vs. Minnesota Wild game on Tuesday, I measured the sound using this app at the end of the game, after the Jets won in overtime, when the team saluted the fans, and the fans cheered in response (I meant to measure the sound if the Jets scored in overtime, but I was too busy yelling when Byfuglian scored, and subsequently forgot!), and the sound level reached 103 dB. We then talked about the importance of hearing protection, and how I have decided to look into getting custom ear plugs made for me this summer... as being exposed to those loud levels of sound +20 times/season is probably not the best for my hearing (I do wear disposable ear plugs to rock concerts, btw)! Here is an interesting piece from the Winnipeg Free Press that they published back in 2012, regarding how loud the MTS Centre gets during Jets games.
The students brainstormed a list of devices that help people to hear sounds that are not loud enough for them to hear clearly on their own, including:
- hearing aids
- speaker/microphone
- bullhorn
- walkie-talkie
- whistles
Lastly, the students were asked to think about how their life would change if they couldn't hear, and what adaptations they'd need to make - here are some of the ideas they came up with:
- you'd have to use sign language to talk to people
- you'd have to use the words that pop up on your computer screen/TV (closed captioning)
- you might need to get a service dog to help you
- you wouldn't be able to hear the sounds your pets made
- you'd have to be extra careful to look for different signs that objects (like cars) were getting close to you because you couldn't hear them approaching
Today in Science, we talked about sound effects, and how they make movies and TV shows much more realistic. We also talked about how, in the 'olden days' before TV, people used to listen to radio dramas, where sound effects were especially important, because the listener had to imagine what was happening - sound was a big part of that. I showed them this video of an old radio play, which shows how a lot of the sounds were made... but first I played them the audio only, and had them guess how the sounds were made.
After this, the students worked in groups to make sound effects for 'The Three Little Pigs', where I narrated the story, and they inserted sound effects. While each group was performing, the other students had their eyes closed, like they were listening to a radio play - here are some photos of some of the students creating their sound effects.
Finally, I showed them a couple of short videos on how Ben Burtt, sound designer for the Star Wars films, found sounds all around him (both mechanical and natural) to create some of the most iconic sound effects of our time (i.e. the laser guns).
