Fractions, decimals, percents... and the Stanley Cup Playoffs!

Did you know that it’s time for the Stanley Cup Playoffs?! Did you know that the Winnipeg Jets made it in?! To celebrate this, the students and adults of Room 18 made predictions to see which team would win each round, all the way to the Stanley Cup. Here are the (interesting) names of the playoff teams:

Ducks, Jets, Predators, Blackhawks, Wild, Blues, Flames, Canucks, Rangers, Penguins, Lightning, Red Wings, Canadiens, Senators, Capitals, Islanders

After we made our predictions, we counted up how many people thought each of the teams would win the Stanley Cup. After that, we calculated the fractions of the class that voted for each team. Because we have started learning about decimals and percentages, we took these fractions and converted them into decimals. We then converted the decimals back into fractions out of 100, and after that, we converted those fractions into percentages. Here are our results for who we think will win the Stanley Cup:

We posted all of our playoff brackets on the bulletin board outside of our classroom, and have invited those passing by to grab a bracket, fill it out, and leave it with us. Who do YOU think will win?!

GO JETS GO!!!

Go Jets Go!

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!!!

- Mr. H.

Science - sound level

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

Science - sound effects

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).

Episode II: Foley on Disney Video

Co-teaching with Mrs. Steinhoff

Over the next few weeks, our class will be lucky enough to have Mrs. Steinhoff (of Room 4 Learning Lounge fame) do some co-teaching with me in our class (and I will be lucky enough to do some co-teaching with her in her classroom of Grade 4&5 students, as well). We started this off yesterday, as we told the students that we're going to be baking bannock for the whole school, which we'll be serving at a special event in March. After that, the students started experimenting with the measuring cups, and figuring out how to make 1 cup with 1/4, 1/3, and 1/2 cups. Yesterday, we started off by telling the students what we'd be doing, and by showing them how to make bannock, and then testing the recipe with them (it was delicious!). Over the next few sessions, we'll be figuring out how to scale up the recipe to serve 240 (!), how many supplies we'll need, and how to make such a big batch for so many people. The students are really excited for this project, and so are Mrs. Steinhoff and I - stay tuned!

Blue Monday pop art

A number of years ago, it was purported that the most depressing day of the year was either the third or fourth (depending on the source) Monday of January, due to the passing of Christmas, the long period of time remaining in winter, and a number of other factors. Whether 'Blue Monday' actually is the most depressing day of the year or not, we decided to combat that in our classroom with some art. The students started by sketching out something that makes them happy. Next, I photocopied each student's sketch, so that they had four copies of it. Then, in the style of Andy Warhol, they proceeded to make a pop art collage with their sketches, and they turned out great - make sure to check out our Artsonia page (via the link on the right hand side of our blog) later this week to see the finished product!

1SE: 1 Second Everyday (December 2014)

Happy New Year, everyone! Here is our 1 Second Everyday (1SE) video for the month of December - enjoy!

Room 18's 1SE - December 2014 from Jeff Hoeppner on Vimeo.