Iroquois Decision Making

While Athens is an example of direct democracy (everyone participates) the Iroquois is a more representative form of democracy where Chiefs are leaders. And while Athens used voting to reach decisions, the Iroquois made decisions based on consensus. We believe this stems from their goal of maintaining a peaceful society. 

We used this model of Consensus and followed the Grand Council method to see if we could come to a decision by consensus on where we should go as a class on a field trip. 

First we had clan meetings:

Then the Chiefs of each clan (as chosen by the Clan Mother) met in a Grand Council meeting to discuss the options. 

Then the clans met again in pairs to try and reach a decision. One set of clans did manage to make a decision but the other pair did not. Today we learned that making a decision by consensus is really hard!

Flight Competition

In our flight unit we have been learning about many concepts such as what makes a plane aerodynamic, how is it affected by drag, and what happens to flight when we adjust controls such as elevators and ailerons. 

So today we held a flight competition to use our knowledge in developing paper airplanes for each of 3 categories. The Distance competition tests our knowledge of aerodynamics, the Air Time competition tests our ability to create drag while maintaining lift, and the Acrobatics competition tests our ability to make a plane do tricks by using flight controls. 

Here are our winners!  Can you see the difference in airplane design?  Do you know which planes won which competition?

Weaving a Story

The Iroquois nation has a series of beads that are traditionally purple and white. They are woven together into belts which are the recordings of historical events. These belts are then kept by a wampum keeper, a girl who would have been trained at a very young age what the symbols on the belts meant and what stories they told. 

Today we created our own....

Inside The Planetarium

Well today was cool!  We sat inside an inflated dome and got to experience a travelling astronomy show! 

It looks small on the outside but it was big enough for all of us!  

We started off by getting to hold an actual meteorite. It's made of melted metal and it's very heavy. 

Then we moved inside the dome. First we went forward in time and watched tonight's stars come out. 

We learned how to locate Polaris, where the constellations are and we saw how stars move across the sky. 

Next we saw where Jupiter will be. We also got to zoom in close to see Jupiter's rotation and well as how it's 4 biggest moons revolve around it. 

We wrapped up by learning how our own moon revolves around us and what phases it goes through. Today we understand our sky a little bit better. 

Thanks to Dr. D and to Westglen School for inviting us. 

What a Drag!

As we come to the end of our flight unit we find ourselves experimenting with the effect of drag on paper airplanes (it slows them down so they don't travel as far) and parachutes (they will have a slower descent). 

Field Trip!

For some kids, this was their first experience with live theatre. Getting a chance to see a professional performance is worth the trip into the city. 

Having arrived early, we walked around Olympic Plaza for awhile and the kids came across the statue tribute to the Famous Five. They quickly picked out Nellie McClung, having studied her in Social Studies. 

And these steps gave us an opportunity for an impomptue class photo :)

Then we finally got to head into the theatre!

We got the entire second balcony to ourselves!  Including the box seats. It was a great performance. 

Science Explorations!

     Our learning about air continues!

Here we "submerge" a candle and watch it burn!  How is it possible?  The beaker traps the air and allows us to push the candle under the water. Once the air inside is burned up, the candle goes out.

Air is strong enough to lift objects!

Designing balloon powered rockets that propel along a string to the other side of the classroom. 

Designing hovercrafts that trap air and create lift!!