Patterns In Art

We learned a lot about patterns in Islamic art at the Aga Khan Museum this week.  Students created clay tiles with calligraphy, floral, shape or figurative patterns.

Students enjoyed exploring the gallery and learning about searching for gold in Africa and they used lego to build their own civilization.

The Aga Khan Museum offers free admission every Wednesday evening from 4 pm to 8 pm.  

Books and Animals

We had a beautiful, sunny day for our trip to the Children's Book Bank and Riverdale Farm.

The students all got to select a book to take home, free of charge, from the Book Bank! The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and the graphic novels were very popular with students.

We ate lunch outside the gates of Riverdale Farm in the sunshine and then we saw a variety of animals including goats, horses, sheep, turkeys, chickens and rabbits.

We even had a ride on a streetcar when we were travelling back to school!

New Books!

We had a great time listening to stories at the Children's Book Bank.  Then each student and adult in our group chose a free book to take home.  There were so many amazing books to choose from!  Students can visit the Book Bank with their family and get another free book!
Check out their website:  http://www.childrensbookbank.com

It's so hard to choose.

Carefully choosing a "just right" book.

We love reading!

Enjoying our new books.

Coding And Robotics

We visited the Apple Store to learn to use Ipads to write code and control a robotic sphere through a series of mazes.  The students learned to write a sequence of simple commands to make the sphere roll forward, stop and turn at the appropriate time.  They controlled the speed of the sphere, the angle it turned and the number of seconds that it travelled.  The students cooperated with each other in small groups to complete the mazes.

Several staff members from the Apple Store helped the students.

Lots of cooperation and discussions between group members.

Some mazes involved only one angle and some involved 3 or more!

Stopping precisely on the X was difficult but not impossible.

Thank you Apple Store for the USB bracelets and Apple pins.