The Lewis Link
David Lewis Public School
PRINCIPAL’S
MESSAGE By Karen Peach
A P R I L 2 0 1 5
After a very long and cold winter we are all looking forward to the coming of Spring. It can’t come soon enough.
Listed on the back page of the newsletter are many activities that are planned to engage and excite our eager learners at all grade levels over the next three months.
We are especially looking forward to our Folk Dance Jamboree (date to come in May) and our Music and Art evening on May 12th. Please mark those dates on your calendar and join us!
As we quickly move towards the end of the school year, I encourage you to take advantage of summer programmes that are available to your children through the city. Many provide exciting adventures to expand interest and experiences or to reinforce prior knowledge. These camps, clubs and summer programmes provide excellent opportunities for social growth. I encourage you to choose a perfect learning experience for your child. Summer programmes fill up fast.
SCIENTISTS IN SCHOOL
On Tuesday, March 24th, in the morning, the Scientist in the School came to Mrs. Griffin’s Grade 1 class. We learned about energy. We made windmills. We learned about the sun. We also learned about temperature. We had fun! Room 117
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GRADE 7 SCIENCE
During our grade 7 science periods, we learned about the importance of technology, which is part of the STEM curriculum (science, technology, engineering and mathematics.) STEM is an awesome new way to teach children knowledge, and other amazing stuff. We started off learning the basics such as the kinds and forms of structures, forces that act on structures, and how to use tools before trying to use them to build anything. After learning everything that is necessary for safety while making cool structures, we began building structures from wood while cooperating with friends. We started off with simple triangles and moved onto building more complex structures like wagons and cars. We worked hard together to make magnificent things. Thank you for this learning experience!
Kevin Wang and Nicholas Liu, Grade 7, Room 200
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MARCH 3, 2015 – π (Pi) DAY
At David Lewis P.S., each year on the 14th of March we recite as may digits of Pi as we can remember. (3.145926535.) The winner of this year’s contest was Stone Yang in grade 5 reciting more than 300 digits without a mistake. In 1706 a little-known mathematics teacher William Jones first used a symbol to represent the concept of Pi; an ideal that in numerical terms can be approached but never reached. The history of the constant ratio of the circumference to the diametre of any circle is thousands of years old. Pi is dated back to the early 18th century. Before this ratio was referred to in medieval Latin as: quantitas in quam cum multifice-tar diametre, proveniet circumferencia (the quantity which, when multiplied with the diametre, yields the circumference.) Before the appearance of Pi, approximations like 22/7 and 355/113 had also been used to express ratio, which may have given the impression that it was a rational number. Jones believed Pi was an irrational number. Ever since then people have uncovered trillions of digits, but there is still no end in sight.
Maggie Gong, Grade 5, Room 205
Some interesting facts about Pi:
1. The Pi has been known for almost 4,000 years. 2. The ancient Babalonians calculated the area of a circle by taking 3 times of the square of its radius. 3. The Egyptians (The Rhind Papyrus) in c2 1650 BC calculated the area of a circle by a formula that gave the approximate value of 3.1605. 4. The first calculation of Pi was finished by Archimedes of Syracuse, one of the greatest mathematicians for the ancient world from 287-212 BC. Archimedes approximated the area of a circle by using the Pythagorean theorem to find the areas of 2 regular polygons. 5. A similar approach was used by a Chinese man called Zu Chongzhi (429-501) who was an intelligent mathematician and an astronomer. He would not have been familiar with Archimedes method. Sadly, Chongzhi’s book was lost so only a few things are known from Zu Chongzhi. 6. Mathematicians used Greek letters in the 1700th Century. It was introduced by William Jones in 1706. 7. In the 18th Century, a French mathematician named George Buffon devised a way to calculate the Pi based on probability. If you do not believe me, you can try it yourself at the Exploratorium’s Pi toss exhibit.
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Kevin Lin, Grade 5, Room 205 TOP 11 π PARTICIPANTS
Stone Yang, 303, Amy Huang, 242, Orelia Pi, 170, Hannah Xiao, 148, Cathy Shen, 114, Jacky Fang, 106, Christina Zeng, 83, Richard Shi, 76, Nicholas Li, 72, Maggie Gong, 72, and Vivian Zhong, 80. There were many others who memorized more than 50 digits. A total of about 70 students got to enjoy the pies! (The eating kind!) Thank you to Mrs. Peach and all the teachers for organizing Pi Day! 3.4 are the first 3 digits of Pi. We had so much fun.
We made our own strategies We focused with We used our like: an air keypad no distractions. fingers to write numbers on a blackboard.
The Pi King, Stone Yang or “Stoney” as he is called, memorized a whopping 303 digits.
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We memorized more than 20 digits. Actually many of us did more than 35 digits or more.
A SCIENTIST IN SCHOOL VISITS MRS. HERN’S CLASS
The grade two’s in Mrs. Hern’s class were studying about Liquids, Solids and Gasses. So, Mrs. Sweetman, the scientist, came to help us learn more. She put our class into groups to do different activities. First, she put 2 cups with ice on each table, but one also had salt in it. We wanted to find out which cup of ice would melt faster. The one with salt in it melted faster. To further test freezing of liquids, we used science test tubes and put juice in them. Then we put the test tubes of juice in a cup and filled it with a layer of some ice, then salt, then ice, then salt (a pattern) to see what would happen to the juice. Waiting to see what happens isn’t fun so we got to put dishwashing soap in a bowl and blew it through a straw to make a big bubble. To find out what makes things float in water we used plasticine and flat candles. The floater was the candle. It had less weight. Next, we tested materials such as sand, sugar, salt, oil and detergent to see if they floated in water and to see which ones dissolved. At the end, we saw that the test tubes froze and they were actually freezies so we ate them!!
Jiana He, Grade 2, Room 204
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We learned about liquids and solids with the scientist. We put ice and salt into science tubes to see which one gets frozen the fastest. We found out that the ice and salt froze faster. Our class made bubbles from soap and water. We blew the bubbles through straws out of the bowl. When we learned about temperature and degrees we used a large thermometer. We found out that water freezes when it hits zero. We used clay and candles to see which one could float. The candle floated. We froze freezies and got to eat them at the end! I thought this day was the best.
Oviya Gajanan, Grade 2, Room 204
MS. CONSTANTARAS’ CLASS HAS A DOZEN EGGS WAITING TO HATCH
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JUNIOR CO-ED VOLLEYBALL
Congratulations to all members of the Junior Co-ed Volleyball team. The girls and boys had a great tournament on March 30th. Everyone played well against their opponents, Silver Springs, Glamorgan and Hillmount. There were some close matches with Glamorgan and Silver Springs, leaving us with 2 losses and 1 win. Unfortunately, we came in third place and did not qualify to move on to the quarter finals. A special mention to Ken Zou and Christina Zeng for some fantastic serving and passing! Well done team!
Mr. Niarchos and Ms. Constantaras
On March 30, 2015, the Junior Co-ed Volleyball team went to Glamorgan Jr. P.S. to face Glamorgan, Silver Springs and Hillmount. The first team we faced was Silver Springs. They won the first two sets. Then we faced Glamorgan. They won the first set and the second set was close 23-25. The last team we faced was Hillmount. We son the two sets. We ended up getting third place but we had fun!
Braden Ly, Grade 6, Portable 4
On March 30th our Junior Co-ed Volleyball team went to Glamorgan Jr. P.S. Our team went against Silver Springs, but we were too nervous, and we didn’t do very well. We then went against Glamorgan, we were very close! Our score was 23-25. We lastly went against Hillmount and we confidently won. We packed our stuff and took our team photo. Our team had 5 girls and 5 boys. The girls were: Christina, Nicole, Kathy, Lily and Susan. The boys were: Isaiah, Ken, Braden, Derron and Aaron. We didn’t play as we hoped, but we had a fun season!
Kathy Yang, Grade 6, Portable 4
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GRADE 5 SCIENCE
For our Forces, Structure, and Mechanism unit, we constructed bridges from a variety of materials. We started the unit by learning about pushing and pulling forces, internal and external forces and forces and shapes. Then we moved onto looking at different types of bridges. We learned about beam bridges, arch bridges, truss bridges, and of course suspension bridges!
As a class we created our learning goal in building strong bridges that are stable and which will hold heavy math text books. The bridge that holds the most math text books will be the winning bridge! We came up with a list of success criteria that will meet our learning goal and started building! Each group used different types of materials to make their bridges. We used cardboard, wood, wires, hot glue, construction glue, paint, water bottles with rocks inside, wooden poles, foam board, yarn, and many more things! It was challenging at first to build a strong base, however when that was done, we were well on our way! Each group worked together as a team to achieve our goal!
We invited our reading buddies, the grade 1/2s to test our bridges using the math text books and weights! Adrienne, Elizabeth, Anna, and Jamie's bridge was able to hold 37 math text books! They won! It was a great experience!
From Portable 1 & Portable 2 Grade 5s
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Lucky winners of the Easter bunnies
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Tuesday, April 14th Mr. Henderson and the Jazz Band to Bethune for Jazz Festival 9:30 – 11:15 a.m.
Wednesday, April 15th Mathematics Centrum Math Contest a.m.
Wednesday, April 15th - Friday, April 17th Grade 6 students to Kearney Outdoor Education Centre
Friday, April 17th Gr. 8 Division Badminton tournament at Terry Fox 2:00 p.m. Friday, April 17th Eco Team City Wide Clean-up Day 2:00 p.m.
Wednesday, April 29th Band Festival presentation for Grade 5/6s – Terry Fox a.m. 5/6 students joining Lewis students in gym
Monday, May 4th Music Monday, Band to Grey Owl Jr. P.S. a.m. Heritage Park p.m.
Wednesday, May 6th Math Caribou with Mrs. Kumar and Mrs. Fung 9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Tuesday, May 12th Lewis showcases Music, Art and French 6:00 p.m. Mark your calendars – Grades 4 – 8
Wednesday, May 13th Math Gauss Contest a.m.
Friday May 15th Track & Field Day
Monday, May 18th Victoria Day – no school for students
Wednesday, May 20th Band Fest at Albert Campbell C.I.
Monday, May 25th Friday, May 29th EQAO Primary and Junior Gr. 3 and 6 test
Monday, June 1st Track & Field Day
Friday, June 5th P.A. Day – no school for students
Monday, June 15th HPV and Hep B needles for Grade 7 and 8 girls
Monday, June 22 Grade 8 graduation in the gym 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, June 25th Last Day of School
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