Frieze and Fractal Fun

This morning in math class we started a new topic: Geometry!

Rather than just keep to the typical "What-is-a-point? What-is-a-midpoint? What-is-a-coplanar-line?" geometry introduction, we took a step further to look at the Native American friezes in clothing and quilting works. It turns out that there are just seven ways to manipulate a tile into a border pattern.

(Seven is a happy number that shows up everywhere: 7 Grandfather teachings, 7 ages of man, 7 days of the week, 7 classical planets, 7 musical notes, 7 pillars of wisdom, 7 chakras, and seven also represents the Universe with the 3 of heaven combined with 4 of the world.)

After that, we started making our own friezes and patterns.

For inspiration, we watched a video from NOVA, "Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension". A fractal is just a repeating pattern where the smaller parts actually look like the bigger parts when you zoom in all the way -- happening over and over again, forever!

Here are some colourful examples of fractals -- sometimes fractals are used to show naturally occuring examples in nature, like mountains and cauliflower and tree branches. Sometimes they're just amazing patterns:

Notice how the smaller parts look like miniature versions of the overal picture? That's what makes the pattern a "fractal". Check out how the following simple geometric shapes gradually turn into complex fractals -- see if you can come up with your own pattern:

Posted by Karen

Scarborough Bluffs

One of the highlights in the Fall was taking a class trip to the Scarborough Bluffs.

The Scarborough Bluffs are actually the remains of a 10,000 year old lake, Lake Iroquois. It disappeared a few thousand years later after the St. Lawrence River ice plug started melting -- the bluffs are the remains of the original coastline. They are also responsible for forming the Toronto Islands!

We spent the morning hiking up trails and exploring the park. Students used digital cameras to document everything along the way: wildlife, tracks, trees, flowers, and beautiful scenery.

Some class activities had been set up for the day too, including a math trail in the morning and writing a reflections essay about the afternoon journey.

After lunch we searched for a path up to the top of the cliffs. When we reached the top, we posed for a class photo next to the tree we had seen from the beach -- a reminder that we can reach our goals if we pay attention to our routes.

Check out this < VIDEO LINK > of the day to find out more!

 Posted by Karen

The Setting Sun

Last night we saw a beautiful sunset outside the windows of our classroom.

Now that we're into Winter and the sun is setting earlier every day, the sky becomes lit up with the gorgeous patterns of orange, pink, and purple hues only about a half hour after our classes finish.

Here it is, captured on camera in three shots and rendered into a panoramic view:

Posted by Karen