Our first blog comment!

I had a very exciting start to the week this week, with a notification that somebody had posted a comment on the blog! Not only did Lottie in Grade 1 post a comment, but she wrote it in Italian too! Congratulations on your effort Lottie, and thank you for being the first person to comment! (You can view the comment at the bottom of the blog post from Wednesday 27th February)

It would be wonderful if we got some more comments, from students or other family members! You might like to write about something interesting that you have learnt in Italian, a question that you have, or to share a good online resource or interesting fact about i cinque sensi (the five senses) or fun Italian activities.

To write a comment, just follow these simple steps:

1.       Click on the blue/purple “comments” at the bottom of a post.

2.       Write your comment/question in the box that appears.

3.       Select “Name/URL” in the drop-down box menu next to “Comment as:”

4.       Type your name then click “continue”.

5.       Click “publish”.

I look forward to reading your comments!

This week was our final week of learning about la vista (sight), before we move on to il tatto (touch) next week. I was very impressed with how much the Grade 3-6 students remembered about parts of the eye and how sight works. They tested their knowledge with a giant ‘parts of the eye’ memory game, in which they matched the English and Italian words then used them to label a diagram of an eye. They also did a “hole in the hand” experiment to investigate our binocular vision and how our brain merges the two slightly different views from each eye to create one 3D image. 

Try it at home!

1.       Roll a piece of paper into a tube and hold it up to your left eye as if you are looking through a telescope.

2.       Keep both eyes open and look at an object in the distance.

3.       Hold your right hand in front of your face with your palm facing you.

4.       Put the edge of your right hand next to or touching the tube.

5.       Do you see a hole in your hand?

Image from: http://www.aaofoundation.org/what/heritage/upload/Eye%20Openers.pdf

The Prep-Grade 2 students revised the five senses and the parts of the body that we use for the senses by playing La Tombola dei Cinque Sensi (Five Senses Bingo). They then put on their science hats and did an experiment to investigate how our pupils change size to control the amount of light that enters our eye. 

Try it at home!

1.       You can do this experiment with a partner or on your own in front of a mirror.

2.       One person closes and covers their eyes with their hands for 20 seconds. (Try to count in Italian!) 

3.       After 20 seconds open your eyes and have your partner observe how your pupils change, or look in the mirror to watch them change size yourself.

Your pupil (la pupilla) is the black hole in your eyes that lets the light into your eyeball. When there is not much light it dilates (opens up wide) to let more light into your eye. When there is lots of light it gets smaller so that not so much light enters your eye. That is why your pupil shrinks when you take away your hands and open your eyes!

  

 

Try out these experiments at home with your family! You could try to teach your family about how our eyes work, as well as some Italian words that you have learnt like gli occhi (eyes), la vista (sight), la pupilla (pupil), grande (big) and piccola (small).

Buon weekend!

Stephanie.