Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a fiction or non-fiction story about medieval times, using the special paper given to the students on Friday. The children can write a report about our field trip or write a narrative with the setting in the middle ages (around 500 CE to 1500 CE). The students are encouraged to be creative with the special paper in creation of their stories. This homework is due on Friday, May 4th.

News for April 27

News for April 27

This week the students concentrated on our Medieval Times unit as they prepared for the field trip on Friday.

The class learned some tips and tricks on how to take notes for research. The children read information about castles and used highlighters to highlight important information. Next they took this highlighted information and wrote notes in their writing journals.

The students read information about the various levels of society in medieval times, different types of jobs, how a boy became a knight and the different buildings found in a typical medieval village. We spent all day on Friday at the Medieval Times Dinner and Theatre. The class had a great time and learned a lot! Thanks so much to Amelie's father, Tom and Julia's mother, Gabi for volunteering their time to help on this trip. A video of our trip can be found near the middle of this posting.

In math, the class continued the unit on fractions by reviewing the concepts and writing the unit test on Thursday. When in the computer lab this week, the children played a variety of fraction games on a math games website:
http://www.maths-games.org/fraction-games.html

In science, the class continued the unit on sound by experimenting with different instruments and creating a small stringed and wind instrument. They had a chance to play a ukelele, may different types of drums (including a "talking" drum) and percussion instruments (including a "cowbell"). The class even had a chance to participate in a "drum circle" by playing a variety of drums and percussion instruments along to music.

We were also lucky to have Natasha's father, Joe, visit our class to talk about (and play) the saxophone.

Update from Ms. R

The homework this week is to write a story in the homework writing journal about the glow-in-the-dark sheep that I placed in the journals. This homework is due on Friday, April 27th.

ROOM 5 MOVIES! Please check out the student movies on our sister blog. There are 10 movies so remember to see them all at:
http://planet5movies.blogspot.com
.
Please note: Some students are having trouble getting to school on time. Please remember that the school day begins at 8:40 AM. Students arriving late not only miss instructional time but disrupt classroom activities.


Important Dates:

April 23 - School coin drive - donate your coins! This is a parent council fundraiser.
April 27 - Trip to Medieval Times (lunch provided)
May 2 (PM) - artist visit
May 4 - Jump Rope for Heart

News for April 20

News for April 20

This week our school celebrated Earth Week! The class also went to 4 assemblies...

We started out the week by attending the performance of the play "Arabian Nights" by The Little Red Theatre. On Tuesday, the students went to an assembly to talk about "Jump Rope for Heart" where the  children learned about how to keep one's heart healthy and about the jump rope event on May 4th. On Thursday, the class attended a performance of the Ache Brasil dance company (www.achebrasil.com). Finally, on Friday, the children attended an Earth Day assembly to finish off our week of Earth Day activities. Doron and Jacob from our class worked hard in the school's eco-club to help with events this week. Did you know that the "eco-" in eco-club comes from the Greek word "eco" meaning house. (For example, the word ecology means "study of the house", for the earth is like the house that we all live in.)

The students used oral storytelling to review the parts of a narrative (story) and to work with a partner to create stories that used a variety of odd characters, settings and problems. The teams presented their stories to the class.

In math, the children continued the unit on fractions by looking at fractions of a set of objects, equivalent fractions, and ordering fractions from smallest to largest. We also talked about how a particular fraction can be expressed many ways (as a number fraction, as part of a whole, as a part of a set of objects and as a word fraction). Did you know the word fraction comes from the Latin word "fractio" which means "to break"?

In science, the class talked about sound being a form of energy that is projected through solids, liquids and gases by vibrations. The students learned about the structure of the ear and some interesting facts about sound. Did you know that the howler monkey is the loudest animal on earth and can be heard 5 kilometres away? The children also learned about a "foley artist", the person that does sound effects for movies, TV and radio. They watched the videos below to learn how a foley artist makes sound effects and how they record sounds in a type of "sound bank" for future projects.
http://youtu.be/DKDjLseCyVw
http://youtu.be/1y2bCDB5hEw
The class also watched a music video by the band OK GO, where they used a car to play the instruments!
http://youtu.be/MejbOFk7H6c

For Earth Week, the students created puzzle pieces with positive eco-messages on them for the ecology project at www.paradigmshiftproject.org. We had an "ABC Day" or anything-but-the-car day to encourage students to walk or take the TTC to school. Our school had a door decorating challenge to reuse materials to create a beautiful eco-display. Our class challenge was for each student to use only a kleenex box, scissors and masking tape to create a work of art.There were so many amazing ideas. The good news is that our classroom door came in second place and we won a popsicle party!

Books read aloud this week:

Banjo of Destiny by Cary Fagan (chapter book - continued)
The students viewed the video below to see and hear a banjo being played:
http://youtu.be/8wp18pJDnfQ

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to complete the grade appropriate math activity on fractions. This homework is due on Friday, April 20.

Next week is Earth Week! (April 16 - 20)

Monday - All the students in our school will create puzzle pieces with artwork reflecting the changes they would like to see in the world.
Tuesday - Green Bake Sale
Wednesday - ABC Day (Anything But the Car day)
Thursday - Recycled/Reused Art Door Competition
Friday - Earth Day Assembly - Wear green!

News for April 13

News for April 13

This 4-day week was filled with films and fractions!

The students worked very hard to finish their written fables that had lessons at the end of the stories. They also brought their stories to life by creating short films using shadow puppets. These films can be found at our sister site:

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO SEE THE STUDENT MOVIES!

http://planet5movies.blogspot.ca/

In science, the students presented their posters to the class by talking about the invention that they researched. We learned that the "DS" in the name Nintendo DS means "double screen" and that the flute is thought to be the oldest man made instrument, plus a whole lot more. To view the posters and listen to some more fascinating facts, please see the video at the end of this posting.

In math, the students reviewed for and wrote the test on Motion Geometry. The class began the unit on fractions by talking about fractions and equal parts of a whole and how one half of a pizza means a different amount than one half of an M + M! They also learned about how to write fractions as numbers with numerators and denominators and as the number on the bottom (denominator) gets bigger, the amount gets smaller.

Books read aloud this week:

Banjo of Destiny by Cary Fagan (chapter book continued)

Thing Thing by Cary Fagan

Kidsworld (magazine) - Our guided reading groups discussed the features of a magazine.

Here is a video of some fascinating facts from the students' research posters.

Update from Ms. R

The homework for this week is to write a "spoof" of a fairy tale in the homework writing journal. Students are to choose a familiar fairy tale and switch it up by changing the nature of the main characters. The class had a chance to read the spoof of the classic fairy tale, Cinderella, called Cinderella Penguin, where all the characters in the story are penguins instead of people. A spoof is meant to be funny, so I'm looking forward to reading lots of funny stories next week!

News for April 5

The news for April 5

This week the students handed in their science posters showing their research on different inventions that use light and/or sound. They all look amazing! The presentations will start next Tuesday. It was only a four day week, but as usual, there was a lot going on.

The students began the week talking about shadows. They are now working in pairs to write a fable that they will tell orally accompanied by a shadow puppet show using their hands and paper cut-outs.

The class talked a bit about the holidays of Easter and Passover. The students created decorated collage eggs by gluing torn pieces of Japanese washi paper over a styrofoam egg.

In math, the class continued the unit on Motion Geometry by learning about lines of symmetry, translations and tessellations.

In science, the children continued to learn about light and had an afternoon rotating through a variety of activities. The activities highlighted what happens to light when you look through different coloured transparent materials, how light is reflected off flat, concave and convex mirrors and how kaleidoscopes use mirrors and lenses to work.

The students began a math/art project by learning about tessellations. These are tiled patterns that cover a surface without any gaps. They each began with a square of cardboard and cut off a patterned edge, translated it and taped it to the opposite side. Then they each traced around this unique puzzle piece to created a tessellated pattern. Finally, using only 3 colours they began to colour in the design to make a colour pattern on top of the tessellated one.

Our class was also invited to watch the grades 5/6 French plays and a school-wide assembly about "honesty".

Books read aloud this week:

Mirror, Mirror by Suzy Lee

Shadow, Shadow by Suzy Lee

The Easter Egg by Jan Brett

Louis Braille by David A. Adler

How to make shadow puppets video:

This is a cool commercial that uses shadow puppets:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo_pU6GUPHE

Update from Ms. R

Please remember that the science project posters are due on Thursday, April 5th.

Important Dates:

April 5 - Science project posters are due

April 6 - Good Friday (no school)

April 7 - Passover begins

April 8 - Easter Sunday

April 9 - Easter Monday (no school)

April 16 - "Arabian Tales" assembly/play

April 19 - Brazil Dance presentation

April 27 - Trip to Medieval Times Theatre

May 8 - Trip to Pioneer Village (grade 3 students only - details to follow)

News for March 30

News for March 30

At the beginning of the week, the class reviewed the material in the data management math unit in preparation for the unit test. The students all did very well on the test. Good job!

Also this week, we started a new early morning routine. The students have each written a math quiz consisting of a mix of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division questions as well as, some mental math questions. Each morning, the star student is in charge of giving his/her quiz to the class.

Our new unit in math is motion geometry. The children learned about moving shapes across a surface using grid coordinates, reflections (flips) and translations (slides).

In science, the children learned about the difference between, and sources of, natural and artificial light. They also discussed how light travels in straight lines (rays) and how light bounces off surfaces in different ways.

The class finished watching the DVD, "The Miracle Worker" which details the early life the Helen Keller, an inspirational deaf/blind woman. The students worked on summarizing the story and wrote why they thought the movie was titled "The Miracle Worker" . They also expressed, in writing, their opinions of the movie and if they would recommend the movie to a friend. It was a very moving experience to watch the children witness how Helen, as a deaf/blind child navigated her world and how she was able to make the connection between American Sign Language alphabet and objects in her world.

The students used what they know about cursive writing and reflections across a "mirror line" to create an artwork using their names written in cursive and coloured with chalk pastels. Then they wrote a reflection on the creative process, including what the art was communicating and what they thought they did well and what they could do to improve next time.

Books read aloud this week:

My Light (The sun's energy) by Molly Bang

Cinderella Penguin or The Little Glass Slipper

The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses by Joanna Cole

The Room 5 Interview Show!

This week Areena and Enoch interviewed Jennifer Thomason. We were very lucky for Jennifer to stay after the interview to answer the children's questions and to demonstrate how a hearing aid works.