The blog is back in town. Now, in a new and improved Weekly format. On Mondays or Fridays the blog will be updated with notes about what is happening in Mr. Wood's Grade 5/6 classroom at Vradenburg. I will, however, post the homework for each night on the blog, as I have been told that some students miss having that reminder.
For LANGUAGE, students have continued working in their Writing Folders, and most have completed at least one published draft. We also completed our Novel Study on Tuck Everlasting, and have started our new novels in three different reading groups. The three new novels are Zlata's Diary, The Broccoli Tapes, and Samir and Yonatan. These three novels are all written in the First Person - two of them are in diary form, while the other is one boy's account of his life.
In MATH, students are finishing their units on Data Management (Chapter 3), and will be having their Chapter Tests on Tuesday. We have done a lot of work with graphing data in various ways, and learned new terms such as Range, Intervals, Mean, Mode, and Median. The next unit will be Addition & Subtraction/Multiplication & Division.
In DRAMA, we have been working on our play, Lear Today, Gone Tomorrow, based on William Shakespeare's King Lear. Students are currently memorizing their lines, so we can begin working on our staging and choreography. We have a lot of work ahead of us.
In HEALTH, we just finished an assignment called, What IS Beautiful? We talked about the TV show Ugly Betty, and discussed why she is called “ugly”, when in fact, she is truly beautiful. This got us wondering, “WHO is responsible for telling us what is UGLY, and what is BEAUTIFUL?” Each student was responsible for completing a collage that respresents WHAT IS BEAUTIFUL. On one side of the collage, students cut out and pasted images from magazines, etc., which represent what “the MEDIA” classifies as beautiful (e.g., the media thinks that a perfect “10” model is beautiful). On the other side of the paper, students cut out and pasted images that THEY THEMSELVES think are beautiful (e.g., Mr. Wood thinks that a hot pepperoni pizza and an ice-cold glass of Coca-Cola is beautiful). On a separate piece of paper, students were responsible for writing a paragraph about each side of their collage, explaining why they chose each image as representing what is beautiful according to the media, and themselves. The finished collages are hanging on display in our classroom as a reminder that WE ultimately have the power to decide what is beautiful for OURSELVES.
In ART, I have been teaching the students how to draw more realistic faces. Students were shown how to start by dividing their page into four quarters, then use the mid-point as the centre of the face, and draw a symmetrical oval around it. The line across the centre of the oval is the Eye Line. The line halfway between the Eye Line and the Chin is the Nose Line. The line halfway between the Nose Line and the Chin is the Mouth Line. Horizontal lines below the Eye Line are curved downward, while horizontal lines above the Eye Line are curved upward in order to give the illusion of shape to the oval and make it look more spherical. Then, we determine the width of the eye with respect to the size of our oval, and use that measurement to plot out the points on our face drawing. Our face drawing proportions should be 5 eye widths across by 7 eye widths up/down. The nose is 1 eye width wide. The mouth is 2 eye widths wide. Ear Lines go just above the Eye Line and just below the Nose Line. Form there, studetns can look at someone's face, and draw it using this framework. Practice makes perfect, so draw as many faces as you can! Don't forget to add shading to give your drawing the illusion of form and depth. Also, pay attention to all of the small details that make each person's face unique.
In SOCIAL STUDIES, students have begun their research projects for their Canada's World Connections units. Grade 5 students are researching aspects of Canadian Citizenship - from what it takes to become a citizen, to our rights and responsibilities as a citizen of Canada. Grade 6 students are researching Canada's Relationship with the United States - with respect to trade, imports/exports, cultural influences, travel & tourism, media, etc.
In SCIENCE, students have finished their unit on MATTER & MATERIALS, and will be moving on to the EARTH AND SPACE SYSTEMS units this week. This unit was originally scheduled for Term 3, however, we have moved it up due to the fact that we have been fortunate enough to schedule presentations from experts on weather which will take place this week, as a kick off to this unit. The unit on STRUCTURES AND MECHANISMS will now be covered in Term 3 in its place.
Homework Assigned Monday November 19, 2007:
Grade 5
-Read for 20 minutes
-Memorize drama lines for play
-Math: do the chapter review questions to practice for the Test tomorrow
-Bring Pictures or Picture Money back by Friday
-Michael Koos from City TV visits Grade 5 students tomorrow at 9:30 am!
Grade 6
-Read for 20 minutes
-Memorize drama lines for play
-Math: do the chapter review questions to practice for the Test tomorrow
-Bring Pictures or Picture Money back by Friday
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