Friday, September 14, 2007

Friday's Finished

Spelling tests were given first thing this morning, to all students, and we continued reading Tuck Everlasting, Chapter 5. Students continued working on their Genres of Literature posters, and anything else they needed to complete from this week, before lunch.

In Math, the Grade 5 students had a Patterning quiz today, which took up the majority of the period. Grade 6 students had a lesson about using variables in their pattern rules, and worked in groups to finish the textbook questions during class time.

Gym class saw us playing round 2 of Powerball, and we will be continuing Mr. Stone's Soccer unit next week. During Gym, it was announced over the P.A. system, that Mr. Wood's class finished in 2nd place this week for participation in the Kilometre Club - beaten only by our rivals, Ms. Schwartz's Grade 5 class. WE WILL ALL DO OUR BEST TO PARTICIPATE AND RUN AS MANY KILOMETRES AS WE CAN NEXT WEEK, in order to win the golden shoe award. Remember, even if you do 1 lap before school and 1 lap at lunch, it counts as participation for the day! I will be striving to beat my personal best for number of kilometres I can run next week, and I encourage all of my students to do the same!

We ended the day with a visit from our Grade 2 Reading Buddies in Ms. Chang's class. Students finished their drawings from last week, and began reading picture books with their Grade 2 buddies today.

During lunch, I co-supervised The Vradenburg World Cup Of Soccer house league games with Mr. Stone. We had a great turn out, and all of the students had a great time getting involved and playing to the best of their abilities. I will be co-supervising try-outs for the Vradenburg Vikings Soccer Team, which begin next week. A permission form was sent home today, and needs to be signed and returned Monday morning to allow each student to come to the try-outs.

I am also looking at starting a Comic Book Art Club in the next couple of weeks, and will provide students with information forms during a meeting one day next week.

Homework Assigned Friday September 14, 2007:
Grade 5
-Read at least 20 minutes each day, update reading log

Grade 6
-Read at least 20 minutes each day, update reading log

(I went easy on the homework this weekend)

Thursday, September 13, 2007

That's Thursday

We had another round of Chair Aerobics today, and next week we will try Workout 2, to learn more exercises we can do in our chairs. Then it will be up to the students to create a Chair Aerobics routine, and bring in their own music for us to move to the beat of.

We did shared reading of Tuck Everlasting, chapters 3 and 4, during which we focussed on the dark/evil/mysterious description of the stranger who came to the Foster's Gate and started talking to Winnie. We also discussed how authors sometimes have their characters speak to an animal or inanimate object, which cannot answer back, yet the character has an entire conversation with it. This lets the reader hear and understand the thoughts and feelings that character has, which they may not be expressing to other characters in the book. This lets the reader know something that the other characters don't.

We did a lot of work focussing on different genres of literature today. Students were put into pairs, with each pair reviewing one type of genre:
Non-Fiction
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Myths & Legends
Folk Tales, Fairy Tales, Fables, Tall Tales
Autobiography
Biography
Diary
Mystery
Poetry
Science Fiction
Realistic Fiction
We explored our classroom library, and re-organized misplaced titles, so we can now more easily find books based on their genres.

In Math, the Grade 5 students went over their homework with me, and began their Patterning mid-unit review. They will have a short quiz tomorrow. The Grade 6 students took-up their homework with me, then they completed some assigned workbook questions in class and we examined the questions that gave them some difficulty, in more depth.

Art class ended our day, and we continued our work with literature genres. The students worked in their pairs, designing eye-catching and informative posters about their genre. These finished posters will be presented to the class next week and the presentations will include students choosing some books from our classroom library to provide examples of that genre to the rest of the class.

Homework Assigned Thursday September 13, 2007:
Grade 5
-Read 20 minutes, update reading log
-Spelling Unit 1 due tomorrow, and Spelling test tomorrow
-Math Review Textbook page 10 - Short Quiz tomorrow!
-Science experiment (Glue) finished by next Tuesday

Grade 6
-Read 20 minutes, update reading log
-Spelling Unit 1 due tomorrow, and Spelling test tomorrow
-Science experiment (Aerodynamics) finished by next Tuesday

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Wednesday's What's What

Wow! We had all 24 of my students participate in Kilometre Club today, and even I ran 5 km myself! Ms. Schwartz's class doesn't stand a chance against us if we keep up this pace!

Students took turns reading parts of Chapter 2 of Tuck Everlasting, and we had a class discussion about the positive and negative aspects of having eternal life - like the family in this novel received after they drank water from the magical spring in the forest. Some of the family members view this power as a blessing while the others regard it as a curse.

We also took some time to proof read each others' Reading Response Journal entries - the good copies of which are due tomorrow.

Math consisted of new lessons for both the Grade 5 and 6 students, after which, they worked on textbook problems in class. Whatever questions were not completed in class, are to be finished for homework. The Grade 5 students were also assigned some extra practice questions in their Math Workbook.

In Science, the Grade 5 students performed an experiment to determine which type of glue was the best at sticking popsicle sticks together, while the Grade 6 students experimented with how two objects of similar size and different weight moved through the air as they were dropped from the same height. Both experiments involved the scientific process:
Purpose
Hypothesis
Materials
Method
Diagram (Grade 6)
Results
Conclusion
Application
Science Vocabulary Terms (Grade 6)
These steps above will be followed in all of our experimentations throughout the year.

Homework Assigned Wednesday September 12, 2007:
Grade 5
-Read 20 minutes, update reading log
-Reading Response Journal entry due tomorrow (5 paragraphs answering 3 questions)
-Spelling Unit 1 due Friday, Spelling Test Friday morning
-Math Workbook page 3, # 1-3
-Science experiment (Glue) due next Tuesday
-Arrow Book Order due tomorrow

Grade 6
-Read 20 minutes, update reading log
-Reading Response Journal entry due tomorrow (5 paragraphs answering 3 questions)
-Spelling Unit 1 due Friday, Spelling Test Friday morning
-Math Textbook pg. 10 # 4, 5, 7, 8
-Science experiment (Aerodynamics) due next Tuesday
-Arrow Book Order due tomorrow

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Tuesday's Gone

Chair Aerobics started our day with some Daily Physical Activity (DPA), as we worked out to some music by K-OS (from Toronto) and the Bloc Party (from the United Kingdom). Let's all be sure to do our best to come out for Kilometre Club each morning at 8:20am, and lunchtime at 12:15pm, to run as many laps and get as manny popsicle sticks as we can each day. WE NEED TO WIN OUR BET WITH MS. SCHWARTZ'S CLASS, so that they will have to come sing us a song. Every popsicle stick counts toward half a kilometre, and EVERY KILOMETRE COUNTS! I will be lacing-up my runners to join you tomorrow!

We began reading Tuck Everlasting in class for our novel study. Today I read the Prologue and Chapter One aloud to the class, explaining some of the author's descriptive imagery with drawings on the chalkboard. The Prologue hinted to us that 3 events will take place which seem unconnected at first, but these things will come together in the end. Tomorrow, we will do some shared reading of Chapter Two and Three, where the students can take turns reading parts, followed by a classroom discussion. The students and I went over expectations for Reading Response Journal entries, and how to fill out their Reading Log sheets in order to keep them updated. I have pushed this week's Reading Response Journal entry due date back to Thursday, so students will have a chance to peer-edit each other's work, and I will also do some editing with them.

In Math, the Grade 5 students took up their homework, and went over the problems in detail with me. The Grade 6 students worked in pairs, extending a pattern t-chart from design #1 up to design #20 of a pattern, in order to determine perimter of the 20th design. Homework was assigned (see bottom of this blog entry).

Science class had the Grade 5 students were introduced to their unit, Properties of and Changes in Matter, by examing three different types of glue (white glue, glue sticks, and clear glue) to compare their characteristics and determine their states of matter (solid, liquid or gas). Tomorrow, they will experiment with these glues to determine which types work the best. Grade 6 students began their unit, Properties of Air and Characteristics of Flight, with a review of the new Science Vocabulary that they will encounter. Grade 6 students must keep an updated list of Science Vocabulary terms, definitions and diagrams in their duotangs, as we come across them. This vocabulary page needs to be complete prior to the unit test, as it will help students when they study. The Grade 6 students then began working on listing characteristics of plant and animals that move through fluids (air and water/liquids) in a chart.

Our class ends the day each Tuesday with Music in Ms. Lee's room.

Homework Assigned Tuesday September 11, 2007:
Grade 5
-Read 20 minutes and fill-out Reading Log
-Finish Rough Copy of Reading Response Journal Entry for editing in class tomorrow (Good Copy is now due Thursday)
-Spelling Unit 1 is due Friday (do one section per night)
-Science: Finish Chart - Examining Glue

Grade 6
-Read 20 minutes and fill-out Reading Log
-Finish Rough Copy of Reading Response Journal Entry for editing in class tomorrow (Good Copy is now due Thursday)
-Spelling Unit 1 is due Friday (do one section per night)

-Math: Workbook page 2
-Science: Finish Chart - Moving Through Air & Water

Monday, September 10, 2007

Monday, Monday...

Hello everyone,

Drama started off our day, with the improvisation activity, "What is it?". Students used different objects from around the class room (e.g. a large square piece of fabric), and used their imaginations to turn in into different things (e.g. a dress, a table cloth, and more inventive things like a hockey stick, and soccer ball). This got the students out of their seats and participating first thing on a Monday morning, setting the pace for the rest of the week.

Spelling books, Reading Response Journals and Novel Studies (Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt) were handed out today (see homework at bottom of this blog entry). We also reviewed the meanings of Key Words we will be using in Language and Mathematics this year (which will also be the key words used in questions on the Grade 6 EQAO tests at the end of the school year):
-Compare
-Define
-Describe
-Determine
-Explain / Explain Your Thinking
-Identify
-Justify
-List
-Predict
-Show Your Work
-Summarize
-Use Information from the Reading Selection to Support Your Answer
-Use Your Own Ideas to Support Your Answer

We had our first session in the Computer Lab after lunch today, where we ironed-out any login problems, and set-up our new passwords so we would be ready to go for our Library Partnership session on Wednesday morning.

In Math, the Grade 5 students did some group reflection questions in pairs, after learning about the use of charts to display patterning information in clear, easy-to-read ways. Grade 5 homework was assigned (see bottom of this blog entry). The Grade 6 students took-up their homework, and worked on some Math Equation Tricks in pairs, which they are to finish up on their own for homework if not done in class.

My class finished off their day in Gym class, with Mr. Stone, who is encouraging all students to participate in the Kilometre Club by running at school at 8:20am and 12:20pm every day to earn popsicle sticks for every lap they run. I know my class can break all records for participating this year!

Homework Assigned Monday September 10, 2007:
Grade 5
-Read 20 minutes
-Reading Response Journal Entry (5 paragraphs) due Wednesday
-Spelling Unit 1 due Friday (remember to only do one section per night)
-Math Workbook page 2 all questions

Grade 6
-Read 20 minutes
-Reading Response Journal Entry (5 paragraphs) due Wednesday
-Spelling Unit 1 due Friday (remember to only do one section per night)

-Math: Finish Math Equation Tricks in Textbook if not done in class