Awful Adjectives and Nasty Nouns

Students worked on their Edited Drafts of their Winnie Stories today, after I checked that their Explore Draft was completed for homework. I also assigned a Witches Brew writing asignment which will be completed in class, and students are writing disgusting recipes using 6-8 nasty nouns as ingedients (e.g., rats, toe nails, etc.) that are described with stomach turning adjectives (e.g., thick, runny, etc.) to make their ingredients sound as gross as possible. Sure, fish guts are yucky, but juicy, festering fish guts are even worse. I can almost smell it because it is described in such detail. Students will be determining appropriate units of measure for their ingredients, and witing the recipe's procedure in 3-5 steps, using cooking/baking verbs (e.g., mix, chop, etc.) to tell the reader what they need to do in order to prepare and cook the disgusting Witches Brew recipe for themselves. Bone appetit!!!

In Math, the Grade 5 students had their final review session before their Unit 2 Numeracy Test tomorrow. We went over any difficult questions, and students were assigned specific Chapter 2 Review Questions from the textbook, which will be the type of questions they will see on tomorrow's test. Grade 6 students had a lesson on converting/rounding decimal thousandths to hundredths and tenths using grids, place value charts and number lines.

In Science, the Grade 5 students used their home-made balance scales to challenge store-bought balance scales, to see if their own were as accurate. Surprisingly, most of their home-made scales were pretty close (off by 1-2 grams only). We discussed what could be modified on our scales in order to improve their accuracy, whether it be the materials used for the fulcrum, arm and pans, or in some cases, the length of string used to suspend the pan from the arm. Grade 6 students presented their research on common products that use compressed air, and eaxplained how they worked. We heard about balloons, tires, fire extinguishers, scuba tanks, soda pop containers, airplanes, and more.

Homework Asigned Wednesday October 24, 2007:
Grade 5
-Read 20 minutes, update log
-Reading Response Journal entry due Monday
-Spelling Unit 7
-Winnie Story - Edited Draft due Friday, Published Draft due Monday
-Math: Chapter Review questions in textbook, UNIT 2 TEST TOMORROW!
-Detention letter signed by parents

Grade 6
-Read 20 minutes, update log
-Spelling Unit 7
-Winnie Story - Edited Draft due Friday, Published Draft due Monday
-Math: Textbook, page 55, # 3, 4, 7, 8

PICTURE DAY IS TOMORROW!

Tomorrow is Picture Day, so students are reminded to look their best for both individual and class photos. Practice your smiles!


In Drama today, students read-aloud the remaining parts of Lear Today, Gone Tomorrow, a student-friendly version of William Shakespeare's play, King Lear. Next week, they will break into smaller groups, and practice acting out one scene from the play.


We finished reading Tuck Everlasting today, and a writing assignment was given in which students must write the missing part of Winnie's life between the end of Chapter 25, and the beginning of the Epilogue. Your story needs to be written in first-person, from Winnie's perspective (point of view). Remember the suggestions I made for writing styles/genres you can use: diary entries, memoirs, chapters, etc. Make sure the details of your story coincide with what was written on Winnie's tombstone:

In Loving Memory

Winifred Foster Jackson

Dear Wife

Dear Mother

1870-1948

Your Explore Draft is due Wednesday, your Edited Draft is due Friday, and your Published Draft is due Monday. 3-5 pages minimum, front & back, double-spaced.

In the Computer Lab, students finished their flyers for our Magical Spring Water campaign, which will be presented to the Grade 5 students of room 206 tomorrow morning, along with the campaign debate between the Yellow Suit Water Company vs. Health Canada. Following this, Ms. Schwartz's class will vote for or against the legalization of the magic spring water.

In Math, the Grade 5 students did some drills to practice rounding decimals to whole numbers, then began their review work for their end of unit Math Test on Thursday. Grade 6 students worked on decimals to the thousandths (e.g., 0.235) using Thousandth Grids and Decimal Place Value Charts.

Homework Assigned Monday October 22, 2007:

Grade 5

-Read 20 minutes, update Log

-Spelling Unit 7 - test Friday

-Reading Response Journal entry due Monday

-Winnie story: Wed-Explore Draft, Fri.-Edited Draft, Mon.-Published Draft

-Math: Textbook Chapter 2 Skills Bank review questions - UNIT TEST Thursday!

-Science: Balance Scale due tomorrow with sheet B

-Hand-in your Art Ghost picture tomorrow if you forgot today

Grade 6
-Read 20 minutes, update Log
-Spelling Unit 7 - test Friday
-Winnie story: Wed-Explore Draft, Fri.-Edited Draft, Mon.-Published Draft
-Math: Textbook page 51, #3, 4

-Science: Air Compression research assignment (1 page) due tomorrow
-Hand-in your Art Ghost picture tomorrow if you forgot today

The Ghost with the Most

Today we took a look at ghosts for our Art assignment. Rogers is putting on a drawing contest for students to draw "the ghost that scares you the most" or "sketch a scene from Halloween", so we took on the challenge. Students viewed some photos (real, or at least really photo-shopped) of ghostsly images, to inspire their own artistic visions of what a ghostly image should look like. We also looked at the use of ghosts in classic literature, Like Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and William Shakespeare's Hamlet, in which ghosts are used as messengers for the living characters to change their lives for the better, or to seek revenge for a wrongful action. Students were "dying" (sorry, I couldn't resist the pun) to share their own ghost stories with the class, and I was surprised by just how many of them had a story to tell. My grade 5 and 6 students then spent the rest of the art period drawing their own sketches. Students who wish to enter the Rogers contest need to hand-in their completed picture to me, with their contact information on the back, and have the orange contest rules and regulations form signed by their parent/guardian, which should be handed in to me as well on Monday October 22, 2007.

Homework Assigned Thursday October 18, 2007:
Grade 5:
-Read 20 Minutes, update log for tomorrow!
-Spelling test (50 words) tomorrow
-Media Literacy sheet due tomorrow
-Math, page 49 textbook
-Art, Ghost picture due Monday

Grade 6:
-Read 20 Minutes, update log for tomorrow!
-Media Literacy sheet due tomorrow
-Reading Response Journal entry due Monday
-Spelling test (50 words) tomorrow
-Math, page 49 textbook - mid chapter review - Quiz tomorrow!
-Art, Ghost picture due Monday

Stuck in the Middle of the Week

The Leafs Fitness Challenge continues, as we only have 2 more activities to measure our inital performance of. Then, it will be fitness-building exercises to improve for our 4th week re-measurment. We took some time today to finish-up some outstanding, incomplete work in art & writing. In Math, we continued our units in Numeracy, with lessons, and homework take-up. Science involved new assignments for the students to complete at home over the next week, and present next Tuesday. We also had our first Reading Buddies session with Ms. Wai-Hur's Grade 3 class today.

Homework Assigned Wednesday October 17, 2007:
Grade 5
-Read 20 minute and update reading log (remeber, if the log isn't updated every day, you will be assigned a novel study to do over the weekend).
-Spelling Unit 6 + 50 word test on Friday
-Science: Create a Homemade Balance Scale & complete Activity Sheet B - due Tuesday
-Art: One-Point Perspective picture due tomorrow

Grade 6
-Read 20 minute and update reading log (remeber, if the log isn't updated every day, you will be assigned a novel study to do over the weekend).
-Reading Response Journal entry due Monday (remember to apply my suggestions from your previous entries).
Math: Workbook page 15, Mid-Chapter Quiz on Friday
-Spelling Unit 6 + 50 word test on Friday
-Science: Air Compression Product 1 Page Research Paper - due Tuesday
-Art: One-Point Perspective picture due tomorrow

Catching up

Recently, my class has been keeping very busy with the following...

Art - Students have been given a lesson on drawing with One Point Perspective, in which we use a Vanishing Point (blue dot on diagram) in the middle of our paper, and draw a Horizon Line (red line on diagram), as well as a vertical line and several diagonal lines across the page, all crossing through the vanishing point. Once these lines are drawn, we draw several boxes from smaller (around the vanishing point), to larger (just inside the edge of our paper), which begins to give the Illusion of Depth on the drawing. Using this framework, we continue to draw indoor or outdoor scenes in which the objects closer to us are drawn larger, while the objects further away (closer to the vanishing point) are drawn smaller. For more information on drawing using One-Point Perspective, check out: http://www.olejarz.com/arted/perspective/

Language - Students have been continuing their Novel Study of Tuck Everlasting, and have read up to chapter 20. The class has been divided into two groups, and have been debating the issue of drinking the magical spring water that gives the drinker eternal life. The two groups have taken the positions of the Yellow Suit Water Company, who are for (PRO) magic spring water as they wish to bottle and sell it for huge profits, versus Health Canada, who are against (CON) the magic spring water because of the negative effects it will have on Canadians and the rest of the world. Students have made their arguments based on the 4 Square Writing Method, and are currently using computers to complete a Media Literacy assignment of creating flyers that effectively communicate their group's message about the magic spring water to their audience, Ms. Schwartz's Grade 5 students. Our audience will then vote on whether the use of this magic spring water should be legalized or not. The winning group of students will get a one-week supply of spring water!

Math - The Grade 5 and 6 students have been continuing their units on Numeracy. Grade 5 students had a mid-point quiz today, followed by a lesson on decimal points up to the hundredths column on a place value chart (e.g., 1.25). Grade 6 students Had a lesson on renaming numbers using place value concepts, which involves converting units like bytes to kilobytes to megabytes, or millimetres to centimetres to metres, and so on.

Daily Physical Activity - We have finished Chair Aerobics, and have started our Leafs Fitness Challenge (hopefully this helps us more than it has helped the Leafs so far this season). We are measuring our times and number of repetitions in eight challenges during week one:

1. Vertical Jump - measures the height that a student can jump while reaching upward

2. Standing Long Jump - measures the distance a students can jump from a standing position

3. 10m / 20m Sprint - measures the time it takes students to run 10m and 20m distances

4. Illinois Agility - measures the time it takes students to run a course around pylons

5. Line Test - measures the time it takes students to shuffle sideways from line to line

6. Push-Ups - an all time favourite, measuring the number of push-ups a student can do in a row

7. Wall-Ball-Toss - measures the number of repetitions students can throw and catch a ball

8. Sit and Reach - measures the flexibility and reach of students

Over the next four weeks, we will focus on performing exercises that increase our fitness levels in Power, Speed, Agility, Muscular Strength, Coordination, and Flexibility. At the end of week four, students will measure their times and number of repetitions again, to observe their improvement over time.

Homework Assigned Monday October 15, 2007:

Grade 5

-Read 20 minutes & Update Reading Log

-Bookmatch sheet

-Spelling Unit 6 + 50 Word test this Friday

-Math Textbook page 43, # 6-9

-Science: 3 chart pages due tomorrow

-Art: One Point Perspective Drawing due Thursday

Grade 6
-Read 20 minutes & Update Reading Log
-Bookmatch sheet

-Reading Response Journal entry due Monday
-Spelling Unit 6 + 50 Word test this Friday
-Math Textbook page 45, # 6-9
-Science: Experiment pages due tomorrow
-Art: One Point Perspective Drawing due Thursday

Wet Wednesday

Our morning started with Ms. Poggi in the Library, fo rour Media Literacy unit. Students examined different forms of media (e.g., DVDs, VHS tapes, newspapers, flyers, brochures, magazines, etc.) and analyzed their different characteristics. We had a discussion about why different types of media are used in order to have the message reach different target audiences.

Grade 5 and 6 students each received independent reading time (D.E.A.R. - Drop Everything And Read), as well as some time to continue working in their writing folders today.

In Math, the Grade 5 students took-up their homework, and we went over the difficulties students were having with rounding numbers to the nearest hundreds, thousands, and ten-thousands, using both Number Lines, and Place Value Charts. The Grade 6 students went over their homework with me, and had a lesson on using Place Value Charts to represent numbers up to one million (1 000 000).

During Science, the Grade 5 students did an assignment involving reading notes about States of Matter and organizing the information onto three charts for Solids, Liquids and Gases, including definitions, diagrams, explanations, and examples. Following this, they had a short quiz about the main points they came across today. The Grade 6 students observed an experiement I conducted today, involving the expansion and contraction of gases. I attached an empty balloon to the top of an empty 2L plastic bottle of pop. This bottle was first held in a bowl of boiling water, and afterward, it was held in cold water. Students predicted, observed, and recorded the results of this experiment. Following this, they drew diagrams and wrote explanations behind why things happened in this experiment.

REMINDER: While we have been fortunate enough to enjoy prolonged summer temperatures up to last week, it appears that autumn has finally decided to join us. It was a cold and wet day out there today, and students need to start bringing warmer outdoor clothes every day, so they are dressed properly for the weather. I wished I had a tuque and gloves on me, this afternoon during yard duty! I won't make that mistake again.

Homework Assigned Wednesday October 10, 2007:
Grade 5
-Read 20 minutes, update log
-Reading Response Journal entry due Monday
-Math Workbook page 12, # 1, 2, 3, 4
-Social Studies: Government Leaders sheet & title page due tomorrow
-Science: 3 chart pages due Tuesday

Grade 6
-Read 20 minutes, update log
-Math Textbook page 41, # 4, 6, 8
-Social Studies: Coutries in the News sheet & title page due tomorrow
-Science: pop bottle/balloon experiment pages due Tuesday

Turkey Tuesday

Daily Physical Activity started our day with student group 4 leading the routine, to the upbeat music of Green Day. Group 5 leads tomorrow and group 6 leads Thursday, so have your music and routine ready! We will be moving on to the Leafs Fitness Challenge next week.

I taught a lesson on the BOOKMATCH checklist today, which my students will be using to help them find books to read independently that are right for them.
Each letter in B-O-O-K-M-A-T-C-H stands for a different item on the checklist.
Book length:
- Is this book a good length for me?
- Is it too little, just right, or too much?
- Do I feel like committing to this book?
Ordinary language:
- Turn to any page and read aloud.
- Does it sound natural?
- Does it flow? Does it make sense?
Organization:
- How is the book structured (e.g., chapters / sections).
- Am I comfortable with the print size and number of words on a page?
- Are chapters short or long?
Knowledge prior to the book:
- Read the title, view the cover page.
- Read the summary on the back of the book.
- What do I already know about this topic, author, or illustrator?
Manageable text:
- Begin reading the book.
- Are the words in the book easy, just right or too hard?
- Do I understand what I read?
Appeal to genre:
- What is the genre?
- Have I read this genre before?
- Do I like or expect to like this genre?
Topic appropriateness:
- Am I comfortable with the topic of this book?
- Do I fell like I am ready to read about this topic?
Connection:
- Can I relate to this book?
- Does this book remind me of anything or anyone?
High interest:
- Am I interested in the topic of this book?
- Am I interested in the author or illustrator?
- Do others recommend this book?

Students have a copy of this in their Reading Log duotangs, and should get into the habit of referring to this checklist when deciding on a new book to read independently. In the coming weeks, I will post a recommended reading list for different levels of readers in my class.

In Math, the Grade 6 students received their Unit One Tests back, to be signed by a parent and returned to me. Grade 6 students who received less than 70% are required to come to my Grade 6 Math Club Thursdays at 12 noon in room 201, for extra help. Grade 6 students that received 71% to 80% are encouraged to attend, i fthey would like to improve their skills. Grade 6 students also received a lesson on Exploring Greater Numbers, involving estimating and comparing numbers up to 1 000 000.

Math for the Grade 5 students involved a lesson on rounding whole numbers to the nearest hundreds, thousands, or ten-thousands. Remember 5+ gets rounded UP in the next place value column to the left, while 4- gets rounded DOWN.

In Social Studies, the Grade 5 students reviewed their work from last week, and completed an activity sheet on Canada's Government Leaders and their responsibilities at the Federal, Provincial, and Municipal levels of Government. Grade 6 students worke din groups of three to examine newspaper articles from the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail, and find articles that refer to different countries around the world, listing them in a chart for future discussion and comparison with other groups of students. Students from both grades were asked to complete a Canada's World Connections title page for their Social Studies duotangs as homework. Remember your titles:
Grade 5 - Aspects of Citizenship and Government in Canada
Grade 6 - Canada's Links to the World

Homework Assigned Tuesday October 9, 2007:
Grade 5
-Read 20 minutes, UPDATE READING LOG in duotang
-Reading Response Journal entry due Monday (read over the notes I wrote and apply my suggestions to your next written entry)
-Spelling Unit 5 due Friday (skip Observing Patterns this week)
-Math Textbook page 37, # 3, 4, 5
-Social Studies: Government Leaders sheet & Titlepage due Thursday

Grade 6
-Read 20 minutes, UPDATE READING LOG in duotang
-Spelling Unit 5 due Friday (skip Observing Patterns this week)
-Math Workbook page 11, # 1, 2, 3
-Math Test signed and returned
-Social Studies: Countries in the News sheet & Titlepage due Thursday