This is the last week of our school food drive. Through our media unit on infographics, we have been learning about food insecurity and the impact that it can have on a child's education and future. The students have learned how important it is for everyone to have access to the nutrition they need, and yet there are so many people who do not. As a class, we made it our goal to bring in 100 food items to help combat food insecurity. So far we have 53 food donations. Please help us reach our goal of 100 by then end of this week when the food drive comes to a close!
This week we got started on creating our very own infographics. Students are using data about food insecurity to create an infographic using Google Documents. We will continue to work on this assignment next week.
For our weekly reading discussion, we read the story The Curious Garden by Peter Brown.
The students have almost all finished publishing their biographies, so this week we started learning about a new writing form: reports! Over the next several weeks we will read and evaluate different parts a of reports and practice writing different report sections before beginning to write our own reports.
In Math, we wrapped up our unit on 2D and 3D geometry and began a new unit on addition and subtraction.
In Science, the Grade Fives learned about the excretory system and how we keep our bodies healthy with good food choices. The Grade Sixes spent time comparing different invertebrates and learning about some of the things that threaten biodiversity, including invasive species and certain human behaviours.
On Friday, the students made sun catchers to hang in the windows for Hanukkah.
This week we spent some time reflecting on what we have learned about infographics over the past several weeks. We will use this information when we begin creating our own infographics next week!
The text we read for our weekly discussions and reading responses was The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.
We also spent more time working on publishing our Biographies. We are just about done!
In Math this week we reviewed what we have learned about 2D shapes and then shifted our focus to 3D shapes. We quickly reviewed what we know about the faces, edges, and vertices of different 3D solids, such as cubes, pyramids, and cylinders. We also learned about drawing different 3D shapes from a top, front, and side view.
In Science, the Grade Fives learned about the respiratory system, the nervous system, the muscular system, and the skeletal system. The Grade Sixes compared different vertebrates and invertebrates.
We started this week with another new infographic and spent some time comparing it to the infographic we looked at last week.
Next week we will reflect on what we have learned about infographics after all of our investigations and begin creating our own infographics.
In honour of Remembrance Day, we read the story Terrible Things by Eve Bunting:
The students engaged in a great discussion about why the author chose to write this allegory and what we should learn from it.
We also had fun practicing our listening and speaking skills as we discussed whether we would prefer to be able to shrink to the size of an ant or grow to the size of two story building, whether we would prefer to eat broccoli flavoured ice cream or meat flavoured cookies, and whether we would prefer to randomly turn into a bird once a week or a frog once a month. It was very interesting to hear everyone's different ideas.
Most students have finished writing their biographies and autobiographies, so this week they started publishing their work. I am looking forward to reading their final products soon!
In Math, the Grade Sixes started the week by learning about the geometric properties of different quadrilaterals, including equal and or parallel sides, vertices, diagonals, internal angles, and lines of symmetry. The Grade Fives started the week by learning about how to classify triangles by side lengths and angles.
Next, the Grade Sixes learned about rotational symmetry, while the Grade Fives learned how to draw triangles given different different side lengths and angles.
To end the week, both grades learned about congruent and similar shapes.
Next week, we will begin focusing on 3D shapes.
In Science, the Grade Fives learned about the circulatory system and the digestive system, while the Grade Sixes learned about scientific classification of living things, including the Five Kingdoms (Plant, Animal, Fungi, Monera, and Protist). They began diving deeper into the Animal Kingdom by learning about vertebrates and invertebrates).
On Monday, we took a break from working on our fitness routines in Gym to spend some time outside playing shadow tag. It was a great way to enjoy the beautiful late fall weather!
Tomorrow is Remembrance Day. While we are still unable to have our usual school assemblies, as a school, we will be honouring the day with a moment of science and a playing of O Canada and The Last Post at 11:00.
As a class, we will be displaying our Remembrance Day art, reading Terrible Things by Eve Bunting, and watching a few short videos explaining the importance of Remembrance Day and the meaning behind the poppy. We listened to this reading of Why We Wear A Poppy today.
Students will receive a poppy to wear for the day, and are encouraged to bring in a donation in support of our Canadian veterans.
Once again, we started our week with a new infographic to read. Soon, students will use what they have learned by investigating all these infographics to create an infographic of their own.
In preparation for Remembrance Day next week, we read the story A Bear in War by Stephanie Innes and Harry Endrulat. We had a great discussion about the sacrifices soldiers make, and the importance of showing our gratitude! On Friday, students wrote postcards to be sent to veterans for Remembrance Day.
Students are just about finished writing and editing the first draft of their biographies and autobiographies. Next week we hope to start publishing our work.
In Math we finished up our unit on Graphing with a test, and began working on a new unit on 2D and 3D Geometry. This week we reviewed the names and attributes of various 2D shapes, and practiced measuring and naming angles (i.e., acute, right, obtuse). The Grade Six students also practiced calculating the value of missing angles in complimentary angles, supplementary angles, triangles, and quadrilaterals.
We began our first Science unit this week, too! The Grade Fives will be learning about the human body, while the Grade Sixes will be learning about biodiversity. This week the Grade Fives learned about cells, and the Grade sixes learned about classifying.
We worked on some 'yarn painting' in Art this week, as we created pieces honouring Remembrance Day.
This week we are getting ready for Remembrance Day. On Thursday, we will be using our Art period to create some pieces in honour of this important day. To help us create these pieces, we will need some light cardboard boxes, such as cereal boxes. If you have any empty boxes at home that you can spare, please have students bring them in on Thursday.
On Friday, we will be writing postcards to send to local veterans through the mail. If you have an extra stamp that your child can use, please send it with him/her on Friday. A stamp will be provided for any student that doesn't have one.
We started our week with a new infographic to examine in Media:
We also read a new book called Vote For Me! by Ben Clanton.
Students continued working on writing their autobiography or biography, and are almost ready to begin editing and publishing their work.
In Math, students learned about Stem and Leaf Plots and how data in graphs can be used. We finished the week with a unit review, and will complete a unit test on Tuesday.
This week students also continued working on their fitness routines, and finishing up the report cards they are writing evaluating the response of the Canadian government to various national and international issues.
We had fun preparing our pumpkin for the annual pumpkin decorating contest.
