Thursday, December 18 Homework

HOMEWORK:

1.  Christmas Draft Paragraph due Jan. 8

2.  Grade 6 Math: p. 80 #1-10

3.  Grade 5 Math: p. 89-90 due Jan. 8

4.  Grade 5 Math Word Problem Test signed

5.  Grade 5 Math p. 130 #3, 4, 5 (Friday)

Tuesday 16 December 2014

Homework:

Math:
Gr 5: Math quiz signed (W)
Gr 6: p. 77 # 6-10 (W)

French:
French dialog oral quiz (W)
(scroll to the end of November to see the script students are to follow)


For Mrs. Weiss (all due Thursday)
-fix the Christmas outline
-Science organism lab due
-Gr. 5 Math p. 87-88

Thursday, December 11 Homework

HOMEWORK:

1.  Language Arts: Fix Christmas Outline due Thursday
2.  Science Organism Lab due Thursday / Assessment
3. Grade 5 Math: p. 87-88

The Grinch!!

 I certainly hope you got a chance to attend our performances of How the Grinch Stole Christmas today or tonight. What a lot of work for all concerned, but the performance was unforgettable! I'm so proud of the kids and all they did to make the day such a success. To the choir members, thank you for such lovely moments, and break a leg for the last two performances on Thursday.

Parents, I'm still in need of a parent who can drive alongside us on Monday afternoon from roughly 1:15 to 2:30 pm, as well as a parent who can walk with us at that time.

Anyone have the afternoon off? If so, please send me a note: pclarke@sd44.ca

Thanks so much!

Tuesday 9 December, 2014

Today was a day of rehearsing for tomorrow's Christmas concert, so there is no new homework.

Because our class performs tomorrow, our students will need to bring their "costume" in the morning when they come to school. The class has been asked to dress in black top and pants, and have something colourful for outerwear... it could be a colourful winter coat, but it could also be a bright scarf, or a toque, or brightly coloured mittens. We perform during the afternoon (curtain goes up at 12:45 pm) and again at night (students come in at 6:30-6:45 pm) so they can leave their colourful outerwear in the class between performances.

See you there I hope!

Monday December 8, 2014

Students were practicing their French dialogue (see the post from November... scroll down if you child needs to see it.) There are two participants in the dialogue: person A and person B, and students need to be prepared to take on either role.

Gr. 5s are just starting a Math unit on perimeter and area, but there is no homework for tonight.

This Friday every class in the school is participating in our annual neighbourhood canvassing for non-perishable food items to be donated to the food bank. I need a parent who is willing to walk with me and the class this Friday afternoon for an hour so so. That day we leave notices at the front door of houses on our particular route. Then, next Monday 15 December I'll need two parents to help... one driving a car (very slowly) and the other parent at the back of the class line. If you can help either this Friday (Dec 12) or Monday (Dec 15), please let me know! Thank you.

Thursday, December 4 Homework

Homework

1. Grade 6: Math p. 73 #11-12

2. Grade 5: Math p. 128 #8, 10, 11 (F)

3. Science Collage & Title (OVERDUE)

Recognition Assembly

Recognition Assembly date has been changed from December 11 to December 18.

 New date of assembly: December 18

Einstein was right! Time is relative.

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling like time is rushing pell-mell much faster than it should, or at least faster than I was expecting. Somehow it's already December, and the next thing we'll know it will Christmas. Whoosh!

Homework:

Math:
Gr. 6   p. 73 # 8-10 (Th)

Gr. 5   p. 124 # 8, 10, 11 (F)

Reminders due for tomorrow (Thursday)
Brainstorm: Christmas
Science covers collage (Overdue)

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge – redux

Before school even started, one student in my class, Trevor, accepted the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, but then passed it along to me!

As soon as school was in session this fall, we gathered the class outside with lots of water, including a big cold bucket of ice water. The students got me thoroughly wet! It was great, but c-c-c-cold!

Tonight, like thousands of others who participated this summer and fall, I received this letter:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We are pleased to announce that thanks to your support over $2 million
was raised in British Columbia and the Yukon from the ALS Ice Bucket
Challenge. Over $16 million was  raised in Canada for research and
patient services!

Through a partnership with Brain Canada, the ALS Societies across Canada
will contribute $10 million of these funds to ALS research.  This will
be matched by Brain Canada, doubling the money to $20 million for ALS
research.

The remaining $6 Million will go to support people living with ALS
through service programs administered by the provincial ALS Societies.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was an unprecedented, unplanned event that
went viral.  The success worldwide was outstanding. The responsibility
of accountability and stewardship is now in our hands.  You have our
promise to follow through.  We believe we can build on this success to
reach our goal of a world without ALS.   

Thank you so much for your generous support.

Sincerely,

Wendy Toyer, Executive Director
ALS Society of BC

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From September, 2014:

Many thanks to Trevor for nominating me, and in so doing, giving me the encouragement to do something for others that I might not have done. To the rest of the class: your aim was especially accurate that day, and I wonder why!! Well done, everyone.

Trev: You da man!

The Grinch is coming!

Today I collected reading questions from students (not quite all had the assignments completed for today as requested). Any unfinished assignments need to be completed for Monday.

Math Homework:
Gr 5s have no homework
Gr 6s have a Math quiz next week (perhaps as soon as Monday) as well as
p. 72 # 5 (M)

Social Studies (Mapping)
The booklet "People and Planet" should be completed and ready to be handed in Monday.

Health & Career Education
Students had an extra period of practice/preparation for their presentation next week. Students were put in groups of 4 with different career aspirations. Their objective was to work together to creatively come up with a Company that would showcase all their career's skills. This collaborative work relies on good people skills to ensure all members of the group participate to their ability, and to ensure the task gets completed on time.

Presentations for the groups of 4 is Tuesday December 2. Each group will pitch their idea for their "Company" to the rest of the combined 5/6 classes, and they will have just 2 minutes to do it. Today scripts were being written by some groups, while others were designing their company logo, or coming up with architectural drawings, etc. There is lots of variation from one group to another, lots of creativity evident in their thinking. A few students took poster paper home to finish a company banner, or some will be bringing props or costumes. These should probably be brought in Monday, and left with the teacher so there won't be disappointments if they get forgotten on Tuesday.

On other fronts, we are starting new greeting dialogues in French. I have the general outline here:

Dialogue Hello, How are you, Age, Goodbye

It is not expected that children know this yet, as we just started today. Gr 5s will not need to know how to spell these phrases, but Gr 6s will eventually.

Under Mrs. Martin's tutelage, she has had our students decorating the school's front windows in Grinch panels as part of our art classes. The finished panels look great in the late afternoon sunshine, and will be great advertising for the upcoming Christmas Concert! Here's a few views of the painted windows:

Thursday, November 27: Homework

HOMEWORK:

1. Language Arts Brainstorm: Christmas  (Th)
2. Grade 6 Math: p. 72 #5 (M)
3. Ms. Beleski's Math
4. Immunization Forms
5. Science Covers: Collage & Title  OVERDUE by 3 weeks
   Complete by Thursday or at recess & lunch on Thursday
6.  Reading for Mr. Clarke (F)
7. Socials: People & Planet (M)

What is going on???

Has Mr. Clarke gone bonkers?

Is this a digital form of jail?

Some kind of oriental art?

Minecraft for zombies?

Ask your child what this was all about.

Homework:

Math:
Gr 5: Word problem quiz (Th)
Gr 6: p. 72 # 4 and also a Quiz (Th)

Reading:
Gr 5: Comet story (F)
Gr 6: Comet and Malala stories (F)

Study Skills (Miss Lee)
Reader Responce (Th)

Science:
Lab (dogs) (Th)

Socials:
People and Planet package (M)

Homework:

Math:
Gr. 5: Unit 2 Quiz (W); Word Problem Quiz (Th)
Gr. 6: p. 72 # 1-3 (W)

Study Skills (Ms. Lee)  # 1-5 (Th)

Science Lab (dogs) (Th)

Homework:

The Fourteenth Goldfish "Father" Questions 1-4 (M)
Study Skills (Ms. Lee) # 1-5 (Th)

For Mrs. Weiss:
Gr. 5 Complete math package; be prepared for a Math Test on word problems (Th)

Gr 5 & 6: Complete the Science Lab on dogs (Th)
Complete your overdue Science cover collage if you haven't already finished it (Th)

Favourite Gr 5/6 Books:

These reccommendations come directly from our readers in Div 4. Looking for a book for your son or daughter? Look no further than this juicy list of great reads!

 

The Blood of the Olympus                Rick Riordan

The Series of Unfortunate Events      Lemony Snicket

Shark Wars                                          E. J. Altbacker

Dork Diaries                                       Rachel Reneé Russell

The Sisters Club                                 Megan McDonald

In A Glass Grimmly                           Adam Gidwitz

Eragon                                                 Christopher Paolini

Me and Death                                     Richard Scrimger

The Maze Runner series                     James Dashner

Diary Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul    Jeff Kinney

Walls Within Walls                             Maureen Sherry

Hugo Cabret                                        Brian Selznick

The Lost Hero (Percy Jackson)          Rick Riordan

The Son of Neptune (ditto)                Ditto

Inkspell                                               Cornelia Funke

Elijah of Buxton                                  Christopher Paul Curtis

The Alex Rider series                          Anthony Horowitz

My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish             Mo O’Hara

The Harry Potter Series                      J(osie) K(an) R(ead)

The Familiars series                            Adam J Epstein

Dear Dumb Diary                               Jim Benton

The Mysterious Benedict Society      Trenton Lee Stewart

The Wildwood Chronicles                  Colin Meloy

The Candymakers                               Wendy Mass

Double Fudge                                      Judy Blume

Then It Happened                              M & L Wade

I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have to Kill You                   Ally Carter

The Lord of the Rings series               J. R. R. Tolkien

           

Thursday, November 20, 2014

HOMEWORK:

1. Grade 5: Math Word Problem test on Thursday
2.  Ms. Beleski's math sheet
3.  Grade 6 Math: no homework
4. Science lab due Thursday
5. Science collage covers and title  OVERDUE

Owl pellets

Our class, and our buddy class (Mrs. Kristensen's class) got to spend an hour dissecting owl pellets to try and determine what the prey was. Some of the bones and skulls indicated mouse, rat, shrew or vole, or small bird. This might have been an activity for the squeamish to avoid, but in fact, all the students really got into it, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Homework for the day:

Math:
Gr 6 No homework
Gr 5: p. 67 # 11 (F)
Gr. 5: For select students: Complete the math package for Mrs. Weiss (which was due a week ago) (Th)

Health & Career:
Study Skills handout (from Ms. Lee)
# 1-5 (Th)

Science:
Collage covers if not completed already

Homework:

Math:
Gr. 5:  Parents sign the Rounding Quiz (T)
Gr. 5:  p. 66 # 1-4 (T)

Gr. 6:  No math homework tonight

French:
Oral testing is under way for numbers 1-21

Thursday, November 14

HOMEWORK

1. Grade 5 Math: complete math package from last week (due Thurs.)
2. Grade 6 Math: BEDMAS #1, 2, 3, 4 (due Fri.)
3. Science Covers: Collage & Title (the whole duo-tang should be covered) OVERDUE
4. Card Project Orders due Nov. 14

After an extended "weekend" we were back at it today, with an especially exciting morning full of Genius Hour presentations! It was something to behold! Most students really learned a lot (evidently!), and some had really knockout presentations. A good number learned enough to realize that is probably NOT a career they would wish to pursue. Any time students are engaging deeply with the topic at hand, even if it is to realize that certain careers have big drawbacks, that is a good thing. Several people were absent, or their partner was, and although we can't recreate the excitement of this day, there will be opportunities to present when everyone is back.

Homework:
Science covers competed in a collage (Th)
Gr. 6 Math: Complete 2 questions on Order of Operations (BEDMAS) (Th)
Gr. 5 Math: Quiz on rounding off (estimating) (F)

This Friday we will say farewell to Ms. Davies, our student teacher, who will be returning to Australia. We've enjoyed every day with her here, and the three weeks has simply flown by!

Super fun day at Brooksbank today.

1) We're really enjoying reading "The 14th Goldfish" a novel about, amongst other things, the fountain of youth. We made some handprints to mirror those that are mentioned several times in the novel.

2) We had a very moving Remembrance Day ceremony in the gym, with many classes adding their interpretations. Division 4 performed a very touching piece to some word written a few years ago by a former student of Ms. Dunkley's.

3) Then after lunch we had a really spell-binding (!) visit from Dan Gainer, from UBC on volcanology. This was inspired by a blog post that one student in Division 4 wrote recently (see it here) on his Grandpa's farm in Chile... which is near a very active volcanic range. Dan gave us a general talk on volcanos, and how they are formed, hazards, and shared some of his recent experiences in Hawaii and here in BC observing active volcanos.

Dan has a knack for explaining even complicated things in a way that we could all understand. The students and I were in for quite a ride!

We even got to each take a piece of pumice home... for free!

4) Lastly, we finished the day with a great lesson from Ms. Davies, our Australian student teacher. Today we learned about Aussie slang, and we had a ball doing it!

And finally, we finished with a catchy song, a snippet of which you can hear in the video clip below:

So all in all, that was a pretty full day, with all sorts of experiences and learning opportunities.

I trust you and your family will enjoy the long weekend. I look forward to next week, and especially to our first day back, Wednesday 12 November, for our Genius Hour presentations!

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Homework:

1. Finish Science covers

• 3 word title: Science ______  ______
• Collage of all the things that represents science
•  Due Thursday

2. Grade 6 Math: p. 66 #10 &12

Genius Hour Presentations

Next Wednesday 12 November students in our class, working individually or in pairs, will present the result of their Genius Hour research on careers as part of our study on Health and Career Education.

Students will make a 2-minute presentation, accompanied by a poster, and repeat that 2-minute presentation about 12-15 times. Presenters will have an audience of one or two people, and will be held to the 2-minute time limit.

During that time they need to show some enthusiasm for their chosen career, talk a bit about the educational/training/talent required to get into that career, what the good parts about that career might be, and what some of the challenges might be. Most importantly, we'd like the student to know something of the habits, likes, traits, or skills a person would need to embody to succeed in that career.

Their poster should have a title, names of presenter(s), a drawing or two relevant to the career, and a number of point form notes or a bulleted list of about 5 important points that would be covered in the talk. Border? Background colour? Layout? That is up to the student to decide.

Finally, students should have some small symbol or other 3D object or toy that represents the chosen career. A toy airplane for a Pilot; a calculator for an accountant; perhaps a paint brush for an artist.

Below is the evaluation sheet I'll use when I look at the poster and the presentation.

Genius Hour Presentation Criteria

Homework:

Math:
Gr 6  p. 65 # 3, 4 (T)

Science:
Poster and presentation on an Australian Animal (W)

Socials
Classroom Map (Good copy) (T)
(Similar to this:)

Halloween at Brooksbank and in Div 4 class

Halloween Parade gets under way!

Introducing Ms. Davies (aka Medusa) our student teacher from Oz

Back in the classroom...

It's "Cookie on a String"!

Concentration!!

 

Zombies??!! Or just "Cookies on a String"?