Family Literacy Day -- January 27th

January 27th is literacy day in Canada.
We will be celebrating this special day all morning in our classroom.

The theme for Literacy Day 2011 is: Play for Literacy

What are some things we will be doing?
-- having an Alphabet Loop scavenger hunt around the classroom
-- discovering the fun in word games such as crosswords and word searches
-- playing a board game, or two, or three
-- reading to find out how to do origami and really creating stuff
-- picking one thing to share with our families Thursday evening to engage them in literacy, too!

We'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post them on here!
Please check this link for more info on Family Literacy Day!

Weather / Storm Predictions

We researched weather/storm predictors that happen  or are talked about in our families.
Here are some of the sayings/ predictors that we think can be tested to be proven right or wrong:

• Red skies at night, sailors delight. Red skies at morning, sailors heed/take warning.
• To test this theory: keep track of the sunset colors and the colour of the sky in the morning.
• Calm before the storm.
• To test this theory: When there is a forecast of a storm, watch the sky/environment to see if it's calm. Then see if there's going to be a storm.
• If the wasps' nests are high in trees, there is going to be a lot of snow.
• To test this theory: In the summer, watch to see if their nests are hig in the trees or not. Then you'd have to wait to see how much snow came that winter.
• When a storm is going to come, you can hear the sea or the lake.
• To test this theory: Listen outside on a winter's day.
• When the cows lie in the pasture, rain is coming
• To tests this theory: Pick more than 1 farm/pasture to watch. (because cows lying in a field could just be a coincidence) If the cows are lying down, see if it's going to rain.
• Birthmarks/Scars get really red or change color when a storm is coming.
• To test this theory: First, find someone with a birthmark/scar. Then, make sure you're watching the birthmark/scar to note any changes in colour. Do the colour changes align with the weather changes?
• The TV goes fuzzy when a storm is coming.
• To test this theory: Note when your TV is turning fuzzy when you're watching it.
• Hamsters will start to shake when a storm is coming.
• To test this theory: Watch your hamster; make notes.
• Seagulls on the land is a sign of a storm.
• To test this theory:  Make note of land near water. Are the seagulls on the ground?
• If the frost on the trees is sparkling, it is going to rain.
• To test this theory: Note when there is frost. See if it sparkles. Wait.
• Little snow (flakes), Big snow (lots of it).
• To test this theory:  Look at the snowflakes. Make note of their size. Then note how much snow actually fell and for how long. Alternative: If you see small snowflakes. In 2 hours go check how much snow has fallen. On another day, if you see big snow flakes, check in 2 hours again to see how much snow has fallen. Then compare which has more.

Made on  http://www.wordle.net/

Gr 5/6 Storm Watchers make the news!

Hey, guys!
Hope you're enjoying the snow day!
I received  tweet this morning from CBC NewsWorld saying they were going to mention us on their Weather report this morning, for our storm tracking yesterday! I recorded it for you, in case you didn't see it!
Here it is:


Here is a http://www.twitvid.com/SC309 sent us in a tweet as well.
We put Iona on the map!
Enjoy!

Thanks, CBC!

Tracking the storm...

We spent time thsi afternoon tracking the pending snow storm for Atlantic Canada.
We collected information (data) using:

•  tweets from Twitter
• radar imagery from Environment Canada
•  highway webcams from Nova Scotia

Here are some of the cool tweets we received today:

It's fun learning about weather live and online like this!
We also research homework to do about weather sayings, folklore and indicators of stormy weather.


(And we may be wearing our pjs inside out and putting spoons under our pillows, too... maybe ...)