Friday, March 30, 2012

GreenTeam Saves the Day

Here's the children's story book some members of our class submitted as part of our Energy Diet Challenge! Congratulations, girls!!!!!!!!!




Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Giving it up...

Giving up something we really like and use a lot isn't an easy task. Here's our journal entries on giving up one of our "wants" -- as part of one of Energy Diet Challenges

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Drawing 3D figures and Exploring Volume


Remember that 3D means that the figure has 3 dimensions: length, width, height (or depth).
To find volume we multiply these dimensions:

volume = length x width x height


Here's tonight's homework, based on what we did in class today:

 If you need to review the online drawing we did in class today, you can click here.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Independent Novel Project Outline (for those who misplaced their's)

 Novel Project Due Dates:
#'s 1-7 due Friday, April 13th
#8 due in class sometime week 16-20
#9 due Monday, April 23rd

 Independent Novel Project: Term 3

You are going to be choosing a novel you would like to read, and explore.
The following project will be mostly completed at school. Reading will take place at home and at school, especially during our designated silent reading time. Time will be given in class to complete some of the written components, but not all.

To begin the project, you will select a novel from the library, classroom, or bookmobile and complete a mini conference with your teacher to ensure the book you have chosen is grade appropriate and challenging. Class time will be set aside for reading conferences where you and the teacher will meet, and the teacher will assess your reading fluency and interpretation of the novel.

Each task must be completed on a piece of loose leaf, and presented in an organized manner. Write in blue or black ink, one side only, double-spaced and note page numbers where supporting information can be found in the text. Please create a cover page for your project as well as a table of contents (label each assignment with the corresponding page number listed). Please be prepared for a final presentation of your project to your classmates. Your project must be put together in the following order:

 Tasks:
1. Give a brief summary of the plot. 1-2 full pages, tell the story. Include 2-5 of the main events and describe what happens at the end.

2. Explain the significance of the title (5-10 sentences). Authors do not choose a title randomly. Usually the title is symbolic in some way.

3. Describe the setting and genre – time period, location, etc. (5-10 sentences)

4. Discuss in 1 full page your ideas about the main character(s). Answer what you like or dislike about them and why they are worthy of praise and/or criticism.

5. In 1 full page, identify what caused a major change in the main character(s) and explain how the character(s) changed. These changes may have been a consequence of choice, a conflict, a display of some outstanding trait like courage, or even a result of events that occur during the novel.

6. In a journal style entry, copy 5 of your favourite phrase/sentences from the book and explain why you chose them.

7. Make up 5 true and false, 5 multiple choice and 5 matching test questions for this novel. Put the correct answers on a separate piece of paper.

8. In 1 full page write a general review of the book. Would you recommend the book? Why or why not? Would you have changed any element of the story (plot, characters, setting, resolution, conflicts, point of view, etc.)?

9. Select and complete 1 creative project that relate to and reflect the main points of your novel. Suggestions: book jacket, character scrap or memory book, theme or symbol collage, diorama, newspaper, character diary, character/scene sketch, menus from the text, comic or political cartoon, song, travel brochure, scene rewrite from a different point of view, movie poster with a cast of stars and justification of your choices, etc. Please run your ideas by me before you start.


 Your project’s assessment will include:
a) Selecting an appropriate novel.
b) Student/Teacher conferences.
c) Complete all of the tasks (some tasks have early due dates and will be shared as the term progresses). 

Monday, March 19, 2012

One Hour Without Power


When you are faced with an hour without power it can be boring, but you can always READ! If we were in 1860’s it would be really HARD because you wouldn’t have any power. Back then you would be making mittens or weeding the garden. I don’t know if I could even survive a DAY without power because we have TV’s, ovens and even computers. If I had to survive a day without power it would be REALLY HARD.

       For our hour without power in class, all we had to do was READ because we were in a small space. A larger outdoor space would allow us to do more activities like play tag. If we didn’t have any books it would be a long hour. With no power at home, all of our main course meals are made in the oven. We could always use the stove, but it would take longer than the oven. We would have to find other ways to cook our meals.

Anyway, I think we would be doing the earth some good if we cut back on the use of power every day! There are things we can do each day that don’t require power usage. Giving up power for one hour each day, is not a huge sacrifice; everyone should give it a try!

submitted by: Jessie Helen

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

The Classroom Energy Diet Challenge

Wow! Have we been busy working on this challenge! Everything from a logo contest within our own classroom, to researching types of energy, tracking our trash, calculating our water usage, and simply turning things off... we've been immersed in energy use awareness!

Here are the logos designed by our class, with the class' chosen winning logo for our site in the Challenge, designed by Emily! Way to go, guys!

Perhaps the most exciting step thus far in the Challenge has been creating a script for a infomercial on reducing energy. We submitted our script to the contest, and, low and behold, our script was chosen as one of 50 semi-finalists across Canada! That means, we won a video recorder to shoot our infomercial! 

We're going to start shooting before March Break, and , hopefully finish the week after March Break! Once it is finished, we will be needing your help, as the video will be posted on the Energy Diet's Facebook page, and we'll need your "Likes" to win!

To keep updated on our Challenge progress you can check out:
Grade 5/6 Class Challenge