Working with Numbers :: Statistics & Data Management

As part of our exploration of statistics, graphing, data and probability we've been working with the E Labs found on the Harcourt site.  These labs help us to:

1. follow directions
2.  get used to lab formats
3. work with numbers and various types of graphs and data.

These pictures show how we began our exploration using computers for data.

Can you name the different types of graphs you see in these pictures?

Snowpocalypse Follow up!

As promised, the students were out in full force this morning getting new snow measurements in the playground following the blizzard that occurred the past couple of days.

In our previous blog post students found an average depth of 7.5cm in a certain area in the playground.
Today, they took 4 additional readings in approximately the same places and found a new average of 14cm. 

They also re-measured the snow bank near the playground and the measurements all increased as well.

and... we all enjoyed our "snow days"! 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

The day the lesson plan went out the window...

A writing workshop about a baboon?!?!?

What happens when we do a writing workshop on a baboon?!?!

As part of grade 6 language arts, students are required to research and report on a specific topic. So, as part of our science unit on flight, the students have all been assigned a famous person pertaining to flight to research and write their biography (biographies are a grade 5 outcome).

Our writing workshops the next couple of weeks concentrate on various skills needed to research, compiling a bibliography, and writing a well-written and interesting biography.

We've looked at the book Barack  as an example text.

Now students are looking at researching information about one of our bookshelf friends, Cheeks.

"Cheeks."  Baboon.
Isn't he cute?

The writing process was furious. There were so many questions to answer and they had to be based in fact with some creativity thrown in.

to read the final copy, come check it out on the wall at the front of our classroom, or email for the pics!

A "shining moment"... pun intended...

We spent a good amount of time today working hands-on with many pieces of electrical equipment trying to make complete circuits, testing out materials and determining whether they were insulators or conductors, etc. It was a fun day! Some groups even self-discovered series circuits and how an increase in voltage can mean much brighter light bulbs!

Perhaps one of the best moments of today, though, came from one of my "brightest" students:

photo used with Logan's astounding permission

While I praised Logan for being one of my "brightest" (wink, wink) students with his electric necklace invention thingy, he trumped me...

He exclaimed he was,

"a shining, creative gangster... the battery's in da hood!"

Oh the chuckles we had about that one!
Good one, Logan!

Independent Novel Project.... May 2013

Dear Students & Parents,

Here is the link to the pdf which has the information regarding the expectations of your novel project:
Independent Novel Project Info

The information is also listed below:

Independent Novel Project

May, 2013

Each student is to select a novel (chapter book) to read between now & May 31. Students may finish the novel project as quickly as they wish, as long as they have asked for my permission to use the book for this project. Students are expected to be reading their novels during silent reading time and using any free time in the school day to be reading or working on their selected reading response (outlined below). 

All novel projects are due on or before May 31.

Students are to complete a formal book report as outlined on next page and also choose one of the following ways to follow-up their reading of their novel. Students are encouraged to be referring to this outline as they are reading so that they can be making notes, jotting ideas and deciding which follow-up best suits their book.

Formal Book Report Format

Every written book report will need to follow these guidelines:

1.  You will need to have a title page with the title of the book, the author of the book, the publisher's name, your name and the date.

2.  You will need to describe the setting in detail. Describe how the setting changes the mood of the story.  This section needs to be labeled "Setting" and should be about five lines in length.

3.  Who are the main characters in your story? Describe at least three people who make a difference in how the story evolves. This section needs to be labeled "Main Characters" and should be at least six lines long.

4.  What is the climax in the story? What event happened that changed the way the story ended? Sometimes there are several climaxes. Choose the one that is the most important to you. Describe what happened in detail. This section needs to be labeled "Climax" and should be approximately 6-10 lines long.

5.  In every book there is a moral to the story, or a lesson that the author wants you to learn. What is the lesson in this book? Think about this. Sometimes it is very subtle. This section needs to be labeled "Moral of the Story" and should be about five lines long.

6.  What did you think of this book? Did you enjoy it or not? Why? Label this section "My Opinion" and be specific in your reasons why you did or did not like the book. This should be about four lines long.

7.  Write a ½ page summary of the book, labeled “Summary”.  Include the problem, but not the ending.  Example:

 This magical adventure is about a boy struggling to learn all he can while he solves life-changing mysteries.  The main struggle is good against evil, and the boy has his friends and some of his teachers to help, but mainly is on his own.  The setting, Hogwarts School, is extremely important to the development and understanding of the story, while adding to the sense of adventure and mystery.  A lot of the events that happen here are impossible in the ‘real’ world, but the bonds shared between the main character and some of his friends, are very realistic.  Read this book and you will be routing for Harry to be victorious in his struggle against Voldemort, to save himself as well as the world.  

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Novel Follow-up Project Ideas:                      Choose one (1).

1)      Write a poem about the book, one character in it, or some other aspect of the book. The poem must be at least 16 lines long, but does not have to rhyme. Orally present the poem to the class.

2)      Make a poster that relates to the novel on poster size paper (11X17). Share the poster with the class.

3)      Write a 1+ page in-depth report on a character in the book. (What traits does the character have? What motivates the character? Is he/she well developed by the author? Do you agree /disagree with the way the character handled events in the book? Why? Would you like to meet the character? Why? Etc.) Orally present the character report to the class.

4)      Write a 1+ page “review” of the book for a newspaper or magazine. Orally present your review to the class.

5)      Write a 1+ page biography on the author of the book. Include a list of other works written by that author. Orally present the biography.

6)      Write 3 new titles for the book. Write 1+ paragraphs (5-8 sentences) supporting each new title. Orally present your new titles paper to the class.

7)      Imagine that you are one of the main characters. Write a diary account of daily thoughts and activities for 2+ weeks (14 days) in the life of your character. Orally present your diary to the class.

8)      Construct a pictorial time line that summarizes what happens in the story. Orally present the time line to the class.

9)      Select parts from the story that were the funniest, saddest, happiest, most unbelievable, most frightening, etc. and write a 1+ page paper explaining and supporting your choices. Pick at least three parts. Orally present the “choices paper”.

10)   Dress like a character in the book and read excerpts from the book to portray that character or act out parts of the book as the character.

11)   Locate phrases in the book that appeal to the 5 senses—hear, smell, touch, taste, see. You must have 2 phrases for each sense. Be sure to tell the page and paragraph of each example.

12)   Find 10-15 vocabulary words in the book that are new to you. Create a crossword puzzle using the words and their proper dictionary definitions. Present the crossword puzzle to the class. 

A message in a bottle!

We read this article:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/17/i-hope-we-can-keep-in-correspondence-nova-scotians-letter-in-a-bottle-washes-up-in-croatia-28-years-later/

and looked at Google maps to see the distance:


View Larger Map

What kind of a journey would that be?
We tried to speculate / simulate what the journey might be:
(not even sure if this will work!)




View Larger Map





What would you send as a message in a bottle?

David Kawapit's Journey of Nishiyuu

I (Dawn, the teacher) was at an in-service in Halifax when I saw the news clip speaking of David Kawapit and his journey from Northern Quebec to Ottawa. I was moved to tears as this quiet, shy, big-smiling Cree boy reminded me so much of a student in our class. I immediately knew that his story would resonate with my students.

We had talked about Idle No More before in class; it was a very abstract concept for many. David's journey seemed like a more tangible connection to the message of Idle No More. So, I had them look through newspaper articles covering David's journey. The questioned how fair his treatment was as he reached the Peace Tower in Ottawa. They spoke of his commitment, how he is an inspiration. They looked at his route on Google Earth and Google maps, marveling at the distance. Then they dug deeper into his story; each group being responsible for an aspect of the "underlying" story.

Here are their snippets of the background story.
Here is the work they are so proud of!

Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.


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Please share David's story through our eyes.
Please be inspired.
And if you can make this post reach David Kawapit, please share it with him.

-- Grade 5/6 class

Black History Month in Gr. 5/6

We've started reading through stories as part of Black history month.
Here's today's response about our book:
Viola Desmond Won't Be Budged
(Listen here for an audio clip about her  experience & words from her sister, Wanda Robson.)

Created with Padlet

Forces All Around Us

We read an article about the forces that are all around us. Each student group was responsible for explaining an everyday force as indicated in the article. Here are some snippets from their presentations:

The importance of wheels.
This group started their presentation by trying to roll the large green box.

"It would be much easier to roll this box if it was circular in shape."

The they explained why the bin table at the front of the room had wheels, showing how much easier it was to move. The wheels help reduce the amount of friction between the item being moved and the surface it's being moved on.

 "When you take a step, your foot is pushing down on the floor."

If the ground is cement, and you just step on it, it's not going to make a movement.

We had to voice record Logan's explanation:

Size matters. Gravity.

This group worked hard to explain and show what gravity does. They demonstrated dropping articles of different sizes and weights to show how gravity works on the various items. The interesting part was when they added a makeshift parachute to an item. How do parachutes work against gravity?

Friction

The girls presenting the section on friction thought this video and song best outlined the concepts from the article.

Push or Pull

A push and a pull is something everyone is familiar with.  Have you ever considered it like this?

Review for Fractions Test on Thursday!

Students are getting confused about simplifying / reducing fractions. Here are some videos and links to help you when you're completing tonight's homework sheet!

http://www.math.com/school/subject1/lessons/S1U4L2GL.html



http://www.mathsisfun.com/simplifying-fractions.html

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/fractions/reduce_fractions_shoot.htm

http://www.webmath.com/redfract.html

MIXED NUMBERS / Improper Fractions

http://www.mathsisfun.com/mixed-fractions.html

http://www.aaamath.com/fra57cx3.htm

http://www.coolmath4kids.com/fractions/fractions-02-mixed-numbers-01.html

http://www.math.com/school/subject1/lessons/S1U4L7GL.html

http://www.mathplayground.com/fractions_mixed.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/J002328F/impmix.htm

Adding Fractions with UNLIKE DENOMINATORS

http://www.mathplayground.com/howto_fractions_diffden.html

http://www.helpwithfractions.com/adding-fractions-different-denominators/

http://www.math.com/school/subject1/lessons/S1U4L3GL.html

Tracking Hurricane Sandy

We're looking at Hurricane Sandy today as part of our lessons.
Check out the neat way we're keeping track via Storify:

Animal Protests

Here's the wallwisher we started in class!
Looking forward to your research!

Our first Skype meeting of 2012-2013

As part of the Global Read Aloud, our class was asked to link up with a 5th grade class in Portland, Maine. Mrs. Smith introduced their class which has students from all over the world!
We also shared our ideas about the book we're both reading, The One and Only Ivan.
We sang O Canada for them; they said the Pledge of Allegiance for us! It was pretty neat! Various students also shared greetings in many languages including Gaelic, Mi'kmaq, Arabic, Afrikaans, etc.
There were some really neat similarities in our schools: both our classrooms overlook water; their school is located on a peninsula like ours. But the similarities ended there as they were amazed that our whole school population is about 1/4 of their school's population, which only serves K-5!

Following our 1/2 hr chat, we decided we'd become "pen pals" through the safe online educational site, Edmodo. This fits in PERFECTLY with our upcoming exploration of cultural regions as part of social studies!

Here are some shots of the experience:

Skyping with Mrs. Smith's class in Portland, ME

Blog homework... this is a first!

Hey, grade 5/6!
Here's your surprise on the blog.

I would like each of you to post a sticky on the wallwisher board (link here) I've created about Ivan's project. Answer one of the following in your post:

• What do you think Ivan's plan is?
• Do you think he's really just painting pictures for Ruby?
• Who do you think will be involved in Ivan's plan?

Write your response (it doesn't have to be long) and sign it -- with your name.

If for some reason you can't post on the wallwisher site, leave a comment below.

Thanks, guys!

ENJOY!

Division Help

We've been reviewing multiplication and division in class in preparation for a test coming up. (Date to be determined; it will be written in the students' agendas.)

The parts of a division problem. Good vocabulary!

Here are some links that explain division in another voice / way.

An example long division problem

A video explaining division:
Division Video

Step by Step Long Division
http://www.coolmath4kids.com/long-division/long-division-lesson-1.html

Division with a 2-digit divisor
http://www.mathsisfun.com/long_division.html




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Here is the multiplication video we watched in class as well:
http://video.about.com/math/How-to-Multiply-3-Digit-Numbers.htm

Thoughts on Stella's death in The One and Only Ivan

What is a ______________?

*LD Funky Scribbles font from LetteringDelights.com

We used this quote from our Global Read Aloud book, The One and Only Ivan, to springboard a writing activity. How would you describe an everyday item to a baby elephant... or someone who didn't know what it was?

“What is a lawnmower?” Ruby asked. “It’s a dad thing. You push it.” “It runs by gas. It is really heavy.” “On the bottom there is a sharp blade that cuts grass!” By: Jessie Helen

“What is a headband? Ruby asks” It is a girl thing, it goes in your hair. It holds your hair out of your face. It is like an elastic with soft stuff  or hard stuff on the outside.                                     --Nora 

“What is an eraser?” Ruby asks. "An eraser is a thing that erases things that you wrote in pencil.” Some of the colors of an eraser are pink and white”. The way you work it is by rubbing it on paper.

                                 By: Sam

“What is a toaster?” Ruby asks. “It’s a human thing, a rectangular shaped box with 2-4 slots in the top.”“You can put bread in the top and turn the knob, then you turn the knob and it heats up and turns the bread in to toast.”
                              By: Emily 

  "What is a iPod?" Ruby asks.  A iPod is a thing that is electric machine that you can play games on. It is a human thing .You can listen to music and go online and learn stuff that’s a human thing to. Some of the iPods can take pictures to play with it, too. 
                                      By:Matthew 

“What is a bicycle?” Ruby asks “A bicycle is like a miniature car, you can go anywhere with it. But the difference between a car and a bicycle is that a car runs on gas and a bicycle runs on your energy. A different way to say bicycle is bike, The use for a bike is that you can go on a ride with your friends, go to your community market for a family member or you can just go to the store for a snack. And that’s what a bicycle is.”                 By: Erin J 

“What is a lamp?” Ruby asks. "It’s a human thing, it helps you when your in the dark and it helps you read, write and do homework.”  By: Taylor 

     “What is a Calendar” Ruby asked?
Well it tells you the month, year and date when you read it. You can write down when your busy and when your not. It helps you keep track of everything and it usually is a square that has numbers and at the top is says the month and year. It’s often made of paper. By: Gabby 

“What is a Computer?” Ruby asks. A computer is a device that humans use to communicate with other humans.They also use a computer to look at information that they don’t know. “So is it big or small?” Ruby asks.You can get them in all different sizes! But its better if its bigger because it will be easier to see the screen. By: Emma 

What is a bed? “ Ruby asks “A bed is a piece of furniture that humans lay on. And it has a soft thing that they put on,And sometimes has four legs. By : Neve 

What is a broom? Ruby asks It is a human thing .It has a long stick it is  called . At the end of it , it can be a triangle or a rectangle .At the end of the triangle or rectangle there is little things called brushes. A broom will sweep up dirt. You hold the handle to sweep. By: Sarah

"What is a paint brush?" Ruby asks. A paint brush's a human thing that leaves atail behind itself and it is hairy they also dip it in liquid and slide it across a wall that is a paint brush.-- Max 

“What is a Globe?” Ruby asked.It is round. It is a map. You can use it to find places. It spins. It is many colors. There is little tiny words on it.
 By Cody & Karzen J

“What is a lightswitch?” A lightswitch is a switch that turns on and off  the lights. If it’s pointed up the lights are on and it’s bright if its pointed down its off and dark. It has stuff behind it that gives it power to turn the lights on and off. By Logan 

“What is a laptop? Ruby asked” “A laptop is a gamer thing. It’s a rectangleFlip able thing with a screen. It has keys with the alphabet and numbers on it and when you type letters pop up on the screen like magic”.                  By Innis 

“What is a desk?” Ruby asks. A desk is a thing you sit on , while doing work , It’s square , It’s s place holder. It has a chair/seat part to sit on with 4 legs.Also where you put your supplies in.                              By Shayde  J 

“What is a stove?” Ruby asks It is a human thing . It is really hot and it is square with a little door in the front of it . It has 4 little circle’s on the top, that get hot to cook stuff, It’s in a house. By:Drake

“What is a Bus?” Ruby asks. A bus is a yellow rectangle with lots of windows and seats. It also has 1,2,3,4 black wheels that go round and round. It has a door  and steps that people walk up. A bus will take you around anywhere you want.

 -- Kalen 

“What is a bookmark” Ruby asks. It’s this thing that helps you remember your page, you can bind it, its small but not to small, it can be any color By: Cheyenne 

 

The One and Only Ivan :: Global Read Aloud 2012

As in previous years, our class is taking part in the Global Read Aloud Project. This year's book is called The One and Only Ivan. From the trailer we watched on the book's site, to the cover, and first few pages of The One and Only Ivan we are all wondering and anticipating what may come next with each page turned.

To get in Ivan's mind, we listened to this music, while we coloured on a piece of paper with a crayon...



What did we create?

I wonder if any of these pictures resemble what Ivan would draw in his domain?!?!












Also, as part of our participation in the Global Read Aloud forum, we created this week 1 word cloud which describes Ivan, the main character in our book.

http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/5805585/IVAN_%3B%3B_The_One_and_Only_Ivan

Stay tuned to our blog and our twitter feed (@inmyclassroom or #Ivan5and6) as we explore this intriguing book!

Our Important Book

As part of our "setting the stage" for a new school year, we read a book aloud called "The Important Book".

As a follow up activity, the students were asked to each create their own page of an important book.

Have a look at this great collective work!



I'm so proud of these guys!

Great work so far this year!

Keep it up!