Our Hour of Code

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!

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. 

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!

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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

Social Studies :: Country Report

Hi, stormy-stayed folks!
Hope everyone is enjoying and making the most of their storm days!

Your social studies projects were supposed to be due this Friday, February 15th. (Drake's birthday, remember?) 

Although we've been working in class on this since the beginning of January, I am going to give you until Monday, February 18th to have it done, since we've had these two storm days and you all may not have taken your materials home to work on them.

I'm also going to post the pdf as an example of the final poster. Please use this only as a guide if you're working from home, researching your country. I have all of the final copy posters printed at school on the large 11X17 paper.

Remember the research questions in the little booklet were to serve as a guide to:
a) help teach you proper researching skills
b) help you in practising reading for information
c) help you learn information about your country

So, the poster is posted below as a guideline.
The final / good draft of your poster is now due Monday, February 18. You must also submit your question booklet at this time, if not before.

Hope this helps.

Country Report Poster (*large copy to be given in school)

Exploring 3D figures

First day back from Christmas vacation and we dove right into creating 3D figures using marshmallows, toothpicks & straws.

Here are some pictures of our progress:

I think the class would agree; it was a great way to ease our way back into things!

Looking at the Night Sky

As part of our science unit on Space and the Planets, we're beginning to explore vocabulary associated with these topics and also some cultural beliefs.

Here are the vocabulary graphic organizers we created. Using an organizer like this helps us to keep track of the information we researched. Students used dictionaries, books from the classroom science library or the internet to gather the information on the word they were assigned.




As this unit continues, we are also looking at understanding the sky, stars, and constellations. Students are reminded to use these websites to guide their nightly sky viewing:

http://www.astronomynovascotia.ca/
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance
http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury

Be sure to check the nightly forecast to see if it is going to be clear enough to view the stars:
http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/pages/ns-31_metric_e.html

We are also lucky to have a Mi'kmaq elder coming into our class this week to share Mi'kmaq beliefs about the stars and space. Here is the Mi'kmaq tale of Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters, which we are exploring in class:



Stay tuned for more information about this topic!

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

No, we weren't robbed!

These two characters were among the many that came to our classroom this week. They weren't robbers... more like "Robbers Munsch".

We've been reading and re-reading and exploring Robert Munsch books as a way to improve our understanding of how authors use words and punctuation to engage the reader. Each student read a variety of his books and had to pick a favourite book to share with our grade 2 reading buddies, and also had to prepare a presentation on the book.

The presentations were so well done that I ended up laughing, groaning, and even had tears in my eyes as the students gave their all to present their favourite books. The two characters in the picture above are from Robert Munsch's book "Boo!". 

I'm so proud of you guys for doing such a fabulous job with your presentations. It is a teaching moment I will remember forever, and something I will surely do again in the future!

Thank you for making my job fun!