Hello Parents and students of Room 205s. I hope everyone has had a wonderful week. It is hard to believe that it's already December and the holiday buzz is in the air! The students in the grade 4/5 gifted program are continuing to work very hard each and every day. They receive ongoing compliments from Mme. Pryde, myself and supply teachers. These compliments add links to our chain. Once our class chain hits the floor, we will have a party or some type of celebration. The students in this class show a great deal of respect and kindness for one another and I'm proud of them for this. There are new friendships developing all the time and I feel that they have worked hard to become a cohesive and positive group. Great work!
Grade 4 Habitats "Zoo Planner" project - The grade 4's were given their newest science project this week. They expressed a great deal of enthusiasm when told they have been hired by the Toronto Zoo as their newest Zoo planner! The project is explained in detail, including the success criteria, in a 3 page yellow booklet. Student's are expected to create a 3D diorama model of their animal's habitat as well as describe this habitat in a detailed one page written report. If you haven't seen the project outline yet, please have a look at this booklet and sign the contract on the second page. Students will be expected to present their diorama and describe the specific details they included in their animal's setting to the class on the due date. The due date for this project is Thursday January 9, 2014.
I have made it clear to the class that I DO NOT want them doing work or projects over the two week holiday break. They can work on this before the break and then after the break. I feel it's important for them to relax and enjoy their time off with family and friends.
The grade 5's are continuing to study and learn about the systems in the Human Body. The grade 5 students are learning this through an information booklet they were given as well as through videos and facts on line. We have studied the following systems to date: Skeletal system, Digestive System, Respiratory System and we are currently learning about the Circulatory system. The grade 5's will be given their Human Body project next week. More information to follow!
Math Congress - The students' had fun solving today's Math Congress. They were busy drawing dog bones while attempting to solve this problem! They were placed in random groups of 3 and they were able to work very well using math language and discussing strategies in their groups. Here are some pictures of the students presenting their work to the class...
MATH CONGRESS –
Friday December 6, 2013
The city of East Cove has
a dog-at-large problem. Last week, the town council passed a tough new law. The
first time a dog is picked up running at large, the owner must pay a $25.00
fine and spend 2 hours cleaning the town’s parks. Each repeat offence carries a
$5.00 increase in the fine and an additional ½ hour cleaning the parks. If Jim
has to spend 8 hours cleaning the park, how many times has his dog been caught
without a leash and how much is the current fine? Use pictures, numbers, and
words to solve this problem.
Math update - We will be finishing our math unit on Data Management next week. The grade 5's were given a small in class graphing assignment this week. They were asked to create a question, choose a sample of students to survey, conduct a survey, analyze the results and create a large detailed bar graph to display the data. They really enjoyed surveying students in other classes and graphing their data.
- Grade 4 unit test will be on Monday December 16, 2013. Our next unit is Multiplication and Division.
- Grade 5 unit test will be on Wednesday December 11, 2013. Our next unit is Decimals.
Procedural Writing - This week our writing focus was on Procedural Writing. The students were given several examples of procedural writing and they were asked to choose their own topic to write a procedural piece on. The success criteria and learning goals for this form of writing were clearly outlined and reviewed in class. Their final copies were due today (Friday December 6th) and are displayed on the bulletin board in our class. The students worked on their rough drafts this week, had them edited and then were asked to put together a creative booklet to display their information. For those students who did not hand in their procedural writing piece today, they are asked to hand them in by Monday December 9th.
Project Give Back - This week, Ellen Schwartz, the founder and creator of Project Give Back, came into our class to speak with the students. They loved it! She shared her personal story of Jacob, her 16 year old son who has Canavan's disease, and she answered many of the students' questions. Ellen showed us a video of a song her daughter wrote for Jacob as well as many pictures of him at his different stages of development. She culminated her visit with a very sweet and endearing activity in which the students were asked to write a letter to someone special in their lives. Here is a picture of Ellen visiting our class...
Important Dates:
- Friday Reports are due on Monday December 9, 2013
- Last day of school before the winter break is Thursday December 19, 2013 (PA Day- Friday December 20th). School resumes on Monday January 6, 2014
- Our class holiday party will be held on Wednesday December 18, 2013 in the afternoon (more information from Nina to follow)
