The day Forest Valley Came to Us

On Monday November 24th we were suppose to go on a trip to Forest Valley.  Unfortunately, because of the strong winds, Forest Valley lost Hydro and they had to cancel our trip.  Some people were frustrated.  Others were disappointed, but most of us were excited again when we found out that they were going to come to our school for the day. Even better, we found out we were getting another day to visit them, to make up for the day we missed. 

Richard, from Forest Valley, told Ms. Colby that this was the first time, in the 18 years he has worked at Forest Valley, that they have taken the program to a school.

We were painting the landscape outside behind the school (like impressionists).  Until it started raining, ruining our work.

Painting our colour wheels.

In class (out of the rain) practicing the skills Richard and Melissa, from Forest Valley, taught us.

In Other News:

• The grade 5's are going to a bullying presentation at Stephen Leacock on December 10th
• PARENTS: On Wednesday December 10th there will be an important Kearney informational meeting for all parents of grade 6 and 5 students at 6:00 pm at the school.
• The junior department of the entire school has been invited to a holiday concert at Stephen Leacock on December 11th 
• Winter Concert Thursday December 18th 6:30pm

New Inquiry: Whose voice is heard? What does is it mean to be fair?

In our school we are looking at a new inquiry question, which is: Whose voice is heard, and what does it mean to be fair?  Our last question was: Do societies need empathy?

Some of our thinking so far:

• teachers and parents are heard
• children's voices are heard when talking in a group of other children
• I think it has to do with power
• depends on where you are
• fairness is when everyone is treated equally
• equity
• fairness is that no one is treated better than others
• it's not fair that some voices are not heard that need to be heard

In Other News:

• We have a field trip to Forest Valley on Monday November 24th 2014.
• There is a drama presentation coming to our school on Friday November 28th 2014.
• Our music project is due Tuesday November 25th 2014.
• Our writer's portfolio is due Thursday December 18th 2014.
• Our Winter concert is on Thursday December 18th 2014.

Impressionist Art

What Kind of Art is This?

It is impressionist art. 

How Do We Know?

We know it is impressionist because we used primary colours and short brush strokes.  Also it looks like we painted it as it was happening; and we know that impressionist painters usually painted real life things while it was happening.  

Before we painted we researched impressionist art, and asked and answered questions about the artwork we saw.

How We got the Idea

Miss Colby went to a Paint Nite event with Mr. Gulamhusein, Ms. Gupta and Ms. Hutchinson and learned to paint a very similar painting.  She made changes to the task to make it fit with what we were studying.  She changed the colours to primary (fall) colours.

Week End: Ticket out the door!

What we discovered this week:

• learned that a straight angle is 180 degrees
• we learned how to make a measuring tool that looks like a protractor, but made out of paper
• lunar eclipses happen more than solar eclipses
• Doug Ford is Rob Ford's brother
• We are starting the We Scare Hunger Campaign 
• More about Empathy: examples and characteristics and you can treat people with empathy
• We learned about reflex angles (they are greater than 180 degrees)
• an acute angle is smaller than 90 degrees and an obtuse angle is greater than 90 degrees
• Ebola is only spread only through bodily fluid and not spread by casual contact.
• We learned about Caitlin and her positive post-it campaign
• Import and Export (take and give)
• there are three types of triangles, but we can't remember their names...yet.  (The grade sixes know).

Next Week:

• There is a Health presentation on Tuesday October 21st on what we drink
• Field trip on Friday!  We get to meet with our mentors!

International Day of the Girl

On Saturday October 11th is the International day of the Girl.  This is an important day because it raises awareness for girls who do not have a voice.  One reason this day is important to us is because we learned about girls education last year and wrote speeches to turn their voice into our voice. Our voices spoke their message.  As girls who have the right to go to school, we stand up for those who don't.

We are excited to hear that Malala won the Nobel Peace prize almost 2 years after being shot and one day before the International Day of the Girl.  Her confidence in her belief that all girls should have an education teaches us that even through the worst times you can persevere to the end.

NEVER GIVE UP!

For more information about International Day of the Girl check out: http://dayofthegirl.org

Scientist in the School

On Monday October the 6th we had a visit from Scientist in the School.  the scientist who worked with us was Nadja, a zoologist.  There were microscopes, and people were fascinated by the bones she brought.  Some people thought that it was a lot like art, but disgusting.  But others thought it was interesting finding cool bones, and insects in owl pellets.

We learned: 

• owls eat animals whole
• owls have more than one set of animal remains in a pellet  
• they throw up what they cannot digest in the shape of their throats
• owls have no teeth, and they throw up 2 times a day
• a raccoons skull is identical to a skunk but a bit bigger. 
• a raccoon is an omnivore 

Students looking through microscopes at bones, and a bug head.

We dissected owl pellets. 

Figuring out what animal each skull belongs to.

A skeleton build.

We sorted bones to make a skeleton.

Our Google Classroom

Near the end of June our class was able to explore the beta for Google Classroom.  We even had a space that students could access in the summer if they were bored.  

This is a screen shot of our class in June.

We are very excited to be able to use Google Classroom again this fall.  We have found that the classroom space helps us to organize our work and helps our teacher track what we have handed in.  

Some of our classrooms.  We might create more as we need them.