Full steam ahead!!!
It's been a busy few weeks along the grade 5 hallway. Students have been hard at work creating online surveys, interviewing people, meeting with their mentors and preparing for the next phase of the Exhibition process. We are now wrapping up the research element and the students are thinking about how they will share their learning and what action they can take to support their issue. The next 3 weeks are going to fly by as we busily prepare for our presentation evening on June 3rd.
Exhibition begins!!!
It's hard to believe but we are now officially almost done with our 2nd week of the Exhibition process. By now the students have chosen their issues, been put into mentor groupings, set up appointments to meet their mentor (or even met them already) and completed the first phase of their research. Check out the Exhibition page on this site for more information.
On behalf of the grade 5 team we would also like to thank all of the parents for their continued support and for taking a small step back and allowing the students to choose and organize their Exhibition projects/issue/research on their own. This is an important learning experience for them and as teachers, we stress that the process is the most significant and important part of the Exhibition.
Remember, if you or anyone you know can be a resource for any of the students and their Exhibition issues please contact your homeroom teacher so we can put you in touch with the relevant students. Primary resources are the best!
World Math Day - March 3, 2010
The grade 5 students have been given the opportunity this year to particpate in WORLD MATH DAY on March 3rd. Students can play at home and at school against other students around the world in live games of mental arithmetic. Each game lasts for 60 seconds and students can play up to 500 games, earning points for each correct answer. The students who answer the most questions appear in the Hall of Fame. Students cannot select their level but will move up as they progress. All of the grade 5 students at ISB have been given password to play but this is NOT a requirement. They do NOT need to particpate if they choose not to. On March 3rd, the students will be given some time in I.T. lessons to play online but any other participation must be done at home. From now until March 3rd students can log on to 'practice' and play with other children from around the world. For more information check out the website at:
http://www.worldmathsday.com/2010/Default.aspx?
What is PROCESS DRAMA?
Taken from: http://www.becominghistorians.org/using-process-drama
In our work as both teachers and teacher-educators, we have found that drama-based pedagogical methods work exceptionally well to promote active and question-driven learning. Among the most powerful of the drama-based teaching strategies is a method called "process drama." A method of instruction less interested in creating a final public performance than in using theatrical exercises as a "process" through which to examine historical conflicts and questions, process drama is not a typical "role-play" activity. It does not ask students simply to "stand in someone else's shoes"-- but rather to pose critical intellectual problems and then to use a series of embodied and narrative intellectual activities to explore those questions. Relying a range of "structured improvisational" activities, in which "teachers and students jointly contract to an imaginary world, " process drama asks students to step into a variety of roles in an attempt to explore an intellectual problem or question. Thus drama, as we are talking about it here, is a pedagogical tool-- one that makes it possible to teach history and social studies in a way that requires students and teachers to examine the meanings, relationships, and conflicts that shaped key historical events and processes, while still acquiring fact-knowledge.
Welcome back!
After a 'brief' hiatus on the Grade 5 website we'd all like to say an official welcome back for the start of semester two! We hope all of our families had a relaxing winter break and of course we hope you've heard all of the great stories of ski camp fun by now. A reminder that the photos from ski camp are on the PE school shutterfly website under JUNIOR SCHOOL. Reparts cards are coming out today and we have had a great start to our new and improved 'Explorers' unit! Some photos have already been added below so please keep checking back to see what is new.
Our NEW U.O.I.!!!
Last week we began our new unit of inquiry entitled, Fair Play for All. This unit deals with the issue of children's rights and the conception of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Our central idea is, CHILDREN'S RIGHTS EXIST BUT THEY ARE NOT EQUALLY ACCESSIBLE TO ALL. This is the 'big idea' that we hope the children will be able to understand buy the end of the unit. The focus of this unit will be, (1) What are children's rights? (2) Why are these rights not equally accessible to all children and (3) Which groups or organizations help to protect children's rights. As always, if you have any access to appropriate resources or experience with this topic, please do contact your classroom teacher. We are always looking for primary resources to support our units. During language lessons the students will be guided in how to write a research paper. they will be expected to write a research paper on an issue under the umbrella of children's rights. The format may vary slightly from class to class but the basic outline will be the same.
Math Groups begin
The students in grade 5 have now all been divided into 5 grade level math groups. The purpose of the grouping is to better meet the needs of the students by placing them with other students who have similar skills and working styles. Please remember that students will still have math Shape, Data and Measure lessons with their homeroom teacher. As you are all aware, student led conferences are coming up but please be aware that you will not have an opportunity to meet with your child's math group teacher at this time. We simply have not have enough time yet to establish their progress. However, because your child's homeroom teacher has had them for all maths since the beginning of the year, he/she should be able to give you a clear picture of their progress so far this year. If you would like to meet with your child's math group teacher please feel free to set up an appointment at a later date and a mutually convenient time.
A HUGE success!
What an incredible week we've had! The best and most meaningful learning experiences are those in which you can experience things first hand yourself and we think this week will definitely be a highlight of the year. We want to thank the AISB for funding our 2 day African workshop which ended in an incredible showcase of dance and drumming for the whole school this morning. The grade 5 students were such risk takers and really showed their confidence as they bounced on stage full of energy to display what they have learned over the course of the last 2 days. Even the grade 5 teachers had a little surprise drumming and dancing session planned! Comments we heard as the students filed out of the aula this morning were:
'That was awesome!'
'I loved your drumming!'
'How did you do that?'
'Your costumes were incredible!'
'Cool!!!'
...and students were still talking about it during lunch! We are so very proud of our grade 5's and it was a brilliant opportunity for us to see them out of the classroom context yet still engaged, absorbing, learning and reflecting. Speaking of reflecting...take a look at our Students Speak page and read some of the reflections the students wrote about their experiences over the last few days. Also, we will be adding more pics over the next week so do check back to see them all!
"No Stress! No Panic!"
No stress, no panic was the pervasive message throughout our first day of African drumming, dancing and story telling. Our workshop leaders arrived today full of energy and enthusiasm and it wasn't long before they had our students dancing, clapping and moving to the beat! They shared stories of growing up with music in Ghana and how everything from cooking to cleaning to learning maths was done through music. Not only were the activities engaging and the children motivated but the messages that were being spread today complimented our philosophy here at the ISB perfectly. Peter, our leader, talked about having confidence and showing teamwork. He told us to be thinkers and to use our intelligence in everything we do. He asked us to always show our energy and happiness and he always encouraged us to do things with effort, "Try!" he would say to us. For those of us who were unsure or embarrassed he made us give him our 'panic', our 'stress' and our 'nervousness' and he 'threw it away'! In no time at all everyone was showing what risk takers they truly were! We can't WAIT for day #2!
African Dance, Drumming and Storytelling workshop!
On Tuesday September 22nd and Wednesday September 23rd the grade 5 will have the wonderful opportunity to participate in a 2 day workshop lead by 3 musicians from Ghana. The students will be learning about Ghanaian culture through dance, drumming and story telling. This experience perfectly compliments our current Unit of Inquiry; Expression through the Arts, with a specific focus on our line of Inquiry; 'How the arts and culture are interrelated'. If you are interested, take a look at the African dancers' website:
http://www.african-music-dance.com/ and make sure to check back at the end of the week for photos of your children in action!
Newsademic coming to you!!!
We have been fortunate this year to receive a great online student news magazine called NEWSADEMIC. This magazine is distributed to the middle school students at ISB and now will be passed on to our grade 5 students. Our students will receive the latest issue in their school email inbox every 2 weeks and it will also be posted on this site on the CALENDAR & FORMS page. NEWSADEMIC is a great informative way to keep up to date with current events and we encourage you and your children to discuss some of the articles at home. This could be a great way to get them involved in real life local and global issues in preparation for this year's Exhibition.
Thank you!
Thank you to all those parents who were able to make it last night to our Welcome Back Evening. We hope that you found it informative...and even perhaps a little entertaining???
For those of you that were unable to make it, an overview of what was said should be available shortly and will also be posted on this site. Please remember we strive for open communication and dialogue with our families and if you ever have any questions, comments or queries do not hesitate to email us or make an appointment to come and see us. We do ask, however that, when possible, parents do not come up to the classrooms in the mornings before school as we cannot give you the time and attention you deserve whilst preparing the students for the start of the day.
Welcome!
Dear Parents,
Welcome to the grade 5 shutterfly site. Last year we had a lot of success with posting information about the Exhibition on our Exhibition shutterfly site so we thought we'd trial a general grade 5 site to run throughout the year with news, information and updates about grade 5!
Blogging, posting messages, pictures and video and sharing information for parents and students via the internet is the new wave in education and is an easy and effective tool for communicating with our families. Please feel free to give us your feedback about the site, what has been useful and what you would like to see on a regular basis.
Enjoy!
...about these interesting facts about SOUND?
- Sounds are nothing more than tiny shaking movements of the air.
- Sounds are made when a material vibrates.
- Fast vibrations make a high sound, and slow vibrations make a low sound.
- Large vibrations make a loud sound, and small vibrations make a quieter sound.
- Plucking, blowing, shaking, beating or scraping can make sounds.
- Sound can travel through materials.
- Hard materials can reflect sound so that the sound travels back in the opposite direction. This is called an echo.
- Whales in the ocean "sing" to each other. The sound of their song can travel a distance of 800km.
- Sound moves through the air at 340m per second.
...this about Children's Rights???
In the UK in 1669, children and young people petitioned Parliament to ask for an end to harsh and brutal treatment from teachers. Yet it wasn’t until 1986 that a law was passed to stop teachers from using any kind of physical punishment. The proposal was won in Parliament by just one vote!
Estonia in Northern Europe has the smallest child population in the world, at less than half a million. China and India have the biggest populations of children and young people, at nearly 345 million each.
Norway was the first country to appoint an independent Children’s Ombudsperson (in 1981) – a powerful person separate from government who can push for the rights of children and young people.
The first country that agreed to follow the Convention on the Rights of the Child was Ghana in Africa (February 1990). The UK agreed to follow it in December 1991.
...about these animals?
- All swans in England are the property of the queen or king
- Honeybees never sleep
- Most lipstick have fish scales
- Cats are the most popular pets in the United States
- The oldest dog died at the age of 29
- Not only the fur of the tiger is striped but also its skin
- Earthworms have five hearts
...how the days of the week got their name?
The days of the week were named after Norse gods and giant objects in the sky.
These names come to us originally from the Greeks and Romans, who named the days of the week after their gods.
The Anglo-Saxons, who invaded Britain hundreds of years ago, adopted this idea but substituted their own gods. The English language has inherited and changed those names a bit, but the ones we use today resemble those names.
Here's how:
- Sunday: Sun's Day. The Sun gave people light and warmth every day. They decided to name the first (or last) day of the week after the Sun.
- Monday: Moon's Day. The Moon was thought to be very important in the lives of people and their crops.
- Tuesday: Tiw's Day. Tiw, or Tyr, was a Norse god known for his sense of justice.
- Wednesday: Woden's Day. Woden, or Odin, was a Norse god who was one of the most powerful of them all.
- Thursday: Thor's Day. Thor was a Norse god who wielded a giant hammer.
- Friday: Frigg's Day. Frigg was a Norse god equal in power to Odin.
Saturday: Seater's Day or Saturn's Day. Saturn was a Roman god.
...that Greenland really isn't green?
Greenland is a land of snow and ice. Not much green grows there. It's so cold all the time that only the hardest trees there. Some of those trees are green. But the snow and ice that are on the ground all the time don't show a whole lot of grass.
How Greenland got its name isn't entirely clear. Erik the Red, the great explorer, might have been the first European to land in Greenland. Did he name it Greenland? Maybe. He might have found it greener than his homeland of Iceland.
We do know that Greenland was warmer (by a few degrees) a thousand years ago, when Erik the Red would have landed there.
This large island was claimed by Denmark for many years. It is now a self-governing territory but technically still part of Denmark. In fact, it isn't even called Greenland anymore. The correct name of the now independent country is Kalaalit Nunaat.
Other interesting factoids...
The tongue of a blue whale is as long as an elephant. Our eyes are always the same size from birth.
Earth is not round, it is slightly pear-shaped.
On average, people move house every 7 years.
Mel Blanc, who played the voice of Bugs Bunny, was allergic to carrots.
...why it is called a hamburger if it has no ham in it?
During a trip to Asia in the early 1800s, a German merchant - it is said - noticed that the nomadic Tartars softened their meat by keeping it under their saddles. The motion of the horse pounded the meat to bits. The Tartars would then scrape it together and season it for eating. The idea of pounded beef found its way back to the merchant's home town of Hamburg where cooks broiled the meat and referred to it as it as Hamburg meat.
German immigrants introduced the recipe to the US. The term "hamburger" is believed to have appeared in 1834 on the menu from Delmonico's restaurant in New York but there is no surviving recipe for the meal. The first mention in print of "Hamburg steak" was made in 1884 in the Boston Evening Journal.
The honor of producing the first proper hamburger goes to Charlie Nagreen of Seymour, Wisconsin, USA. In 1885 Nagreen introduced the American hamburger at the Outgamie County Fair in Seymour. (Seymour is recognised as the hamburger capital of the world.)
However, there is another claim to that throne. There is an account of Frank and Charles Menches who, also in 1885, went to the Hamburg, New York county fair to prepare their famous pork sausage sandwiches. But since the local meat market was out of pork sausage, they used ground beef instead. Alas, another hamburger.
The first account of serving ground meat patties on buns - taking on the look of the hamburger as we know it today - took place in 1904 at the St. Louis World Fair. But it was many years later, in 1921, that an enterprising cook from Wichita, Kansas, Walt Anderson, introduced the concept of the hamburger restaurant. He convinced financier Billy Ingram to invest $700 to create The White Castle hamburger chain. It was an instant success. The rest of the history, we might say, belongs to McDonald's.
And, no, a hamburger does not have any ham in it. Well, it's not supposed to. Hamburger meat usually is made of 70-80% beef and fat and spices.
