Where did March go?  There are many more things yet to do before our Open House for students to share their Tiny House or Castle! There are only 4 weeks of school left for my crew to be ready!  Yikes!!!  Right now parents won’t be able to attend the Open House due to current covid restrictions.  We’ll see if things change.  Other classes have signed up to tour our Open House.  Grade 5’s will dress up up real estate agents to sell their tiny house and Grade 4’s can dress up as a prince, princess, knight, king or queen to discuss their castle with visitors.

Here is what we’ll be up to for the month of April…

Math

We will be working on arranging our research for “our-pretend-preparation” of our first day back in September for our first day of Grade 5 or 6 using a budget of $300.  We are also working on planning a getaway to Great Wolf Lodge with a budget of $2000.  Our Financial Literacy unit gives students a good chance to see the reality of the costs of budgeting, shopping and spending within limits.

Language

We will be wrapping up our work on “Camp X” by Eric Walters and “Bunnicula” by James Howe.  Some students will collectively read “Mouse and the Motorcycle” by Beverley Cleary.

Social Studies

The Grade 5’s have completed work discussing and researching a filles du roi, a farmer and an explorer from New France.  Grade 4 students are using their knowledge of Medieval Times in the construction of their castles.

Science

The Grade 5’s final unit is Conservation of Energy.  We will be constructing our Tiny House project.  Grade 4’s have spent some time investigating Sound and Light while conducting experiments.

Gym

We are about to begin our own version of the Stanley Cup…  the “Portable Cup”!  Who will hoist the Cup???

Lets hope for a little piece of “normal” this month…

Math

Language

Social Studies

Science

The Arts

Gym

We’ve had a couple Snow Days so far this year.  Mother Nature has certainly thrown a couple curve balls this year into the schedule (so has covid…)… and Georgian Bay still isn’t frozen over yet… so there may be a few more Snow Days yet to come.  Don’t forget that work is posted to the Google Classroom and work is on the Classroom Calendar.

Math

Unit 6 is all about Algebra and Coding.  Thinking about the unknown part of an equation and how to solve for it!  Do you remember Algebra from high school?  There is lots of practice posted to the Classroom Calendar.  The second part to this unit is all about “coding”.  We are also going to “program” Brian’s brain to solve a problem with a bully.  This coordinates nicely with the topic in Health.  The steps to building a story is the same for developing computer software and “coding” a computer to think.  We will help Brian solve dealing effectively with a bully.

We will start Unit 7 by the end of the month.  It is about grids and will end with a geocaching project and not a quiz.  They will be expected to design a grid style search/adventure for treasure on the school grounds.  I don’t expect to play the adventures but the students need to practice what one would be like IF we were to play one.  We’ll see what ideas they come up with and how creative they are!  Check out what geocaching is!!

You would be surprised to know how many geocaches there are in Elmvale!

Language

We are well on our way to writing our own questions and hamburger answers while working on our novel studies.  I had to review the expectations of writing answers in paragraph form.  Some students follow instructions and need to focus on including more detail in describing their answers.  Students are developing their own ideas about Camp X and and Bunnicula.  The novel takes a backseat to speeches at the beginning of February.

Speeches are to completed by the first week of February.  For some students this was their first chance at framing their ideas into a formal speech.  I know this is “old-fashioned” but I believe this is good practice for “real-life”.  Students selected a topic and worked on developing their ideas.  Speeches were a lengthier version of their hamburger paragraphs.  Two students from the class will be selected to virtually read to a few of the other classes who are completing speeches as well.  That’s the hope anyways…

Social Studies

Grade 5 has been looking at life in New France in the 1700’s.  The Grade 4’s are adding to their Chicken mummy as we explore Ancient Egyptian culture.  Grade 4’s will be moving on to discussing Medieval Times.

Science

We are continuing Structures and discovering the stability of structures we build as a result of stress caused by tension and/or compression.  Grade 5’s  built a bridge out of popsicle sticks and we tested each bridge’s strength.  We have also built straw towers and tested designs which perfected the use of triangles.  The Grade 4’s have worked with gears and pulleys.  Our next project for both groups will be a combination Media and Science activity.  Each student will be responsible for pairing up with another class member in designing an egg protector.  We will test them and decide how to market them to a store like Toys ‘r Us.  The “Egg Drop” should be happening February 18.  We will move on to working on Light/Sound in Grade 4 and Conservation of Energy in Grade 5.

The Arts

We have several visual art projects to work on.  Results will be hung in the windows and on our walls.

Gym

Students have wrapped up playing volleyball and practicing the skills of volley, bump and serve.  We are going to start floor hockey.  Students are dividing themselves into teams.  The gym is divided in half and everyone is working towards playing for the “Portable Cup”.

We will be having our own class floor hockey tournament during Gym class.  We will be playing for the “Portable Cup”.  Students will be evenly divided into four teams.  We have begun our regular season adventure to the Cup.  We will enter the playoffs based on the results.  The celebratory winning team will be drinking ginger ale from the Cup!!!  Champagne will have to wait until they are older…

Here are the names from a few previous years!!!

Winners drink from the Cup!  Ginger ale that is…

Students design their own invention to survive the drop of an egg.  This is an assignment in our Structures unit in Science.  Students create a list of resources they need to gather.

Here is the link to the assignment:  Click here.

Here is the link to the assignment from our textbook: Click here.

The prices are “pretend.”  We are using the pricing for our unit in Math as we use money.  We are also using this project to create a Media project.  We are pretending to sell our projects at Toys ‘r Us.  Use a Kleenex box.  Turn it inside out.  Decorate the outside of the box to advertise your invention.

Here is the link to this part of the assignment: Click here.

Here is what was created before…

These are three amazing examples.  Look closely at the detail they included:

Front view:

Back of the boxes:

View from the top:

What they designed for the bottom:

We will have our “drop” as soon as we are back at school.  30′ to terra firma…

Every egg comes to its end… we’ll eat the pickled results after March Break…

I hope everyone did have a refreshing break.

January will continue to be busy.  We have several activities and a few new things.  We’ll do things online and then hopefully get back to in-person learning.

Math

See the calendar for the schedule of lessons for our next unit of math.  Our focus is money.  We will visit multiplication and division again and the use of money.  Check out some of the math links for any practice of skills.  See what we will be studying in the Google Classroom.  The Grade 5’s worry about paying tax.  The Grade 4’s just have to shop and worry about paying tax next year!

Language

We are working on our Eric Walters novel, Camp X, and the novel, Bunnicula, by James and Deborah Howe.  Students will master the skill of Who, What, Where, When, Why and How…

See the Google Classroom for their work and an audio link to the novels.

We are also going to explore speeches again this year.  I am stressing students select a topic of interest and develop an enthusiastic reciting of their work/topic.  Speeches should be a lengthier version of their hamburger paragraphs.  A handout was circulated before the Christmas Break.  It has also been shared on the Remind and is also posted in the Google Classroom.

Social Studies

The Grade 4’s have been researching an Ancient Egyptian.  Their report (likely a Google Doc or Slide deck) will be printed out once back at school.  Their chicken mummy is happily awaiting their return once back at school.  We’ll “wrap up” our mummy once back at school.  See what was already posted to the Google Classroom.

The Grade 5’s will work on European exploration (non-fiction research) and the eventual settlement in New France (see our blog link on New France)is our topic of investigation through reading portion of a historical fiction novel titled, Alone in an Untamed Land.  Please also see what is posted in the Google Classroom.

Science

We have jumped ahead to design our Egg Dropper experiment.  Please see the blog page: https://bit.ly/3EREBAm

Work is also posted to the Google Classroom.

The Arts

We have several visual art projects to work on in class.  Depending on how long we will be at home then we’ll explore drawing activities over the Google Meet.  After some instruction then students can independently explore their abilities.

Gym

First we would have wrapped up volleyball.  Now that you are home for a little bit then I suggest you get some fresh air outside.  Play in the snow (if there is eventually any…)

We eventually play for the “Portable Cup”.  A sought after trophy!  The hockey fans have been waiting for this time of year!  Floor hockey!  We will set up four teams of students within our class.  I would like the students to take the lead and decide teams, captains and fair rules to ensure a pleasurable time for all students.  The gym will be divided in half to ensure both leagues are playing and not “sitting”.  The students will then be combined and compete in a play-down for the Cup.

Health

We are going to explore the nasty subject of bullying.  There is an assignment posted to the Google Classroom to help students explore their options, feelings and next steps.

November went by faster than you can imagine… can you believe we’re nearing 1/3 of the way through the year already???

Christmas will be different this year.  Due to covid we will not be gathering in the gym for caroling but we will be able to complete our Secret Santa gift exchange in the classroom.

Student-Led Conferences

Conferences were held several weeks ago.  We have discussed some “Strengths” and “Next Steps for Improvement” as we wrap up Hatchet, continue our work in Math and all the other subjects too.  Our work for the year will be to continue to work on our paragraph writing.  We will refer to the “Writing a Paragraph” link off the blog.

I will continue to stress with students about how to go about making good choices.  Students need to choose to make the best efforts they can with their time and skills in their studies.  I am not doing your work for you and neither are your parents!  Your parents and I are here to help you!!!

Math

Unit 4 will focus on Patterning starting December 2.  The quiz for Unit 3 – Measuring and Angles was on December 1.  They create and translate patterns in a variety of ways.  In Unit 4, students determine pattern rules for various patterns in order to extend them, make near and far predictions, and determine missing parts.    Please check out some of the math links off the blog page I have set up for any practice of skills.  These offer a great opportunity to reinforce the concepts we are learning in class.  Our fourth unit in Math will wrap up on December 17th with another quiz.  That is the last day of school before the break.  Bah-humbug, Mr. Voorn…

See the calendar for the schedule of lessons and check out Prodigy (or Nelson… or other links off the blog) for any assignments and be sure to practice.  There are numerous links are on the side bar on the blog.  There are some upcoming new links to practice Math skills.

Language

We are beginning our exploration of writing a speech.  We will start a discussion before we break for the Christmas holidays as to the expectations for speech writing and the presentations.  A timeline has been set out on the handout.  My expectation is that students return in January with their idea for their speech.  In January, we will hash out the 3 minutes of material, create a good copy on cue cards, work on presenting to a friend to be comfortable with reciting their speech and at the beginning of February we will present them to the class.

Social Studies

The Grade 5’s will begin to investigate European exploration (non-fiction research) and eventually settlement in New France (through a non-fiction novel).  I have a set of non-fiction books to complete some research and class discussions.  We will be completing an organizer and booklet to record our observations and discussions.  Have a look at the tab across the top of the blog for the “New France” link.

The Grade 4’s are looking forward to working on their sarcophagus and wrapping their mummy.

Science

The Grade 4’s are exploring the construction of pulleys and gears.

The Grade 5’s are going to start studying Structures and discovering the stability of structures we build.  We will build a bridge out of popsicle sticks and will test its strength.  Check out the video we watched!!!  Tacoma Bridge collapse.

They will also build a tower out of straws and test its strength as well.  Check out this video:  Ice Storm!

Here are a few pictures from past construction adventures!!!

There is lots to do in December and looking forward into January!

We will test our bridges before the Christmas break.  The groups of Grade 5 students have to design and construct a bridge that allows a wind-up car drive across and then we test how strong they are.

Everyone tries to build strong bridges.  Here’s are some pics of our fun from previous years.

Some were stronger than others!

The Grade 4’s will enjoy building with pulleys and gears.  We will be testing the effeciency of our designs using Newton scales while cooperatively working with a partner.

Here are some old contestants in the Grade 5 Bridge building destruction contest…

The Cool Beans…

Night Fox…

The No Names…

The Unicorns…

They must get my little cars across and then handle all the weight (mass) placed on their design!  Each bridge had to be successful in getting the truck across, be constructed using any combination of 5 m of string and up to 200 popsicle sticks.

“Forces on Structures” will give us a chance to read up on what effects the structures humans have constructed.  We will first tackled designing a bridge.  We will watch some of the mistakes humans have made in the past…

We watched the Tacoma bridge collapse… now that why test things in wind tunnels!!!…

and then discussed the design of other bridges…

This is one is of the Pont du Gard aqua duct in France.  I’ve been to it and it is covered in graffiti dating back to the Middle Ages!!!  It was carved into the rock.

These is an example of the graffiti left behind.  1843…

Wow!  November already!!!

Student-Led Conferences

You should have received a note via the Agenda confirming our meeting which is after the release of the Progress Report on November 4.  Plans have been finalized for meeting the following week (Nov. 8-12) after school or for Friday morning.  Students will reflect on their Portfolios and be prepared to discuss their Strengths and Next Steps for Improvement.  Parent(s) and I can discuss the year-to-date but this meeting is really to let the student shine!  Since we can’t meet in person then a phone conversation will suffice.  We all have busy lives!!!

Math

Our second Math test will be in a few days on Unit 2.  It will be marked, returned, signed and should get signed and returned.  It will be added to their portfolio.

We will begin our third unit.  We are going to delve into measuring and angles.  See the calendar for the schedule and check out Prodigy, Nelson or a few of the other links for some math practice.  The links are on the side bar on the blog.

I am anticipating that the quiz for our third unit will be later November followed up by a quiz at the end of the unit.  Please follow the blog calendar.

Happy clicking!

Language

We wrapped shooting up our video of “I survived…”.  This is based on each group’s topic and using iMovie to produce our end product.  We have made it through to Chapter 6 of Hatchet.  The adventure continues… If you would like toview the video they created then access it on Google Drive.  Groups shared them with each other.

We also wrote a standardized CASI test.  This will be another assignment that will count towards the Progress Report and first term report cards.  We will continue to practice using our hamburger model throughout the year.  The CASI should have come home for review, signing and then return to be put in their portfolio.

Social Studies

We have continued our research of Indigenous groups of the eastern region of Canada for Grade 5 and we are investigating Ancient Egypt in Grade 4.  Grade 5 are polishing off their wall poster on a Frist Nations group.  Grade 4’s are leading up to their mummy project.

Science

The Grade 5’s are wrapping up our look at the Human Body with creating a pop-up book of our chosen system or organ.  Nothing better than guts!!!  We will be moving into the study of Structures and discovering the stability of structures we build.  The Grade 4’s will wrap up their look at Habitat (food, water, shelter and space) and then investigate pulleys and gears.