Tuesday, January 26th Update

Hello Everyone!

Today we began by finishing the watercolour on our beautiful zentangle trees. We will put backings on the artwork when dry and then display them in the classroom. Look for pictures to come on the blog!

In Math, students are preparing for a measurement bingo game by doing some conversions that use all sorts of metric and imperial terms for measuring mass, length, liquid, etc.

For our Unit Work, we looked today at a map I have displayed in the classroom called A Developing World. Yesterday, we identified push and pull factors that result in the migration of people, and today, we discussed why some countries would have a greater pull than others. What is a first world country? We identified factors that may give a country a better quality of life, such as overall surface area (lots of land), population, life expectancy, education enrolment rates, and GDP (Gross Domestic Product.) The map allows you to see how countries are rated across the globe. We discussed why life expectancy may be higher or lower in certain countries. Would it be more important to educate women or men in a country, if you were trying to improve the overall level of education?

Who would you let in to the country? How do we determine who gets to come in to Canada? Students read 15 profiles of potential immigrants and then prioritized five individuals for entry, giving three reasons why they would allow each person. Tomorrow, we will compare notes and then rank those individuals according to the real Canadian immigrant point system. Is it hard to get into Canada as an immigrant?

Visitors to the classroom. Does anyone have a person from their family who would be willing to be interviewed by the class for their immigrant experience? They would need to be able to understand English, and the more interesting their experience coming into Canada the better. Interviews would be brief and would not involve a presentation, although the person would need to be able to answer questions about why they chose to come to Canada, how the immigration process went, were there any difficulties during that process, etc. Please let Ms. D know as soon as possible!

LA: We continued to read our novel study about Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. If you miss a read aloud chapter, you can borrow the book during class time to catch up, or if you know you are going to be out for awhile, please look for a copy in the public library to use as a resource. At this time we have not read any more than Chapter 5, so please do not read ahead. Also, students chose today from a list of potential literature circle books. Later in February, we will organize into reading groups around 4-5 different novels.

Science: We looked at vocabulary for the different types of animal migration and made flashcards for these new words. Then, students had some time to look up one animal that migrates to learn a bit more about the animal. Each person will get to focus on an animal of their choice that migrates as part of our science work.

Science Games Teams. We will have a meeting at recess on Thursday to get organized, as there are some things you need to know and to prepare before going. Naomi’s mom will be assisting us as a coach. Make sure you mark March 5th as busy all day. We have to be at Science World at 11:45 AM.

Thank you and have a great night!