Wednesday, January 31st Update!!

Hello Everyone!

Just a quick update to keep everyone on track, as we have had some absences and we have lots going on!

Understanding Immigration!

So far, we have discussed the push and pull factors for why people emigrate and immigrate, and we also learned about some of the larger migration paths taken by people in the world.

How do we determine who gets to immigrate into Canada? Students were asked to read profiles of potential immigrants to Canada, to determine which five out of a group of twelve would be allowed into the country, and then to discuss the selection criteria we would use to make decisions about who comes in or not. We all agreed making decisions about immigration is hard! Tomorrow, we will evaluate the applicants we thought should come into Canada by using the real Canadian Immigration point system that helps determine who receives entry.

How did we get here?

Each student has selected a character to tell the story of how we all came to be in Canada. This includes First Nations, explorers, fur traders, wartime immigrants, and refugees. Everyone will research their characters using the websites provided on the blog or books found in the classroom, then answer questions about their character found here. Once the research is completed, students will write a short speech telling their character’s story in the first person, as they pretend to BE the character! Everyone will make costume and prop pieces to help represent their character’s story, challenges, and time period. Then, we will present our characters! This will be done over the next two weeks.

Our characters so far include:

  • Someone on George Vancouver’s ship
  • Immigrants working on the CPR
  • Syrian, Columbian, and Russian refugees from different time periods
  • A First Nations person crossing Beringia
  • A Viking explorer
  • Alexander Mackenzie
  • A European immigrant to the Prairies
  • Fur Traders and HBC representatives
  • James Cook
  • Henry Hudson
  • John Cabot
  • Samuel Champlain
  • French settler in Montreal
  • Chinese immigrant during the time of the Chinese Head Tax
  • Jacques Cartier

Migration of Animals and Biomes!

So far, we watched Planet Earth: Pole to Pole to learn more about the biomes of the world and how animals migrate between them. Students have researched the biomes, found different characteristics of each one, and created a map to show biome locations in the world. This map is due tomorrow, Thursday, February 1.

Our next step is to talk tomorrow about bird migration, as we will be visiting the Reifel Bird Sanctuary on Friday. You may want to visit the Sanctuary’s website to see where we are going, to find out what kinds of birds are there, and to learn about its history. Please dress for the weather, as it will likely be cold and wet. Thank you in advance to our parent drivers who will help us get there on Friday!

Quilt of Belonging for ART!

Today, I introduced the Quilt of Belonging book, which explains how a huge quilt was created with almost 300 squares representing the many, many cultures in Canada. You can find out more about the quilt, which toured here in Vancouver during the Winter Olympics, on the Quilt of Belong Website. As we look closer at the core competency for personal and cultural identity, students will think about what their own culture is. They will then create an artistic square, using paper and other art supplies, to represent their culture and to add to our class Quilt of Belonging. I look forward to seeing all of our cultures put together into a vibrant quilt presentation!

What is culture? Today we defined it as the way we do things. Here are some things that may shape your culture. Think about these, think about how you might represent those things on the quilt with a symbol, picture, or colour, and begin to sketch designs for your square in the quilt. Think about how your square will have a border of some type and symmetrical designs in each of the four corners. We will be working on the squares Monday afternoon. You may want to have a discussion with Mom and Dad to help!

  1. When looking at your family background, what country or countries did your family come from? Which country plays a role in your identity or they way you do things at home?
  2. What symbols, family artifacts, artwork, or other object represents you and your family? What kinds of things do you like to put up in the house as decor?
  3. Do you celebrate a religion? Does the religion play a role in how you do things at home? Do you have any specific beliefs?
  4. Are there specific celebrations, festivals, traditions, and holidays your family thinks are important?
  5. What foods are important to your family? 
  6. What clothes are worn in your family? Any traditional outfits that represent your culture?
  7. What colours does your family identify with? What kinds of colours do you see around the house?
  8. What animals, natural places, or weather best represents you and your family?

Math — Measurement, Multiplication, Area:

Our Math Quiz has been postponed so we can finish presentations of the machines PowerPoints and slideshows tomorrow. Since we are having the field trip on Friday, we will do the quiz on Monday, February 5th. If you are absent, just do the quiz when you return.

If you are away, please do pick up the math game and You Do the Math handouts that may have been distributed. Right now, page one of the You Do the Math Skyscrapers should be done as well as the Metric Conversion practice so you are prepared for Monday’s quiz.

Some students also needed to re-work challenge problems from the Wonders of the World Pyramids and Terracota Warriors math, which involved multiplication and surface area. These are challenging problems, but keep at them! You have the answers now, so please do re-work them to see how you can improve your computations. If you need help, we can talk in class.

Language Arts:

Most everyone has finished their debate paragraph and we are ready to start debating! We will start tomorrow by practicing improvised speechmaking for rebuttals. I look forward to hearing everyone’s arguments!

Other:

Upcoming field trip heads up — February 23rd we will be going to Britannia Mines as part of our next unit. Please mark your calendars.

Have a great night!

Ms. D

 

Researching Your Character!

Hello Everyone!

We are all going to tell the story of “How did we get here?” by taking on characters from Canadian history. You will choose one part of Canadian history and then do research to create or represent a character from that time period. All of our characters will help tell the story of how Canada came to be and how we came to be here.

To start, find out the following about your character. We will be using this research to write a short speech in the first person that you can present. 

  1. When did your character live and what was going on during their time period?
  2. What did your character do that was connected to Canadian history and the movement of people?
  3. What did your character do?
  4. What were the conditions like where your character lived and worked?
  5. What would your character have worn? What did they look like?
  6. What kinds of things would your character have brought with them to Canada?
  7. What kinds of challenges would your character face?
  8. What kind of transportation did your character use to move/explore/come to Canada?
  9. What do you think your character thought about coming to Canada, exploring, or about the experience of immigrating?
  10. What was the one thing your character did that was a key part of our history? 

Take notes in your journal or on Google Docs to answer these questions. Next, we will write a short speech. More to come on this after our research is done!

Ms. D

Canada: Movement of People

Hello Everyone:

Using the resource in the classroom called Canada:Movement of People, answer these questions in your journal:

  1. What does the word diverse mean in terms of Canada’s population?
  2. What were the three big groups of immigrants from Europe, where did they come from, and when did they come to Canada? (Please give names to these immigration periods)
  3. How did most people come from Ireland to Canada and what were the problems with the journey?
  4. What two wars caused migration of people in the 1700s/1800s? What were the groups of migrants called?
  5. Why did a lot of migrants come from Europe to the Canadian West?
  6. Why did the Chinese immigrants come to Canada in the 1800s?
  7. Where did Dutch immigrants go?
  8. Who were the Black Refugees?
  9. Who came to Upper Canada or Ontario to settle?
  10. Name four laws/acts passed in Canada about immigration and tell some details about them.
  11. Who are Acadians?
  12. What is Africville?
  13. What happened in 1971 to Canadian government policy that had to do with welcoming other cultures to Canada? (hint: page 27)
  14. What are the two official languages of Canada? What are other languages in Canada?

Debate Paragraph Format

Hello Everyone!

As you write your paragraph for the technology debate, please make sure you use persuasive language as we discussed in class.

Also, your paragraph to turn in needs to be typed, 11-12 sentences, and be approximately one minute long. If you add sentences to the paragraph, please time it to make sure it is not longer than one minute. Otherwise we will run out of time for our debates.

Sentence Structure for the Paragraph:

  1. Introduction/Hook/Present your position (whether you agree or disagree with the resolution Technology should be limited for young children.)
  2. Provide REASON ONE you agree or disagree
  3. Give evidence from your research to back up reason one.
  4. Give a counterargument. Think about what the opposing team will say about your argument.
  5. Provide REASON TWO you agree or disagree
  6. Give evidence from your research to back up reason two.
  7. Give a counterargument. Think about what the opposing team will say about your argument.
  8. Provide REASON THREE you agree or disagree
  9. Give evidence from your research to back up reason three.
  10. Give a counterargument. Think about what the opposing team will say about your argument.
  11. Provide a closing sentence or two that sums it all up. What do you want the audience to remember? Don’t present more evidence. Sum up your arguments in new words that sound persuasive and appeal to the audience. What do you want them to remember about your speech so they leave agreeing with you?

Migration Unit Web Links

Hello Everyone!

Here are some links to use as we talk about “How did we get here?” There are also links to help with the science portion of our unit on migration, so you can find out information about the different biomes.

MBG Net Biomes

Fact Monster Biomes

NCEAS World Biomes

BBC All About the Vikings

Canadian Atlas Online Settling Canada

Government of Canada Geographical Maps

Enchanted Learning Explorers of Canada

Canada’s History Greatest Explorers of Canada

Government of Canada Library Archives Pathfinders and Passageways to Canada

Another version of Library Archives Pathfinders and Passageways to Canada

HBC Heritage A Brief History of the Hudson Bay Company (fur trade)

HBC Heritage Beaver Pelts

Canadian Geographic Canada’s Greatest Women Explorers

Canadian Geographic Canada’s Greatest Explorers

Knights Canadian Early Explorers of Canada

CBC 10 Explorers Who Made History in the Arctic

Canada Guide Early History of Canada

Canadian Encyclopedia Exploration

YouTube Canadian History in a Nutshell 

YouTube History Channel Jacques Cartier

YouTube Biography Jacques Cartier

YouTube History Channel Henry Hudson

YouTube Biography Henry Hudson

YouTube Viking River Cruises The Vikings Leif Eriksson

YouTube John Cabot’s Search for a Passageway

YouTube John Cabot Biography

YouTube That Was History Jacques Cartier

YouTube History Central Samuel de Champlain

YouTube Curriculum Services Canada Beaver Fur Trade

YouTube Canada’s Early Explorers

YouTube Henry Hudson’s Explorations

YouTube Biography Samuel de Champlain

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update January 19th! Getting going with a new unit

Hello Everyone!

Here are some quick updates so everyone knows what is going on in our class!

New Unit, Migration!:

I asked the class the question, “How did we get here?” I didn’t mean, how did we get to school this morning, or how did we get to grade 4/5. What I meant was how did we all get here? What is our story of how we ended up having our lives here? 

We have begun exploring Canada’s story, beginning with the First Nations who came here via Beringia, then the explorers who came here from Europe, and the immigrant groups who found a new home in Canada. It is a complex history with so much to cover. We will go over our history in a general way, so we are aware of the timeline and reasons people came to Canada. Then, I will ask everyone to become a specialist. Each student will choose a character (either an actual, named character, or a creative, made-up person from a specific time period) to research in more detail. They will create a mini-monologue for that person and present it in a creative way. More details on this to come, but I have asked everyone to begin thinking of WHO they might want to research in more detail or WHAT time period they want to focus on for the project. I think this will be a fun way to learn more about the story of Canada!

I also asked everyone to take home a family tree and map, as we would like to map everyone’s migration journey. This may mean having a conversation at home about the journey previous generations made to eventually end up in Canada. The family tree and map are due on Monday. Thank you in advance for your immigration stories if you are willing to share!

A short unit quiz from unit two will be on Monday. Please review questions from your journal from when we did the unit review together. It will be multiple choice and short answer.

Language Arts:

We are finishing up our last unit by preparing for debates on technology. Each student is asked to have 20 pieces of evidence prepared on cards by end of day Monday. Debate teams have been assigned. We will write debate speeches and talk about persuasive language next week, which will be followed by the actual debates! I look forward to the conversations. Remember, your opinions need to be backed up with some actual FACTS and QUOTES from your research!

For general grammar and writing practice, we will also be doing the following during the next few weeks.

  • Vocab Study: Each Monday, students will independently choose 10 words from the advanced vocabulary list I provided that they do not already understand. In their journal, they will write short definitions for each one and two sentences for words that are the most challenging. On the next Monday, a partner will call out the words to give them a spelling test for their journals. So, our first spelling test of challenge words is next Monday.
  • Byrdseed Grammar and Phunny Enuf: Using two resources for more advanced students, we will do mini grammar lessons in class between other unit activities. Hopefully this will provide a fun way to review some common errors found in students’ writing.
  • 642 Big Things to Write About: Students will be asked to do some creative writing using a choice of writing prompts. After doing several, we will choose one to revise, to work on in more detail, and to edit carefully for publication.

MATH:

Students were asked to practice metric conversion using websites found on the blog. If you haven’t done this, please do so!

We have been developing a deeper sense of multiplication, discussing multiples, factors, digital roots, square roots, divisibility, order of operations, and more. Some of this work is done in our journals and a part is done through playing games. If anyone has difficulty immediately recalling multiplication facts up to the 12s, I recommend using these games for extra practice. We even made some games of our own, especially for student who were ready to practice more advanced numbers.

For anyone in upper math, we are focusing on math properties. Please take a look at this website on math properties to expand your knowledge in this area.

You can also practice using the properties and order of operations here.

Here are some games for order of operations.

Ms. D also gave out a challenge from Perfectly Perilous Math about the deadly pendulum. Answer to be discussed on Monday! We will continue doing challenges for fun from this book.

NEXT — We will be working from YOU DO THE MATH: Skyscrapers as we put together measurement, multiplication, operations, area, perimeter, and other math skills to talk about building, construction, and engineering. More on that next week.

OTHER:

Young People’s Concert next Thursday morning!

Tennis will be coming up as an activity for PE in early February!

Please do check out our lovely zentangle, watercolour trees posted on the bulletin board to the right of Ms. Hetrick’s room, near the office and the side doors of the school. Everyone did an amazing job of using elements and principles to make these!

Students will begin working again on French-games.net, so stay tuned.

Field trip coming up on February 2nd, Friday. Many thanks to everyone who volunteered to drive!

Have a great weekend!

Ms. D

New Unit! The Way We Move

Hello Everyone!

We are in the process of finishing up our last unit! Over the next week, we will do our PowerPoint presentations about machines we think have had the greatest impact on humanity and continue preparing for our debates about technology.

But it is time for a new unit, and we will begin to have discussions about it! Here you go:

Unit Focus Statement: Migration is a response to challenges, risks, survival, and a natural need to explore.

Areas of Inquiry: Covering Socials, Science, LA, ART, PE/Health

  • Human migration and it impact on Canada and the world (which will involve discussions about explorers, fur trade, gold rush, and times migration occurred in our history)
  • The reasons people move throughout the world
  • The nature of EXPLORATION (not just that of explorers!)
  • The biomes of the world
  • The similarities between humans and other animals as related to migration
  • Becoming more aware of world geography

We will also continue to look at MATH in the following ways as part of Math Makes It Work:

  • Measurement and Metric Conversion (how it involves the base 10, multiplication, division, and decimals)
  • A deeper sense of multiplication
  • Area and Perimeter
  • Geometrical shapes, angles
  • Math related to Skyscrapers from the book You Do The Math

We will also continue to work on FRENCH, focusing on the following:

  • French Immersion students will be working on reading French graphic novels and creating conversations amongst themselves for presentation
  • Beginning French students will focus on basic conversations and do presentations in front of the class in partner groups
  • All students will focus on countries where French is spoken in connection with our geography studies
  • All students will continue to use technology for their French studies through Duolingo and French-Games.net

This unit will take us through February 20th approximately, and then on to the next one!

Ms. D

SFU Fun Opportunities for Students

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to pass along some information about upcoming programs for elementary, middle, and high school students interested in computer science and engineering! 

Please find a brief description of upcoming programs below with detailed information available at the SFU website at https://www.sfu.ca/fas/news-and-outreach/community-outreach.html

As I am only passing along information and can’t answer questions, please direct inquiries to fasevent@sfu.ca 

Technovation (January to May 2018)

Open to girls ages 10 to 18. The Technovation Challenge teaches middle and high school girls how to make an app for a mobile phone using AppInventor.  This 12-week, online, after-school program is structured so that groups of girls (ages 10-18) learn how to identify a problem, design and test a solution, collaborate with a team and communicate effectively.  Each team will work though the Technovation curriculum with assistance from a mentor. 

Girls Get IT (May 26, 2018)

Open to girls ages 9 to 11. Each year, the Faculty of Applied Sciences hosts a great opportunity for girls aged 9-11 to learn about the fields of Computing Science and Engineering! Participants take part in various activities and have the chance to talk to current students about what it means to be a computing scientist or engineer. All activities are supervised by SFU faculty and staff. Girl Guides Canada participants complete all requirements for both their computing science and engineering badges. 

Science AL!VE (Throughout the year)

Open to grade K to 9 students depending on the specific program. Science Alive provides opportunities for youth to explore science beyond the textbook through hands-on, interactive discovery which stimulates their interest and fosters confidence. A student-run not-for-profit organization based at Simon Fraser University,  Science AL!VE is supported by the Faculty of Applied Sciences, and a member of Actua, a national organization that reaches 225,000 youth annually. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

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