Category: Articles and Unit Connections

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

Math: Practice Metric Conversion!

Hello Everyone!

Earlier this week, as part of our ongoing work on our math unit Math Makes It Work, we continued discussions about the metric system of measurement.

Here are some things we talked about:

  • In the metric system, we have bases which are liters, meters, and grams.
  • In front of each of the bases, we can put prefixes that tell us how many of the base is involved in the measurement. These are: kilo-, hecto-, deca-/deka-, deci-, centi-, and milli-
  • We can use a set of stairs (going from upstairs to downstairs in a left to right fashion) to convert between the different units of measurement in the metric system. To remember the stairs, you could make up a phrase, such as “Kangaroos Help Dingos Because Dingos Can’t Multiply”
  • The B stands for the base unit of measurement. Always stay in the same base when converting using the stairs.
  • You can convert measurements by putting them on the stairs in the right unit, and then multiplying or dividing.
  • If you move down the stairs, each stair means multiplying by 10 and moving the decimal one space to the right. If there isn’t a number, add zeros.
  • If you move up the stairs, each stair means dividing by 10 and moving the decimal one space to the left. If there isn’t a number, add zeros.

Want some more practice?

Quia Metric Millionaire Game

Khan Academy Conversion of Units Practice

IXL Compare and Convert Units Grade 4/5 Level

IXL Compare and Convert Units Grade 6 Level

IXL Compare and Convert Units Grade 8 Level

University of Waterloo Math Frog Metrics

More advanced Metric Units Using Notation 

More advanced Matthew Metrics Gum Parlour

Metric Card Game (which we will adapt and play in class)

Other Fun Games: (Do you have any to recommend? Tell Ms. D!)

Sheppard Software Measurement Activities

BBC Build a Shed Game

Read How To Part on this one — Death to Decimals Game

Commentary PowerPoint on Machines and Technology

Hello Everyone!

Today I have passed out a handout and rubric for your end-of-unit assignment to create a PowerPoint slideshow about the machine or technology you believe has been the most influential on humanity and the world.

During this project you will:

  • Create a minimum of 10 separate slides (not including your title or citations page at the end) to answer the questions provided below.
  • You need to discuss the positive and negative impacts of your machine or technology on humans and the world. Be specific.
  • Each slide should have a subtitle at the top, a picture, and a one sentence comment at the bottom that will give us an idea of your commentary about the machine or technology. It is a good idea to make the subtitles match the questions I have asked you to answer.
  • On separate paper, or in the notes section of the PowerPoint, create commentary for each slide that you can use to make a presentation during the slideshow.
  • Write commentary that answers the questions.
  • Provide copies of your notes, your PowerPoint, and your commentary to the teacher in Google Drive.
  • Practice saying the commentary out loud so you can present it to the class.

Questions you need to answer. Use these to guide your notes.:

  • What is the machine or technology you plan to discuss?
  • How is this machine or technology used? 
  • How does the machine or technology work?
  • When was the machine or technology invented? What is its history?
  • Why is this machine or technology the MOST influential on humanity and the world?
  • What are the positive impacts of this machine or technology?
  • What are the negative impacts of this machine or technology?
  • What is a summary of your key points on why this machine or technology is the most influential?
  • What is your bibliography of resources?

Do use:

  • Persuasive language to convince us this machine or technology is the MOST influential
  • Pictures that show you did some research
  • Captions under pictures to tell me what the picture is
  • Specific facts about where the machine or technology comes from that show some effort and research
  • Proper C.O.P.S. throughout the presentation
  • Basic transitions
  • One sentence of text

Please do not use:

  • Emoticons. At all.
  • Cartoon pictures.
  • Lots of text. Follow instructions. Only one sentence please.
  • Fancy transitions that increase the overall time of the slideshow, as they are not needed
  • Pictures from Google that have nothing to do with your topic
  • Pictures that have any copyright symbols or writing on them
  • Goodbye slides. If you want a slide at the end, simply say “Thank you and Questions?”
  • Black, red, neon colours that are hard to look at
  • Tiny fonts no one can read
  • Jokes in the middle of your PowerPoint. You are trying to prove a case. Convince me. Be professional.

Thank you!

Bibliographies! Useful info for your research

Hello Everyone!

Here are websites to help you with making bibliographies, which ensure all the information you are using during your research process is cited and acknowledged. Someone did all the great research before you, so we have to give them credit! This also applies to photographs you have used from the Internet.

Easy Bib — is a great resource for helping you to build your bibliography, but make sure you understand how to put a final bibliography together yourself without using this tool.

Sample Bibliography Style Sheet — Using the MLA format, here is a sample bibliography for you to follow. Notice that bibliography entries change for each type of resource.

MLA Tutorial — Here is another tutorial for young students on the MLA format of bibliographies.

Science Buddies — This website provides great tips for making MLA and APA format bibliographies. We are using MLA for now.

Sample Bibliography — Here is an entire bibliography. Notice the different resources are put in alphabetical order by the first letter of the entry. Notice the first line of each entry is not indented, but the lines afterwards are. Notice there is a space between each entry. This helps with making your resources clear to the reader and super organized!

MLA Citations Video — This is the quick video we will watch in class, if you would like to review again.

There are many more resources online about bibliographies if you need them. For example, if you forget how to cite a magazine, just put into Google “how to MLA cite a magazine” and you will find examples.

Ms. D

 

Welcome Back — New Articles to Consider

Welcome Back!

Hope you enjoyed your break and had some time to relax!

Please make sure you bring in those signed, report card envelopes tomorrow! (people who do remember will be pleasantly surprised!)

Here are some articles I found over break you may want to read in relation to our discussions about technology!

NPR 5 Things to Know About Screen Time Right Now

BBC Gaming Addiction Classified as Disorder by WHO (World Health Organization)

NPR Risk of Teen Depression Linked to Smartphone Use

Globe and Mail Your smartphone is making you stupid, antisocial, and unhealthy, so why can’t you put it down?

NPR Livestreaming Country Life Is Turning Some Chinese Farmers Into Celebrities

Globe and Mail How Much Screen Time is Harmful

CBC News Tech Toys Could Put Kids Privacy at Risk

CBC Health News Screens ‘Not a Toy’

American Psychological Association Guidelines for Youth Using Digital Technologies (says 2015, but updated 2016)

CNN Why Parents Fear Technology (and some common rumours that feed the fears)

Fast Company 3 Ways Technology Is Helping Kids

Globe and Mail Youth and Technology: Power and Danger

Psychology Today Cognitive Benefits in Playing Video Games

BBC Future Why Video Games May Be Good For You

Telegraph Is Video Gaming Bad For You? Science FOR and AGAINST

Unicef — This is dense/more advanced reading, so mature readers only. It was mentioned in the NPR article above – Chapter 1 and 4 of the PDF document have relevant information, especially starting at page 107. You can skip to certain sections using the pages in the table of contents and putting the number in to Adobe at the top of the screen. Be aware again that this is a mature read, just like the mature reads from our library. State of the World’s Children 2017: Children in a Digital World

See you tomorrow!

Ms. D

Researching for Debates on Technology

Hello Everyone!

We are going to be doing formal class debates on technology. Our two statements for debate will be the following:

  • Playing video games is a beneficial activity for young children.
  • Digital technology tools have a negative impact on young children. 

You will be choosing one of the statements above to research in detail, finding information about both sides of the debate, for and against.

As you look for information, be aware of finding evidence that:

  • is from a reputable source
  • has real-life examples of how technology is being used
  • is new (last three years is preferable) and updated, current
  • is in books as well as the web
  • involves facts not just opinions

Use websites:

  • that end in .edu, as it is an education website
  • that end in .gov as it comes from a government website
  • that end in .org, as it is a non-profit (but be aware of a biased perspective)
  • that are news websites we know to be reputable and local (Vancouver Sun, Globe and Mail, BBC, CBC, Associated Press, CTV, Global, NY Times, NPR, and more)
  • that show current information (search in Google News)
  • that show research and come from people who are reputable and know about the topic
  • TED Talks, especially from TED Ed

Avoid websites:

  • like wikipedia – which is great for quick facts but not for research
  • You Tube — great for entertainment or informational videos, but not necessarily research, unless you can tell where the video is coming from directly
  • that end in .com, as these are often businesses
  • that have lots of ads or sponsored content
  • that have a reading level you can’t understand
  • like Huffington Post that have news articles with very little information in them
  • that are blogs, which focus on giving out someone’s opinions
  • editorials in newspapers, which focus on opinions

Here are some websites or articles to consider. I am not posting these because I believe in their points of view, but rather so we have research on both sides of the debate. (Please visit as I add to this list.):

NPR Teen Depression and Smartphones

TED 3 Fears About Screen Time and why they are not true

Salon How the Smartphone affects a whole generation

Mindshift A Textbook dilemna: Paper or Digital

NPR Attention Students: Put Your Laptops Away

 

What a great unit! Finishing up and reflecting….

Hello Everyone!

FINISHING UP OUR FIRST UNIT!

We are almost at the end of our first large unit! Today we spent a lot of time working on our end-of-unit project — creating a fun game to help educate others about how personal choices impact the health of the human body! I have been impressed with how students have been working together and look forward to seeing the end products tomorrow!

We will also be honing our writing skills and creating a TED Talk to share on a topic of passion. Last week, we wrote a practice paragraph on our favourite game, identifying the qualities of a strong paragraph. Today, we began the steps toward writing our first, five-paragraph essay. Ms. D will be taking everyone through it a step at a time! Tonight, make sure you have written your introduction, with a thesis statement. Also, please make a quick outline of what you will talk about under the three points of your thesis statement. I look forward to your interesting talks! A rubric for the essay was distributed today.

Thank you for taking the end-of-unit quiz online. I will go over these with students tomorrow and pass out marks in agendas. As the quiz is online and to conserve paper, I won’t print out the quizzes; however, I will go over them with students one-on-one.

Finally, we will be working on a math survey project, using Google Forms, to apply our math skills we have learned. Everyone experimented with Google Forms last week, and today everyone met with partners to begin discussing topics. More work on this tomorrow! I provided a handout and rubric for the project today for your binders.

LOOKING BACK!

When I think of all the learning that has happened the last two months, it is amazing! Let’s take a look back at a few things we did together. What kinds of skills have we learned? Ms. D will write them in “I can” statements, like those from our Core Competencies.

At Science World….What a fun trip!

We went to a Human Body IMAX, we participated in a fun math workshop all about proportions and ratios, and we enjoyed the many exhibits, including one on math and another on Body Works!

I can communicate well with my peers while enjoying fun, experiential activities designed to learn about the human body and other science concepts.

I can express my personal interests by independently choosing activities in Science World that reflect my passions.

I can collaborate with others to do hands-on, inquiry challenges in mathematics around proportions and ratios.

      

Germ Lab!

We had a great time learning as we did a GERM LAB! Our question was: On what surface in the school would you have the greatest chance of touching a pathogen? We wrote a lab, made observations, and used math to make some conclusions!

I can organize my lab materials in a safe and accurate way.
I can record my experiment and investigation using the proper scientific method format.
I can make careful observations and record the data.
I can use critical thinking skills to choose locations for testing in the school where I think there may be the most traffic, and as a result, more pathogens.
I can look at my data in a table and analyze it using fractions, decimals, and/or percentages.
I can think about and record conclusions based on my data.

  

Strawberry DNA Lab!

While not directly in the curriculum, through depth and complexity, and through direct student questions gathered during the unit, we discussed GENETICS! We talked about common genetic traits in humans (rolling your tongue, eye colour, hair lines, etc.) and did a survey of these traits in our class. We watched a video by Bill Nye and Discovery Channel talking about how the study of genetics began through observations of peas! We discussed how some diseases are genetic and non-communicable, while others, like chicken pox, are communicable diseases. Finally, we did an experiment to separate the DNA from a strawberry! Again, we wrote a lab, made careful observations, and used our critical thinking skills to discuss results.

Classroom Visits!

To add to our unit, we had a neurologist come to tell us all about the brain! Thank you to Patricia’s family for making that connection for us! We also had a team of community health nurse students from Douglas College present on personal hygiene and immunizations. 

HALLOWEEN!

Part of using our core competency skills in COMMUNICATION during our first unit involved the student planning of a Halloween Party! Thank you to our Halloween committee for meeting during recess and lunch outside to plan a successful afternoon party. Here are some fun photos to enjoy of our classroom community!

Have a great evening! New unit coming soon. 

Ms. D

Go, Slow, and Whoa!!!! Looking at healthy decisions!

Hello Everyone!

We have been talking about the healthy choices we can make that impact the systems of the human body such as diet, sleep, exercise, habits, stress reduction, and more. In your HeartSmarts booklets, you are reading about many things you can do to improve heart and body health!

Next time you go into a grocery store with your parents, take some time to notice. Where are the healthy foods? Many times, the healthiest options are located around the outside areas of the store, whereas processed and packaged foods that are less healthy options tend to be in the centre aisles. Is this true in your store?

Today everyone received a handout about Go, Slow, and Whoa! The idea of this chart is to help guide us in making choices about our foods. You can also use the Canadian Food Guide which we received from the Community Health Nurses who visited. GO foods you have lots of when you are hungry. SLOW foods you should think about first and only have moderate amounts. WHOA foods are the “only once in awhile at a special occasion” foods. Using magazines, we cut out pictures to put up on three posters for GO/SLOW/WHOA to practice sorting foods into the three groups and to have a visual reminder in the classroom.

This weekend, please use your HeartSmarts booklet to do some recording of your own habits to think about healthy choices.

  • pp 34-35:  Write down your food choices for five days and evaluate them!
  • pp. 36: Read about SALT and find the item in your pantry with the most!
  • pp. 51-53: Read about WATER and track SUGAR consumption!
  • p. 73: Track your EXERCISE for three days! Read the pages before it for more information if you need it!
  • p. 83: Do the ULTIMATE SCREEN CHALLENGE to see if you can get through a day without screen time!

Please complete these by Friday next week. In the meantime, you are welcome to do any pages in the booklet for fun. We will be doing a few more of the activities next week. Thanks very much to the Heart and Stroke Foundation for these resource booklets!

Coming UP!: Math Checking In Quiz on Thursday, October 26th. Unit Quiz on Monday, October 30th. We will review for both! We will finish our Disease PowerPoint and share them with one another, talk about paragraphing and write up our TED talk, discuss benefits of SLEEP, talk about bear anatomy in relation to indigenous cultures of B.C., and start wrapping up this unit with some end projects.

No School Friday/Monday. PHOTO DAY on Tuesday, Oct. 24th!

ALSO: Please have your parents fill out this survey on FIELD TRIPS, due by next Wednesday. Thank you.

See you Tuesday!

Ms. D

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