Week of Feb 28 - Mar 4

Notices

March Calendar

Please sign the permission forms for filming for the Read 4 the Top even if your child is not in the semi-finals

Week Overview:

Math: Between now and spring break, March 11 th, I hope to wrap up our measurement unit on time. It is expected that all students will be able to tell time using an analog clock. There will be a large test on analog and digital time the week before spring break.

Socials: This week, and next week, we will explore the First nations Beliefs and Ceremonies, text pages 85 - 89. I am a member of the Tagish-Tlingit first nations and am a member of the wolf clan. I will guide the students through the concepts of the responsibilities that go along with earning a name and becoming a contributing member of a clan. We will learn about the potlatch, totems and spirit guides and getting an ancestral name. Today we did a game, with candy rockets, to show the students how in a traditional village the person with nothing or the least was often the chief. I find that this exercise shows children that having the most stuff does not make you the most trusted or respected member of a community.

Science: Continuing on our 'Weather' theme until spring break when we will switch to a unit on 'Light.' This week we will work on page 68 from the text which examines blizzards and droughts. I think it is appropriate at this time to work on this topic as living through our recent blizzard brings this topic up close and real for our Victoria children who can go a year or two without any snow at all. The students will write about their own experiences with the blizzard of 2011, as well as imagining the effect of the blizzard on other living and not living parts of our environment.

Today:

Spelling pre-test given and corrected. Spelling pages for students to work on, as an aid in thinking about spelling words, handed out and students worked on them.

Words this week (ight/ought/aught) Unit 22: frighten flight brighter flashlight mighty delight tighten nightly brought ought thought fought sight caught daughter taught naughty fault Bonus: ceremonies

After recess Mrs. Withers took the 8 read for the top students and read and made questions for semi-final round. The students remaining worked on their Classic Novel reports or their Math Time project (due Friday)

Today we worked on pages r181, r182 reading and writing analog and digital time and page 188, solving problems on time.

After lunch those students not in choir listened to the music and did a one page report on music of Electric Light Orchestra.

Language Arts: A one page report in our famous Canadian series Jim Carey.

The students finished the day in Music where they practiced their recorder and a dance that they are going to perform at one of the assemblies.

Friday Update

We started the day with reading as the last of our read for the top teams, not already in the semi-finals, competed. The team cited technical difficulties as the reason for their defeat, but the grade 5 team they were up against were very strong.

After recess we did our Friday test and then did graphing in math with the extra time. Graphs are a great way to learn about the students, talk about math concepts, like fractions and percents, and all in all spend some enjoyable time doing math. The Friday tests were not handed back today as I needed more time to evaluate the 100 times table questions for report cards which come out on March 10 th.

The First nations Projects were due today. Many great reports were finished and those students earned extra computer time at the end of the day. Many students were close and finished off their reports, while those finished had free computer time. Those students still not finished will have to bring them home on the weekend as no more class time will be given for their completion.

In buddies after Lunch the students helped their little buddies with math, had a rousing game of Dr. dodge ball in the gym then, as noted above, had a free computer period for those who worked hard finishing their First Nations Mini-book projects.

Thursday update

Today, while the last group competed in the Read for the Top, the class worked on their First Nations mini-book Due Tomorrow

Math: finished correcting Tuesdays class assignment no new text pages assigned

Math Project: History of time mini-report assigned. It is due next week.

Science: What is temperature and reading temperature. A one page report assigned with class time to complete, due tomorrow

Reading: 30 min

End of the day had 15 min to play in the snow.

Friday Test

Science:

Temperature is the degree of hotness or coldness that can be measured using a thermometer. It is also a measure of how fast the atoms and molecules of a substance are moving.

What makes the liquid in a thermometer move up? molecules move faster and expand
What is the temperature of the Human body? 37

What is the freezing point? 0

What is the boiling point? 100

What is room temperature? 25

Socials:

List two facts about Tommy Prince

He was one of Canada's most decorated First Nations soldiers, serving in World War II and the Korean War. Born in Manitoba, Canada, he was from the Ojibw'e Nation at the Brokenhead reservation in Scanterbury, Manitoba. He was a descendant of the Indian chief, Peguis, who had led his nation from Sault Ste. Marie to the southern end of Lake Winnipeg in the late 1790s, keeping their French name, the Saulteaux.

Math:

50 x table questions 1x 2x 3x 4x 5x 6x 7x 8x 9x

SNOW!!! SCIENCE???

Remember snow is weather and weather is science so venture out into this weather wonderland and conduct a few snow experiments.... on the other hand, if your bored and snowed in, it is a good day to finish off your First Nations mini-book projects, get ahead on your Classic Novel report and catch up on the rest of the work you might need to finish. P.S. I hope pointing out that playing in the snow is Science does not take away any fun on your snow day.

The picture above is the snow out my window this morning just before I drove half way into work and turned around and came back home to dig out the horses.

Dragon Mask on Display

Our dragon masks are up in our class and in the main hallway and as you can see many people are stopping to read stories, look at the art work and admire the dragons. Come in and see the masks that I heard one substitute teacher say looked like high school work. Yes grade 4 students are talented and artistic.

Michael Kusugak

Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak came and talked to the students who made it in through the snow storm. He was (born 1948 in Repulse Bay — then in the Northwest Territories, now in Nunavut) And stays in Vancouver Island in the winter. He is a Canadian children's writer and storyteller, who writes about Arctic and Inuit culture. He was named the winner of the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature in 2008.

He currently lives in Rankin Inlet, and has also worked as an educational administrator for Nunavut Arctic College. Ijiraq, a moon of Saturn, was named by astronomer John J. Kavelaars after encountering the term in one of Kusugak's books.

Works

• A Promise is a Promise (co-authored with Robert Munsch, 1989)
• Baseball Bats for Christmas (1990)
• Hide and Sneak (1992)
• Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails (1993)
• My Arctic 1,2,3 (1996)
• Arctic Stories (1998)
• Who Wants Rocks? (1999)
• The Curse of the Shaman, A Marble Island Story (2006)
• The Littlest Sled Dog (2008)

Tomorrow is Anti bullying day

Students should wear something pink to support Anti bullying. The Ministry of Education has proclaimed that February 23rd will officially be "Pink Shirt Anti-Bullying Day" across BC. Schools are encouraged to engage in activities which draw attention to the harmful effects of bullying in our schools and to the right of every student to engage in an education free from bullying and intimidation.

Two of our class teams advance in Read 4 the top

Today both of our class teams that competed won and now move on to the semi-finals. Tomorrow only one of the 4 teams competing is from our class. So, as it stands now, one of our class teams is guaranteed to make it into the finals. The semi-final rounds will be filmed by a professional production company to make a promotional reading video for our fine sponsors and the district. So please get your video permission forms in. Fame and fortune awaits.

Skipping Jump Rope for Heart

In P.E. we worked on creating our own skipping routines and challenges. We are getting ready in preparation for the Jump Rope for Heart challenge coming soon. Some of our usual athletic students found it a little challenging while some of the other students showed skills and talents that put the jocks to shame. But it was all in good fun and we enjoyed ourselves while saying things like, martial arts masters skip, look we're defying gravity when we skip and time sure flies when you skip for 40 minutes

So what do you think about the addition of video? Besides the fact that some of have to work on our acting skills along with our skipping skills.

Tuesday update

The day started with a work period on their First Nations Mini-Books while 8 of our students competed in the library on the second round of Read for the top against two other grade 4 and 5 classes. At 9:30 we had library and computers where we continued to do research for our first nations mini-book report.

After recess we had a great presentation by B.C. Sustainable Energy Association. See the previous blog entry

After Lunch we read for 35 minutes then had P.E. where we practiced skipping. See the blog entry with video. Yes, a new feature, Video. Followed up with math on experiencing the meaning of time, did two pages from the unit, which we completed and began marking in class.

B.C. Sustainable Energy Association Presentation

Today after recess we had a fun and informative presentation from the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association. They talked about global warming, the sources of energy, ways in which we can save energy through a variety of small activities. They showed a funny and informative video about sheep talked about energy from their perspective and challenged us humans to create sustainable energy goals for the whole planet.

They have challenged us to a 30 day climate change showdown. This consists of 13 different energy awareness and energy reduction tasks. It is not important to complete them all, or even the 12 that are suggested, even one of the challenges will help your child make choices about the use way they act and think about the energy choices they will make in their lives.

Classic Novel Report

The Students have been working on reading a Classic Novel and producing a one page report on each of the chapters along with a poster, character review, puppets and preparing a presentation on the book. The Classic Novel report is due in 3 weeks on March 7 th. You can see from the sample title pages above that the students have been doing an excellent job on the quality of their work.

Week of Feb 21 to 25th

Notices:

Read for the top video project permission form

Inuit Author Michael Kusugak is speaking to gr 4 & 5 wed

Wed is Anti-bullying Day. It is common to wear something pink on that day

The day began with the usual Monday spelling test (Words are just to the right) and worked on the practice spelling tests.

Math: Continuing with time: today we looked at things that make time seem to speed up or slow down. Math class was made up of min challenges proposed by each row to show how a minute does not seem like a long time until your in the middle of a challenge. Some of the challenges the rows came up with for their classmates were: to stand on one foot holding a book on their head, throw a bean-bag into a box 5 times in a min, to gargle continuously for a minute, to write the alphabet backwards. The general ideas is that time (in this case a min) seems fast for some and slow for others depending on what you are doing which influences how the time is perceived.

We read from the read for the top book: Nelson Mandela and answered questions.

After Recess the students finished off their all school write from last week with a final look at their writing. They were given 30 min to reflect on and correct what they wrote.

Weekly Famous person: Tommy Price the most decorated Aboriginal Canadian soldier. One page report due Friday.

In the afternoon first period was Choir. Those students not in choir listened to and did a one page report on Eric Clapton

After choir the students were given time to work on their Classic Novel projects and work on their title pages and their hanging poster.

Classic novel is to be completed by march 7 th.

The students finished the day in Music with Mrs. Awalt.

This Week:

Science Temperature and reading a thermometer

the dragons are still overrunning the class....

we hope to get them all up and finished by Thursday

Math the students will be assigned a math project, in mini book form, on the history of time and clocks.

Socials: The students will take the research from last week and create another non-fiction mini-book (Pawnee, Hopi, Blackfoot, Sioux, Chippewa, Apache, Nez Perce or one of their choice if there is a personal or interest connection) Due Friday

Times tables to be mastered this week 7x, 8x

New Blog Features

Hi everyone. Check out the new features on the right side of the blog. I have spent time searching around and building in things to make this a usable and functional blog that everyone can enjoy and use.

A) calendar

B) There is an assignment board

C) Spelling words

D) Events listed here so you don't have to look through the blog entries to find something and I do not have to keep including them in the daily updates

E) Cbox to have open conversations about how to upgrade and make the best use of the blog to assist you and your student.

F) A poll of your favorite blog things

Thursday Update

No School Friday
The weekly test was marked and sent home with most students

The first hour of the day the students were held mesmerized and amazed as the skipping group 'Synergy' performed skipping routines to promote health, healthy eating, non-smoking and and the 'jump rope for heart' fundraiser. Information sheets will be coming home next week with information about the fundraiser. All students but 5 took a skipping rope out at recess to get a head start on this fitness challenge.

After recess the students wrote and marked our weekly test.

First thing in the afternoon the students planned and wrote their 'all school write' on the topic of Celebrations in February (Chinese new year, groundhog day, or Valentines day) for 45 minutes. These writing samples are used to assess the students writing needs and allow us to teach to their needs.

Social Studies
The First nations research mini-book assigned today- the official form for this was handed out today and the students will have until next Friday to complete. The students worked on the title page and finished or not it should have gone home on the weekend. Part of this project will to have to be completed as homework for those students wishing a high mark as the two socials periods during the week will not be enough time to complete this report to high standard.

The rest of the day the students worked on catching up on missing group assignments, practiced for read for the top, or continued to work on their Socials report.

Have a great long weekend.

Wednesday update

Victoria Story Theater

First period this afternoon those students not in choir listened and did a report on Enigma. This was followed by a performance by the Victoria based 'story theater company" Using characters from folk and fairy tales, the cast retold stories that were both instantly recognizable and at the same time completely new. The performance was minimal on props and costumes and expected the students to imagine lots. In the world of t.v. and video game reality I thought it was a great literacy focused performance that challenged students to think without the visual saturation.

Notices:
Friday Test moved to Thurs (tomorrow)
Tomorrow afternoon the students will do the " All school Write"
theme A Feb Celebration (Chinese NYear/ground hog day/ Valentines day)

Pro-D Friday / No School

Due Tomorrow:
The Valentine Mini-book

Those students not in choir: a one page report on Enigma.

Today, before recess, five of our class 'read for the top' teams competed against other grade four and five students. Four of our teams succeeded in moving onto the next round. While the students competed the rest of the class completed spelling sheets, worked on their classic novel reports and their Valentine History Mini-books.

Math: Corrected yesterdays math on choosing the most appropriate unit of time for the occasion.

Thursday Test

Spelling:
voice oyster voyage annoy choice avoid appoint enjoy moisture noise drown around fountain crowded southwest thousand flour pronounce Bonus: heart

Socials:

Five historical Facts about Valentines day

Math:

Choosing appropriate unit of time (sec, min, hr, day, month, yr, decade, century, millennium) telling time on an analog clock, 7x 8x 9x 11x tables

Tuesday Update

Today we joined the other grade 4 and 5 students at Tillicum and across the district to watch an amazing performance of the Victoria Symphony directed by Maestra Tania Miller. The one hour show featured a talking time machine that took us back into the history of the symphony from its humble beginnings as a brass church performance, with four instruments, to the modern full orchestra with drums and percussion. Some of our students got to play recorders along with the symphony and our school performers, having learned the piece off by heart with Mrs. Awalt, stood out for their skills in front of all the other schools.

Assigned today:
Science: A one page report on the job of meteorologist
Math: page 202 on picking the appropriate time measurement. For example, if you were talking about how long ago the first settlers came to Canada, would you use seconds, min, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries or millenniums?

The students continued to work on their Valentines day mini-book which will act as an outline for their "All school Write" topic to be written on Thursday.

Valentine celebration

Second period in the afternoon today we feasted on a large variety of candy treats all in the name of friendship and love. There was a decoration contest where the students voted for the top five decorated Valentine pouches. Almost every student brought some form of treat so the students had quite the candy fest prior to going to music last period. Happy Valentines day Everyone. Drink lots of water and see you all in the morning.

The Week of Feb 14 - Feb 18

Art: the dragons are still overrunning the class.... we hope to get them all up and finished by thrus...

Notices:

Last Friday’s tests were handed back to the students to bring home.

Tuesday:

All the grade 4 and 5 students go to U.Vic to see the symphony.
A bus will pick the students at 1020 and we will return around 12:20

Wednesday:

morning we have Story Theater Presentation in the Gym at (9 am)

Thursday:

Jump Rope for Heart Presentation
Friday:

No school for students Pro D- Day

Today:

Spelling words: voice oyster voyage annoy choice avoid appoint enjoy moisture noise drown around fountain crowded southwest thousand flour pronounce Bonus: heart

Math: Reading and writing Analog and digital time Pages r179-r180 (most students finished in class time)

Writing: A mini book on Valentines day in anticipation of the All School Write (see below)

This Week

Math:

This week we are continuing with the unit on Measurement: Telling Time. Now that the government FSA tests are completed our whole focus will be on this unit. As well the students will do a math project, in mini book form, on the history of time.

Writing: This week is the “All School Write” twice a year we have all the students write on a theme. The students work is collected by the grade group teachers and marked together. In my case, I get together with the other grade 4 teachers and we look at all of the writing samples and mark them/ according to the provincial standard. From this sample that we adjust and plan our writing program to help the individual students advance. The Grade 4-5 theme is Celebrations in Feb (Chinese new year, groundhog day, Valentines day)

Instead of writing about a Famous Canadian we started a little book on Valentines day. The mini-books we have done so far have been fiction. This week we will be working on this and several small non-fiction mini books in math and socials. The ‘Valentine’ book can also be used as an outline for the ‘All School Write.’ but will also give the students practice in good research and presentation skills.

Socials: The students will take the research from last week and create another non-fiction mini-book (Pawnee, Hopi, Blackfoot, Sioux, Chippewa, Apache, Nez Perce or one of their choice if there is a personal or interest connection)

Music Appreciation: for those not in choir: Dire Straits

Science: This week we are looking at how weather affects us. The students will look at the job done by meteorologists. In groups the students will have to prepare and present a weather report. If time permits we will have a small debate on the proposed changes to the law to limit people under 18 from using tanning beds from last week.

Language Arts:

For the next two weeks we will continue to focusing on Read For the Top, as 24 students from our class are involved in the competition. We are reading books in the class and practicing making, and answering questions for round one. Those students who make it past round one will have to use more of their own time in small groups to study and practice as they move on to the next levels.

Times tables to be mastered this week 6x, 8x and the 9x

Classic Novel Hanging Posters

Along with their novel reports, their puppets and other assignments the students are making posters for their Classic Novels to hang from our ceiling. The posters can be of the Novel cover, of a character in the novel or a favorite scene in the book.

Friday Update

Monday is Valentine day: Wear RED and/or WHITE
Cutting your child's sandwich into a heart is a great way to send a
nice message.

Friday afternoon Colquitz school Fine Arts (jazz band, band, dancers, theater group, choir) came and performed. It was a great way to see the tremendous things that are happening at Colquitz, especially for our grade 5's who are in transition. Friday test was marked but, because of the amazing afternoon assembly, did not get sent home. It will be sent home Monday.

Friday the students worked hard on finishing up their dragon masks, their dragon stories to go along with their mask, their large Classic novel poster and other work they needed to catch up on. In Gym we invited our little buddies to play with us. We did various relay races. The most popular were when we acted like race horses and dragged our little grade 1 buddies on the large blue mats around the gym.

Friday Test

Math

How many years in a decade, a century and a millenium?

How many minutes in a hour? In an Day?

How many days in Jan, Mar and May? in Feb? In a Year? In 10 years?

What is a leap year and how often does a leap year come?
7x tables 3x tables

Science

What atmospheric layer prevents most of the UV rays from reaching the earth? (ozone layer)

How do UV rays help the body (it helps our bodies make vitamin D which is needed for bones and teeth to grow strong and healthy)

-How can excess of UV rays harm the body? (sun burns and in extreme cases skin cancer)

-What substance does our skin produce to protect us from UV rays. (melanin)

-How do the Inuit have strong bones and teeth living in a very low level sun environment? (The get lots of vitamin D in their fish and seal diet)

-List 3 things that you can do to avoid getting a sunburn.

Socials

What is the famous Canadian Frederick Banting know for. ( Discovering Insulin )

What is Insulin used for (to help diabetics ( regulating blood sugar))

Where in the body is insulin made (in the Pancreas)

Spelling words:

shoes clues wound junior truth duty news through few who schoolroom whose conclusion June shampoo cruel choose ruin : Bonus word valentine

Thursday Update

Tomorrow is Food for Fun

The students had a computer period with Mr. Duyndam followed by math where we corrected the two math pages on Analog time from yesterday.

Science: the students had to complete a page on the UVindex created in Canada for the United Nations Health Org. The page looked at levels and suggest precautions to take.

Group Work: Completing the cover of thier classic Novel for hanging display in the class

P.E. We had the extra treat today of having Gym with our little grade one buddy class.

Art: Mixed into the whole day students in small groups were completing their masks. (making, paper-mache, painting or decorating)

Assembly

Assembly: Our school rotates between giving awards for the even divisions and the odd divisions. Over the year each student will have a chance to receive an award. Today four students in our class received awards for Art or Math or helpfulness. Mathematical thinking and artistic thinking have been show to be connected. Well done everyone. Shown as well are some of our dragon masks that now finished

Wed Music

Music: The class are doing an amazing job of learning the recorder. Part of the class has been selected to be in an advanced recorder group that will be playing with other schools and the symphony. Well done. My hope is that this musical experience will lead to a life long love of music and encourage the students to join the band at Colquitz.

Wed Update

Notices:

The Wednesday Express

Science:

A one page report on what are UV rays, the role of the ozone layer in protecting us from their harmful effects.

Math:

Two pages on writing and reading Analog time, some may need to bring home.

Classic Novel:

The students worked with the other student doing the same book as them or by themselves.

Friday test:
Math

How many years in a decade, a century and a millenium?

How many minutes in a hour? In an Day?

How many days in Jan, Mar and May? in Feb? In a Year? In 10 years?

What is a leap year and how often does it come?

Science

What atmospheric layer prevents most of the UVrays from reaching the earth? (ozone layer)

How do UV rays help the body (it helps our bodies make vitamin D which is needed for bones and teeth to grow strong and healthy)

-How can excess of UV rays harm the body? (sun burns and in extreme cases skin cancer)

-What substance does our skin produce to protect us from UV rays. (melanin)

-How do the Inuit have strong bones and teeth living in a very low level sun environment? (The get lots of vitamin D in their fish and seal diet)

-List 3 things that you can do to avoid getting a sunburn.

What is the famous Canadian Frederick Banting know for. ( Discovering Insulin )

What is Insulin used for (to help diabetics ( regulating blood sugar))

Where in the body is insulin made (in the Pancreas)

Tuesday Update

Today we did research on a First Nations peoples during our library and computer period. Math introduced decades, centuries, millenniums as well as other time facts about number of minutes, seconds, days, months, weeks and their connections. The math was completed as a group. We read a chapter and answered questions from the read for the top book Clementine then spent the afternoon skating.

The Week of Feb 7th - Feb 11

Notices:

Tuesday skating 1:15 - 2:35 Please bring Helmets

Wednesday Recognition assembly 2:00: Our class will be getting awards this week:
Friday Food 4 Fun

Today:

Writing: M.E. A story to go with their paper-mache dragon

Famous Canadian: Sir Frederick Banting the discoverer of Insulin. One page report

Music Appreciation: for those not in choir: Freddie Mercury and Queen

This Week:

Science: This week we are looking at how weather affects us. We will look at understanding the UV index and ways to protect ourselves from harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. We will also discuss the proposed changes to the law to limit people under 18 from using tanning beds.

Socials: The students will work in small groups and choose one of the following list of specific first nations tribes for a small group report. (Pawnee, Hopi, Blackfoot, Sioux, Chippewa, Apache, Nez Perce or one of their choice if there is a personal or interest connection) We have already examined, the Haida and the Inuit in depth so they are not choices. We will use part of our Library and Computer period Tuesday morning to do research. The bulk of the report will be due Friday.

Language Arts:
For the next two weeks we will continue to focusing on Read For the Top, as 24 students from our class are involved in the competition. We are reading books in the class and practicing making, and answering questions for round one. Those students who make it past round one will have to use more of their own time in small groups to study and practice as they move on to the next levels.

Spelling words:

shoes clues wound junior truth duty news through few who schoolroom whose conclusion June shampoo cruel choose ruin : Bonus word valentine

Math:

This week we are continuing with the unit on Measurement: Telling Time. Now that the government FSA tests are completed our whole focus will be on this unit.

Times tables to be mastered this week 6x, 8x and the 11x

....................

School Safety Rules state that all students should have appropriate footwear in the Gym.
Name Brand, expensive or stylish shoes are optional as we do little standing around or leaning on the wall looking cool being noticed for our shoes. We play games, learn skills, run and jump so cheap, clean and comfortable shoes are best.

Friday Test

Friday's test was marked and sent home with the students. We have tests every Friday. I tell the students to get used to taking tests which in middle school become more common and regular. Tests, if you know the material, give you a chance to show what you know. Friday tests have the spelling words, a sudoku, and questions from our weekly work. The test questions are posted on the blog Wed or Thursday.

Emily Carr: Dream/Real

Last week, along with Chinese New Year Dragons, the students did pastel drawings, inspired by Emily Carr. In their drawings half of the picture was how they would draw it realistically and the other half was how it would be seen in the dream style of Emily Carr. Pictures will be posted around the class and in the hallway bulletin boards over the next week or two.

Reading 4 the Top: Emma and the Silk Train

Emma and the Silk Train

Author Julia Lawson

Q What was Emma’s brothers name?
A Charlie

Q What did Emma and her brother yell when the heard the wail of the whistle?
A Silkers coming

Q What was Emma close enough to feel when the silk train thundered past?
A the ground rumble

Q What did Emma’s dad do?
A He ran the train station

Q What trains did Emma care about?
A the Silkers because they carried silk

Q Where was the silk headed?
A to New York City

Q What type of trains were they?
A steam trains

Q What were the only two reasons the trains stopped
A to hook up fresh engines with a full head of steam and to change crews.

Q What did regular trains have to do when the silk trains came through?
A wait

Q What other special train had to wait for the Silker?
A a Royal Train

Q How old was Emma during the story?
A 8

Q When Emma was 5 what did her mother make for herself?
A A silk blouse

Q How much silk was left over from making the blouse?
A enough for a ribbon and two squares for Emma's patchwork quilt

Q What did Emma want for herself?
A her own silk blouse

Q One day when Emma came home the station was in an uproar. Why?
A there had been an accident and bales of silk were floating down river

Q How many train cars were in the river?
A 5

Q How much was the railway paying for bales of silk found floating down the river?
A 5 dollars

Q Most people went fishing for bales of silk. What did Emma’s brother Charlie catch?
A a salmon

Q What did Emma’s father catch?
A his fly-fishing hat that he had lost a month earlier

Q How had her father lost his hat?
A The wind had blown it into the river

Q What did her mother catch?
A a cold

Q What did Emma catch
A silk-fishing fever

Later after that day Emma kept looking and fishing for silk
Q When Emma fished longer than others. What did she first catch?
A a gumboot

Q What did she catch from the wharf?
A a rusty kettle

Q One day when Emma was looking along the river what did she find?
A A piece of silk

Q What color was the silk?
A at first it looked red but it shimmered gold

Q What happened when Emma grabbed the silk?
A she slipped and was washed downstream

Q Where did she end up?
A on a small island in the middle of the river

Q How many times did she have to try before she could touch the bottom by the island?
A 3 times

Q What did the long shadows look like?
A people waving from the shore

Q What did she do to attract attention?
A She tied her silk between two trees

Q Did the first train stop?
A no it thundered past in a cloud of flying cinders

Q Who saw her banner?
A the crew of the Silker

Q did the Silker stop to send a message that it had seen her?
A no it just slowed down and a Fireman handed her father a message

Q How old did she turn at her birthday three weeks later?
A nine

Q Why didn’t Emma have to make a birthday wish?
A she already had her silk dress

Historical note

Q on what is the story based?
A an actual crash of a silk train Sept 21 1927

Q What was the name of the river?
A the Fraser river

Q Where did the crash happen?
A 170 km east of Vancouver

Q What was that train crash know as?
A the million dollar wreck

Q How many years did the silk trains run
A forty years

Q How many Silkers crashed in the 40 years
A only one

Q Why did the silk trains travel so fast?
A they were insured by the hour

Q What did the silk trains carry
A Silk, Raw silk and cocoons of live silk worms

Q What was built that let the ships travel all the way to New York so they did not need trains across North America ?
A the Panama Canal

Q When did the last silk train cross North America?
A 1941

Reading 4 the Top: Librarian of Basra

The Librarian of Basra:

Written and illustrated by Janette Winter

A True Story from Iraq

From the dedication page:
Q What Holy book is mentioned on the dedication page?
A the Koran

Q What was the first thing said in the Koran to Muhammad?
A Read

Q What was the name of the librarian?
A Alia Baker

Q In the book Ali Baker's middle name and Anis the restaurant owner's last name are the same as the Muslim prophets name. What is it.
A Muhammad

Q In what city did the book take place?
A Basra

Q How is the city of Basra described?
A A port city

Q In what country does the story take place?
A Iraq a sand-swept country

Q What was her library used for?
A A meeting place to discuss the world and the spirit

Q Alia Baker says books are more important to her than what?
A A mountain of gold

Q How old is the book on the biography of Muhammad?
A seven hundred years

Q Who does Alia Baker ask for permission to move the books to a safe place?
A the governor

Q Does the governor let her move the books?
A no he refuses to let her move the books

Q After the governor refuses to let her move the books what does she do?
A Uses her car to move books to her house every night

Q What happens when whispers of the war grew?
A The government offices are moved into the library and soldiers to the roof

Q After the government workers and soldiers leave who helps Alia Baker?
A Her friend Anis Muhammad who owns a restaurant beside the library

Q What does she use to wrap the books to move them to the resturant?
A curtains, crates and sacks

Q How tall is the wall by the library?
A Seven feet

Q After the books are moved, How long is it before the Library burns to the ground?
A nine days
Q What do the soldiers ask Anis at the restaurant when the come?
A Why do you have a gun

Q What does Anis the restaurant owner answer to their question?
A To protect my business

Q What happens to the books in the restaurant?
A They are moved by truck to Alia Baker’s house and the house of friends.

Q How many books are there?
A thirty thousand

Q As Alia Baker waits for peace what does she dream of?
A peace and a new library

Thursday Update and Friday test

Two days of hard work, mess, paper cuttings and imagination and our dragons are now Hatching

Today we finished our last Government FSA Math test. One of the questions was like this:

Hockey 10:00 Gymnastics 11:00 Swimming 12:00 Baseball 1:00
Show all the different ways Bill can take two of the activities.

Socials: today we talked more about the 150 million Mammoths that roamed the north 10 000 years ago at the end of the last ice age and the hunter gather society that followed them. A one page report was given on the nomadic people and the Mammoths. This follows up on a video we watched about modern Mammoth hunters in Russia's North who still hunt the Mammoth (for Ivory and well preserved remains).

Some Test Questions for Friday:
Socials:

A) -Describe HOW and WHY and WHEN nomadic prehistoric people came to North America.
(They are believed to have crossed a land bridge between Asia and America following the mammoth about 10 to 12 000 years ago)

B) -Do people still hunt for Mammoths? Answer in a full sentence with some facts.
C) - What Chinese Year is it and in what year where you born?
D) -Who is Adrien Clarksen?
1) first Chinese Governor General 2) first Mayor of Victoria 3) first Chinese Prime minister of Canada 4) first important Chinese person to come to B.C.

Science:

Explain three different animals behaviors that are connected to changes in the weather.

Math:

A FSA like question as above

4x and 7x tables

Spelling Unit 18

cinder circle cardinal cereal cycle concert dancer celebrate twice dangerous strange ledge damage geography gentle signal regular sugar

Coming Soon:
Sample Read for the Top questions on the first 4 books

Read for the Top

In the read for the top competition our class has by far the most number of students out of any class participating. All but four students are on a school team. Twenty four out of twenty seven students have chosen to participate which speaks well of the class and their love for reading, competition and confidence they have in their ability to learn and compete in teams. We will dedicate some extra time preparing for the competition against the grade 5's. I am very proud of them all. The students and I will read the books and post questions and answers on the blog for students to practice. (these will be our questions not the official questions)

Happy Ground Hog Day

In the spirit of our science weather unit, and Ground Hog Day, we talked about animal meteorologists and how humans use animal signs to predict weather changes. Spiders, cows, sparrows, fish, bees, butterflies, chickens, frogs, dolphins and other animals exhibit behaviors that tell of changes in weather.

The students were assigned a one page report on Ground Hog day and how animal behaviors are used to predict changes in weather.

A question for the Friday test will be to explain how three different animals behaviors are connected to changes in the weather.

More Milk Jugs Become Dragons

This batch of dragon masks are some of the most creative and original that I have seen. Many of the students are making their dragon frameworks today. Those students who have caught up, or are ahead on most of their work, will begin to paper-mache tomorrow. If you have extra milk jugs please send them in for students who do not have any... thanks

FSA testing continues

The math this week is focused on the FSA tests which test the students ability to apply concepts in mathematics in problem solving form. There are two more pen and paper parts of the test which we will complete during our two next regular math periods in the classroom.

Inuit Flip Books

The Inuit flip books are an interesting way for the students to present facts on the various aspects of the Inuit way of life. With its 8 mini sections the students get to pick 8 topics from the text and other sources to research. These flip books are due by Friday this week... extensions to Monday ok.