Student Vote 2014

As part of our Social Studies unit, our students will be taking part in “Student Vote 2014”. We will be following the provincial election and all TPPS Grade 5 students will vote in our own election on June 10. Over 1300 schools across in Ontario will also be holding elections, and all the results will be combined to see which party the students would choose, if they were allowed to vote.

To help students make informed decisions, we submitted questions for the party leaders. The organization CIVIX, which is coordinating the event, compiled the questions and chose 5 questions for each party leader.

Here are their answers:
http://www.studentvote.ca/on2014/the-leaders/

*please note that these are the responses they have received thus far, and more may be added as parties contribute their answers

I have also asked students to pay attention to the news and identify some of the party platforms and campaign promises. They can watch the news on TV, listen to it on the radio, read newspapers (print and online), read campaign materials. We will be constructing a bulletin board at school to compare and contrast the different parties.

As they say, practice makes perfect! I hope that through our discussions and activities, all our students will claim their right to vote, and fulfill that responsibility, when they turn 18 one day.

Water Bottles & Towels

It seems like summer has returned with a vengeance!  As I’m sure your child told you, our classroom was VERY hot on Monday and Tuesday.  The weather forecast is calling for hot and humid weather again next week.  

On these days, it’s especially important that students bring their water bottles.  We have 2-3 fans in the classroom, but it can get very hot and one way for students to avoid heat exhaustion is to stay hydrated.  By having a water bottle, students can take frequent sips of water without major disruption to their learning/work.  Also, this will allow them to avoid the long line ups at the water fountains.  

On humid days, it may also be helpful to send a small towel along with your child.  Some students found some relief by wiping their faces/arms with a damp towel or splashing water on their faces, after recesses and lunch this week.  However, we are quickly running out of paper towel and need to keep the floor around our sink dry.  Having students use a small towel will help with these problems. 

After the harsh winter we’ve had, I can’t really complain about the heat!  However, we want the students to be safe, and as comfortable as possible (so that they can concentrate and learn)!

June 2-5

Reading: CASI
Writing: Persuasive Writing

Media Literacy:  Analyzing Advertisements/Commercials
Math: Measurement - Mass, Capacity & Volume
Science (Ms. Halliwell): Body Systems
Social Studies: Citizenship - Rights & Responsibilities
French (Ms. Bordonaro): Parts of the Body
Music/Drama (Ms. Craigg): Body Percussion
Visual Art: Tessellations
Phys. Ed (Ms. Minutillo): TBA

Measurement Scavenger Hunt

We will be beginning our Measurement unit next week to study, to study capacity, mass and volume.  To help students review and activate their knowledge from last year, I’ve asked them to look for items at home that fit the following description:

MASS

	Example	Item
Less than 10g	A jellybean
More than 10g, less than 100g	A bag of chips
More than 100g, less than 1kg	A box of cereal
More than 1kg	A baby

CAPACITY

	Example	Item
Hold less than 10mL	A teaspoon
More than 10mL, less than 100mL	Eye drop Bottle
More than 100mL, less than 1L	Can of coke
More than 1L	bathtub

Remember:

Mass is how HEAVY an object is.  We use the unit GRAM (g) when we measure mass, as well as  milligram (mg) and kilogram (kg).

Capacity is much an object CAN HOLD.  we use the unit Liter (L) when we measure capacity,  as well as milliliter (mL).

Hint:

There are many items already labelled with mass and capacity around the house (e.g., kitchen, bathroom).  

Happy Hunting!

Math Word Problems

In Math class yesterday, students chose a word problem to solve with a partner. For homework, I've asked them to choose a different one and solve it on their own:

1. Deep baked 48 cookies. 1/2 of them were chocolate chip, 1/6 of them were oatmeal and the rest of them were with rainbow chips. How many rainbow chip cookies did Deep bake? Show your thinking.

2. Usman(5F) said that his class ate 27/12 pizzas. Ali (5E) claimed that his class at 2 3/12 pizzas. Vinnie (5G) declared his class at 2 1/4 pizzas. Each boy argued that his class at the most pizzas. Who is right? Explain your thinking.

3. As part of the elections campaign, a poll said the Liberals had 8/20 of the votes. The same poll said that 0.2 of the voters were choosing the Conservatives. 3/10 of the voters were choosing the NDP, with the rest being “undecided”. Who’s in the lead? Show your thinking.

Students can further challenge themselves by making their own fractions word problems and solving them.

Fractions Extra Help

Last Friday, students wrote a quiz on equivalent fractions, mixed numbers & improper fractions and comparing fractions.  They will be coming home today our weekly red assessment folders. Unfortunately, our class did not do as well as I had hoped. Ideally, I would like to go back this week and review the topics. However, with the end of the year quickly approaching, we need to move on so that we can finish the Math curriculum by the end of June (we’re currently behind in our long range plan). To review the topics, I will be holding additional help sessions this week (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday after school). Please encourage your child to attend these sessions if they have trouble with this topic.

Principal's Challenge

Throughout the year, we have been having "Million Dollar Words" each week, to increase our vocabulary. This week, it was "integrity", and we discussed what it means. It was mentioned that it's important for us to behave the same way when we're being watched, as we do when we're on our own (or when we think no one is watching).

Mr. Crane issued a challenge for the Grade 5 students:

Dear Grade 5’s

As you may have noticed, Integrity was given to you again as a million dollar word. Integrity is the TDSB Character Trait for the month of May, but I would also like to issue you a Principal’s Challenge:

“Please describe how a person’s integrity might relate to the challenges we are having in the school right now with student behaviour – both in the washrooms and in the lunch rooms.”

For homework, I've asked each student to write a paragraph in response to Mr. Crane's challenge.

May 5-16, 2014

Reading: Non-Fiction articles, Inferring
Writing: Finishing story books, Paragraph & Essay Writing
Math: Fractions & Decimals - equivalence, comparing, unit test on Friday (16th)
Science (Ms. Halliwell): Body Systems
Social Studies: Government & Citizenship - Bitstrips
French (Ms. Bordonaro): TBA
Music/Drama (Ms. Craigg): Music Monday, Instruments
Visual Art: 3D Solids Mobiles - nets, symmetry
Phys. Ed (Ms. Minutillo): TBA