Cricket or "Kickit"!

In gym this month and last month we have been working on our soccer skills and our sportsmanship skills. We have played several games of soccer and on purpose, Michael made the teams uneven like 11 to 8 to work on our sportsmanship. We are learning to work with uneven teams because the game won’t always be fair and Michael also wants us to work together. Room 17 has also been learning to play with the Frisbee and recently we have learned a game called cricket (to room 17 "kickit"). Michael has also been taking us outside to play some outdoor games like kickball and soccer. Kickit is almost the same as baseball but there are 2 skittles and a ball, a pitcher, a kicker, and a back catcher. The bowler rolls the ball at the kicker and the kicker tries to kick it anywhere they want. Then they try and run back and forth through the skittles and the rest of the people try and catch the ball then they try and knock or put it on the skittle where the bowler was standing. During one of the soccer games there were 2 teams and they split up and one half of each team would play and the other half of the team was cheerleading. Michael is going to let us have a cheer off!!

- O & M

---

In gym we have been playing dino eggs. There are two versions; one is with soccer balls and then there is bean bags and sticks. Sometimes it doesn’t work out because people argue. They usually argue over their positions. People don’t like defense because they like going and getting sticks or bean bags.

In soccer we play mini games, three way games, and one large game. Sometimes we even make cheering squads and cheer, then switch so the others can cheer and the others play. 0nce we switched in a counter clock wise circle so we could play every team of 4 or 5. Before we play we have a crazy follow-the-leader going around trees and walls warm-up. Sometimes we would even do it in groups of 4.

We also have been playing a game called ultimate chicken. It is were you can only take 5 steps, then you have to pass the rubber chicken or shoot. Sometimes we add a soccer ball so we can do both at the same time.

C and J

---

Questions for a Tree...

Here are the questions we are researching for homework this week:

(M) What kind of plant is a cactus? Is it a tree?
(C) What happens when you cut off part of a tree or injure it? Can a tree survive if it is cut in half?
(M) What are the tallest and oldest trees? How do the oldest trees survive so long? Why don’t the tallest trees fall down? How long can an oak live?
(P) Can a tree grow upside down? What is the story with the upside down trees? (M) How do trees give off oxygen?
(E) How big can roots be?
(A) Can you eat trees?
(P) How cold can a tree get before it dies?
(G) How do trees reproduce?
(B) How can we use hemp or other resources instead of trees?
(O/E) Can you mix or cross varieties of trees?
(C) What happens when you graft branches of different species?
(H) Can trees be different colours?- how can they change colour?
(J) What are trees used for?
(R/J) Do trees stop growing?

(C) How are trees affected by drought?

(S) What is the smallest fully mature tree?

Thoughts of Remembrance... Wishes for Peace...

a wreath bearer
a poppy holder,
a moment of silence,
of loved ones,
of strangers,
they all had someone,
who loved or cared,
whose heart broke,
when they got the call,
the letter,
or nothing at all,
just a simple sign,
the ones so dearest,
to see them fall,
a simple tear drop,
a wish for peace,
people right now,
in pain or misery,
with a simple wish,
a wreath bearer,
a poppy holder,
unspoken stories,
locked up tears,
horrible fears,
the soldiers who fell,
the children,
alone and scared,
a heart needing,
to be repaired,
a simple wish,
a glimmer of hope,
for loved ones we remember

- C

Skellig

We are reading a book Skellig in class. It is a moving fantasy novel about a man with wings called Skellig, a boy, Michael, and a girl, Mina. Michael’s baby sister was born early and is ill. The baby is going in and out of the hospital and mostly is in a glass case when in the hospital. Mina is a nature watcher and spends a lot of her time in time in trees watching and drawing birds. Michael found Skellig in his garage between the tea cases. Skellig asked Michael for his favorite food the food of the gods, 27 and 53. Michael thought Skelling was a regular man. But when Michael and Mina took Skellig out of the garage and took off his leather coat they saw he had wings. Who and what is Skellig ?

- S & P

---

Title: Skellig
Author: David Almond

Why we picked it: we voted on a whole bunch of books and Skellig had the most votes because some people read it and said it was a good book.

What’s going on: Michael (a character in the book) moves to a new house that’s larger because he will soon have a little baby sister. Then the baby is born too early. She’s in the hospital with wires connected to her and she’s in a glass box. Michael wants more than anything to have his baby sister to recover and every time he goes to the hospital he listens to her heart beat and her breathing to comfort him. He and his dad are fixing up the house for the babie's return. He’s not allowed in the garage which makes it even more tempting to go in and see what’s there. When he does go in the garage he finds a mysterious creature named Skellig. Skellig eats dead blue bottles and doesn’t move. Michael and his new friend Mina try to help Skellig but there’s only so much you can do to help something that wants to rot away and die.

Quote: "I kept ducking down under the hoses and ropes and duffle bags hanging from the roof. More cob webs snapped on my clothes and skin. The floor was broken and crumbly. I opened a cupboard and inch, shined the flash light in, and saw a million wood lice scattering away." (Page 8)

Why we picked that quote: it was very descriptive and involved the
garage which is a very big part of the overall story.

- E & P

Brilliant Strokes: Chinese Paintings from the Mactaggart Art Collection

On the date of November 4th, 2008 room 17 & room 21 arrived at the Mactaggart Art Collection at the Telus Centre. The classes dropped their things and divided into two groups. Each group walked to a different part of the museum to study something different - but both were about Chinese culture. Room 21 first studied clothes. There were ancient emperor and empress robes, a warrior hat and level symbols – the dragon with five claws was the highest level. Room 17 first studied ancient scrolls and paintings. We saw how beautiful they were and how old they were. Some of us wondered what the different characters meant and started to make up our own codes. In one hallway using a copy of a 15 m. scroll, we had a game of searching for characters to discover what job the town’s people attended to. To meet the other class, we passed through the storage room which contained many, many lockers of preserved things.

R & C

On Tuesday, November fourth we went to the Mactaggart Art Gallery. Inside the Gallery there was ancient Chinese Calligraphy Art. A picture that really stood out and told a story was a fifteen meter long scroll. It showed the story of the Emperor travels around his country. In some area’s there were people bowing down to him, and others preparing for his arrival. We noticed that a lot of them wearing hats with small red strings dangling down from the center of the hat. This told a story because it shows the ancient levels of people in China. A smaller scroll that we looked at really told a story of its own. The simple drawing of mountains, tree’s and a small house, something really stood out about, like there was a real meaning to this painting. Our guide started off by telling us that this scroll was finished in 1427, the gallery’s oldest artifact. On the top of the painting was a beautiful poem, telling this man that he will be missed, loved and cared for. The guide wasn’t able to recite the poem for us, but did give us a vague idea about it. The picture was a farewell gift from one friend to another. This friend must have obviously meant a lot to the other. Later, we went into the “storage” area, which had on display, robes, simple pieces of cloth and a hat. The types of robes people wore, displayed, what level of class they were. Yellow, meant they were an Emperor or an Empress, which was the highest class, but they, only wore for the most special of occasions, they would usually were other, more simple robes. Also if the dragon has five claws, they are defiantly the Emperor. The clothes would be worn on the judges, army people, the Emperors. The judges were very bright and colourful, a peacock, which stood from the other clothes. The army’s cloth’s were duller, and had a strong, dangerous looking leopard. It signifies danger and a strong, army. The Emperor’s had a five clawed dragon. Later we were handed a key of symbol facts. Most of the symbols were only allowed to be worn on the Emperor’s clothes. Some of the important symbols were the pearl, the Fish and the Bronze Cups. We had a really fun time, learning about how symbols and painting could stories in such different ways.

C, H, and E.

Visit the Mactaggart Art Collection website at http://museums.ualberta.ca/mactaggart/index.aspx

Our Space

Our space is a project we’ve been working on over the last 2 months. The 1st stage of our project was making a diagram of our classroom rearranged and stuff. The 2nd stage of our project was making our dream classroom. Some people made diagrams and models or posters. After that we presented them to the class. We said why should we arrange it that way. Before we presented, we practiced presenting to the class while no one looked.

G says “We tried to make it realistic and not to make it all imaginary or impossible to make.”

A says “Dreaming about you classroom is not a bad thing but sometimes if you dream too hard you will get disappointed”

B says “It was odd because we normally do projects about other things and this was interesting because it was new.”

“Our Space was really fun and all but the best part of it was the hands on work” - G

“Our Space was all out fun for us”. - A

“Our Space it was so much better than our normal projects” - B

We hope we can do so much more like our space
Our space was the best project we’ve done!!!!!!!!!!

A, B & G

--------

Room 17’s individual ideas for a hip and legit classroom
This month, room 17 has been working to create a better workspace by arranging the furniture. So we have been measuring the classroom and everything inside. Next Michael posed a question: “What if you could do anything with our classroom with out the worry of how we were going to get the furniture?” Some people went so crazy with it they even put teleportation devices, elevators, swimming pools and even doors that lead to other countries. Then we raised another question “What is the purpose of a classroom?” A lot of Room17’s intelligent and good looking children were disappointed when their teacher posed the rule that everything needed educational purposes. They were deprived of pointlessness, so they needed to think of a way through tough times. So some of them made their classrooms normal but the others pressed on their quest and still yet made their classrooms high enough that when you jumped off you would never hit the ground (okay maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration but it was still awesome)! Now the presentations have begun and we have guest judges including Bill gates, Matt Groening, and special performances by the Rolling Stones! (Okay maybe just us and our teacher, but oh well). Everyone made their projects original and amazing. We will be looking forward to our next project to come.
Peace,
M and J

Election Math

This week we had an opportunity to read about the recent election results. In order to get a clearer picture of the results, our class made mathematical word problems using the background information and statistics from the article. Here are a few of the problems students came up with:

• How many more seats do the Conservatives need to get a majority (using the information from the article they have 143 seats, a majority government is 155 seats)?

• The conservatives had 124 seats in the last election. They won 143 seats in this election. How many more seats do they have?

• If the Liberal party (77 seats) and Bloq party (49 seats) united, would they be able to form a majority government?

• If the Green party gained 5 seats every election, how many years until they get a majority if they have elections every 2 years?

Our explorations also led to discussions on the differences between a majority and minority government and the concept of regional representation.

-Michael

Readers and Authors

We have had several wonderful opportunities to hear from and speak with a number of readers and authors in the last several weeks.

As part of Read-In-Week, MLA Rachel Notley came to read from Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer to several grade 5/6 classes. She also spoke of the importance of community involvement and participation – ideas we will revisit throughout the year.

We also visited author Joan Marie Galat at the H. T. Coutts, Education Library. We have a number of Joan’s books in our library including Dot to Dot in the Sky: Stories in the Stars, of the Moon and of the Planets and hope to revisit them as we explore Weather and Sky Science later in they year.

Kim Deep also came in spoke with our class about her experiences writing and publishing her recently released book Conductor Kash and the Prosperity Express. It was inspirational hearing about the adventure of having her book published and her journey through the writing process.

We also invited Thomas Wharton in, from the Department of English and film studies at the University of Alberta, to talk to our class about his experiences writing and the creation of his new book, The Shadow of Malbron. Our students had an extended opportunity to interview him about ideas and the writing process.
-Michael

Welcome!

Welcome to our Classroom Blog!

We have had an exciting start to the school year and can't wait to share all the wonderful things that are happening in our class. Keep an eye out here for regular updates.

-Michael