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About Margaret Black

Grade 4/5 teacher at Rama Central P.S. in Central Ontario. Website: http://www.blackdeer.ca

For the sixth year in a row, my class is engaging in a number of outreach projects that meet Ontario curriculum expectations, while benefiting others in the school, community and beyond. This page will be updated throughout the year, as we complete new projects.

Here is a list of our outreach projects, to date:

  1.  Fifth annual food drive for orphaned wildlife
  2.  Explanatory writing in support of Habitat for Humanity
  3.  Art project to benefit rescued lab. and zoo chimps
  4.  Clothing drive for the less fortunate
  5.  "Market Day" for the Highway of Heroes Living Tribute Project

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Project Details:

1. FIFTH ANNUAL FOOD DRIVE FOR ORPHANED WILDLIFE

fooddriveicon

During the past five autumns, our school has helped local wildlife rehabilitation centres stock up on natural foods, to sustain their overwintering orphaned patients throughout the winter months.

Our class organized and promoted this year's wildlife food drive, by inviting students from Kindergarten through Grade 8 to contribute acorns, pine cones, maple keys, black walnuts, apples and sumac. This year, we collected three carloads of food, which were delivered to: Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, in Rosseau, Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge, in Pefferlaw, and Woodlands Wildlife Sanctuary, in Minden. This project met curriculum  expectations in math, science, literacy and character education.

 

2.  EXPLANATORY WRITING IN SUPPORT OF HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

Habitat-for-Canada-300x211-HunanityDuring the month of October, students in our class authored short explanatory writing pieces as a school project, and then entered them in a national writing contest.

The topic for this writing project was "What Home Means to Me."  For every entry received, builder Genworth Canada donated $10.00 to Habitat for Humanity. Our class raised $250. with their writing!

This is the contest website:  http://meaningofhome.ca/

 

3.  ART PROJECT TO BENEFIT RESCUED LAB. AND ZOO CHIMPANZEES

Canada's only chimpanzee sanctuary is The Fauna Foundation, located near Montreal, Quebec. The sanctuary invited the public to help enrich the lives of their rescued chimpanzees by decorating Christmas stockings to adorn "the chimp house." Students in our class worked decorated a stocking for each of the chimps and monkeys living at the sanctuary.

This blog post shows the wonderful work the students did for residents at The Fauna Foundation:

 

4.  CLOTHING DRIVE FOR THE LESS FORTUNATE

clothingdriveiconFor the third year in a row, our class offered to promote and organize our school's winter clothing drive for the less fortunate. We used media literacy skills to advertise the clothing drive and create a drop-off station in the school foyer. When the clothing drive was over, our class sorted and bagged all of the donations, for delivery to a charity in Orillia.

 

5.  "MARKET DAY" FOR THE HIGHWAY OF HEROES

Highway of Heroes Living TributeOur class' charity fund raiser for this school year, was a "Market Day" in support of the Highway of Heroes Living Tribute Project. Students in our class donated gently-used toys and games, created "stores" from which to sell their goods, and took turns purchasing and selling items from the stores. All monies raised were used to sponsor a tree on the Highway of Heroes. This project met curriculum expectations in media literacy, math and character education.

This is a blog post depicting "Market Day":

 

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Thank you for visiting our class BLOG.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free e-mail me (Margaret Black):  mblack@scdsb.on.caor to add a comment to this page.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!  🙂

On Monday, students in our class were invited to bring commercially-made fidget spinners to class, so they could conduct trials to see how long they would spin.

Generally speaking, the heavier the spinner the longer it continued to spin.

Today, students tried making, timing and filming their own spinners (in slo-mo!) Students used a wide array of materials from the classroom and from home, to create some very impressive designs.

These are the results of our student-made spinner trials:

These spinners spun the longest. The one on the left spun 20 seconds; the one on the right spun for 24 seconds.

Here is a video clip of one of our student-made spinners (click the link to download and view):
https://blackdeer.edublogs.org/files/2017/06/1080p-1hg22zd.mov

A fun and educational time was had by all!

The lesson plans we used for this project are available through the "Teachers Pay Teachers" website:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fidget-Spinner-STEM-Challenge-3097680

Mrs. Black wants to take this opportunity to wish the students in our class a restful and safe summer.

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Thank you for visiting our class BLOG.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free e-mail me (Margaret Black):  mblack@scdsb.on.ca or to add a comment to this page.

This morning, Simcoe County educator and First Nations elder Roseanne Irving visited Rama Central and conducted a circle with students in the Junior Division. She conducted a smudging ceremony, provided an opportunity for sharing and taught us about some First Nations medicines.

Here are some images from this morning's circle:

We want to thank Mr. Fitzgerald for arranging this visit, and Ms. Irving for coming to the school to help us celebrate Aboriginal Day!

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Thank you for visiting our class BLOG.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free e-mail me (Margaret Black):  mblack@scdsb.on.ca or to add a comment to this page.

Yesterday, students in our class attended a 90 minute french-language cooking class, organized by their french teacher Mme. (Sarah) Black.  The program provided students with a hands-on opportunity to prepare and taste kid-friendly french pastries, hear an exciting storyboard presentation on French Canadian culture and listen to authentic Acadian music.

Here are some images from our cooking class:

We want to thank Mme. Black for organizing this fun opportunity, and Chef Suzanne (http://www.chefsuzanne.ca) for driving up from Port Perry to teach us!

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Thank you for visiting our class BLOG.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free e-mail me (Margaret Black):  mblack@scdsb.on.ca or to add a comment to this page.

Rama Central's Grade 5 students recently had the privilege of attending a "Youth Teaching Youth" First Nations event on the Rama Reserve.  Grade 5 and 7 students, plus teachers from Mnjikaning-Kendaaswin Elementary School and community elders, shared their cultural and environmental teachings with us.

The day began with an opening circle, which included a smudging ceremony:

Following our opening circle, students attended an Ojibwa class:

... and a craft class:

Next, our hosts treated us to a traditional First Nations lunch, consisting of a delicious stew, fried biscuits, cedar tea, and strawberry shortcake.

After lunch, we attended a gym class, featuring traditional First Nations games:

Our day closed with a visit from a jingle dancer, from the community. She shared stories and danced, and then several boys from Mnjikaning-Kendaaswin school sang and drummed for us:

These are notes of thanks written by students in our class, after we returned from the Youth Teaching Youth event:

Thank you for this amazing day. It was so cool. I loved the food and really everyone was nice.  EH

Thanks for arranging this day. It was so fun. The one thing that surprised me was the arrow catapult. It was hard but really fun, and lunch was delicious. My class and I had a lot of fun and learned a lot about First Nations. Thanks again.  JH

I had a lot of fun and met a new friend named Emmet!  KL

I had lots of fun today. The students and staff at the First Nations school were very kind and awesome. My favourite parts were the probability game with Mr. Snache and the jingle dance. Thank you for inviting us. SM

Thank you for letting us come to your school. My favourite part was everything, because it was all fun!  PL

Thank you for arranging the trip for my class. I had lots of fun, especially the arrow thing. Thank you. AT

Thank you so much for teaching me all of the cool stuff.  MB

My favourite part of the day was meeting a new friend named Lily. She was funny!  SW

Our day was very fun. I liked the circle (outside) and all of the inside activities.  PD

What a super-fun day!  Thank you.  AK

Today I had lots of fun because of all the art and dancing.  EG

I learned a lot about the three sisters and water. Thank you for a wonderful day!  AR

Thank you for arranging this day. My favourite part was painting rocks and hanging out with my friends. I really want to go to your school, not because my friends are there, just because your school is AWESOME!  EC

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Thank you for visiting our class BLOG.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free e-mail me (Margaret Black):  mblack@scdsb.on.ca or to add a comment to this page.

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From February through April, our class had the privilege of hosting a teacher-candidate from Lakehead University's Faculty of Education.

Miss Whipp, who is in the first year of the two-year teacher's college program, spent five Wednesdays observing in our classroom, and then five full weeks observing, co-planning and co-teaching. Miss Whipp started off her five week block teaching one subject. By Week 5 she was teaching almost full-time, in consultation with Mrs. Black.

Here are some pictures of Miss Whipp's time with us:

MATH

 

LITERACY

 

GYM & DAILY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY (DPA)

 

HEALTH

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

 

DRAMA

 

FAREWELL PARTY FOR MISS WHIPP!

This afternoon we threw a farewell party for Miss Whipp.  A good time was had by all!

We want to thank Miss Whipp for inspiring us to learn, with her creative and fun lessons.  We loved having her in our class and we are going to miss her!!

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Thank you for visiting our class BLOG.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free e-mail me (Margaret Black):  mblack@scdsb.on.ca or to add a comment to this page.

 

Each year, police, emergency, medical and community service agencies run an educational event at ODAS Park, Orillia, for area Grade 5 students.

R.A.C.E. Against Drugs is a fun, interactive, multi-station event that aims to educate students about the dangers of drugs, alcohol and tobacco, and to provide students with some refusal strategies that can help them make healthy and safe life choices. The acronym R.A.C.E stands for "Respect, Action, Courage and Excellence."

Here are some pictures of this year's R.A.C.E. Against Drugs field trip:

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Thank you for visiting our class BLOG.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free to e-mail me (Margaret Black):  mblack@scdsb.on.ca or to add a comment to this page.

Today, Rama Central P.S. students from Grades 3-6 travelled to Toronto, to visit the Ontario Science Centre. Our class attended two laboratory sessions that fulfill Grade 5 science curriculum expectations and spent the remainder of the day exploring the centre.

Here are some memories of our day...

THE SCIENCE ARCADE:

 

HUMAN BODY SYSTEMS LAB.:

 

BIOMECHANICS EXHIBIT:

 

ENERGY TRANSFORMATIONS LAB.:

 

WESTON FAMILY INNOVATION CENTRE:

What a fun, educational day!

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Thank you for visiting our class BLOG.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free to e-mail me (Margaret Black):  mblack@scdsb.on.ca or to add a comment to this page.

Today, our class enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at Springwater Provincial Park, learning how to locate water, build an emergency shelter and start a fire, using traditional First Nations methods.

Our instructor was park manager and Beausoleil First Nations elder Jeff Monague, who infused his teachings with the principles of taking only what is needed from the land, demonstrating respect for living beings and showing gratitude for nature's provisions. Mr. Monague also gave us advice about animal encounters and taught us several Ojibwa words

We want to thank Mr. Monague for his thoroughly engaging and very practical workshop. We are confident that if students in our class were ever lost in the woods they would be able to find water and build emergency shelters. (Fire-building might take a bit more practice!)

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Thank you for visiting our class BLOG.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free to e-mail me (Margaret Black):  mblack@scdsb.on.ca or to add a comment to this page.

This year, students decided to support the Orillia SPCA with our annual class fund raising event, entitled "Market Day."

This is how Market Day worked:

Students in our class were invited to donate gently used toys, games, books and videos that they no longer needed and were willing to sell to friends. After everything had been collected, students divided the items into three categories, or "stores," created storefront signs, and priced the items they would be selling. All items were priced between 25 cents and a dollar.

Students were then invited to bring up to $5.00 in change, to spend at Market Day. When Market Day arrived, students set up their stores and took turns selling, or browsing and purchasing goods. Then, they counted their profits and we tallied up how much we raised.

In all, students raised $78.90, through their Market Day event.

At the outset, Mrs. Black had promised to match student donations, up to $110. ($5.00 per student), with a donation of her own.

With Mrs. Black's donation added, our total raised for the Orillia SPCA was $157.80!!

Items that were leftover after our sale were donated to Valu Village.

Thank you and congratulations to all the students and parents who supported our fund-raiser with donations of goods and money. We know the Orillia SPCA will put our funds to excellent use!

Mrs. Black also wants to thank her teaching colleague Lisa MacRae, for sharing the idea of Market Day.

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Thank you for visiting our class BLOG.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free to e-mail me (Margaret Black):  mblack@scdsb.on.ca or to add a comment to this page.

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