Mrs. Black's Class Blog – where learning, creativity and outreach go hand-in-hand!

Brechin Speech Competition! 1

Margaret BlackMarch 1, 2018March 2, 20181 Comment

Tonight, four Junior students and four Intermediate students (plus one student-cheerleader) represented Rama Central P.S at the annual Brechin Legion Speech Competition.

Three of the four speakers from our school's Junior division were Grade 5 students from our class!

Our students had great support from family, and school staff was also well represented at the speech competition. Our Grade 4/5 teacher, our Grade 6 teacher and our librarian were all in attendance.

Everyone did a terrific job, and siblings Lily (from the Grade 7 class) and Owen (from our class) both came in third in their respective divisions! Lily's speech was about the merits of reading novels instead of, or before, seeing movies based on books; Owen's was about Superheroes and Supervillans.

Here are a few other images of our evening in Brechin:

Each participant received a certificate and an envelope containing a cash prize. First through third place in each division also received medals. First place in each division received the above, plus a trophy to keep and a plaque to hang in his/her school. Here, Ethan is pretty pleased with his winnings!

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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.

Winter “Writing on Demand” 2

Margaret BlackFebruary 18, 2018February 20, 20182 Comments

What happens when students are given an opportunity to play with words, after spending a month engaged in researching, writing, memorizing and presenting speeches? Hilarity and high jinks!

For this task, students were given ten story starters to choose from, and fifteen minutes to write as much as possible. On your mark, get set, go!

Here are some of the results:

Image result for ice cream clipart

"If snow was ice cream, there wouldn't be any snow left! Kids would eat it all, and winter would go really fast. No one would eat anything else, like Doritos, because they'd be eating ice cream. Now we know who's causing climate change! R.I.P. Winter Olympics!"
-- By Soren

"I was sledding down the biggest slope, when a grizzly came running after me, as if it was a dog running on a treadmill, chasing a bone on a string! As it chased me, I came to a fallen tree branch and dragged it with me. As I held it in my hand, I tore all the small branches off it, to use as a steering wheel, so I could go around trees, holes, jumps, etc. The bear was gaining on me, and when I was coming to the bottom of the hill I saw the biggest jump. I let the stick go and held on as hard as I could to my sled, closed my eyes, and went over the jump. Just as I got off the jump, the grizzly jumped, missed my sled and landed in a big snow pile. I landed in a tree and couldn't get out of it, because I was stuck between the branches! I found some snow, melted it, and then used it to make the branches slippery. I slipped out of the tree and landed in a snow bank. I quickly got out of the snow bank and ran as fast as I could to my house, shut the door, ran up the stairs to my bedroom, jumped into bed and pulled a blanket over my head. I stayed there for the rest of the day!"
-- By Brooke

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"If I saw the Yeti, I would flip out! I would say, "Hey, Dude. How's it goin'?" Then, he would say, "Nothin' much. I'm just sitting on top of a mountain." Then, I'd say something like, "Hey, you, a cool dude, want to catch a movie or something?" From that moment on, we would be best friends for our whole lives! We'd start growing up together, having fun and seeing movies. But, one day the Yeti would disappear. We'd look up and down... well, practically everywhere. I'd be heart broken, thinking I would grow old and weak all alone. But then, one day, a Superhero would break into my house to give me the most important information ever! He would say, "The Yeti thinks you suck!" So, I would get over the Yeti and become best friends with the Superhero...
-- By Enya

"If snow was made of something else, it should be marshmallows because... first, if the snow was ice cream it would melt and you would get all wet. Marshmallows are soft and if you wanted a slippery hill, you could just eat the top off the marshmallow. Eating is also a good way to snow blow, or should I say marshmallow blow. If you needed help clearing the marshmallows off your lawn, you could just call my name! Mmmm. I can just imagine it. Next, I love marshmallows. Have you ever had those massive marshmallows? They are just marshmallows, but BIGGER! They give you more time to finish, and more time to finish means more flavour to crave in your mouth."
-- By Owen, Gr. 4

Image result for santa treadmill

If I lived at the north pole I would do Santa's work. I would be rich. I would be at all the parades. I would make the reindeer work extremely hard. I would make Santa go on the treadmill. I'd make Santa run 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,038 laps. I would get fired."
By Ethan

"If I met a Yeti I would say, 'Back off!" He would be the one running the other way. If he ran away I would chase him. Once we got to the top of a mountain I would beat my chest and scream like King Kong, forcing him to run off the mountain. If he survived, I would grab one of those flags in the arctic and stick it in his foot, so he could not run away. Then I would walk up and give him a hug, take the flag out and walk him home. We would be be friends for the rest of our days!"
-- By Owen, Gr. 5

"I was sledding down the biggest slope when a bear, a cheetah and an elephant were running at me from behind. I screamed as loud as I could, but while I was screaming I got distracted by a butterfly, fell off the sled and crashed into a tree. I felt like I was flying, then I fell into a pond where badgers were ice fishing. One of the fishing hooks got caught on my pants. When I got out of the pond, there were five hundred animals chasing me. I ran into the closest house, but didn't realize I ran into my enemy's house. Before I could get out, she locked the door and started yelling at me. Then the animals started to break the windows and climb into the house. I busted through a window. Then I saw Mr. Phelps swimming with a penguin. After that, something really scary big happened: a saw an ant. By the time I got to the hill, the biggest thing EVER happened to me..."
-- By Grace

Image result for bear cave winter clip art "If people hibernated, like bears, I would go crazy. Before hibernating, I would eat all the pizza in the cave. I would also eat ice cream before hibernating. I would probably eat while sleeping, too. I would hibernate with my family. I would sleep at the back of the cave, so I wouldn't get cold. I would cuddle with my stuffy buddy. I would probably kick my mom a million times, while hibernating. I would probably sleep walk out of the cave, and when I got cold I would run straight back into the cave, tripping over everybody. If I went into a bear cave, instead of my cave, I would run to the hills screaming like a madman. When I woke up I might have a bruise from hitting the walls of the cave while hibernating. I don't know what would happen to my dogs and my fish, but that's what I think I might do if people hibernated like bears."
-- By Paige

"If I could invent a new Winter Olympic sport it would probably be a food eating competition. I would invent this sport because I am good at eating, so I could probably go to the Olympics for Team Canada. I could probably win gold if it was some good food, but if it was bad food I would likely just win bronze. It wouldn't be bad to win bronze though, because that's third place and still a medal!"
-- By Madden

"If I saw a Yeti, of course I'd scream and yell and run for my life! Then, he'd follow me into my house. He'd break my house. I would grab a sled and go down the mountain. He would be eating out of my fridge when he saw me head straight for a tree. Owwwwwwwww, I would think, what is that big dot coming toward me? It would be him on my other five sleds! I would move away from the tree and continue my way down. I would get to the end and run into town. Of course, he would follow me, so I would run to the zoo, but before I could tell them, "Get a mansion-sized cage," he would crash the zoo too! So I would get a cage, thank the zoo keepers for their help, and drop it on him. After that, I would get $1,000,000. The end. Hope that doesn't happen to you some day!"
-- By Phynn

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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.

Light, Sound & Conservation

Margaret BlackFebruary 14, 2018February 14, 2018Leave a comment

This year, we paired the Grade 4 Science topic Light and Sound with the Grade 5 Science topic Conservation of Energy and Resources. Students in both grades read, watched educational videos, and participated in hands-on labs., exploring their respective Science topics.

These are photos of our device-testing lab., in which groups of students measured the wattage of everyday household items, using special watt meters. The Grade 4's took particular note of the conversions from electrical energy to sound, light, heat and/or movement with each device. The Grade 5's considered which types of devices used the most and least amount of energy.

The Grade 5's concluded that devices intended to create heat for the user (e.g. curling irons, blow dryers, curling irons, toasters and space heaters) use the most energy, and devices that create little or no heat tend to use a lot less energy (e.g. LED light bulbs, compact fluorescent light bulbs, laptop computers, radios).

Another lab. involved testing a solar panel and a twig-burning stove that is capable of generating electricity to charge devices. Before going outside to test these devices, students watched the following videos, which explain how these alternative energy sources work:

These are photos of the class outside, testing the solar panel and electricity-generating camp stove.

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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.caOpens in a new windowor to add a comment to this page.

Habitats & Communities Outdoor Ed. Trip!

Margaret BlackJanuary 29, 2018January 30, 2018Leave a comment

During the month of January, outdoor educators from Geneva Park Outdoor Education Centre came to Rama Central twice, to teach our class about "Habitats & Communities," food webs and sustainability (Grade 4 Science topics). The background lessons at the school were followed by a day at the outdoor education centre, participating in a guided hike, looking for signs of wildlife in the trees and snow, and playing games including a food chain tag game.

Here are some images of our fabulous day at Geneva Park:

Wood shavings left by a Piliated Woodpecker:

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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.

Island Survivor 2017-18!

Margaret BlackJanuary 23, 2018January 23, 2018Leave a comment

During recent Social Studies and Literacy periods, our class participated in an island survivor simulation. The exercise was designed as a culminating task for Grade 4 Social Studies (Physical and Political Regions of Canada) and Grade 5 Social Studies (Government). The simulation also stretch students’ ability to work collaboratively in assigned groups and provide opportunities for students to engage in role play and oral discussions.

This is the basic outline of the project (Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

STEP ONE:

For the purpose of the island survivor exercise, Grade 4 students were assigned to crash land in the physical region of Canada that they studied as part of their Social Studies unit.

After the class was divided into their survivor groups and they listened to a story about the crash scenario, the Grade 4 students in each group taught their Grade 5 island-mates about the region of Canada where they found themselves stranded:

STEP TWO:

Within their small groups, students began brainstorming a list of all the things they might be able to do with the items that were salvaged from the plane.

STEP THREE:

Groups began work on survival plans and land use maps of their islands. Then they were told they had been rescued and needed to prepare a presentation for the press.

STEP FOUR:

Groups presented their survival plans at a press conference. When students were not part of a particular presentation, they became members of the press gallery. Ten members of the press rated each group's chance of survival, based on the plans they shared. Mrs. Black assessed the drama aspect of the project, based on how well each student acted his/her roles and listened during other groups' presentations.

THE RESULTS ARE IN!

These are the scores the press gallery gave each group's overall survival plan, based on their performance at the press conference:

Newfoundland: 73%
Nunavut: 72%
British Columbia: 64%
Ontario: 60%

The press gallery was also asked to rate the odds of each group surviving a winter in the wilderness, based on the survival plans they presented. These are the class' estimates:

Newfoundland: 83% chance of survival
British Columbia: 70% chance of survival
Nunavut: 66% chance of survival
Ontario: 60% chance of survival

Congratulations to the survivors who crash landed off the coast of Newfoundland! You are the winners of Island Survivor 2017/18!!

Island Survivor was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for most students in the class; a mildly frustrating one for a few. While groups were meeting to brainstorm ideas and achieve consensus about their survival plans, Mrs. Black circulated. She stepped in and facilitated whenever personality clashes or inexperience with consensus-building created an impasse. She hopes the one-on-one and small group coaching that transpired during this activity will provide students with some new tools and strategies they can employ next time they are collaborating with others on a project.

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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.

Belated Class Christmas Party!

Margaret BlackJanuary 19, 2018February 14, 2018Leave a comment

This year, our class Christmas party was preempted by a bus cancellation day on the Friday before the holiday, and another bus cancellation on the first Friday after we returned to class in the new year! As the saying goes, "third time's a charm." On the second Friday of the new year, we finally had our Christmas bash!

We started the party with a Christmas gumdrop and toothpick tower-building challenge:

After the gumdrop challenge, a group of students that had written and rehearsed a Christmas play, for the party, performed for the class:

Next, we finally got to open our "Secret Santa" gifts!

Then, we enjoyed some games and food:

Our party was worth the wait. A fun time was had by all!

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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.

Market Day for the Highway of Heroes! 4

Margaret BlackDecember 6, 2017February 9, 20184 Comments

This year, students in our class decided use our class fund raising event, "Market Day," to try to raise enough money ($150.00) to sponsor a tree on the Highway of Heroes."

This website explains the Highway of Heroes Living Tribute Project:
https://hohtribute.ca/

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 four categories, or "stores," created storefront signs, and priced the items they would be selling. All items were priced between 25 cents and a dollar.

Then students were 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.

Here are some images of Market Day:

After our sale, it was time to tally up the money raised:

All of the money was donated to the Canadian charity tasked with planting trees along the Highway of Heroes, and our leftover sale items were donated to School Counsel's "Christmas Shopping Day" initiative.

Here is the letter we sent with our donation:

Thank you and congratulations to all the students and parents who supported our fund-raiser with donations of goods and money. We are proud that we could raise enough money to sponsor a tree on the Highway of Heroes!

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UPDATE: February 9, 2018.
We just received a note and certificate from the Highway of Heroes Legacy Project, thanking our class for sponsoring a tree in memory of a Canadian veteran.

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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.

“Rockin’ the Sock” for Rescued Chimps, 2018

Margaret BlackNovember 24, 2017February 13, 2018Leave a comment

Canada's only chimpanzee sanctuary is located near Montreal, Quebec. The Fauna Foundation is currently home to a dozen middle-aged to elderly chimpanzees. About half of the chimps were rescued from a medical research lab. in New York State. Several others spent decades on display in Canadian zoos. Two, who are fluent in American Sign Language, were part of a cross-species language study at a university in Washington State.

Each year, the sanctuary invites the public to help brighten the lives of the chimpanzees by decorating Christmas stockings to adorn "the chimp house." Our Grade 4/5 class jumped at the opportunity to help out! Students worked in pairs to decorate a beautiful stocking for each of the chimps and monkeys living at the sanctuary:

We also made stockings and a card for the sanctuary's founders and the chimps' main caregivers:

Mrs. Black researched the types of "enrichment items" the sanctuary's chimpanzees enjoy and then purchased some Christmas colouring books and DVD's, crayons, small stuffed animals, Santa hats, beads and musical instruments to send to the sanctuary, as stocking stuffers.

We packed everything in a photocopy paper box and mailed it to the sanctuary:

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UPDATE: Monday, January 8, 2018

Today, the class received an amazing thank you package from The Fauna Foundation!

When Mrs. Black was in high school, she read about the groundbreaking American Sign Language (ASL) study in which Tatu was involved, at Central Washington University. Tatu and her friend Loulis are the two remaining chimps from that study (the other three have passed away). Tatu learned sign language from humans and has an ASL vocabulary of about 350 signs. For Mrs. Black, the most amazing thing about our thank you gift was that Tatu used sign language to tell her caregivers she had drawn a bird for us! That picture of Tatu's is most definitely "a keeper!"

This is a photo of Tatu, taken by The Fauna Foundation's official photographer:

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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.