Magnets have attracted our Grade 3's As an emerging interest taking shape, the class is exploring magnets in CSI and recording wonderings such as 'Why doesn't a magnet stick to plastic?' or 'Why do magnets sometimes attract and sometimes repel?' To learn the answers to these questions, the students are conducting experiments and bringing in magnet examples and sculptures from home, inspiring them to create their own sculptures and understand more about force and matter.

In Language, the class is busy choosing appropriate books to read and exploring different genres such as poetry, non-fiction and fiction. Poetry is a real interest and the students wrote fraction poems about who they are to accompany a self portrait. The goal was for the students to read each other's poems and begin making connections around their personal interests. The class is also reading aloud the story of Eric The Viking, have started their spelling program and been introduced to the Cursive Without Tears program.

In Math, the class is involved with place value and basic number work. Enthused about building with Gami, the class is measuring their creations in units of 10's and 1's and then grouping those measured numbers. Graphing is also a focus. The class created pictographs and tallied data based on polls taken about themselves.




Our Grade 4 students have begun to talk about Canada, in the process learning the provinces, territories, capitals and bodies of water. The class conducted a survey about the places in Canada each student has visited, leading to a discussion about how each of their families came to Canada and Toronto. Using atlases, the students located their current home town and the countries their families came from, a perfect opportunity to examine the continents. All of this work is leading to a family heritage project where the students will document their family history, including stories, recipes, photos, etc. The students are also interested in the origins of their family name and had some fun writing down their creative ideas before beginning research on the actual origins.

In other Language activities, the class is unpacking the process of creative writing, learning more about story mapping and the editing process which includes re-reading, checking for spelling and grammar, peer editing and teacher review. Class Book Talks allow the students to share the books they're reading and make recommendations. All students are engaged in a cursive writing review and striving to do all their work in cursive. They've started their spelling program using strategy based individualized spelling lists, examined homonyms and completed a punctuation review.

In Math, the class is doing a place value reminder before moving onto fractions using the JUMP Math approach. The students ate their way through a Smartie math activity, first estimating the number of Smarties they had, counting and sorting them into fractions based on the colours and then graphing their data. They then wrote their own math word problems based on their results, exchanged them and challenged each other to find the solutions. Math games such as Set and sudokus are helping to reinforce their math facts.

In CSI, the students have been visiting the Computer Lab weekly to work on their word processing skills. They are also organizing their files, talking about safe Internet use and practicing their keyboarding skills with All The Right Type to be prepared for the expectation of typing up their project work.




With our provincial political parties finishing their election campaigns, it's a perfect opportunity for Grade 5 to study the role of government. In discussions about the purpose of a government and the role it plays in our daily lives, the students imagined a society with no government and what that might look like. The short story Life In Troll Country inspired them to retell the story in storyboard format, working collaboratively to summarize and visually represent particular conflicts experienced in troll country. The students presented their work and were asked what solutions they might offer if given the chance to be leader of the trolls. Trips to political hotspots such as Queen's Park, City Hall and Ottawa are planned to learn more about government at the various levels.

"You might say they're very charged up," says Pam with a smile about the Grade 5 class and their current CSI study of electricity. The class is exploring and building simple and not so simple electrical circuits that include lights, fans, switches and buzzers. They are also learning to interpret electrical diagrams and better understand the standard electrical symbols used in them. The students plan to use their knowledge to design and build their own electrical games based on Canadian government topics, all part of their classroom study. But, before they can begin assembling, the students must first draw a diagram of their project and provide a complete list of supplies needed to build it.

In Language, the class is examining story elements such as character, setting and plot, which will link to their first book reports coming up soon. Character is the focus for these first reports, each one consisting of an oral, written and creative component. How to answer a question with a complete answer and what a complete answer really constitutes is also a focus.

In Math, the class has hopped into a fractions unit using the JUMP Math books and manipulatives to help reinforce the concepts.

Homework becomes a little more prevalent in Grade 5 and the students are learning to use their new Homework agendas, organizing their responsibilities and creating a weekly plan.




The second half of the 5-6 ‘loop’ has started well for our Grade 6's. In Language, the class has had a few lessons on analogies and many opportunities to work on practice sheets to hone their skills. In addition, they have taught each other strategies learned from tutors and added this useful information to what they’ve gleaned in class. They have created their own analogies to try to stump classmates, proving they understand and can use the framework of analogous thinking.

Each member of the class has written an essay based on their Ottawa trip last May. This common experience was used so the students could all brainstorm together to create plenty of data on which to base assertions and evidence. Since then, they have continued to write essays on topics chosen individually. We are planning to have a writers workshop day soon wherein the students will have access to even more adults than usual to help guide them to improve their written output and further develop essay-writing skills.

The children have already finished a first book report and begun to present to their classmates. This report was based on a science fiction or fantasy book they read this summer or early in September. This year, each book report will revolve around a different genre. The class will work on biographies in October. After learning to present in many different modes last year, they have been given the freedom to tap into their past knowledge and present in a manner they feel best suits their book or their own learning style. So far we have seen fantastic, graphic posters, characters in role and costume and wanted posters highlighting the crimes of a central character.

After a couple weeks of decimal review and new lessons on decimals, including addition and subtraction, the students are poised to learn about percentages and ratios in Math. Daniel, the Grade 6 student teacher from ICS, will spearhead these lessons. Last week, MJ began a unit on word problems and overt strategies for solving them. Some of these approaches include: looking for ‘red herrings’ and hidden assumptions, working on a simpler, related problem, working backwards or breaking down a multistep problem. The students continue to work with JUMP Math approaches and materials which are resulting in maximum success for all.

In Social Studies, the students have leapt onto the campaign trail! They are examining the results of the Ontario Provincial Election, reading daily newspapers, taking part in lively discussions, reporting on poll results and building lists of the ‘hot-button’ issues. Next up they plan to hold their own mini election in the classroom, complete with voter registration cards and a polling station.

The class has again entered the world-wide First Lego League Challenge. As noted above, the topic is Energy. The robots the children will create and program must perform tasks related to energy production. Along the way they must research various forms of energy and create a group project. They will be working on wind turbines, nuclear power, solar energy, hydrogen cars, ethanol fuel, oil and gas production and hydroelectricity.

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