The Grade 3 class is going BOOKO in their classroom and at our Mabin Book Fair. The students are collecting gently used picture books for the BOOKO project which provides books to schools in the Gambia. On the Mabin Book Fair night, the class shared this information with the whole school and set up a table to collect books. 
The students also organized a coat check service for the evening, the proceeds from which will be used to send all their collected books overseas.
The Grade 3's continue to be attracted to magnets. Using our updated Knowledge Forum database, the students are recording their wonderings and conducting experiments in an effort to answer their magnetic questions. Experiments include creating magnets by rubbing a paperclip to polarize it, using metal filings to examine the pattern of a magnetic field and doing some compass work to better understand the earth's magnetic poles. Much more research and several more experiments will be done as they work to gather and document their information. The students have also integrated their study with Art class, creating artistic magnetic sculptures. The process entails lots of problem solving and testing of their theories.
The class has also developed aspirations for the stage. Dan Watson from Ahuri Theatre is working with the class for six drama workshops. In the first sessions, the students had fun using their bodies to represent different emotions and physical states. Their work with Dan has the class interested in writing and performing their own skits.
Family heritage projects are the focus for our Grade 4 students.
When the class conducted a survey at the beginning of the school year about the places in Canada each student had visited, it led to a discussion about how each of their families came to Canada and Toronto. The students became interested in their family histories and commenced a larger study by interviewing two family members about topics such as their childhood memories, recipes, where they were born, their profession, etc. Recording this information, the students used Word on the computers to type up their interviews, in the process, getting some typing practice. Also on the computer, the class was introduced to the mind mapping software, Inspiration, which allowed them create family trees documenting at least three generations. The original focus of their study was on family roots and how their families came Canada, so the class chose to complete a map lesson and document the routes their ancestors took to arrive here.
The students are now putting scrapbooks together using all the information they have collected plus photos of their families. Many of the students are also adding in recipes, flags, a family coat of arms they've found or created, and old newspaper articles about famous relatives. The project has also become a study of history as the students investigate what areas such as fashion, sports or transportation were like in the past and compare it to present day.
The project has been a true integrated experience involving language arts, creative writing, social studies and computer skills. "It's about their families and they're so motivated," says Stephanie. "They're learning so much about who they are." A final presentation of all these projects is planned, but the class has yet to decide how they'd like to do it.
A class wide interest in hockey has the students tracking the Leafs game by game, recording wins and losses and how many points the players accumulate. The class examines and sorts the data and then reflects back on how the team did each month (not surprisingly, they stink...). Math lessons using this data include ordering numbers, graphing, fractions and multi-digit addition and subtraction.
Parliament is now in session in the Grade 5 classroom. Having completed their study of municipal government, the focus is now on the role of MPP's and how bills become laws. The students are hard at work transforming their room into a Mabin legislature, designing the needed props and sets in Art class. When the legislature opens, the students will be role playing and debating just like the real politicos, introducing bills of their own based on classroom changes they'd like to see. They'll also be scanning the news and drafting provincial based bills that would promote change province wide.
The class has scheduled a trip to Queen's Park for more research and hopefully to meet Premier Dalton McGuinty. The students have arranged to sit in the actual provincial legislature (when not in session), role playing the various levels of government and introducing a few more bills of their own.
The class has integrated their government study with CSI, constructing their own electrical games based on Canadian government topics. The class explored and built simple (and not so simple) electrical circuits that include lights, fans, switches and buzzers. They also learned to interpret electrical diagrams and better understand the standard electrical symbols used to create them. Before assembling their games, the students first drew a diagram of their project and provided a complete list of supplies needed to build it. "You might say they're very charged up by the results," says Pam with a smile.
In Math, the focus is on patterning. The students are using literature and stories to further explore patterns and understand them better. Recently, the class read the Indian folk tale, One Grain of Rice. In this story, the selfish rajah has kept all the rice to himself during a famine. A clever girl named Rani asks the rajah to give the people one grain of rice on the first day, two on the second, four on third and so on for thirty days. The students were challenged to figure out how much rice the rajah would have to hand over after thirty days if it kept doubling and also figure out how much rice in total the people would have accumulated after thirty days. The class has constructed scale models to test their theories. The students are also working with the JUMP Math textbook, doing the exercises within to develop a better understanding of patterns.
The Grade 6 class is now preparing for the provincial Robotics Lego League Energy Challenge. 
The students first attended a practice session at the Ontario Science Centre where they placed 7th and 4th out of 13 teams. The class picked up valuable ideas at the practice session and analyzed where things went right and wrong. They felt they could do better by re-thinking their designs and re-programming their robots.
At the actual event the following weekend, the students did indeed do much better. Click here to read more about their successful competition.
In support of the Energy challenge, the class recently set out on two field trips. One was to Mountain Equipment Co-op, the wind turbine at the CNE and to MJ' s house to see an ethanol fireplace in action. The other was a trip to The Kortright Centre in Kleinburg to look at renewable and non-renewable energy forms such as wood, solar and wind energy.
