Just when the Grade 6's thought they were finished with their Robotics study, the class was honoured with a gift of new NXT Mindstorms Lego materials by the Mabin Parents' Association and they just HAD to open those packages! The class is keen to experiment with the materials and see what they can create. A few students have the idea of creating a robotics golf game. Mike Wire, anyone? The students are also writing Knowledge Forum portfolio reflection notes which will summarize their robotic learning into three categories: technical knowledge and problem solving, understanding of energy issues and their ability to work as a cohesive team.
Since the fall was rich in Robotics time, the Grade 6 class plans to take a science hiatus and turn their attention to Social Studies. A field trip to Queen’s Park will complete their visits to the seats of the three levels of Canadian Government and consolidate their understanding of the workings of Provincial government. This class has already been to City Hall and to the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa.
In Language, improving punctuation and general editing skills is a focus as well as delving further into word derivations and reading comprehension skills. The current book report genre assignment is the graphic novel. Next up will be poetry books. Each student will be responsible for teaching a poem to the class as well as providing information about a poet and discussing the book they read. The students continue to write their own poetry, building up samples to share when they invite their parents to a special "beatnik style" poetry evening later in the year.
In Math, the class is concluding an algebra unit. Next up is a look at integers and then data management.
Having wrapped up their previous term study on the provincial and municipal government, our Grade 5's are now looking further afield. 
The class began this term with a mini project exploring the various New Year's celebrations in countries around the world. This project is the launch for a larger focus on world affairs and governments, particularly looking at the daily lives of children in other countries. Included will be opportunities to develop mapping skills, study the continents and learn more about world geography.
The 5's will then spit into small groups, select a continent and country and begin to learn as much as they can about the geographical region, comparing and contrasting populations, governments, traditions, foods, land formations and more. This project has it all — language, spelling and social studies and will eventually integrate with Music and Art when the groups look at the musical culture of their country and create art projects based on their learning.
In Math the class continues to use the JUMP Math resources and more traditional methods as they examine place value using whole numbers and decimals. Next up is geometry which will include a study of perimeter and area plus work with 3D shapes on some building and design challenges.
In CSI (Computers, Science and Inquiry), the class has been inspired by the efforts and work of the Grade 6's next door and embarked on their own Robotics study using the school Lego robotics kits.
A puppet show our Grade 4 students took in at the Tarragon Theatre before the holidays has inspired the class to ramp up their own puppet making efforts in the Art room and take the project in some “uncharacteristic” directions. Characters and how authors develop them in their books is the hot topic of interest in the classroom. Biographies too. With their puppets in mind, the students are furiously writing biography/character sketches detailing the life story of their creations. “Mine is Dorian. She’s an orangutan,” explains Anna. “She likes tree climbing and she’s afraid of water. She’s also an orphan. Her parents died when she was two. They fell off a tree.”
“I haven’t chosen a name yet,” says Ryan about his puppet. “It’s just ‘monster’ right now. He’s a big dragon with teeth. He seems mean, but really he’s just protective of his friends. He was born in a cave. He has brothers and sisters, which he doesn’t see anymore. I wrote three pages for his biography. And it’s small writing!”
Throughout the process, the class will have an opportunity to develop their computer skills as they use Pages to write their biographies and sketches.
What next? Is it possible the class will take these biographies and write some short plays using the characters they've created? Says Steph with a smile, “It will be exciting to see what the students decide.”
The class has also become involved with an organization called Save A Child’s Heart (SACH). This international humanitarian project based in Israel provides lifesaving heart surgeries and follow-up care for children. Their mission is to improve the quality of pediatric cardiac care for children from developing countries. The students have watched a video about the work of SACH and are in the process of shaping the direction of an outreach project that would allow them to become more involved. It might entail writing letters, designing artwork or even an integrated project involving all areas of the curriculum. More to come!
The did it! 
The Grade 3's have reached their goal of collecting over 1500 picture books which they plan to send to the BOOKO organization in the Gambia. BOOKO will distribute the books to schools in need in that region of Africa. The next task is to sort, box and ship all the collected books. This had led to some math work as the students weigh the boxes, count and sort the books and explore the concepts of capacity and volume. The class also plans to write some letters for the students who the books may go to. Documenting the process is also a project the class would like to complete. The 3's plan to create a collaborative photo book that details the work they've done and what they know about the Gambia from their social studies on the region's geography and culture.
With Student-Led Conferences coming up later this term, working on individual portfolios is also a big focus. The students are creating their folders and gathering and organizing pieces of work to include. Also included are their personal reflections, outlining work they are impressed with and work that was a challenge.
