Welcome to the Grade 4/5 class blog.

When the students came back after the holiday, they were asked to respond to a question. The question was, "If you could change the world for the better, what would you change?"

There were many wonderful responses (e.g., stop war, more housing, recycle more...). So...we've been trying to explore how we can make changes for the better in our classroom community and we have been learning about people who did make a difference (e.g., Martin Luther King Jr., Ruby Bridges...).

This blog is a space where I'll be posting links to the videos that we watch in class. It's a space where I can share with parents the essence of some of the discussions that we have. It's also a space where I'll be posting some assignments and talking about some of the activities that we do.

We "have a dream" that our classroom community will be an exciting and compassionate space where the conversations will continue at home.

This blog is a work in progress. Over the next week or so, the format will gradually change.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Nelson Mandela...

We had another songwriting session with Katherine Wheatley today! The students continued to come up with fantastic ideas! They are trying to think of people who "were the change" that we'd like to see in the world. Nelson Mandela was one of the people whom Wheatley mentioned. So, after the session, the class watched a short video about him. I have included the link below.

Nelson Mandela

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqoYmx_L-Xs

Here are a few lines that we wrote today. Please ask your child about the rest!

We'll do our best.
We'll do our part.
We'll keep the whole world,
In our heart.


We also had our science test today and our math quiz on transformations. Students were given time to work on their speech webs. Students have been told to take these webs home to show to parents. They have also been encouraged to add more details to these webs over the weekend. On Monday, we start organizing our material under subheadings using jot notes.

Students were given a speech package about a week ago. At the end of the day some of the students couldn't find their speech package. They had been asked to bring them home to show to parents as well. I will have extras available on Monday.

Have a great weekend!
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