Time to hit some grammar...PLUS amazing mould photos for downloading

Grammar was the focus of this morning's first lesson after forty minutes of shifting in the new furniture.  Nearly all class members pulled their weight carrying  out the old furniture and bringing in the new, repositioning computers and reconnecting them, cleaning up messy areas of the room and cutting away plastic wrapping from the new art stools. Students have stunning new blue desks, an art table with six leaning stools to go underneath and I have a lovely shelving system so I don't have to be constantly grovelling on the floor to find books and lessons etc.  A big thank you to the wonderful Mr Norm Hopwood who helps me out enormously. He definitely deserves double the wage he is currently receiving. The room is looking amazing.

Also thank you Anthony Burrows; I promise I will stop complaining now... for a bit anyway :)))).

The persuasive posters that came in on time now adorn the front display along with The Lorax reports. The percentage of students who will pass English is rising! Well done, and believe you me, the hard yakka is well-worth it. Hopefully the other persuasive posters will come in tomorrow.

Below is the spelling/grammar activity they had to complete in table groups. Students did a great job.

Make plurals from the following. Think... do we drop the y and add ies...OR  do we just add s? We discussed the rules for this on both Monday and Tuesday...now can they apply it. 

At the bottom of your classification list write a rule which would help a younger student in the school.

abbey      dolly pulley alley
berry        jockey fly chutney
city         gallery survey chimney
story       lolly valley donkey
honey       trolley spy copy
journey     lady nanny dragonfly

Just before recess we talked about common nouns and played a quick ten minute game of name a common noun. I shuffled a set of alphabet cards and students had to quickly say a common noun beginning with that letter. Now that was interesting.

After daily phys.ed. and a Maze Grid,  I gave a lesson on making a square-based pyramid from card from scratch. Students did reasonably well with their compass skills and net construction. I brought in some of my husband's woodworking glue today as this makes the gluing up of tabs infinitely easier. We will keep persevering with the development of fine motor skills.

Music options students did the whole in and out and in and out of the classroom thing from 12 o'clock to three but I have every confidence in them that they are keeping up with any new major developments!

In the afternoon students were given time on their mould studies, and their persuasive posters if they were a bit behind with them. A few students also  designed, published and printed off their covers for their Science reports. They are keeping all published pieces in their portfolios. 

Below are photos taken of the mouldy bread samples (day 7 for the majority of students) which students can directly download from this site to insert into their Science reports. I suspect a few of these samples are also harbouring colonies of bacteria. Let's keep them securely taped up!  I felt a bit queasy looking at some of these. Hmmm the electricity unit is definitely less stomach churning.  I hope these are labelled correctly; I am sure the students will tell me if I have them wrong. Thanks you AK for being a great recorder today.

AK

TR&JS

TR & JS

AD & EC

VL

VL

TJ & T

AK & CB

AK & CB

No action here KF & P

NS

NS

AK & CB 

OF & MH

NS calculating percentage of mould growth

AK calculating percentage of mould growth

Assembly, Hanami, Squash, Spelling and you guessed it... more mouldy bread

Hanami

The comprehension passage

Cutting out the blossoms

The naked trees

Following the usual whole-school assembly and a 5 degrees celsius start in the little Siberian classroom, my students did their desk change for the week and we headed off to Japanese class together. I always enjoy these sessions because I learn so much about another culture. I used to teach the upper primary Italian program at Illawarra Primary School. The lesson today focused on the Hanami. Students did a short comprehension piece and then cut out blossoms to adorn the trees which had been prepared for today's lesson. Next week I will hopefully post up a photo of the finished product.

After recess students went to their daily physical education sessions and then got straight into the phyical eduaction lesson which focused on squash skills.  It was then back to the classroom for the remainder of the day.

This weeks' spelling is focusing on the "drop the y and add ies rule." We discussed the rule that if a consonant (eg. b,d,f etc) precedes the y then the rule is to drop the y and ies. We looked at what happens if the letter which precedes the y is a vowel 
as in donkey, valley...then the rule  is to simply add the s. Knowing our language there is surely some word which doesn't follow this rule but it usually works.   Eight students already understood this rule and applied it capably on various occasions in standardised test so they published work and had extra time on their Science projects (yes, the mould) or on typing up their recounts about the grade 6 camp.

After lunch we successfully watched the whole clip on moulds in Mrs Franz's room whilst her students were at Japanese because their internet connect is more reliable than ours. This film will definitely assist students with the write-up of their background to their science reports.

Following that students had time on their Spelling and their Science investigations. We discussed how the cm squares could be used to work our percentages of mould on a surface area.  This weeks spelling bingo words are:

family families

daisy  daisies

city  cities

lady  ladies

butterfly butterflies

baby babies

activity  activities

memory memories

hobby  hobbies

carry  carries

bury   buries

marry marries

cry  cried

hurry hurried

apply applied

Individual feedback was also given on the prime numbers lesson we did on Friday. Some students are still have problems with this concept so I will do another quick lesson on Tuesday and discuss composite numbers at the same time. There are also new books to the classroom library.

As from next Monday I will no longer be teaching on a Monday as I need to have the time to visit my dad in Devonport on a more regular basis. I spoke to the class about this during the afternoon session and trust that they and parents understand my decision.

Mould, mould and more mould

There has been one timetable change to our Monday so as students don't have so many options on a Monday. The library lesson will now happen on a Tuesday.

In the morning we all attended  the whole school assembly where students were reminded about the importance of staying within the boundaries of the school. The new slogan is Stay in bound and be found! We also celebrated the birthdays of the week  and  did a meditation session.

Then it was on to Japanese where the focus continued on classroom items.

Students received feedback on their last lesson

They played a game to reinforce the new vocabulary

Students will make these signs in the near future

Something is not right

Students have been  given some guidance to the aims and expectations of this section of  Marvellous Microorganisms  unit  which is now  focusing on moulds. They will be concentrating on  conducting fair tests in scientifc experiments and the use of computers to publish their findings and results.

After recess students had Daily Phys. Ed and their weekly Physical Education lesson. I am so proud of the dance leaders who I oversee. A job well done girls.  Cross country is tomorrow and students know the run off times  times and all about the expectations of the day.

Over the next few weeks students will be:

*planning an investigation that is a fair test.

*conducting an investigation,and making and recording observations.

*interpreting observations and making a conclusion which answers the
 research question  posed.

* describing the conditions that encourage the growth of food mould.

*use technology to present their final report, including  typed text
  tables, photos, diagrams, graphs etc

Students completed the following cloze procedure on moulds after watching the following doucumetary.
http://vimeo.com/20196310

Tonight as part of their spelling homework they need to ensure that their word walls about Microorganisms are up-to-date. I hope to see the word hyphae there. They also had to complete this cloze procedure and focus on the significant Science words:


The ____ 'mould' is used to refer to several kinds of _____ that grow on
various surfaces. Moulds reproduce by producing ______. Mould spores
are commonly found in the air and soil, but will grow into mould only when
they land somewhere with the right __________ for growth.  Spores are very
_____ and don't contain a supply of food to help them begin to _____ like
seeds do.  They use whatever they land on as ____.

Mould grow _____ away from direct _________ in moist, cool-to-warm conditions
where there is plenty of plant and animal (organic) matter for them to use as an _____
source. A soggy sandwich left in a lunch box over the summer holidays is a
mould's delight. Moulds love  bathrooms and ______ old shoes.  They will even
grow on books and papers that have not been ______ in the right conditions.
Direct ultraviolet light (including) sunshine tends to _____ moulds and they don't
grow well in dry _____________.

When mould spores germinate they produce long, thin strands called hyphae
which give moulds their fluffy __________. Moulds play an important role in the
ecosystem, helping to decompose and ________ dead organic matter.

term        stored  recycle     sunlight   spores      appearance       environments
fungi        kill     conditions   food    energy     small    best   grow  sweaty

To end the day we had a look at mouldy foodstuffs.  There's a nightmare in my lunch box!

Students looked closely at what six week old bread mould looks like along with a very disgusting apple and some really gross tomato paste.  We discussed the importance of sealing or double bagging their future mould experiments. Students have been asked to think about the experiment they are going to conduct to find out about the conditions that mould requires to grow on bread.

I now have a record 23 out of 24 parents who are coming  to or have already had a parent teacher discussion session. Thanks all, I appreciate your time and actually enjoy the whole process. 

Rhetorical Questions, Silent Letters and the last yeast experiment

This was a worthwhile way to introduce rhetorical questions. So far, just to recap, in our sequence of work on persuasive texts we have looked at their structure and  the use of emotive language in such texts.  Today, we focused on the use of rhetorical questions and looked at some of the letters to the editor in The Mercury.  After viewing this clip, students completed a cloze on rhetorical questions and they generally did a fantastic job. The cloze is below:

A rhetorical question is a figure of ______ in the form of a ________without the expectation of a _____.
The question is used as a rhetorical ______ posed for the sake of encouraging its listener to ________ a
message or viewpoint.

For example, the question, "Can you do anything right?" is asked not to literally evaluate the abilities of the ______
being spoken to, but rather to  imply that the person ______ fails.

While sometimes amusing and even _________, rhetorical questions are rarely meant for pure, comedic effect.
A carefully _______ question can, if delivered well, persuade an ________ to believe in the position(s) of
the speaker.

Write out this text placing the following words in the appropriate postions so the text makes sense.
question   humorous    consider  speech    person   audience    always    reply   crafted     device

We marked this as a class,  and then went on to read through some of the letters to the editor from The Mercury and we discussed some of the background news behind these letters and the literacy skills needed to compose such letters. Students were asked to read through them twice and select the three they understood the most. They had four questions to answer for each of the letters.

Students all have a A3 copy of this 

The questions were:
What is the title that has been given to this letter?
What is it about?
What is/are the rhetorical questions/s?
Why do you think the writer included this/these question/s?

Students will need a further half an hour on this activity tomorrow. Three students were away today so they will need to review this. I am encouraging students to write full sentence answers and to really think deeply about the issue at hand and their responses.  I gave Mr Stafford the same activity so we can moderate our students' responses together at a later stage.

Today, and for the best part of next week also, students will be concentrating on Silent letters. The spelling bingo list until Easter will be:

science                                     doubt

scissors                                    dinghy

sign                                          halves

choir                                        Christmas

hour                                         castle

knives                                      thistle

hymn                                       knowledge

island                                       gnarled

whistle                                     sword

Tomorrow they have to identify the silent or tricky part of the word and highlight it after the game of Spelling Bingo. I would appreciate if parents could do a parent test on the above words.

Today we also completed the last yeast experiment and I must admit I am glad about that. No more scrubbing out bottles after and before school!  Next, we will be looking at bacteria. The homework for tonight was for students to take home their Marvellous Microorganism books and to thoroughly proofread all the experiments and reports they have completed and to make sure their diagrams are clearly labelled, and their conclusions to experiments are written up to the best of their ability. Some students are also taking home their jigsaws. We will continue scanning these tomorrow.  I will be collecting books tomorrow to assess how they are going with the unit and feedback will be given.

Puting the heat on yeast

Yeast and sugar with cold water, warm water and hot water

The class had their usual music lesson in the morning and I was very pleased to hear a fabulous report back about their behaviour from the relief teacher, always a great measure of their respect and self-control when it's not the usual "traffic cop" they are accountable to. Well done class. I was proud of you all. 

I will have up some camp photos in the classroom by tomorrow. I don't have photos of all  the grade 6 students as I was rostered onto certain activities for the day and evening and unfortunately there were some students I didn't really see much of. 
Tomorrow will be a big maths day focusing on the process of subtraction. Monster grid 8 is also on the cards. 
Parents should have also received a notice about the food fair this Friday at the school, and also one about our excursion with our grade 2/3 book buddies next Thursday to see The Lorax. We will be doing a small literacy unit around this film  focusing on plot and characterisation in preparation for the biggie on Storm Boy which some students are still plugging away at reading. A big thank you to Mrs Faul for organising this.

Out-of-date Yeast!

Today we had fun and games doing the Yeast Feast experiment. The students set up their own data collection pages and generally did a great job with their observations. But, why wasn't at least one of the balloons being filled with carbon dioxide? Had we been mistaken with the water temperature? Well, I looked on the bottom of the yeast container and found our problem, out-of-date yeast. So it will be back to the supermarket!

Students had their art lesson with the specialist art teacher for forty-five minutes.

Spelling Bingo on the contractions went ahead as usual, first up. They also had a partner. test on their ISL words. Again, any testing and signing off after five ticks by parents would be greatly appreciated.

Music options was all the go  from twelve o'clock onwards with some students being out for the nearly entire afternoon.

We went through all the different kinds of graphic organisers students could use to organise their thoughts for writing tasks in their Writers' Notebooks. Ask to have a look at this book at some stage.

We also did a lesson on contractions...and play three games of Contraction Bingo.

Students have been asked to work on their handwriting tonight and also their microorganism jigsaw puzzles.

The swimming carnival photos are on display in our classroom and there was no available spaces in the library. Feel free to come and have a look. I have made a Photo Story of the day which will be shown in tomorrow's assembly.

A Big Thank You to Blackmans Bay Plumbing

Next week on Wednesday we will need at least 24 small bottles for the yeast experiment. I would like to give a big thank you to Fred and Tina Smith for their donation; it is greatly appreciated. The bottles will be used many times. Like I have said before everyone needs good neighbours...and mine are real gems. Now, better drink the water. 

Instructional Texts and...Designing and Making Cubeses

This morning students learnt about instructional texts. They prepared a text for a science lesson they will be doing next Wednesday which will put the heat on yeast. They will be looking at the idea of a fair test. Tomorrow, they will design their own data collection and observation layout in their science books. I would really appreciate if students could bring measuring cups and funnels to school on Wednesday 14th. The gear they bring  would go straight back home again that night.

We then had a fifteen minute meeting in the hall about use of the playground.

Music followed recess and then students were given the challenge to design and make their own cube using a piece of cardboard. I wanted to see where their skill level was at in this area. There were many different approaches taken by students and varying degrees of success. Student were asked to evaluate their finished products. Tomorrow I will model a way of making a cube focusing on placement of the net on the card, accurate measuring, scoring, folding, cutting and the use of tabs.  Students will have a second opportunity at this activity.

Some of the finished cubes

After lunch we had silent reading and I focused on proof-reading with the grade 5 students and gave them a sample of a Naplan  spelling test to familiarize them with the format. Naplan is not too far away.
Students then could choose to work on:
their cube evaluation
The Pinballs assignment
Flat Cubes  or...
jigsaw puzzles.
A couple of students worked on their Softies.

Tomorrow morning after the test on the ei words, students will experience their first Maths Relay!

Junko Morimoto and ... The Pinballs for Homework

Today we focused on literacy beginning with Spelling Bingo as usual.  I again modelled the use of full sentence answers and using paragraphs. Students are really start to show great improvement in this area. Students were given time to finish answering the 8 questions about The Pinballs, the class novel, and another block of time to get another of the bigger activities done. Tonight's homework is to complete a third activity. The unit of work on The Pinballs is due in Friday morning. Students will be assessed on this using a rubric and some written feedback given. 

In Art this morning students finished off their banners. I guess these will be hanging in our classroom soon.

Woodwind students were in and out from 12-00 o'clock on. The grade 5s seemed to enjoy their first lesson.

In the afternoon, for the first 20 minutes, students had silent reading whilst  I worked closely with four grade 5 girls on the art of writing persuasive texts. Students then worked on their microscope sketches, their microorganism jigsaws or their softies designs.

We focused on illustrator Junko Morimoto for half an hour, looking at some of the books she has illustrated and written. She emigrated to Australia from Japan in 1982. We watched a short film about her experiences during the bombing of Hiroshima. She was thirteen years old at the time. I did this short lesson as students missed their Japanese lesson due to House Meeting on Monday morning. 

http://littlelibraryofrescuedbooks.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/phoenix-by-nan-hunt.html
Some students have also opted to read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes which also provides interesting insights to the aftermath of the bombing.  There are two copies of this book in our class library.
http://littlelibraryofrescuedbooks.blogspot.com.au/search?q=Sadako

About 25% of the class read for half an hour every night. It would be great if we could elevate this percentage.

The majority of students handed in their Luck Dip maths activity.

One hydra coming up!

Bacteria anyone?

Preparing a softie design

Cutting out pattern pieces

Anton van Leeuwenhoek: Microscope maker

This week students will be doing a factual recount about Anton van Leeuwenhoek, the father of microbiology. A factual recount describes and reconstructs past experiences. Students will be taught the skill of note taking by identifying the keywords in texts, and how to write using the past tense. Students will read a short text and also watch the above video clip. They will synthesize the main ideas in the two text types to create their own recount.  This work will be completed in their Marvellous Microorganisms workbook. We will  also be focusing on the word microscope and microorganism discussing the parts of each word and their meanings. Homework this Monday will be to complete the recount. It can be handed in on Tuesday or Wednesday.
This film clip is pretty interesting as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D5Gu_9hEus

The Bread Without Yeast & Bread Making

Today students finished off their bread analysis looking at Mountain Bread Oat which does not have yeast as one of its ingredients. We discussed the use of  clear diagrams and labelling them to help explain scientific observations. 

Next we watched three short clips on the bread-making process and read through a recipe for bread making. Students will be working on their flow charts  to explain the basic steps in bread making over the next week. We looked at a simplistic flow chart and a much more complicated one.  Students can draw up their flow chart by hand or have a go at using an Excel application.

I found this flowchart download from microsoft very useful.

http://spreadsheets.about.com/od/excelformatting/qt/090805-excel-flowchart-template.htm

I suggested students plan their flowcharts in their Writer's Notebooks and then either draw them up neatly in their Marvellous Microorganisms book by hand, or use a template such as the one above to publish their flowchart.

In the afternoon, some students had their woodwind lesson and six grade 6 students did their Sports Leader training.

The remainder of students continued practising their blanket stitching making their needle and pin holders. A few students processed their The Otherside piece. We now have a class logon for the computers.

Using paragraph answers, analysing bread and...all those microorganisms

This morning, after Spelling Bingo, we read two more chapters of our class novel, The Pinballs. I then modelled how to write an informative paragraph to answer one of the questions students have been asked to answer in relation to the novel. Students all have a set of these questions but they can be viewed in an early blog entry at:

http://thelittleclassroomuptheback.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/first-pinballs-assignment.html

Students had input and we wrote a response to question 1. looking closely at the character of Harvey. Students have been asked to plan and answer this question again in relation to either Carlie or Thomas J.  and to make their argument convincing. Homework on Wednesday night will be to complete a few of the questions on this contract. I have suggested students use their Writer's Notebook to plan an approach.

Microorganisms Display

The main focus of the day, however, was on our Marvellous Microorganisms  science unit. There is a display at the front of the room which I would like students to take a close look at, and to read the descriptors which accompany the photos. There is also a basket of some pretty interesting reading in the basket in front of this display, all to do with the topic. Our other class novel is There is a Worm on My Eyeball , and we read the introduction today and completed a maths task based on some of the contents.

Following recess, and after  the grade six students returned from a thirty-minute plus meeting with the the P.E teacher, we began our first Science investigation. It is all about closely analysing different types of bread looking at features such as texture, odour, taste, appearance, and ingredients. Students put their findings into a table and drew and labelled diagrams, and I am glad to say they worked extremely conscientiously on this. One student, who previously showed little interest in anything, completely blew me away with his industriousness. I hope we are on a good thing here. Students worked in small groups and had roles and responsibilities. Much of our investigation work in Science will be done in this way.

Examining bread samples

Following the lunch break,  we did a mathematics activity looking at the difference between a linear centimetre and a square centimetre, and students looked at the approximate number of microorganism that live on a square centimetre of different parts of our body. Pretty scary stuff! They were asked to look for mathematical relationships between the different numbers and to explain their thinking mathematically. Tonight's homework is to finish this activity.