Infographic Discussion, Magic Squares and Printing.

I think the best part of today for the students was when they printed out their string bird art. Black ink everywhere, but lots of beaming faces as well. Mathematics made up the rest of the day, Guess the Number, Magic Squares and the Symmetry unit. I We also spent forty minutes sharing our findings on the Infographic and looking at the best way to write up responses to it. I have requested that students revisit this tonight and refine their ideas. Seven students received their feedback on the Storm Boy unit and a couple of students started on their Softies advertisments. Music options went ahead as usual.

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Magic Squares

Testing for symmetry

Storm Boy tidy up and Infographics

This morning we started a new Spelling Bingo game looking at professions and as a follow up to the survey the students completed last term about the spelling strategies they use most, we focused on building off base words. This was a strategy which is under utilized by students across all of the upper primary classes, so it will be one of the major focuses this term. All students who handed in their Storm Boy essays on the last Thursday of last term received their preliminary feedback this morning, and then tidied up and resubmitted the assignment for its final assessment. The greatest area of weakness was the use of commas to show possession in the singular form and the plural form and missing capital letters from proper nouns.  

This week's words are:

painter beautician
plumber mortician
teacher obstetrician
rigger electrician
undertaker magician
coroner          BUT   dietitian

surveyor merchant
professor accountant
doctor commandant
actor
surveyor fireman
aviator policeman

After recess we played three Guess the number games and focused on percentages. We also looked at an interesting infographic looking a the declining success rate of movies which have had three sequels. Students wrote down whatthey believed the function of an infographic was and its features. We then shared our initial ideas and revisited them. Students than had their scheduled library lesson where they received the Premier's Reading Challenge. It is my expectation that all students will complete this as part of the reading curriculum.

After lunch silent reading went ahead as usual and then students shared what they thought infographics were and started their analysis of the infographic they had in front of them. Tonight's homework will to be to unpack the graph and information.  This is a mini assignment to prepare them for the tomato sauce investigation which we will start next Tuesday. More on that one later.

Last Wednesday and Thursday of Term 1

Today was all about finishing off. The morning up until lunch time was dedicated to Science Reports, the Storm Boy essay on film angles, the symmetry unit and the  Shape boards. I reiterated the fact that the camera angles discussed in the essays need to refer to specific examples in the film. I modelled the writing of a paragraph about the arc angle and how it was used effectively in the film referring especially to the mysterious and scary nature of Fingerbill's encampment.

After lunch students had quiet reading, music options. In pairs and small groups they  learned some new games for inside and out like hopscotch, King, SOS etc so they could teach their buddies how to play them tomorrow at 12-00 when we have a scheduled Buddies session.  Students also had access to a few new and intriguing nets to 3D shapes which they could add to their boards if they so wished.

I also might like to add, the class received a little reward from Mrs Sutton for being the best behaved group in library for the last fortnight...so I am so proud of them all.

Thursday was another finishing off day ending with a school music assembly. We also had an extended buddies session where the grade 2/3's showed my class all about a game of marbles and then my students ran various games such as hopscotch, skipping with chants, origami and logic games.  Well done to those 16 students who handed in their Science Report by the due date.

Where is 'Storm Boy' Greg Rowe now? Monday/Tuesday

Tomorrow we will watch this clip and then students will have the morning to write up the notes about the camera angles in their Storm Boy booklets  that we focused on so closely on Friday.

The Spelling words for this week are: ure and words with  tricky double consonants:

signature sufficient
temperature    territory
measure committee
treasure suffocate
moisture graffiti
manufacture assassin
culture curriculum
pressure apparatus
gesture colleague
literature appropriate

As it is a short week this final week of term one, the tests will be held on Thursday afternoon.

Today, Tuesday we did Spelling Bingo, spent the morning working on essays on the use of filming techniques in Storm Boy. We discussed what the introduction could look like and students then wrote a few more paragraphs focuses on the different angles used with specific reference to the film

Following recess and daily phys.ed we started on the next major unit which focuses on bilateral, rotational, planes of symmetry and their applications in the real world. The front cover of the booklet they have is the assessment and states clearly what is being assessed in this unit. We will also be doing some simple collage work to show bilateral symmetry.  Then it was off to library. The afternoon block was dedicated to Quiet Reading, symmetry work, science report writing, and more time on the Storm Boy essay.

Sample, KF and AW are working on another approach

The girls started on their reflective diaries.

More on Camera angles and Mr Percival

 Spelling Bingo, spelling tests, survey on spelling strategies, guess the     number (which we haven't played for a while) and then the main  emphasis of the day was on camera angles in relation to the film Storm  Boy.

 We looked again at the notes we had taken from this short  presentation done as a project by a high school student and clarified  what each type of shot was. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwbsYgZ7d-8

We then watched Storm Boy again pausing it from time to time to discuss the use of the angles to achieve different details and emotions. On Tuesday students will be using their notes to write up their mini "essay" on how angles were employed in the film.

 We also focused on what happened to Mr Percival (Gringo) after the filming of Storm Boy and read two very interesting news articles about the three pelicans who were used in the film. Gringo has passed on to Pelican heaven and the other two are still living at the Adelaide Zoo. We discussed the vocabulary and how such articles can be useful when writing about films. 

Students also had some time on their film summary pro formas in their Writers' Notebooks and did the desk change ready for the last week of term.

Here is a short excerpt from this classic film:
http://aso.gov.au/titles/features/storm-boy/clip2/#

Two students PS and KS had three lessons to work on publishing their Science reports whilst OF and BS were working on their 3D Explanatory texts.

Students who did not achieve full scores on their respective spelling tests have postcards with the one to five words they need to learn.

Finish off, Music, Classifying Triangles, Assembly

This morning we spent an hour systematically going through all the major tasks we have been working on this year and students wrote notes in their Skills Books as to what needs finishing before the last day of term next Thursday. The 3D Explanatory Posters and the Science Mould Reports are needed for moderation purposes across the schools in our cluster next Friday. 

Then, following Spelling Bingo, we moved onto a task which required students to classify a range of shapes into groups with the emphasis being on the mathematical reasoning behind their chosen way of grouping them. They could measure them, use protractors, scissors, write and make markings on them, in fact, anything they liked which would assist them with the task. Students were encouraged to use the Maths Dictionaries in the classroom, the internet and to have discussions with their friends. These will be collected at the end of tomorrow. A few of students (BS, VL, & PS &KF)  were working on their 3D Explanatory Posters or an assembly introduction so they didn't get quite as much time as the other students.

Music was on the cards after recess, followed by more time on the above maths tasks.

In the afternoon we did silent reading and then attended a whole school assembly which ran for the usual 45 minutes. The students who had finished their 3D Poster presented them in the assembly. Tonights focus for homework is definitely the Science report.

Books, books and poetry, Art, Triangles, Science Reports,

One third of the class away at cross country so we didn't start anything new. I also had three girls from Mrs Hayley's class as she went to the Huon and Channel Cross Country. Students had their usual Spelling Bingo, Art lesson and lots of time on their triangle work, their Science reports and their shape boards. The day was productive. I introduced some new books to the library and we looked at the work of Michael Rosen the poet.

Second term students will be doing a poetry unit so I am encouraging them to read as much poetry as possible. We have a wicker basket dedicated to poetry books in the withdrawal room.

EC- nearly ready to make a prinbt

A print

A string printing mat, NS

A print - NS

A string printing mat

Researching triangles - KK

Researching triangles - VL

Keep your eye out for the little books on the little shelf.

This week the shelf contains: The Little Book of Calm ( a personal favourite), Little Polar Bear,
 Little Captain, Piglets, The Littlest Book of Cats and Mice, A Teddy Bear's Little Instruction Book http://littlelibraryofrescuedbooks.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/teddy-bears-little-instruction-book-by.html

At the end of the day the grade 6 boys came in to say what a great day everyone had at the Huon and Channel despite the cold, wet weather and proudly showed us the shield the grade 6 boys had won.