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Wednesday 19 December 2012

Vivid Word Pictures

In our last Writer's Toolbox session we were talking about writing vivid word pictures. Authors need to include enough information in their writing to paint a complete and vivid word picture for their readers.

Today in the lab you will be given the chance to choose a picture, and to try to capture the story behind it. After selecting a photo, you will write a few sentences to paint a vivid word picture. Your sentences will then be posted as a comment below this post. Hopefully your readers will be able to guess which of the pictures below inspired your writing. Remember to use some of your earlier Writer's Toolbox lessons to create really strong sentences.

Good luck and have fun!

                      
                         


                     


                      

                     

Thursday 13 December 2012

Grade 5 - Political Parties

Today we will be learning about Canada's political parties.

First you will read an article that briefly explains Canada's political parties. Please remember that this article was written last April.

The information presented in the article posted above is now out of date, as a result you must look for a more current source of information to answer today's questions. You will use the Elections Canada website to retrieve information on Canada's main political parties.

In your Social Studies notebooks you will record the names of Canada's main political parties as well as the names of the party leaders. In your Social Studies books you will also record the total number of registered political parties in Canada.

After recording this information, use the Elections Canada website, and the links found on it, to learn about some of Canada's political parties. Remember, you will be creating your own political party so start brainstorming for what will be important to your party!

Good luck and have fun!

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Grade 4 Postcard Assignment


Hi grade 4s,


These are links for the towns and cities you have chosen for your postcard assignment. I would like for you to write down unique (special) events, attractions about your chosen place. You will with that information make a draft for the postcard on the postcard worksheet (to be handed out in class).








http://www.city.iqaluit.nu.ca/i18n/english/




http://www.yellowknife.ca/Visitors/YellowknifeCityofDreamsCityontheMoveCityofOpportunity.html


https://www.ville.quebec.qc.ca/en/touristes/index.aspx


http://www.niagarafalls.ca/











 




In the draft please state the location of your city or town along with some of the highlights. I would like for the body of the postcard to be a minimum of 4 sentences. Remember to use your writer's workshop lessons to help with your writing. Make the reader travel to that location with you while they read your postcard.

Have fun with the research.


I'm looking forward to reading all your descriptive and vivid postcards very soon,


Carolyn



 

Tuesday 11 December 2012

Safe as Houses

Safe as Houses: Final Assignment
I know we all really enjoyed our shared reading of Eric Walter’s book Safe as Houses. You now have a chance to complete 1 or 2 of the assignments listed below. Be prepared to share at least one of your assignments with the class.
New Book Cover - Create a new cover for the book; be sure to include all the important information that must be found on a cover.
Poetry- In your poem, you may want to use some of the vocabulary words that you learned as you read, or you may want to create more freely. See whether you can capture the spirit of the book in your poem. Remember, that poems do not have to rhyme.
A Letter from a Character – Write a letter from the perspective of one of the three main characters from the story; Lizzie, David or Suzie. Chose a point in the story when you think they may have decided to write a letter to their family, friends or a stranger.
Diorama – Create a diorama for an important scene in the book. This is a miniature scene, using dried plants, stones, dirt, small figures, and background pictures, etc., to create a three-dimensional effect.
Collage- Browse through magazines looking for pictures that remind you of characters or scenes from the book. Then cut them out and arrange them in interesting patterns on a poster.
Book in a Bag- Select five objects that have significance to the story. Place the objects in a bag or box. As you deliver your oral presentation, pull out objects one at a time and explain why you think it belongs.
Professional Review – Pretend you are a professional critic and write a review of Safe as Houses. Some tips to writing a professional review include: writing in the third person point of view, using present tense, anticipating and addressing the concerns of the reader, and supporting your opinion with evidence and examples from the book. Remember that a good book review does not give away the ending of the story.
Comic Strip – Make a comic strip about an event from the story. Make very neat and clear illustrations that are easy to understand. Remember to keep the pictures simple and not too detailed so that it is easy to see what is going on.
Letter to a Friend – Write a letter to a friend telling him or her all about the Safe as Houses. Explain what you liked about the story and what you didn’t like about the story. Include what you might have learned from the book.
Illustrations – Illustrate 10 pictures of characters or scenes from the story. On the back of each page, write a short paragraph explaining what the picture is and why you chose to include it.
Your Own Choice – If you have your own creative way of showing your recollection of the book, come and speak with me.
Good luck and have fun!
Our presentations will be due one week today on Tuesday December 18th.

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Free Rice

Good Morning Class!

After you have finished your assignment, (geographic regions for the 4s, Investigating Government for the 5s), you can try this new game, Free Rice.

Geographic Regions of Canada

Hi grade 4 students,
In the past few weeks we have been exploring the physical geographic regions of Canada.
Here is a link to a great web site that is full of information on our Canadian geographic regions.
 
You will need to follow the instructions given to you in class to discover more about these beautiful areas.
Have fun discovering and think of how you are going to use the information you find for our next task in Social Studies.
Carolyn.

Monday 3 December 2012

Investigating Government

Hello grade 5 students!

Today in the lab we will be learning more about the Canadian government. You will be using the websites found here to complete your Investigating Government table.

Working with a partner, you will answer the questions asked on your Investigating Government page. Once you have completed your page, you will add one comment to this post telling the rest of the class something interesting that you have learned about one of the three levels of government.


RESOURCES
 
For Municipal government:

City of Ottawa: http://ottawa.ca/en/your-city-government

For provincial/territorial governments:

Newfoundland and Labrador: www.gov.nf.ca

Prince Edwards Island: www.gov.pe.ca

Nova Scotia: www.gov.ns.ca

New Brunswick: www.gnb.ca



Manitoba: www.gov.mb.ca

Saskatchewan: www.gov.sk.ca

Alberta: www.alberta.ca

British Columbia: www.gov.bc.ca

Nunavut: www.gov.nu.ca

Yukon Territory: www.gov.yk.ca

Northwest Territories: www.gov.nt.ca

For the federal government:
 
www.elections.ca (To find your member) and
 
www.parl.gc.ca or

http://www2.actden.com/writ_den/g01/direct.htm to learn more about our federal government.