News of the Moment in 5KP

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Welcome to the Second Semester of 5th Grade and welcome to our three new students, Jin Woo, Ada and Sonny. We also have Jocelyn back in the class after a quick change of heart last week and we are delighted she will be spending the rest of the year with us.

Students are working hard in class and at home to finalize their Invention Convention Phase 1 Speech so that it is ready to be presented to the class next Thursday and Friday. Next week is also a busy week in regards to the Chinese New Year as we get ready to celebrate Spring Festival with our Chinese New Year concerts. Parents are invited to attend the concert next Thursday the 22nd of January at 1 pm in the auditorium, be there early as the best seats fill up fast.

So the focus over the next couple of weeks will be on finishing our Unit 6 in Math and being tested before the vacation; probably on Thursday or Friday, getting ready for the Chinese New Year concert and preparing for the Invention Convention Speech. In language arts we are studying what makes a book a Newbery Medal winner and reading some books to do some in-class book reports.

Thanks to Mrs Speece for taking these great photos of last Friday’s reading buddies session where 5KP helped 2JS with their research on China.

Farewell Party

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At the end of 2008 we sadly said goodbye to our good friend Min Sung and now it is time to farewell Vico, Willow and Jocelyn.

Min Sung had been here for a few years and our darling Vico has been here since he was just a wee little kindergarten boy so I know he will have many many memories of Pudong. Min Sung moved back to Korea and we have all written to him on his blog letting him know how much we miss him. Vico and also Jocelyn are moving across the river to our Puxi campus. Jocelyn and Willow have only been with us for one semester and we will be sad to see them go, Willow will have a much smaller bus route now though as she is moving to Concordia. We are very unhappy in 5KP to be losing 4 of our wonderful students but we made the most of the time three of them still had with us here today and had a party.

A huge thank you to Izzy, Jackie and Keaton who took it upon themselves to come up with activities, games and a wonderfully HUGE cake made by Izzy. The girls gave up their recess time this week to plan and prepare for the party and were the ones who came up with the idea, thanks to you, our classmates ate too much food and know how much we all care about each other. We are very lucky to have had 6 wonderful months together and we wish our friends every success on their future journey.

Keep in touch and Happy New Year!

Invention Convention

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We are beginning Phase One of the Invention Convention this week and will have that completed by the Chinese New Year Holiday. Considering how much my class enjoyed this project last year I believe we are in for a treat.

I will link to some of the sheets we will be using in the unit below so you can have access to the information the students will be accessing in class.

In short, phase one of the project is research based and students will begin by researching a number of different inventors and doing some sample research on Thomas Edison. They will then choose an inventor of their choice, research them in greater detail and present a speech as that person on January 23rd.

In your speech you need to be able to answer the following questions and tell us some other things of interest about your inventor.

Question #1: Who is the inventor and what about their life impacted their ability to create the invention?

Question #2: What is the invention and how did it come to be invented?

Question #3: How did the invention affect society at that time?

Question #4: Is the invention still used today?  Why?  How? Modifications?

Question #5: Could this invention have an impact on the future? Explain.

Here is the rubric to assess your speech as well as some of the other worksheets.

Biography Speech Rubric

Useful versus Entertaining Chart

Personal Technology Survey

Inventor and Invention Chart

Thomas Edison Questions

Happy Christmas from 5KP

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Thank you for the wonderful wishes and gifts I received this holiday season.

I really enjoy teaching the class and am disappointed we are losing 4 lovely students in January; we have already said goodbye to Min Sung which was very sad.

Congratulations to all of 5th Grade for such a wonderful Global Natives Project. We appreciate all the help and support the parents gave us to make our Open House and Native Celebration such a success.

Have a safe break and see you in January.

Global Reflection

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Well, it is Christmas Eve, oh, actually it isn’t is it? So why all the excitement in 5KP today???

Ah, that is right, it is Global Native Eve, well almost. Today was the final day the students had to work on their project to complete finishing touches before they set up tomorrow. We performed our speeches in class so that Willow and Kyle could be assessed with their groups as they are both leaving before the Open House on Thursday. So we hope to see you there, between 8.00 and 10.00 in the Orange Grove Room in between the Middle School Library and the Cafeteria.

In the meantime 5KP you have some reflecting to do, please take the time to answer these questions Mr Hossack has made up for you.I would like your answers posted on your blog before the end of the week under the heading: Global Natives Reflection

1.    Explain what you liked most about the project and why?

2.    Summarize what you found most difficult or challenging about this project and why?

3.    Analyze one aspect of the project that you would change and give details as to why?

4.    Assess what new knowledge you gained from this project?

5.    Define what skills you have gained from working with your group during this project.

6.    Justify how you were a positive influence on your group.

7.    Describe the problems that you and your group encountered throughout this project.

Reporting on the Classics through your blog

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For the latest book you have read in our ‘Classics’ series I want you to do an online book review. I would like you to post before next Friday the 19th of December, the sooner the better but I don’t want you to feel overly pressured if you are flat out with yourGlobal Project. You will have class time on this next week as we have finished Math for 2008 so we can use next week for Global Projects and Book Reviews.

This book review will include several components so read the following carefully.

1. I want you to find 5 websites about book reports/book reviews/book chats and link to them giving them an annotated bibliography like we have been doing with our Global Native Project. Only link to sites you think might be useful to people your age who are writing their own book review. I went to allreaders.com and then put in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and came up with this page. Use easybib.com to help you with the presentation of your bibliography.

2. I want you to include at least two and no more than five covers of your book on your post and tell us when each of the covers was used if you can find that information out. Then tell us which cover is your favorite and why?

3. In between 200-400 words write a summary of the book without giving us the ending.

4. Tell us  why you think this book is still considered a classic today?

5. Who would you recommend this book to and why?

6. Have a look at some sites about Classic Children’s books or Classics in general and read through their lists. Tell us some of the books from the lists that you have read? What other books would you add to the list?

Other sites worth looking at include:

this, this and this

Now see what you can come up with. Happy Reading and Reviewing 5KP.

Questions you may be asked

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Students, Mr Howitt has been working hard on developing some questions that parents may ask you next week at our Global Natives Open House.

You may want to cover answers to some of the following questions in your speech or at least be aware of them so that you can provide the relevant information to parents when you are asked.

1.    How does your artifact represent the culture you studied? Why was this artifact important to them?

2.    Why did you select this artifact over other ideas?

3.    What else did you learn about this culture?

4.    What did you learn about yourself as a group participant? What was most difficult for you as a member and what was the easiest aspect?

5.    What types of resources did you use for your research? Why did you select those resources over others available?

6.    If you were to redo this project what would you do to improve it?