Term 4 is turning out to be the best one yet. Not only are we participating in the Global Read Aloud and 100 Word Challenge but we are also making some wonderful connections with classes around the globe.
Meet Ms. Gail and Grade 5 from Columbus, Ohio in the United States. We look forward to connecting during our Seven Steps to Writing Success daily activities and hopefully we can challenge each other with some hands on math problems.
I have some very exciting news 5SK. We are going to team up with an Alaskan class. Whilst posting some of your 100WC last night I stumbled across Warrior Writers.
Nikolaevsk School has 73 students from grades K – 12. I have made contact with Mrs. Stading and we will organise some activities for after our holidays.
In the Padlet below, I would like you to write one fact about Bowen and ask a question for Mrs. Stading and class. You can add a photo about Bowen but you must remember to be internet safe. (no photos of you)
We are always excited to connect with classes around the globe. Ms. Seitz and her grade four class sent the following message to us today.
Dear 5SK,
We are Ms. Seitz’s class in Michigan, USA. We are fourth graders, which is the same as year 5 in Australia. We really like your pictures and description of where you live. We also like how you told us about the characteristics of your town. We wonder how big your mango harvest is, if it ever snows in Australia, and how deep your coal mines are. We think we would like to be your blogging buddies.
From,
Ms. Seitz’s Class
Ms. Seitz and Year 4,
Thank you for commenting on our blog. It is always lovely to hear from other classes. Did you know that our Big Mango went missing last year? It became huge news in Australia. We eventually found out that it was a promotional stunt for an Australian sauce company.
Our coal mines range from 30m to 170m in depth. The average mine is 80m – 100m. Our school visited the Collinsville mine years ago and the machines were so big! Our whole class sat in an 11m high dragline bucket and we looked very tiny.
We weren’t able to find out how many mangoes leave Bowen each summer but we did call a local tomato farmer who produces ten thousand tonnes each season.
We have a very warm climate in Queensland. Our average temperature this time of year is around 27 degrees and 37 degrees in summer. Many of our students have never seen snow as it only snows in the southern states of Australia. I saw snow for the first time two years ago in Tasmania.
Kind regards,
Mrs Scharf & 5SK
Hi there its Mrs Layfield from a school in England.
Wow it sounds an amazing place where you live. Our school is in small village called Gee Cross just outside of Manchester in the North of England.
Our year 5 is made up of two classes each with 30 children in each class. We are 9 and 10 year old.
We are very busy at the moment getting ready for Christmas – we are due to have a lot of snow this winter so we may get a white Christmas. Very different to your Christmases on the beach in the sun.
We would love to hear from you – you can write on our chat page.
I have spoken to your teacher but we would love to hear from the children as well.
Speak to you soon
We have just listened to 5B at Shotton Primary School. They have recorded story snippets on their blog.
We are now keen to record our own sizzling starts. 5SK are wondering what they will sound like to other students around the world. Stay tuned………
Netball is a sport that both boys and girls can play. It is played mostly by girls. Netball is similar to basketball but we don’t bounce the ball and you are unable to step once you have caught the ball.
Apartments = units
trailers = caravans
Thank you Ms. Thompson and class for answering our questions. We enjoyed reading your answers and learning about your local area. 5SK hope to communicate with you again in the future. Have a safe and enjoyable holiday.
We were very excited to receive your responses on Friday! To talk to a school so far away is such an opportunity. Here are a few more questions for you all.
1. What are pow wows and round dances? Pow wows and round dances are celebration ceremonies that we host in honour of the people that have passed on.
2. What is Cree? Cree is our language and the name of our First Nation group. There are currently over 630 recognized First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada. There are also different Cree dialects. We are Plains Cree.
3. Do you celebrate cultural events during the year? Yes we do. We have a welcome back to school feast and round dance, we also host in-school pow wows where our student’s take part (i.e. Remembrance Day pow wow). We also had a end of the school year feast.
4. Do students attend school during winter when it is so cold? Yes we do. On days where the temperature drops too low and the buses can’t run, we may have a “snow day” in which only students that walk or have their own transportation come to school.
5. Football (ARL/ Touch/ AFL), netball, soccer and cricket are very popular team sports here. What team sports do your students like to play? We like to play soccer, volleyball, and baseball. What is netball?
6. We attend school for four terms each year. Our holidays are in Dec/Jan (6weeks), Easter (2 weeks), June/July (2 weeks) and September/October (2 weeks). How is your school year broken up? We have 3 terms. First term runs from September to November. Second term runs from November to March. Third term runs from March to June. We have Christmas break (2 weeks), Winter break in Feb. (1 week), Easter break (1 week), and various Canadian holidays throughout the year (1 day).
7. We live in houses, units and caravans. What types of homes do you live in? – We live in houses, duplexes, apartments, and trailers. What are units and caravans?
8. Do you have a tuckshop (canteen/cafeteria) at your school? – Yes we do. The classrooms take turns all year having a canteen to fundraise for trips. We also have a hot lunch program where our cook makes us lunches every day. We also have various school wide fundraisers such as cookie walks, bake sales, and raffles.
9. Do you have any class pets? – No we don’t.
10. How many classes are in your school? – There are 11 classes this year. (They’ll be changing next year!) We have multiple split grade classrooms. There is a Pre-K, K, Gr. 1, 2, 3/4, 5/6, 6/7, 8/9, and Gr. 10, 11, and 12.
11. How many teachers do you have? – There are 12 classroom teachers and many support staff (educational assistants, behaviour modification teachers and special education teachers).
12. What time are your lunch breaks? Elementary lunch break is from 12:00-12:30pm. High school lunch break is 11:50am-12:20pm.
13. What is the number of students in each class? – Elementary classes range from 12 to 21 students. High school classes vary semester to semester.
14. What are your favourite foods to eat at home/school? – Our favourite foods to eat are Indian tacos, bannock, feast soup, Caesar salad, taco salad, pizza, hamburgers, steak, hot dogs, vegetable platters, and much more!
15. Do you have any famous buildings/places in your local area? – There is a historical centre near the school that houses artifacts and cultural historical items from our past leaders. There is also the world’s largest Tomahawk in Cut Knife. http://www.roadsideattractions.ca/tomahawk.htm
16. Do you fish through ice holes? – Yes some of us go ice fishing in the winter. Some of us participate in ice fishing derbies in local communities.
17. Do your cars run in winter? – Yes they do. We have heating blocks attached to our engines. They get plugged in so the engine doesn’t freeze up.
18. What games do you play after school in winter? – Many of us go skating or sliding (sledding).
19. Do you go sledding? – Yes we do! We love it!
20. What technology do you use in your classroom? – We have a SmartBoard, a document camera, a laptop, and have just recently got an iPad lab for our school to use. We also have a computer lab so that we can all work on assignments.
21. Does your town have an emblem/flower? – No, but our province does. The flower is a Western Red Lily. Some of the emblems are attached to the flag. http://bit.ly/RasVK1 / http://bit.ly/1alDgzB
Awesome questions!!
These were great questions! Do you have any new questions or follow up questions to any of our answers? We are done school on June 24th for the summer.
Hello our Canadian friends. We are eager to learn about you, your town, school and your culture.
1. What is the name of your school?
2. Can you tell us about your town?
3. What do you learn about at school?
4. What is the population of your town?
5. How many students attend your class/school?
6. What do you like to do in your spare time?
7. Do you go on field trips? Where?
8. We are known for our farming. What is your town known for?
9. How cold is it in Canada? We are currently suffering a cold winter of 17 degrees celsius. 🙂
10. What time do you start school each day and when do you finish?
11. Do you go to school five days a week?
12. Do you wear a uniform?
13. Could you tell us about your culture?
14. Do you have any animals that live in your area?
Hello Ms. Thompson and 5/6,
We are very excited to learn with you. Here are some of our math problems that we created today.
We will post the year 6 problems tomorrow.
We have had the most exciting learning opportunity this week. Mrs Bearden and her amazing 5th grade class in America created three videos and a poster to explain their currency. We were beyond excited when we saw the post. Our Principal, Mrs Franklin even came over to watch the videos with us. What a way to learn!
Today we applied our new knowledge by completing a set of money questions. The students were able to easily solve the problems with their new schema. Zac was also able to bring a bag of coins in today to show us what they look like. It was so interesting to look at the difference in sizes. We will add a post on that topic tomorrow. Mrs Franklin gave us a one dollar note. I think we may have to frame this to remind us of our wonderful experience.
Mrs Franklin has set us a new challenge which we will work on over the next few school days. I must say that I am very interested to find out how to tell the difference between the notes without looking at them.
Can you guess what 5SK asked after watching the video? You guessed it. Can we make a video? Definitely!
Thank you again Mrs Bearden and class. You have provided us with such an exciting learning opportunity and we are very thankful.
http://20somethingkidsand1kookyteacher.com/
