Beyond The Desk – Page 114 – The Class Blog for Mr. Hancock's Grade 5/6 Class

Poetry and a New Challenge!!!!

April 20, 2009 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

Well, it’s a new week! It’s seems like a long time since we have had a full week. It will be nice to get back into the swing of things without the days off to interrupt. We have a lot to do and the year is quickly going by. We have started our poetry unit and the students are all very excited to write their own poems. They are also excited by the fact that we are going to take their poems and create a real book of poetry just like any of the books on your selves. It will be bound and published like a real book using the poetry the students have written during the poetry unit. It will be a lot of fun and I am excited to see the poems the students will write.

Our new challenge this week is a bit of a strange one and definitely a challenge. I was sitting at home and I was strangely wishing there was still snow on the ground. Well, I thought that would make a great challenge!

So here is the challenge!!!!

Create a (paper) snowball launcher from a rubberband, 2 paperclips, tongs, and a pencil. Launch the snowballs but remember YOU MAY NOT TOUCH THE PAPER WITH YOUR HANDS! You may use other materials in your design but it must include the objects listed.

Our Solutions for the House Challenge

April 13, 2009 eoin24 Comments 3 comments

Well, the house challenges are in and, I have to you, I was really impressed not just with the finished product but also with the response. I had many of you come to me and tell me how much fun this project was and how you enjoyed the time you got to spend with your children working together to do it.

The finished projects were truly amazing, each and every one of them. Every student had a different idea and a completely different solution to the problem which is exactly what I wanted. I wanted the students to think outside the box; to look creatively at a problem and that is exactly what they all did; with your support. Thank you for really coming together on this. Every students got the full marks for the project.

I created an animoto of the product which is displayed below.

International Year of Astronomy!

April 7, 2009 eoin24 Comments 4 comments

Apparently, this year is the International Year of Astronomy! This past week, they had a wonderful series of videos on 100hrs of Astronomy where they discussed and visited 80 telescopes both in the world and in Space talking to leading astronomers and scientists who use these telescopes to learn more about our fascinating and beautiful universe.

I have included the introduction video and the video about the Hubble Telescopes. There are some wonderful pictures and neat information about what the scientists and telescopes are doing to help us learn more about space. Unfortunately, the videos have ads in them. If you wait, the ads do go away.

Here is the link to the page with the videos talking about the other telescopes.

Oilers Triumphant!!!!!!!

April 5, 2009 eoin24 Comments 2 comments

Oh yeah!!!!1 That’s right!!!! Oilers win!!!!!

Hockey Jersey Day Yesterday!

April 4, 2009 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

We had a wonderful day yesterday with out Hockey Jersey Day. In anticipation of the Oilers playing Canucks, we were allowed to wear our hockey jerseys. Sadly, there were a number of people in the class who wore Canucks jerseys. I say unfortunate because it is sad to see so many people who have been brainwashed into thinking that Canucks are better than the Oilers! Very Sad!

Luckily, the students in the class came into my grade 3 class at just the right time to correct this problem. Though progress is slow, I believe the truth about Oilers superiority is coming out. Besides myself, another student in the class wore their Oilers jersey (and a vintage one at that!). It was very gratifying to see the positive influence I am beginning to have. Some students may take longer to realize the truth (that means you, Stef!) but I think eventually they will come around!

I hope your science projects are going well. In fact, why don’t you take a break and watch this video I found. It is the trailer for a new movie coming out in the fall based on the famous children’s book, Where The Wild Things Are. It looks really good. I can’t wait to see it.

Hockey Jersey Day Tomorrow!!

April 3, 2009 eoin24 Comments 1 comment

Don’t forget that tomorrow is hockey jersey day! You can wear your favorite hockey jersey on top of your uniform (Preferably Oiler or Canuck)!!!

Spelling for the Week, Memory Verse and Math Problems!

March 31, 2009 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

A little late on these but here they are.

The Spelling List!

Spelling N 6

Here is the link to the Spelling City for this week. Remember, if you bring in your certificate with 100% on it, you can get an extra mark on your spelling this week!!!

We have been working on our Math Problems of the Day and today we have three to display!!! M.M, D.W and N.G all did a Math Problem using the Artpad.art.com website. Here are their results and how they worked out the problem.

D.W came up with the solution this problem: A telephone company charges 50 cents for the first 3 minutes of a phone call and 10 cents for every minute after. A 4 minute phone call will cost 60 cents. How much will a 15 minute call cost?

N.G. came up with the solution to this problem:

A soccer game is 75 minutes long. If the game starts at 11:25, at what time does it finish?

Our memory verse for this week comes from Psalm 37:1-2:

Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.

Have a great week!

New Challenge!!

March 30, 2009 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

Here is another challenge from one of my new favorite blogs. Here is the challange:

Build a house that is at least 9 inches long and 9 inches high using:

1 package of chewing gum,
1 paper cup (if you don’t have one handy, just do it without the cup),
paperclips,
5 8.5 x. 11 sheets of paper,
3 toothpicks, and
3 bandaids.

You may use scissors during construction but not in the solution.

Here is the thing however. From this week on, these challanges are going to be part of our Science program. This means that they will also be a part of your Science mark from now to the end of the school year!!! Here is how it will work:

You will get one week (from Monday to the following Monday) to complete the projects.
You may get help from your family. In fact, I am hoping this will be a fun family project for everyone!
On the Monday, we will display the projects and see all the different ideas people come up with.
Pictures will also be taken to add to the blog to show off our creations.
For completing your homework and bringing in the finished project, you will receive 5 marks. If you do not complete the project that week, you will receive no mark (unless you have talked to me beforehand with a very good reason why you can not complete the task).

I am hoping that we can have a lot of fun with these projects but I am also hoping that these projects will allow us to think differently and stretch our minds and creativity in new ways!!!

Our first project (the one above) starts tomorrow!! You have until next Monday, Apr. 6 to finish them!

Earth Hour After

March 29, 2009 eoin24 Comments 1 comment

Well, we had a great time last night playing scrabble in the dark. I got some pretty big words but my wife says she still beat me! We also called her parents who said that they did not have their lights on but that they conserve all the time (which is probably true!).

Anyway, I thought I would add some pictures here. The first one is of Siena holding the Earth in her hands. She is going to be growing up on this Earth and will still be here after we are gone so we had better take better care of it for her! The next one is of us in the dark with the scrabble board. The last one is a whole slideshow of photos from around the world during Earth Hour. There are alot but you can skip through them. Enjoy and we will see you tomorrow!!! Last day of no school. Tomorrow we get back to work (and some fun!).

Earth Hour Tonight!!!

March 28, 2009 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

Just to let everyone know that tonight is Earth Hour. Starting at 8:30 tonight, and around the world, huge n

umbers of people are hoping that you will turn off all your lights for at least one hour. Since this event started in Australia a couple of years ago, millions of people world wide have participated. Though it seems a small, insignificant thing to do, when milions do it, the effects can have an impact if only for awareness of the impact we have on our environment and the amount of energy we use.

Tonight, Siena, my wife and I will be turning out our lights and other appliances (including the T.V and the computer!!!) and spending time together in the dark. It sounds like it is going to be fun.

We will also take a picture and add it to the blog after the event. If you would like to participate, make sure your lights are off at 8:30 tonight!!!

It would also be fun if you took a picture of your family do something during that time, whether playing board games by candlelight or whatever. Send it to our email and we will put the collection of photos up as a slideshow or animoto!!!

Here is a video about the event:

Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.

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