Beyond The Desk – Page 116 – The Class Blog for Mr. Hancock's Grade 5/6 Class

Science Tomorrow!

February 16, 2009 eoin24 Comments 2 comments

Looking forward to science tomorrow. We will be continuing our talk about the atmosphere and what it is made of as well as how scientists look for evidence to learn and explain things.

Here is a video to help prepare you for learning more about Space!!! The video is not actual real video but a computer simulation. However, it is still really cool!

As this is a short week, we will not be doing a spelling list or a memory verse. As well, I thought the memory verse would be a little much with the Speech Meet trials tomorrow. Those students who are hoping to participate, will be doing there verses in front of the class tomorrow. From those students I will be picking two students to recite their poems and two students to recite the memory verses.

I also have a box set of Geronimo Stilton books which came with the book orders today but which I don’t remember ordering. If your child came home with new books and one of them was not the box set which you are sure you ordered, please let me know. Otherwise I will add it to the collection.

A Mathterpiece!!!

February 11, 2009 eoin24 Comments 2 comments

In math today, we looked at an interesting problem. The problem was unlike any we have seen before. However, that did not stop the students of Grade 3!!! Oh no, they rose to the occasion. One of our Ben’s came up with the correct solution and used a neat site called Artpad to draw it out and decorate for us to show you!!

Here is the final piece:

So, once he finished his final piece, we hung it in our art gallery! Here it is surounded by other Mathterpieces!

You can click either one of them to make them bigger!

Some other announcements:

We are starting to get ready for the Speech Meet which is happening March 6th in Abbotsford. As you can imagine, lots of students volunteered to participate. However, only four students can do a poem and only another four can do a memory verse. As I have to have the names to Ms. Evans by the 16th, we will have to do a little in-house trial to see who can go. Therefore, if your child has volunteered to try out for the Speech Meet, they will be coming home with a memory verse or a poem to memorize. We will do the trial here in class on Tuesday.

Valentine’s Day: We will be allowing students to wear play clothes with white, pink or red colours on them (not including the pants) on this Friday. We will have activities Friday afternoon on a Valentine’s theme for some fun.

Music of the Week

February 10, 2009 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

Our music of the week is the incomparable artist, Bobby McFerrin. He is an incredible artist and does almost all his music without instruments. Here are some videos with him, including my favorite, “Blackbird”.

A Strange Sight On Mars

February 9, 2009 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

So, I was looking through the new Google Earth the other day, especially at the new Mars section they have there when I noticed something really interesting. I think that Google Earth is the coolest program ever (though WWTelescope is right up there as well) and I was so happy when they added the Google Mars and Moon sections to it. So I was spending quite a bit of time looking around at all the pictures that they already have of Mars, when I found this strange site. You can see it below. Click on the picture to make it bigger. Do you see anything strange?

Now I always thought that my family was a little alien but I didn’t realize that they had actually moved to another planet!!

Anyways . . ..

Today, was a good day. Mondays are always exciting because it is the start of a new week and the students are always refreshed and ready to delve into new ideas and topics. For science today, we used Stellarium and WWtelescope to look at the constellations in our sky today as well as learn some new things about Space. One thing that we learned was that a supernova is a star that has gotten too old and died, exploding into many different pieces.

One supernova exploded in 1987 and we didn’t see it until the year 2004! That was amazing. Here is a picture of a supernova:

Here is a video showing an animation of a supernova happening. This is a really cool video though it is just an animation. However, it does give some idea as to what happens.

Here are the spelling words for this week:

Spelling N 3

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You can get to the Spelling City List using the link below. Just click on the picture.

The memory verse for this week is:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

Have a great day!!!

Space Brainstorm

February 6, 2009 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

Here are some of the ideas that the class came up with as we brainstormed things they knew about space and things they would like to know about space. I have made it into a “wordle”. You can create your own wordle using any amount of text. Here’s ours:

A Space-y Day!!!

February 5, 2009 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

Wow! What an amazing day! Lots of great things happening here in Grade 3. There was lots of learning, laughing, work and fun to be had. The day went by really fast.

First of all, in science, the students are really getting into their Space Unit. Today, the students were preparing cover pages for their new unit. They drew things on the cover page that reflected what they knew about space already. There are some great pictures! We also spend some time using Stellarium and WWTelescope looking at galaxies, stars, planets and the constellations. Students learned all about the constellation Orion the Hunter using Stellarium. Stellarium is a great free program where students can see the stars and constellations for their own location in real time or in the future. It has to be see to be believed. You can get it free by clicking the links. WWTelescope is another free program that is just magnificent. You can view planets, galaxies and zoom in on them. You can watch a guided tour or create your own tour. If your computer can handle it, please download it as it is an beautiful and amazing guide to God’s amazing creation!

I forgot to place the link to the Spelling City here this week. So here is the link. Just click on the picture to be taken to it.

Just a reminder as well that students have a Mad Minute test tomorrow. If you would like to practice their addition and subtraction facts, you can print off these pages by clicking here (addition and subtraction) or using the image below.

Addition

Subtraction

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Also, I forgot to mention to the students that we have skating for tomorrow. So students need to bring their skating items. They may also wear their play clothes tomorrow.

Here is one of the videos I showed the students about the stars in our galaxy. Students were amazed by how small our sun is compared to the other stars!!

Monday’s Fine!!

February 2, 2009 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

It was a great day; a little chaotic as Monday’s go but still a lot of fun. It was great to see so many of the students back after their sicknesses and travel.

It is amazing to think that we are now into February. Soon it will be time to start thinking about report cards again! In Science, I am really excited to be starting our Space Unit. We had a great time last year with it and I think we will have lots more fun this year. A little hint: I was talking to a parent who was having computer problems and I was telling her that this unit has lots of great resources including free programs, videos and other wonderful things for the computer. If you are having problems with your computer or have been thinking about upgrading, this would be a wonderful time to do so.

Here are the spelling words (spelling-n-2) for today.

Spelling N 2

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This weeks bible verse comes from Jeremiah:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

Have a great evening and to end off, here’s a great video for all you animal lovers out there!

Tuesday Shmoossday

January 27, 2009 eoin24 Comments 6 comments

Well, the grade 3 class had their busy Tuesday today. I think some were hoping for a snow day, but alas, it twas not to be.

Students have been working hard on their paragraph writing since Christmas. We have now begun to work on adding “ly” words to sentences and to their paragraphs. The paragraphs the students are writing are amazing with lots of great details in them, especially now that they have to have 3 “because” and 2 “ly” words in the paragraph.

In math, we are starting the 4 times tables as well as looking at converting quarts to gallons and using quarters to make groups of 100. The students are going to be having another “Mad Minute” on Friday so please continue practicing with them at home. Speaking of Math, I have included a neat math game below. Click on the blue Math Lines link and the game should pop up.

Just as a reminder/note; book orders are due Friday and there is a half-day of school this Friday as well.

Math Lines

The 4th Week of 2009

January 26, 2009 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

Today was a busy day for a Monday. We had quite a few people missing today so it made it a good day for some “Ketchup”; a term I use when we take some time for the students to finish up projects or work we have been dealing with for awhile. We also worked on our next spelling word list. The spelling list can be downloaded here (spelling-n-1).

Spelling N 1

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Here is the link to the Spelling City list. As you can see, I have added the number of the spelling list so you can be sure that you have the right one.

Here is the bible verse for this week. It is one of my favorites and one that I used when I gave my testimony.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

The Weekend News

January 26, 2009 eoin24 Comments 0 Comment

Hello everyone!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. I have managed to catch a wonderful cold. Thankfully, I am

fending it off with a good dose of Buckley’s every couple of hours. I’m just glad it’s not the flu.

One of the other things I did this weekend was to go and visit Stephen in the hospital. I got a chance to see him and tell him that you have been praying for him every day and night; both at school and at home. HIs mom said that he will hopefully be coming home soon and he is looking forward to seeing everyone again. Anyway, he sent along this picture of himself wearing this strange looking jersey. I don’t know why he doesn’t just wear an Oilers jersey! It would probably be more comfortable!!!!!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

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