Monthly Archives for December 2011

Our Bee Friendly pilot project is in the News

At Arlene Martin’s suggestion, we called the North Shore News to photograph our Bee Friendly “seed bomb”-making day a month ago. Ric and Sharon, the expert bee keepers, come and work with Division 3 & 4 (Clarke & Reichert) every month. This winter we will be learning lots about the anatomy and habits of all different kinds of native bees, and we will be constructing tube-like homes for the Mason Bee. This is a pilot program that could see adoption by other schools in the years to come, but for now, we are the lucky ones that get to have all the fun!

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Thursday 15 December

Congratulations to the Choir members! Performing in busy public spaces (like the Lynn Valley Centre) is a great experience, both for the children and the passersby. I wish I could have been there to hear them! Thanks to Ms. K. for leading the choir and helping to meld those voices into a lovely sound. I'm sure the choir's efforts paid off handsomely today.

Well done all!

Our hallways at Brooksbank will be painted in the days ahead, so artwork and posters are coming off the walls in anticipation of that, and will be sent home with students.

Monday 12 December

Homework

Science:
As part of the digestive system, students were to record everything they ate or drank for one day from getting up in the morning until bedtime that night. From that survey of their own eating, they were to use a handout to determine how many servings from each food group they likely consumed.

That Food Servings summary is due Tuesday.

One parent driver still needed!

This Monday 12 December from 1:00 to 2:00 pm our class, along with the rest of the school, will be out in the neighbourhood as part of our annual food drive.

I'm still in need of one parent with a vehicle who can cruise along slowly with us so we can put all our discovered food donations in a vehicle.

If you are available, please email me!

pclarke@nvsd44.bc.ca

Many thanks!

Jingle Walk “Exhaustion”

This afternoon we delivered flyers to almost 120 homes in preparation for Monday’s Food Bank drive. The sun was warm, the street deserted, so we just had to stage our own “Tools Down”, and share a stolen moment of fun!

Sent from my iPhone

Thursday 8 December 2011

Math:

Several of the Grade 5s had difficulties with repeated subtraction, or were involved in the Band concert at school last night and couldn't get their homework done. Not to worry. Thanks for those who took the time to write a note in the planner. I myself went to the Band concert, so you'd think I would have realized not to assign homework that night, but I didn't. Tomorrow (Friday) we'll go over the math and hopefully straighten out any confusion.

The kids in Division 3 and 4 have been invited to take part (optionally) in an essay-writing activity in support of a grant we'll be making to Staples.ca.  Check out the details on my most recent blog here:

http://kidblog.org/MrClarkesClass/

Also, I'll be uploading pictures from our latest "Bee Friendly" session with Ric and Sharon, as well as a couple from our band concert, at which our class was well represented!

Thursday 8 December 2011

Gr 5 Reading
Attached are the questions for Chapter 8 of "Island of the Blue Dolphins" (which we started last week), and Chapter 9 (the current chapter). (F)

Reminder:
Still looking for a parent who can shadow us in a vehicle this Monday 12 December at 1:00 – 2:00 pm while we pick up food donations for the Food Bank from neighbouring houses. If you can help please email me: pclarke@nvsd44.bc.ca

Thanks!

Island of the Blue DolphinsChpt8.doc
Download this file

Island of the Blue DolphinsChpt9.doc
Download this file

Monday 5 December 2011

It is Wiki time!

I have started our own classroom wiki. A wiki has elements of a web site and elements of a blog. In short, it is a (free) online space, private, where as the teacher I can post questions or answers, and with an individual login credentials, students (or you, their parent) can do the same… that is I could ask a question, your child could log in, see the question and then add his or her answer to those of their classmates. People say a wiki is like a web page, but with an edit button for any of the associated "members".

All of our students are members, and each now has a username and a password, both of which are necessary to view or edit the wiki.

To begin, you'll need your child's username and password, then point your browser to http://www.wikispaces.com/site/signin

I've only got 2 pages up so far… one on the current novel we're reading ("The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle"), and one on Salmon in the classroom (which begins in January, and will mark my 17th year of participation!)

Sign in and leave word you've been there!

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Wikispaces

See the full gallery on Posterous

Argyle Film Students

This fall I led a team of Brooksbank Grade 6 and 7 students as we made a video in support of a grant application for technology.

At Arlene Martin’s suggestion, I contacted Ryanne Bergler at Argyle High School (she teaches Film, and is one of the two teachers who guide and run Argyle’s “Digital Media Academy”) to see if she had some students that could help us with the editing of our rough cuts. Ryanne set us up with three wonderful Grade 12 students, Katie Watson, Tessa Stickney, and Davis van Renesse. These three proved their talent many times over as they worked collaboratively with our students, showed true leadership and an unerring artistic eye, and were fabulous role models for our younger students. It was a pleasure to meet them, and to work with them. Thanks too, to Arlene for covering for me while I took our film students to Argyle on two occasions. This was such a fun collaboration! By the way, we find out the results of the grant competition in the new year. Fingers crossed!!

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Friday 2 December 2011

No new homework continues while the Dream Projects are underway. For those who have a poster or model, I've put those on display in the school library. Come take a look! Meanwhile, students are being filmed, and a compilation video will be posted here once all of the Projects have been showcased in our class. Check back here next week!