"Celebrate the Season"

Our school's Holiday performance will be Wednesday December 9th at 7 pm at Sutherland Secondary's Large gym. Look for a green notice to come home so you can order tickets to this event. I hope to get them home to the "youngest or the only" on Wednesday (tomorrow), and parents have until Monday 30 November to have the form returned.

Musical Friday afternoon

Friday was quite the musical day, with the Band members going up to Sutherland Secondary School in the morning, and our own celebrations in our classroom in the afternoon. In the morning, the Band members played with the Sutherland Jr. Band which included several Brooksbank grads.

The afternoon started with Naomi's mother and father bringing in, and assembling their 5-octave marimba! Peggy, Naomi's mum, told us about the instrument, and dazzled us with her playing.

Everyone got a chance to come up, one at a time, and noodle around on this beautiful percussion instrument. Even holding the mallets the proper way was a challenge. They're so long! You couldn't reach from one end of the marimba to the other without stretching your arms out and taking a step or two!

Then we were treated to several performances. Alaina played the marimba while Naomi accompanied her on the piano, then they switched places and played a second song, this time with Naomi on the marimba and Alaina playing piano.

Lucas M. played his trumpet, and later performed a duet with Raya (on tuba) when they played Good King Wenceslas. Brook-Lynn played a beautiful piece on the piano, and we eventually convinced a trio of band members (Alaina, Laleh, and Sian) to play a couple of pieces on their clarinets (Alaina and Laleh) and flute (Sian).

Mr. Kelly's class was invited in so some of the performers had a chance to reprise their playing, so they also had a chance to share.

Laleh, who has had 6 years of piano lessons, wowed the crowd with a beautiful rendition of Bergmuller's Arabesque.

Mia closed the afternoon's performances by playing two pieces, including Jazz Blast, the only piece from that genre.

We were grateful to Peggy and Jeffery Tseng for bringing in their beautiful marimba. This is not exactly a portable instrument! We don't often get a chance to see and hear this lovely instrument, so that was a great opportunity for us all.

Lastly, a word of appreciation and respect to those who had the courage to prepare and then perform for us all. We were impressed, encouraged, and delighted with the performances. I hope we get a chance to repeat our Musical Celebrations again in the future, for there are many talented students in our class, and we don't often get a chance to see their skill and dedication.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Late-breaking news:
Tomorrow students who wish to can audition for one of three parts for an upcoming Holiday play. There were audition sides made available, and the actual auditions will be held Thursday 19 November at recess.

Reminder:
Socials project for Ms. Beleski/Mr. Clarke is due Monday 23 November.
Socials project for Mr. Chan is due Tuesday 24 November.

Friday: Students who are in band will be heading up to Sutherland for the morning on Friday. Coincidentally we are having a Friday afternoon musical celebration in our classroom. To avoid any concerns, we won't start our musical celebration until band members have returned to class.

Monday, November 16, 2015

Homework:

There are two Social Studies projects currently underway:

1) Mr. Chan's Land Use project (due Nov 24)

2) Ms. Beleski/Mr. Clarke's Immigration/Emigration project. That is now due Nov. 23 (this is a change)

Also, in Science, students learned about what blood is made of today and those notes need to be added to their Mind Map of the Circulatory System. (scroll down to see details)

Here is Mr. Chan's outline for his project:

Land Use Inquiry Project

Blood

This is what my Mind Map looks like in its current, beginning stages: The Big Idea/Topic starts in the centre of the page ("Circulatory System") with radiating hierarchical branches that contribute to the sum of the system. No colour, not yet visually pleasing, but that is just fine for now.

Friday November 13, 2015

Oh, I just realized...

It was Friday the 13th, and so far we've all survived!!

Homework:

1)  Character story typed* (M)

*If your child cannot print it for whatever reason, have them type it and bring it in to me on a memory stick and I'll print it, or they could type it and email it to me and I'll print it at school.






2)  Musical Friday (F)
This coming Friday, November 20, in the afternoon we're planning a Musical party. Students who have been studying an instrument (or voice), are invited to have a song or two prepared that they can perform for us in our classroom. Should be fun and exciting!

Thursday, November 12

Homework for next Thursday:

French: Be prepared to ask 3 questions and to answer three questions next week. Use the Poser Des Questions hand-out to practice. You guys did amazing in French today! Bravo!
Art: Have your robot/spaceship/alien ready for painting for next week. So far they already look really cool and we haven't even painted them yet!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Mrs. Startup

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Today our class showed extreme respect in taking on their part in Brooksbank's Remembrance Ceremony. I am honoured to be associated with such a fine group of boys and girls.

Homework:
1) If it hasn't been done yet, students were to complete a Remembrance Day blog post at kidblog.org/class/clarke201516

2) Continue to practice 5 x tables.

3)  Continue to review French numbers 1-100.

4) Continue to work on the social studies project for Mr. Chan, as well as the other social studies project for Ms. Beleski/Mr. Clarke.

No school tomorrow, of course, as it will be Remembrance Day. When students return on Thursday, don't forget that Mrs. Startup is asking for any empty candy boxes, odd and ends for a project she has in mind.

Monday, November 9, 2015

Homework:

1) Kidblog post around the theme of Remembrance Day (T)

To access the site, head over to https://kidblog.org/class/clarke201516/


2) Review the basics of The Circulatory System (T)

The Circulatory System K

Reminder: Parents are invited to attend our Remembrance Day ceremony Tuesday November 10 at 10:45 a.m.

Friday, November 6, 2015

Homework:

1) Review math strategies for estimating sums. (M)

Estimating Sums

2) Create a title page for the Circulatory System (M)

Reminders:

The Card Project is a fundraiser for our school. Please send in your Holiday card orders as soon as possible... deadline is Friday November 13!

Story Writing:
Students have been asked to write a story highlighting the characteristics of two people. We're not too concerned with plot, or the beginning/middle/end, just that the reader can tell what the two people are like on the inside by being shown, not told, their characteristics. This is not homework. We're working on this in class, but I thought I'd share an example I wrote today :

Character Study

Tuesday November 3, 2015

Reading Homework:
The "Trudeau" package (due W). A copy is here:

Trudeau

Math Homework:
5 times table needs practicing. We'll review the recent math quiz in class.

Social Studies for Mr. Clarke & Ms. Beleski:
Students received an outline for an inquiry project due November 20. Details are on the document below:

Immigration Inquiry

Writing:
Students were to choose two characters, and decide what personality characteristics each would have. The next step will be to write in such a way that the reader is shown those characteristics, not just told. The work the students did can be viewed here: https://padlet.com/clarke/doyle