Today in gym Mr. Vanderlinden set up two games of floor hockey because we'd been really awesome in gym last week. Also, one of the students shutout all three teams he played against which was awesome. For math, we are trying to make a system that will let us work above the project board without having to step on it. We had to measure ladders, the height of the project board, and the width of the project room so that we can figure out how to get this done. In social studies we continued on our Athenian democracy essays, and in daily 5 we started working on storyboards of Greek Myths for Jeff Stockton.

​Tomorrow is Repsol, and we are back in the pool. Please make sure to bring your swim gear!

Today in science, we were using LED lights, AA batteries, and speaker wires to create series and parallel circuits. We found out that two AA batteries and one small LED was able to light up, while two large LEDs in series with two AA batteries did NOT work. After a lot of work to collect notes and research, we finally started writing essays on "to what extent was the democracy practiced in ancient Athens fair and equitable." We talked about what makes for a good essay starter - we start general with background information before getting more specific by starting to share our ideas about the topic with supporting evidence.

Jeff Stockton is coming back to the school to work with us tomorrow and Wednesday - we're really looking forward to it!

Skating forms went home today. These must be completed and returned to the school no later than January 25th.

​Finally, if you have not yet returned your report card envelope, please do so ASAP as these are now overdue.

Today in gym, we continued spartan training. Mr. Vanderlinden said that there's a chance we might be bringing out the climber soon, which would be amazing. In Daily 5, it was our last chance to finish our writing challenge of writing super short stories. The grade 4's presented in an assembly. They've been learning about the upcoming Pyeonchang winter Olympics and how athletes need to be resilient. In social studies, it was our last chance to finish up notes on Athenian democracy. Starting next week, we'll be writing about the question "to what extent was Athenian democracy fair and equitable." This is a good question because it makes us think critically about an important time in history.

If you have not brought back your signed report card envelope, it MUST be back to the school by Monday.

Today in Daily 5 we read myths about Artemis and Apollo who are twin children of Zeus and Leto. In math, we worked on using factor trees to identify Greatest Common Factor between two numbers. This is useful when you are trying to simplify a fraction. It can also help you find prime numbers (a number with two factors, 1, and itself). Examples of prime numbers are: 3, 17, 5, 2, 11, 13, and 7. In gym, we played a new hockey game, and in social studies, we continued researching Athenian democracy.

This morning we read myths about Ares, the God of War, and Athena, Goddess of Wisdom. At lunch, we had our first floor hockey intramurals, which was great. In social studies we kept researching ancient Athens democracy. One thing that we've learned is that the Boule (pronounced boo-lee) were the leaders of the government. They met in the Bouleuterion, and we wondered if it was named after a bowl.

It was a double birthday in our classroom! In Daily 5, we are doing a work on writing challenge this week. The challenge is to make a story in less than 10 words - we've found that that's really difficult! In math, we talked about proper and improper fractions, and simplifying them.

The grade 6's listened to an presentation from the Assistant Principal and three student from Bishop Pinkham. They are a French Immersion school that the boys from ABP can go to. We learned about all the programs they have there, and were invited to an openhouse at their school this Thursday from 6-7:30.

In the afternoon, we had an amazing presentation from a wonderful storyteller named Jeff Stockton. Jeff plays the harp as he tells stories from memory and through speaking. We are going to learn some of those skills as we work with him over the next several months. Today we heard a story from Louisiana about a man who was lucky in life, but unlucky in love. The story involved a famous creature called a Boohag which was pretty creepy. Jeff challenged us to draw one thing that we imagined from the story, which we will do tomorrow!

Today we presented in an assembly about what we've been learning in science: completing circuits using Makey-Makeys. Our assembly involved using a paper controller to play pacman, and a gameshow hosted by an excellent volunteer from our class. We continued researching Ancient Athens. Some students submitted stories they wrote throughout the week, or Word Work pages they had created to Mr. Stanley for review. In gym, we continued Spartan Training.

Report cards are being sent home TODAY. Envelopes must be signed and returned to the school by Wednesday, January 17th. Additionally, a new curriculum letter is being sent home today - this is yours to keep.

Next Tuesday is our first day back at Repsol. It is a DRYLAND day for us.

Today for science we use Makey Makey's to test different items for conductivity. Something surprising that conducted electricity was a student's hair, but it was surprising that not everybody's hair conducted electricity. In gym, we used hula huts for the last time. Because the weather was so cold, we got to stay in at lunch and play barricade ball. In Daily 5, we read myths about Zeus rising to power on Mount Olympus. For Social Studies, we continued to study Athenian democracy. Men in Athens were either Citizens who COULD vote, Metics, who were foreigners to Athens and could not vote, or slaves, who could not vote and could be bought and sold by their owners. Children were entitled to the jobs their parents had.

For Daily 5 we read Greek Myths about the Titans and the creation of the world. In gym, we worked with hula hoops to make hula huts. For science, we practiced drawing circuit diagrams. In social studies we started researching Athenian democracy. Report cards go home on Friday!

Happy New Year! Welcome back! Today in Social Studies, we started looking into Athenian Democracy - check the new page on our blog for more information. In Science, we're going to begin learning about electricity. Today we used Makey Makey to complete circuits. There are lots of cool Youtube videos of projects that people have done using Makey Makey. In gym Mr. Vanderlinden set up asteroids and anklebiters which was very competitive and fun. We had a normal Daily 5, and Mr. Stanley read 3 Greek myths: King Midas and the Golden Touch, Narcissus and Echo, and Orpheus's Journey to the Underworld.