This Week at School

This has been a very busy week at school.

In music we are doing Garage Band and Mme Burdeniuk is teaching us different ways to add tracks, change volume, use fade out, and put different sounds together.

Today we went to Fort Gibraltar and listened to a storyteller (Evelyn) who told us about how the bear lost his tail and a few other stories. We also did an activity with puppets and retelling classic stories and changing the ending. Finally, some of  played a game with Red Riding Hood and the wolf or a song with emotions.  To learn more about the story telling festival visit: http://umanitoba.ca/storytelling

In French we are doing "Demandons aux spécialistes". There are different topics you can choose from, such as Chef, Gardien du zoo and scientifique.

In Phys. Ed we are doing tennis with a partner. We played a game where the girls sat on one side and the boys sat on the other. The object of the game is to not get eliminated.

The volunteer tea had a baseball theme and the Orff club, Flute club and the choir all sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." There were announcers to tie the whole presentation together.

In English, we are working on memorizing a poem. We can choose "Two Little Dragons" or "What's Mean, Green and Eats Princes?". We are working on facial expression, voice and actions.

In math we are working on large number division. We divide 3 digit numbers by 1 digit numbers. We are also working on our basic facts for multiplication and division.

In art, we did a project about Emily Carr and trees with our artist was Sandra Wiebe. On our first session, we sketched trees with pencils, During our second session, we drew the trees with oil pastels and then painted over it with water colours. On our third session, we used modelling clay to make the trees and then used pastels to add texture.

In Sciences Humaines we started learning about the Plains Aboriginals. We learned that their main food is bison but they also eat berries, fish, caribou, rabbits and other animals. They also made pemmican. They usually lived in teepees and lived a nomadic life.

Celebration of Learning

This Thursday, April 11, at 12:30 our class will be participating in the Celebration of Learning. All parents are welcome to attend. We will perform a Readers' Theatre and song based on our study of Space in Français. Hope to see you there!

Battle of Seven Oaks

Murray Peterson a local historian came in to talk to the class about the differences between 1850 and today. He discussed how our world has changed and how in some ways it has stayed the same. Here is a list of some of connections the students made about this discussion:

1850 - 2013

no iPods or technology in the 1800's

no cars - they used kayaks, canoes, or walked

buildings - they used to live in teepees, and log cabins

recycling is different

clothing - no zippers - back then buttons

population - now there is 7 billion

More mega cities today

food - how we get the food, how we make it and how we prepare it

back then winter was the vacation time - easier to get around on the rivers

summer was time for working - hunting, gardening, prepping for winter

Murray also talked about the "Battle of Seven Oaks" and how pemmican was a valuable asset in the 1800's. So much so, that people were willing to go to war over the control and the sale of pemmican.

Explorer Idol

Today we watched "Explorer Idol" by Canadiana Musical Theatre. This theatre group comes to us from British Columbia and presented a fun filled, rock and roll view of the various explorers who discovered Canada.

"Before the world was mapped, explorers set out to discover new worlds - to boldly go where no one had gone before. If they succeeded, they became the idols of their age - lauded by kings, queens and commoners alike. Explorer Idol introduces six of the greatest Canadian explorers. With music styled after "The British Invasion." William Bligh, James Cook and George Vancouver are the house band. It's a life and death contest to find out which of the six historical celebrities can discover the elusive Northwest Passage first. The explorers were: Jean Cabot, Jacques Cartier, Captain Cook, David Thompson, Alexander Mackenzie and John Franklin. A final vote found David Thompson to be Canada's Greatest Explorer."
You can visit the Canadiana Musical Theatre website here.

Click here to watch a preview video that gives you a taste of what it is all about.

7 Billion People

Mme Eyjolfson has been talking about how the world has changed since the time of the voyageurs in the 1800. The world population at that time was 1 billion. In October 2011, the world population reached 7 billion. Today our class watched a National Geographic video which tells a little about how the world has changed: population, where we live, mega cities, technology etc. We also discussed that the life expectancy of a person in 1800 would have been 40-50 years old and today it is 75-80 years old.

Please click on the following link to watch the video: National Geographic video

Here is a cool website that talks about the world's population: Population

Atlas GéoCircus

On January 23, the grade 5 students attended a play at the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre entitled GéoCircus. This one man show features: Atlas - a world traveller and juggler. If you want to learn more about circus and geography, just take a quick trip around the world with Atlas GeoCircus! Atlas also provided us with information about how to save water.

You can find out more at the following website: http://atlasgeocircus.com/fr/

Helping Others at Christmas Time

Thank you to all the parents and students who gave so generously to our adopt-a-family project. We have enabled a family to celebrate Christmas and in return we all feel joy in knowing that we have helped a family in need. Thank you to the teachers who will be delivering the hampers to each family today and tomorrow!

Today, our grade 5 students went to the Christmas Cheerboard to help pack boxes for hampers. They packed 350 boxes. Way to go! In addition, they brought 2 boxes of donated food and all the mittens, scarves and hats from our mitten tree.

At our holiday concerts on Wednesday & Thursday, we will be collecting non-perishable items for the Cheerboard.

These projects provided the staff and students of École Assiniboine the opportunity to participate and feel the true meaning of Christmas. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!