April News – Junior High

Recently, in language arts classes, the junior high students began an inquiry project on water.  We began our inquiry by viewing a number of videos on water and by attending a presentation on water and water conservation by the Green Action Center.  Next, we compiled a multitude of questions to help guide our inquiry and to develop the essential questions that will help guide our work.  As a result, the following essential questions were developed and posted in our classroom.
1)  How important is clean water to one’s survival?
2)  Do we have a right to clean water?
3)  What personal contributions and changes can we make to help reduce the effects of the global water crisis?
4)  How can we make a convincing case about the global water crisis that will inspire others to take action?
5)  How do our experiences shape our identity?

After gathering a number of facts about water and water conservation, we worked on putting together a number of Public Service Announcements to help inspire others to take action.  Several of these videos have been posted on the school’s YouTube channel or they can be found by clicking on the following links.

https://youtu.be/qZbAUgCJ-Oc

https://youtu.be/EUvxpyIw0zo

https://youtu.be/uqMK4VG9lzU

In the weeks ahead, we will be reading several books on water, “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park and “Aqueduct” by Adele Perry which tells the story of the building of the Winnipeg Aqueduct.  We will also be taking part in book clubs and will have the opportunity to read one of three books, “The Memory of Water” by Emmi Itäranta, “Not a Drop to Drink” by Mindy McGinnis or “Terrible Roar of Water” by Penny Draper.  We will also be exploring the water issues on First Nations communities by reading and discussing a large variety of news articles and by viewing a number of videos.  We have a lot of work ahead of us and will be sharing our learning journey through our Google Classroom site.  If any of the junior high parents would like to be invited to join our Google Classroom, please let us know!

We should most definitely BAN plastic straws! It is unbelievable how many straws are used a day! The amount of PLASTIC STRAWS used in one day is 500 million in the USA and that’s only one country in the world.  The United Kingdom wants to BAN plastic straws and I agree with them.

If you want to know more, here’s my first reason: Plastic straws harm marine animals including turtles, whales, dolphins, fish, and birds.  There is a video that went viral of a turtle that got a plastic straw up its nose.  Animals can’t digest the plastic straws we use.  When animals eat plastic, they can’t digest it and they die.

The second reason that absolutely without a doubt we should ban plastic straws is because they pollute our Earth.  Picture this: you are ready to go out for a good swim and then there’s a giant pile of plastic everywhere! That’s pollution to our Earth.  Picture this: you are ready to eat some fish for dinner and there’s plastic inside of it.  Plastic straws affect our Earth, but also us humans.

The third reason we should ban plastic straws is that if we want to save and help our Earth from the pollution that is happening, we can use different materials such as metal, rubber, re-usable plastic, and paper straws to help save our Earth.

I hope you can help and I hope you enjoyed my writing.

Isabel

Grade 3

Room 21

Isn’t spring great! The snow has disappeared and gym classes are heading outside! Soccer, touch-football, and softball are all in the schedule for May and June. The Earl Grey Running Club will begin on Tuesday, May 8^th for students in gr’s 4-8; a great opportunity to increase fitness, enjoy the outdoors, and make new friends. In addition, the gr. 4-6 students have the added bonus of being able to compete in the annual Fit Run to be held June 5th a.m. at Assiniboine Park.

As a result of all the exciting opportunities that occur in May and June it means our lunch-time intramural program has come to an end.  These lunch time slots are replaced by Running Club practices and track and field competitions; students should check the gym bulletin board for practice or competition times.

The grade 5-8 Mini-Olympics officially kick off on May 10^th with the opening ceremonies. A variety of events and activities will occur during the following weeks including the Olympics themselves on May 17^th and culminate with the closing ceremonies on Friday, May 18^th. Students who excel during the schools Mini-Olympics may be invited to attend the divisional track meet on May 24^th  and 29^th at the University of Manitoba.

I would like to remind students and parents that although spring is a great time to start wearing sandals and flip-flops, it is extremely important to have good running shoes for gym classes.  Good shoes increase participation and help prevent many injuries.

Tips for the Month of May:

• Quality physical education programs have been shown to: enhance learning readiness, improve academic performance, enrich self-esteem, deter antisocial behavior, restrain drug and alcohol abuse, and reduce absenteeism.
• Schools that offer quality physical education programs – even when time is taken from the academic day – post positive effects on academic achievement, including increased concentration, improved scores in mathematics, reading and writing, and reduced disruptive behaviors.
• School programs are more important for increasing children’s energy expenditure because children are less likely to participate in physical activity in the absence of adult supervision.
• Children who are physically active during the day in school are much more likely to be physically active after school as well.
• Children need at least 60 minutes and up to several hours of activity daily.  It can be accumulated in many short (15 minutes minimum), intermittent bouts of activity and need not be done as continuous exercise.
• Physical activity has substantial health benefits for children and adolescents, including favorable effects on endurance capacity, muscular strength, body weight, and blood pressure.
• Positive experiences with physical activity at a young age help lay the basis for being regularly active throughout life.
• Exercise has been shown to reduce anxiety and depression and raise self-esteem.  Removing such emotional barriers may help children focus more in the classroom.
• Very young children also may learn partly through movement.  Physical activity helps them learn about various spatial or temporal relationships.

From: http://www.walkingworksforschoolstn.com/fast_facts/school_benefits.shtml

The music room is a buzz with the sounds of recorders!  We’re having a great time learning recorders…Karate style!  They earn Karate belts by practicing songs, with each belt/level adding another element of music (ie. Dynamics, slurring, new notes, etc).  Here’s what each class has to say about our Recorder Karate…

Room 21   

“It’s fun!”

“Making music is beautiful!”

“Sometimes it hurts our ears”

Room 27

“We started with Hot Cross Buns”

“Squeaks don’t matter, we just have to try best”

“We do Mad Minutes to learn our B-A-G notes”

Room 28 

“You can advance as fast as  you want”

“I like that it’s fun & easy”

“The more we practice, the better we get”

Room 25 

“Recorders are a good instrument with a nice soothing sound”

“We’re earning belts like Karate”

Room 14: We Love Boxes!

Room 21: 

Do you love mysteries? Do you enjoy solving puzzles? If you do, we have the perfect book for you! Winterhouse written by Ben Gutterson is an intriguing story about Elizabeth Somers and her stay at the Winterhouse hotel. We have been reading this book since January and we are always disappointed when it is time to put it down. It is definitely our favourite read aloud book so far!

Room 23: 

Room 23’s favorite book in March was “How Will Room 23 Get To School This Year?” This was the first book we wrote as a class. We loved reading about the fun ways our friends would get to school. We also liked guessing who wrote what part.

Room 25:

Room 25’ s Favourite March book was Where the red fern grows. After a couple months having not read it, they were ready willing and eager to back into it. It is sad story with a lot of expression. We have been working on writing with expression. It makes us very emotional.

Room 27:

Room 28:  

Yellow Dog by Miriam Korner

Room 28 recommends this book because it is a perfect mixture of adventure and friendship. This book is a great book for you if you’re a canine lover. Let me tell you something before you read it: “Welcome to the North!”

By Andreik

We need to stand up to bullies and never give up.  Always be nice to others and treat people with respect.  If someone insults you, don’t give them what they want by getting mad.  Instead, you can think of a funny come back.

By: Chloe, Stephanie, Odin, & Madilyn

Bullying should never happen.  These are some strategies to end bullying.  First, you can use humour to respond to bullying.  No matter what, don’t let your emotions take over.  Next, be confident and always stand up for yourself and others.  Don’t be a bystander, stand up! Bullying needs to STOP!

By: Issett, Zac, Kieran & Anthony

Let’s not let bullies take over! Instead, you can ignore bullies.  Don’t give the bully what they want.  You should never join a bully because it just makes life harder for everyone.

By: Paige, Aiman, Mariam & Noah

No bullies! No bullies! Bullies will just keep bullying you if you don’t stand up for yourself.  Be confident and stay strong.  You can be just as strong as the bully.  Don’t let other people take over by being mean.  No bullies! No bullies!

By: Rani, Brianna, & Isabel

We can make sure bullying doesn’t happen by standing up to the bully.  You can say something funny to confuse them or just ignore them and walk away.  Stand up for yourself and others!

By: Leo, Asher, & Jesse

Never let a bully take over.  If they say something rude, try to turn it into a compliment.  Remember, the bully is finished if you don’t give him or her what they want.

By: Victoria, Sebastian, & Kali

On Friday, March 23 Mr. Paintin from the S.T.E.A.M. Program came to work with our class.  We used the computer program Tinkercad to make 3D Designs.  Some of the math concepts that we used were reflection, translation, plane, rotation, axis and scale.  We designed houses, dinosaurs, people, bunnies, and fidget spinners.

Our trip to M.T.Y.P. to see Tetris was fantastic!  We saw a lot of awkward movements.  At times there were actions that included Rubik’s Cubes.  We were amazed by the strength and flexibility of the performers!  Towards the end most of the audience were on stage participating in the performance.

We continued working in Book Clubs this month.  We have had several meetings and assignments.  We will wrap up the clubs in April.

Earl Grey is a PBIS school. That means everyone tries hard to be respectful and fill everybody’s bucket. – Willow

There are posters on the walls that show you how to do your job at school. – Charley

All the doors have words on them. The green signs say Go and the red signs says STOP. These signs help keep us safe. We don’t want to bump into anyone at the doors. – Mylee

At Earl Grey, Be Respectful, Be Safe and BE A Learner! – Maggie

I am happy that I got caught doing my job in the hallway! I got a card  and put it in a special box in the office. – Carter

Some kids get their picture on the PBIS wall! They got caught by a teacher for doing their job. – Tryce

 The highlight for many of the junior high students this month was the ski trip to Holiday Mountain on March 8th.  For some, this was a first time experience while, for others, this was “old hat.” Everyone had a great time and luckily there were no major injuries except for a few bruised egos!

Our grade seven students attended the Inner City Science Lab several times this month.  In addition to learning about a vast array of lab equipment and how to use it properly, the students were also able to conduct dissections of a squid and a pig’s heart.

In Language Arts, all of the junior highs had the opportunity to take part in a “Socratic Seminar” either as a “player” or as a “coach.”  The questions for our seminar were: “Are humans inherently good or bad?” and “What causes “good” people to devolve into evil?” The discussion in both seminars was very lively but the students did an excellent job of listening closely and being respectful to one another.   Many good points were made, further questions posed and strong connections to many of the novels, short stories and articles we have read this year were made. All of the students enjoyed the seminars and are already asking when our next one will be.

During the last week of school, the junior highs presented the videos they had made for (PBIS – Positive Behavioural Intervention and Support) at the assembly and several of the junior highs worked with Ms Penner to organize a School Spirit Week and a junior high “Taco in a Bag” lunch.

This month we have been building a castle! We talked about all of the different types of paper and then used them to make our mural. See through paper was used to make our windows. Thick cardboard was used to make bricks. We painted our bricks with different shades of grey and brown to make them look real. We used a map to make the ground. Our favourite detail was the flags! We used tissue paper and wrapping paper for the different colours.  The drawbridge was made of cardboard and sticky paper.  We picked which paper we used where, based on colour, texture and thickness. Now we get to play with it!