Book Trailers

Since we are not able to have our regular assembly this year, we have decided to create book trailers to share with the community. 

We used an online tool called Clipchamp and developed a new skill: video editing!

We worked hard to consider the following points:

• make sure the hook grabs the attention of the viewers to keep watching
• reveal just enough of the plot to make the viewers want to read the book
• the soundtrack matches the overall mood of the book
• the images are carefully chosen to represent elements of the plot
• the text enhances the quality of the trailer
• the trailer is not too short and not too long
• demonstrate academic honesty by citing sources using the MLA format

All of the books we chose can be checked out at the school library. 

I hope you all read the recommended books! Enjoy!

Fish in a Tree

The Last Kids on Earth

The Land of Stories

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul

A Place Called Perfect

Geronimo Stilton Spacemice: Ice Planet Adventure

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I Survived: The Japanese Tsunami, 2011

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

You may be wondering, "What inspired the fifth and sixth graders to create such engaging trailers?"

The answer is this!

We had a tournament of books in which every day, we watched two book trailers created by other people and voted to choose our next class read-aloud book!

The winning book was Small Spaces by Katherine Arden! 

We started reading it as a class this week and we are so excited to find out what happens.

Happy reading, everyone!

Consolidating our Learning

 

In our Unit of Inquiry, we have been deepening our understanding of the position, motion, and components of our solar system and beyond. 

To understand the relative distance between the Sun, the planets, and Pluto, we used beads and a string to create a model of our solar system. 

Take a look at the videos to see our creations!

We then consolidated our learning by creating a visual representation of how the components below are a part of the solar system and beyond. 

• Sun
• Mercury
• Venus
• Earth
• Mars
• Jupiter
• Saturn
• Uranus
• Neptune
• Pluto
• Asteroids
• Comets
• Asteroid belt
• Kuiper belt
• Moons

Some of us also decided to include satellites and rovers!

Below are photos from our final presentations followed by closeups of our posters.

To infinity and beyond!

Space E-books!

 This week, as researchers we each found out information about a topic related to the solar system and created e-books!

We used non-fiction text features to make the pages in our books more interesting to read using an online tool called Canva for Education. Many of us also challenged ourselves to use MLA citation for the first time!

Below are the covers of the e-books which you can take a look at on our Seesaw Blog (password emailed to parents). 

Are you ready for takeoff!?

Personal Narrative Unit Celebration

 

This week, we celebrated publishing our second personal narrative pieces by reading our books out loud to our classmates!  

We worked very hard as authors during this writing unit, applying different techniques we learned to write true stories, zooming into small moments in our lives. 

During this writing unit, we increased our confidence and identity as authors so that we can work through the writing process of planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing with growing independence. 

Here are some of the techniques we were introduced to in the mini-lessons. 

We considered these techniques when we set goals for ourselves to work towards with the support of the teacher and our writing partner. 

One key learning intention for most of us was that our stories conveyed an idea or a lesson. 

We also kept in mind the general structure of how stories tend to go as you can see in the photo above. 

Here is a video for you to see our celebration in action!

We also have postings on Seesaw Blog of us reading our books aloud so families, please use the password to log in and listen! 

Play in Grade 5/6

 

Play is not only for little kids! 

In Grade 5/6, we inquired into the following question during visual arts: 

How can we use watercolor in different ways? 

What better way to learn than through play?

We curated resources on this Padlet to help us learn new techniques. 

Some of the techniques we tried out were...

• dry wash
• wet paint onto a wet wash
• water drops onto a wet wash
• color blending
• underpainting
• layering
• watercolor blooms

Some of us used different tools such as salt and plastic wrap to see what kind of effect there would be on the paint. 

Sometimes, our art turned out differently from what we had initially expected. 

This is OK because we learn through experimentation.

 The process of questioning, trying different approaches, and reflecting with a growth mindset is so important for developing new skills and understandings!

Now that we have learned some techniques, we can't wait to create more complex pieces starting next week!

In our Unit of Inquiry, we finished our unit on human migration last week. 

Check out our unit wall and how much we learned!

Grade 5/6 Band!

 As a connection to our first unit with the central idea "Our mindsets and understanding of the process of learning enable us to build skills and habits to reach our goals" in music, we have been working towards the goal to learn to play instruments we have never played before. 

Rather than waiting for the teacher to tell us what to do, we demonstrated agency by researching resources that would help us learn to add to this Padlet. 

We worked together in groups and partnerships and supported each other to reach our goals. We shared strategies, gave and received feedback to improve our skills!

Once we were able to play some melodies on our own, we were ready for the challenge to play a song as a group. 

Take a look at our Grade 5/6 band!

 

People who Represent Attributes of the Learner Profile

In visual arts, we have been learning about the seven elements of art. 

Check out the sketch-notes below! 

Because we are all different people making meaning through different connections, our sketch-notes are all unique!

Over the past weeks, we have been inquiring into different ways the elements of value and colour are used in art.

For our first long-term project, we practiced using acrylic paint to tint and shade colours. 

Once we developed this new skill, we applied it to create monochromatic paintings of a person who represents a Learner Profile attribute. 

We also used our research skills to find out about these people and explain how the person represents that particular attribute. 

 

Below are our finished paintings!

 

These paintings will be hung in our classroom throughout the year as a visual reminder of the attributes of the Learner Profile.