I hope you are all having good time on your holidays!! Still a week to go :-) Matthew, Phoebe and Astrid have added great blog posts about their holidays so far, visit their blogs and read what they are up to. Hopefully we'll see pictures there soon as well.

I have just arrived back to shore after spending my vacation on a scuba diving boat in Thailand. Each day I did four dives and explored the marine life around the Similan and Surin islands. I haven't been writing any blog posts (no internet connection out to sea) but I did take my underwater camera along and shoot some video. I have put together a seven minute highlights video using imovie of some of the great marine life that I saw. I was lucky enough to see a manta ray with a wing span of four meters glide past, watch cuttlefish laying eggs, swim with barracuda and a sea snake. On one dive a turtle swam with us watching what we were doing as we waited on the surface for the boat to pick us up and we watched an octopus for twenty minutes walking along the sea floor during a night dive.

Put together a selection of your favourite holiday photos, we will be posting them into a special holiday album when we get back to school.
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There will be no official homework from you teachers for the holidays. But as a life long learner you may decide to learn things yourself. Remember learning anything is about commitment, dedication, practice and hard work. If you want to get better at something or learn something new, if you have the right attitude you can!

Some students have been discussing the idea of creating a holiday blog, adding photos to their website and practicing their writing along the way. You also have access into Mathletics which is a great place to practice and learn some new maths. Don't forget all of the great resources in the links section of this website.

The book reports are due on the first Tuesday back at school and also your unit of inquiry research so we can start the essay.

Holiday time is a great opportunity to get some quality reading done. This will be something that I will do a lot of with more time. I will also be traveling and will continue my own studies by learning about the country and culture I am traveling to, and as many of you know I will also spend a lot of time studying the diverse life underwater as I scuba dive around Thailand.
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Maths Group 12/10/2009
 
Have a good holiday. Remember to try and practice your math regularly, this will help you when you comeback to school after the break. There are lots of games here you can use. You can also use your mathletics and perhaps see if you can still get your top speed on your speed sheets. Here are some divisions left over from today. 635462 / 6, 726252 / 8, 28376 / 4, 828272 / 6, 1238211 / 8.
 
Picassohead 12/09/2009
 
Here is another picassohead work of art. Check out yesterdays blog post for the link. Our main homework at the moment is focusing on the research for the How We Express Ourselves Unit Of Inquiry.
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Research Project 12/08/2009
 
The main homework this week is to focus on your research project. You should spend 20 minutes a night looking for information to add to your stixy. We will begin the writing process after the holiday. Remember to keep the address of any web sites that you visit and use. These will become your bibliography. You can also visit the Hong Kong library and use your membership card to look for appropriate books. We also have books at school you can use, search the HKA library here.

Here is a fun little activity. Draw your very own picassohead and email it to me. The best will be featured in our class blog!
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compare
contrast
expository
aspects
bibliography
essay
diagram
information
statement
definition
 
 

 
Half Day Friday 12/07/2009
 
Today it was announced that this Friday is a half day. Students will finish at 12.30.

Class Blog
A special well done this weekend to Astrid who wrote a great blog entry about her party this weekend. Read the class blog to hear all about it!

Research Project
Today we started our comparative essays. Students should be researching about the area thy have chosen all week. This will make a big difference when we come to write the essay after the break. The more information you find the better! Use your stixy to collec

Homework
I have been meeting with students this week to discuss their homework assignments. If you have any concerns about how they are doing please contact e via email. We have been focusing on spellings, R.R.J., blog posts and mathematics. In the coming weeks students will be asked to work on more U.O.I. work independently.
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Eportfolios 12/04/2009
 
Grade 5B have now switched their eportfolio system fully over to a website format. The students are building these through weebly and blogs. Many students are coming up with creative ideas, blogging about home life and sharing resources from the internet. These eportfolios will continue to develop through the year, visit them here.

Next week is the last week of school before the December break. We will be busy finishing up our reading groups and focusing on our research projects. We will also be having a type up and reorganising student areas. Check at home to see if there are any school books or resources that need to be returned.

Have a good weekend!


 
Feeding Frenzy 12/03/2009
 
Food Festival
Many thanks to all of the parents who put in so much effort making the cultural food festival such a great success. The variety and quality of the food that was provided was outstanding, and I'm sure many of us left the rooftop with full stomachs and new tastes in our mouths.

Synagogue Visit
Today we visited a Jewish synagogue as part of our 'How We Express Ourselves Unit', each student should be publishing their blog post about it today. You can see the pictures below.


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