28 February, 2014

"Paws" for Thought: Caring

Not too long ago, during the Winter Olympics in Sochi (Russia), I heard about some Olympic athletes who had started adopting stray dogs which were, apparently, in abundance in the general area. Hence, "Paws" for Thought.

I reflected, after reading a news report about it, on how great that idea was and how it would help to demonstrate the importance of looking after vulnerable animals such as these.

We have to remember though, that there are millions of people doing caring things every moment of every day. The important thing, I think, is to recognise that fact, and thank or in some way, appreciate those who care for us and about us, but who never get reported in the papers or television news.

I'm not necessarily thinking about only family members - they're super important obviously. I'm thinking about the person who drives the taxi safely so you get to your destination on time, or the bus driver who waits patiently with a smile while the family with two crying toddlers juggle prams, bags and bus tickets as they board.

It wasn't too long ago the Year 5 teachers asked our classes to think about who helped them while they were on their last vacation. It was great to see how many of our children actually recognised the fact that lots of people helped them from restaurant staff to airport staff and many, many more. Even if we weren't always sure what they had to do, we always knew what they had done to help us.

So, we need to keep in mind that, while great acts of kindness are super, sometimes the ones we appreciate the most are the smaller ones that never get reported and sometimes overlooked.

So, thinking about your learning, take a minute to reflect on the variety of people who cared about you in some way today.

Image Credit: Kristina Alexanderson

26 February, 2014

Fabulous February IN 5G

Wow! What a month we've had. We have been very busy with our UoI topic of Going Global and Trade Day as well as being observers for the Year 6 Trade Day. We've started Quadblogging and we'll be continuing our reading competition with the help of Mr Shaun in the library. Here are just a few of the images of things we've been up to this month. Check out this video I made with Animoto: Fabulous February IN 5G - Animoto video

25 February, 2014

Personification Poem by Doga

I scratch when I'm angry
I purr when I sleep.
I land on 4 feet.
I cough up hair balls.
I love to nap.

My name is Meaw

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

My View of Trade Day by Doga

I think that the Trade Day was pretty fun.

I found it challenging when people just said "no buying just selling. But it was really fun.

We mostly went around to try get people to buy our exports and Max Daniel and me where the ones going around while Jake and William were selling stuff from the table.

There were alot of  something called a "CRISIS." My group got it two times in a row!

The things that I learned from this was that if you have trading friends that is a really good because after a crisis then they will know that you need more items so they might sell things to your country really cheap - that is a good thing.

Also I've learned that people need to try to sell things for the highest amount so they can buy the things they need for their country otherwise they run out of money too quickly.

How to Do BEDMAS (Order of Operations) by Doga

Hello All!

Previously in maths we were doing some fantastic BEDMAS questions which are really easy once you understand the steps!

And this will be an example to how to do it:

First you need the instructions: B stands for Brackets, E stands for Exponents (but I don't know how to show what they look like here) D stands for Division, M stands for Multiplication, A stands for Addition and finally S which stands for Subtraction!

We learned that we skip a letter if we don't have it in our number sentence here is a clear example!


B- (9÷3) Do what's in the brackets first and we have already done division in the brackets so the division step will just be a line.
E- ------------------- (there are no exponents in this question)
M- 3x5 The three is the answer to the question in brackets(9÷3)
A- 2+15 the 15 is the answer to the Multiplication which was 3 x 5
S- 17-3


Personification Poem by Lucy

I live in outside.
I can see butterflies and bees in the morning.
I cannot move.
I am afraid of humans that are near me.
I dream of becoming very beautiful.
I come in different colours and different types.

My name is love.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

21 February, 2014

Pause for Thought: Integrity

What is integrity? How does a person act when they have integrity? In other words, what does it look like?
Integrity, basically, is being honest with your self and with others. It means, admitting when you have not done your best and then making sure you do better. It means not cheating at an activity or game, even if you think you could get away with it.
We had a lot of opportunities to witness integrity among our learners during Trade Day. They built friendships between countries, helped out countries which had a crisis by selling them what they needed at low prices, and even helping them sell their products to other countries. All the while, being honest and showing integrity and empathy.

When have you seen integrity in action?
Has someone shown integrity towards you?
What was your Trade Day experience of integrity?

Our Trade Day

Yesterday, both Year 5 classes took part in what we called "Trade Day." This was an activity where learners picked a country's flag at random and then, withthe rest of their group found out as much as they could about those countries, such as who the leader is, where is it located, what commodities does it buy and sell.

On the day, the countries set up their displays, and prepared to deliver short promotional talks about why other countries should trade with them. Then, all the countries started buying and selling their imports and exports with other countries. In the pictures you'll notice 2D shapes. Each shape represented a different unit of commodity. For example, pink circles represented petroleum products.

To make the activity more interesting we provided an IMF table for countries which ran out of money too early, a WTO desk for countries which had a disagreement and a set of crisis which meant some countries had to stop trading for 3 minutes.

It was great fun, and LOUD! All th children enjoyed the experience and we had soem great reflective discussions afterward.

What did you learn from Trade Day?
What things did a country need to do to be successful?

19 February, 2014

Where Does My Breakfast Come From?

Recently, we started gearing up for our Trade Day event for our UoI topic of "Going Global," where the children learn about Globalisation, trade, fair trade and some basics around the economics which states need to consider to survive.
One of the recent engagements we asked the learners to investigate was to identify the ingredients in their breakfast and to discover where those ingredients might originate from and how they get from there to their breakfast table. This, in a small way, helps them to get a more global understanding that much our food comes from somewhere else, with the help of lots of people.

Personification Poem by "A"

My Personification Poem

I work in a classroom

I like pencils dull and round

I used to live in Smiggle

Pens are my worst enemies

Erasers are my best friends

I dream of working for the Queen

I have siblings all over the world

Scissors are my neighbors 

My name is Long Pencil Lover

Personification Poem by Daniel

In our English lessons we are learning about figurative language. One area of figurative language, besides similes and metaphors, is personification. When a writer uses personification, they give an object, for example a chair, the human characteristics of feelings, thoughts or movement.

In the posts that follow, some of our learners have asked to share their personification poems with our blog visitors.

Please share your ideas with us.

Personification Poem by "Daniel"

I live in a classroom.
I can see the children working.
I can hear the students talking but can never make out what they're saying.
I can feel the students pushing me around.
I can make out the teachers writing on me.
I have a piece of paper called Amber.
I  always find writing on Amber every time I look.
I love to eat ink.
I see people smile as they do English, but on the other hand, I can see people frown when they do math.
My name is High White.

If you don't know what a personification poem is, it is a poem when you make something that is not alive (for example a chair) have the characteristics or traits of a human.

By Daniel

17 February, 2014

If I Were Furniture ...

If I had to be a piece of furnitcher, I'm not quite sure what I'd be.

I wouldn't be fan because I'd get dizzy, nor a table because hot things would get put on me, and even something boiling or freezing could get spilt on me.

I would like to be a sink because I would get a little cold or hot water baths covering my surface, and be overflowing with bubbles. I could also be a bed. If I were a bed I would be puffy and bouncy and make people happy and jolly! On the other hand, I could be a beanbag, I would be fluffy (not in that fluffy way- in a cozy and cuddly way) and bouncy and comfy and lovely.

That is a lot!

I think mainly I'd like to be a sink!

What furnitcher piece would you be?

Remember that furnitcher is something big and hard to move, like a couch and table or a arm chair or massage chair.

By E.

Photo Credits:
Table and chairs: CrinkleCrackle.com
Sink and Bath Tub: Jennifer C

14 February, 2014

Pause for Thought: Commitment

"Pause for Thought" is a new weekly post.

A good place to start this series of posts, given the fact the Sochi Winter Olympics are in full swing, is with the idea of "Commitment."

 Commitment is the attitude a person has when they are completely dedicated or focussed on the succesful finishing of a task, activity or job of some sort. When a person is committed to a task or activity, they make sure that they do their best, that they are always seeking to improve and do what ever it takes to be the best. Often, we say people are committed when they struggle to perfect a skill, for example an ice hockey player perfecting a wrist shot, or a rugby player trying to improve his speed. This struggle, often happens over a long time, sometimes even years or decades.

Commitment can be found in a range of activities, not just sports. Student doctors are committed to knowing how to heal the sick, and a learner might be committed when they spend lots of time trying to improve their writing skills.

Here is a popular video on commitment which is quite popular on the Internet right now, perhaps you've seen it. Even if you are not into sports, you can, and should be, committed to improving something.

So, thinking about your learning, what are you committed to being the best at?

12 February, 2014

"Have a Heart" Week

This week is "Have a Heart Week" at school. This week, the learners in school will be actively engaged in thinking about and doing random acts of kindness for a variety of members of our learning community at school.

As a class, we watched the two videos below and discussed how we could make our school and community a better place to be for everyone. Among our creations was a video based on the Kid President's 20 Things.

Recently, Year 5 have been learning about kindness boomerangs. Now, you may be wondering what is a “Kindness Boomerang”?

A Kindness Boomerang is where you do something kind to/for someone then that person who was helped does something kind to someone else and so on….

After the Kindness Boomerang has been to loads of people it comes back to you.

What are random acts of kindness?

A random act of kindness is something where you do something kind but you do it for no prize or reward at all and you get the choice you don’t have to do it.

So, why is being kind so important?

If people weren’t respectful no one would have friends and everyone would be lonely, people can feel more happy and cheery. William told us a story, where you see a homeless person everyday and you walk past the same man for 4 weeks and you haven’t seen him eat anything so you go buy him a sandwich and some water - that could change his day. You are not being forced to do it is your choice if you want to give him something to eat or not. It is important because we think of others not just ourselves all the time and we think that we are very lucky and that someday, we may need others to help us.

Year 5 also looked at a kindness boomerang video. Basically, it’s about one person being nice to someone then that person does something nice to someone else and it goes on and on. Finally, it comes back to the first person.

Year 5 also looked at the kid president video,
It’s about a kid standing in front of a chalkboard who tell’s us nice and kind words you should say to everybody, and why.

Atrin and Adriel made a video about “15 Things” we will try to say at Nexus. We used a green screen on iMovie to put drawing of them saying their nice thing. For example, one of us did “How are you today?” and his drawing was him saying it in the canteen to someone at a table.

In class, we also did a fun activity when we pulled a name out of a cup and we had to be kind to that person for a week. At the end of the week we have to guess who the person was! So now, we are thinking more about others and how we feel in their situation.

What can you do to get a Kindness Boomerang happening where you live?

It’s been great in Year 5!!!
By Daisy and Adriel


What could you do to make someone's day better?

08 February, 2014

Hoorah! We're Quadblogging!

Finally, we have had our blog put into a quad for blogging.

What is a Quadblog?

It is a set of four distinct classes which team up together to read and post comments on other class' blogs on a rotating basis. The classes can be anywhere on planet earth! It is a great way to build relationships, and have a time tested writing and reading experience.

Each week or so, one of the four class blogs becomes the focus of the other three classes, which then visit, read posts and send in comments and occasionally write guest posts.

This is our first quadblogging experience, and we are the first in the school to try it, so we are super hyped!

Here are the other three member classes of our Quadblog:
  1. Driving in 4th (Ms. McLean's 4th Grade class in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA)
  2. Year 5 Class blog (Chalfont St Giles Village School, UK) 
  3. Mrs Dacey's Class (Australia)
We are really looking forward to making some great friends in three different parts of the world!

07 February, 2014

January - A look back at a busy month

January has been a huge month!
We had our Sports Day (see separate post), assmebly, Chinese New Year celebrations and our new Unit of Inquiry Tuning in!
What a busy month!

Thinking about your Learning, what were the three most important things you learned this month? What makes them important to you?

03 February, 2014

Chinese New Year

On Chinese New Year families get together and have a big feast. Elder people give red packets with money to children (it is called hong bao in Chinese).

People also have fireworks, ceremonies and parties. Chinese New Year is a time for families to catch up and a time to have fun and joy each others company.

On the 29th of January, Nexus had a free dress (well you had to wear Chinese outfits or something red) because of Chinese New Year. Yesterday we had our Chinese New Year assembly. Year 5 did a Chinese rap and 8 members did a song with a solo each.

After the assembly our head of primary, Mr B came around dressed as Chinese Emperor, Cai Shen. Cai Sen is the god of fortune. Mr. B went around the school with 2 helpers, giving out hong bao with chocolate coins inside.

The Legend Of Nian

Long ago, in ancient China, there was a monster who traveled from village to village, eating anyone he saw. A god banished Nian the monster into a mountain cave He was allowed to come out only once a year.

Only one village knew his weakness. One day the village found out that Nian was going to the forbidden kingdom for dinner. The forbidden kingdom was only a few miles south of their village. So, they glued red paper on the walls and doors, hung lanterns and lit the candles in the lanterns and put the lanterns outside the houses. They got fire crackers and matches ready. Nian was scared of the colour red, bright lights and loud noises.

When Nian came, everything in the village was dark, like a black blanket. Suddenly a firework exploded in the air! Then another and another. As Nian was distracted by the fireworks the villagers lit the candles and lanterns. Nian saw the light and roared. He also saw the red paper in the light and the lanterns. He got so scared he ran away back into his mountain home.

Now every year people all over the world hang up lanterns, stick red paper on walls and doors and lit fireworks to scare away Nian. Now that day is called Chinese New Year, a big celebration to show Nian, they know his weakness.

2014 is the year of the horse (horse is ma in Chinese). Horse is an adaptable, loyal, courageous, ambitious, intelligent, adventurous and strong animal. The horse's element is fire. Two good partners with it are the dog and tiger.

We wish you and your family good fortune and prosperity throughout this year! :)

Written by E .M F