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Coach's Corner

August 22, 2014

A Look at Split Grade 5/6 Social Studies Strand B: People & Environments

Unsure how to teach People and Environments for your Canadian 5/6 split class? Click through for some great tips and ideas to do just that!


I've been hearing from many teachers lately concerned about how to keep their sanity while trying to handle the 2018 Ontario Social Studies Curriculum in a split grade, and as I have rarely taught a straight grade, I thought I'd share a few thoughts on the topic.


                    Grade 5/6:  People and Environments
The Grade 5/6 split is one that can be particularly troubling for teachers, as at first glance the units can seem so unrelated, but I think if we take a closer look, the expectations are actually quite similar.  Today I'm going to explore the People and Environments strand:
  • Grade 5:  The Role of Government and Responsible Citizenship
  • Grade 6:  Canada's Interactions with the Global Economy

Basically the Grade 5 unit has students look at current social & environment issues within the country from various perspectives, examining and evaluating the actions taken by various levels of government to address these issues, and explore their own responsibilities as citizens as they create action plans to address these issues.

The Grade 6 unit has students explore current social, political, economic, and environmental issues withing the global community, examining and evaluating the actions taken by Canadian federal, provincial/territorial & local governments as well as NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) to address these issues and explore Canada's participation in different international accords, organizations, and programs.

Can you see the commonalities here? 
  • The Grade 5's are basically looking at social & environmental issues within our country, seeing how various levels of government handle these issues, and then go on to explore how they themselves can influence how decisions are made through their own activism.
  • The Grade 6's are also looking at social & environmental issues (and adding on political & economic issues), but this time within the entire world, and seeing how Canadian governments, governments from other countries, and NGOs handle these issues.  Instead of creating their own action plans, they go on to explore Canada's international presence within various organizations.
In a Grade 5/6 split I see the potential here to perhaps keep the focus on social and environmental issues, such as child poverty or the protection & availability of clean water within Canada as well as within the world.

Coach's Corner Split Grade Strand B Blended Unit:

Using the ideas from above, I created a split grade "blended" unit to use with my Grade 5/6 class.  I call it a blended unit because I have blended the "big ideas" from both grades to create lessons that can be taught to both grades at once.  Each grade may have different texts or slightly different tasks to explore the lesson's themes, before participating in knowledge building circles to share the connections between their learning.  Check it out here:









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August 14, 2014

Back to School Art Folder



After a very long hiatus, I have decided to restart my blog, and will hopefully be more diligent about posting regularly!

When I was reorganizing my teaching resources this summer, I came across the activity I like to do for the very first art class of the year - my Back to School Art Folder. The folder itself is a fun way to review the "elements of shape", and it is then used to store student work throughout the year.

5 Basic Elements of Shape

I first discuss with the class the 5 basic elements of shape:

  1. The Straight Line Family:  Members of this family can be solid lines, dotted lines, horizontal, vertical, or diagonal - they just need to be straight lines!
  2. The Circle Family: Members of this family have lines that come around and meet each other, but the inside of the shape is not coloured in.
  3. The Dot Family:  Members of this family are exactly like the circle family, but are coloured in!
  4. The Curve Line Family: These lines are wavy rather than straight, and the two ends do not meet each other.
  5. The Angle Family:  Any 2 lines that come together to form a point are members of this family.
All 5 families combine together to make the shapes we see in our world.


Next I distribute a large sheet of bristol board to each student, and students fold it in half "hamburger" style. Students then get out a pencil, eraser and ruler.

After reviewing the difference between "edges" and "corners', ask students to listen carefully to the following instructions, and to create the lines and shapes as given:


  1. One straight line from one corner to the other opposite corner.
  2. One dot.
  3. One curved line starting at one edge and ending in a dot somewhere on the page.
  4. One broken line starting at one edge and ending at another edge.
  5. Five circles.
  6. One pointed line starting at one edge and ending at another edge.
  7. One curved line starting at one edge and ending at another edge.
  8. One straight line starting at one edge and ending at another edge.
  9. A zigzag line from one edge to another.
  10. One dot.
  11. A curved line starting at one edge and ending on the same edge, passing through the dot from #10!
I then distribute Sharpie markers and have students trace over their pencil marks. They then spend the rest of the period (well, often two periods) using markers or crayons to colour in their folder. I encourage them to use only 3 colours, and to ensure that one colour doesn't border itself! 

Students LOVE this activity, and enjoy seeing how everyone's designs are different. 

I wonder what art activities you start your year with?

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November 6, 2012

Halloween Data Management - Grade 5/6



Hi Everyone,
Sorry I haven't been on here in a while. I've been hard at work on another big project, and now that that is done I'll try to post more often.

As you may know, I'm a "numeracy facilitator" for my school board this year, working between 2 schools at the moment in Grades 1 to 6.  Right now everyone is transitioning to our data management strand, and I thought I would share a couple of great ideas that happened last week in our Grade 5 classes.   

DAY 1/Hallowe'en:

On October 31st, students were asked to sort their Halloween treats at home that evening, and record their findings in some way, as they would be using the results the next day at school. Students had been given pre-determined categories: Candy, Pop, Chips, Chocolate Bars, and Other.  They also then had to sort the chocolate bars into brand names.  The teachers did not tell the students how to record their results.

DAY 2:  November 1st

The next morning students brought in tally charts, bar graphs, lists, etc.  Students then worked in groups of 4 to add their numbers together to find out how many chips the group got altogether, how much pop, etc.  The last step was to show this information in a graph.  Here's one group's bar graph:



The great thing about this was....it was the first day of data management, and the kids weren't given any instruction at all!  They did such a great job showing us how much they already knew about graphing, that the teachers and I realized that most of the "review" we had originally planned on doing to refresh their minds was completely unnecessary.  

We did discover that while most students knew they needed titles and subtitles, they really didn't know how to create these important features in a meaningful manner.  Tomorrow I'll share how we addressed this quickly, in a manner in which the kids told us what was needed; we didn't need to tell them!

Day 3:  November 2nd

Students took their graphing skills one step further and created pop-up graphs to show their data.  Take a peek at this graph showing the different brands of chocolate bars one group collected!  (Note:  the idea for this activity came from the Interactive Math Journal from Runde's Room on TPT!!)





While I know Halloween is passed, you could do the same activity by having students gather loose change at home and bring their results (not the coins themselves) to school.  You will likely be amazed at how much your kids already know about how to show information in graph form!

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October 15, 2012

Roll & Risk Place Value Game Grades 2-4


Check out this place value game for math! Perfect for grade two, grade three, and grade four!


Our school board has a "numeracy framework" from Grades 1 to 8, which sets out the order in which the various math units and strands are taught, and also indicates which lessons from our core resource (Nelson Math) can be used, as well as additional resources such as the Ontario Guides to Instruction in Mathematics, Super Source lessons, etc.  At the moment all grades are working on the first Number Sense strand, which focuses on counting, the "how muchness" of a number, and representing numbers in a variety of ways.

Grade 3/4

Today I worked in a Grade 3/4 classroom, introducing the game Roll & Risk.  This game reviews regrouping 2 digit numbers using dice and Base 10 blocks in an engaging manner.  After creating a two-digit target number by rolling a die twice (first roll for the tens digit; second roll for the ones), pairs of students work towards rolling the die and adding the appropriate number of Base 10 blocks, getting as close to their target number as possible without going over.  Each roll can be taken as either a tens or ones.  For example, with a target number of 43, and a first roll of 5, students will have to decide if they should take 5 tens or 5 ones.  They soon realize that taking 5 tens will immediately push them over their target number of 43, so take it as 5 ones, and continue rolling, regrouping ones as tens when necessary.  As they get closer and closer to their target number, they must decide when they should stop rolling.  After a couple of rounds of the game students realize that once their within 6 numbers of their target number, it is getting risky to roll again.                                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                                                                   

The classroom was humming as the students discussed game strategies with their partners, and when I walked around with guiding questions, I could see that they were understanding not only the regrouping that was being reviewed from a previous year, but also the probability concepts necessary to success for this game.  When students got off track (one pair had a target number of 99 which I naturally questioned), it took only a quiet question or two to get them back on track (ie. "What is the largest possible number you can roll on one die?").

I can't take credit for the creation of the game; it was developed as part of the Ontario Ministry of Education's "Edugains" site, and full lesson plans can be found at this link:  Roll and Risk  On the right you will see "Counting & Representation; if you scroll down under that title you will find "Base Ten - Game 1" and Base Ten - Game 2".  Game 1 is for 2 digit numbers and Game 2 is for 3 digit numbers.  The full game summary as well as the recording sheet can be found by clicking on "Printable Documents" over Counting & Representation.

I've also created a Smart Notebook resource to introduce both versions of the game.  Students love coming up and rolling the interactive dice, and the cloned Base 10 blocks make it easy for students to understand the regrouping that is part of the game.  Check it out here:  Roll & Risk Smart Notebook Place Value Game

 Tomorrow I'll be doing a similar game, only with subtraction, with a Grade 6 class.  Have a great day!
Margie









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October 14, 2012

Welcome to Coach's Corner!




Hi!  My name is Margie, and I'm excited to be entering the blogging world.  I am an educator in southwestern Ontario in Canada, and have been an elementary classroom teacher, literacy coach, numeracy facilitator and Kindergarten to Grade 6 Program Consultant in my school board (no, not all at the same time!)


A bit about myself:  I live in southwestern Ontario with my husband,  and daughter, as well as two dogs and a cat.  I enjoy the peace and quiet here in the country, and spend much of my time either reading or creating things for my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  Most of my extended family lives within a half-hour of our home, which is something I missed when I lived near Toronto before I returned home, got married and found a job here.  

I have been creating resources for my store since 2012, and am dedicated to provide time-saving, high-quality products for teachers and students.

Margie