Helping Hands Thanks You!

All the students in 5M would like to appreciate all the parents, students and staff who have given so generously to the Helping Hands Program. We collected over 400 hats, gloves, and scarfs!!! What an amazing effort by all involved. 

I had the honour of taking the donations to the Downtown Mission today after school. They were in awe at the sheer number of donations and were extremely grateful to be able to support our community with warm gear this holiday season. What a shining example of goodness that our Grade 5's showed over the past month and a half. They have earned many accolades and appreciations for their work and generosity. 5M students showed leadership, responsibility, maturity and empathy throughout this project. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Mr. McNeil

Wolf Tribute Lunch

Today, Madison C. and Bhaskar K. were invited to have a pizza lunch with Mrs. Laforet. These two students were chosen for their excellent classroom behavior and leadership skills. Way to go!

Helping Hands

We have focused much of our conversations in class this year around empathy, putting yourself in someone else's shoes, and giving back to others. After having read the book, Ryan and Jimmy And the Well in Africa That Brought Them Together, the students in 5M wanted to create an organization that would help people in our community just like Ryan had when he built fresh water wells for communities in Africa. 


The students democratically decided on a cause: Homelessness

This most likely came about from another book we had read called Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting.



Next, the students decided on how they could help the homeless: Giving them adult sized hats and mitts to be warm through the winter.

A name was then chosen for the organization: Helping Hands

A logo needed to be created so we had a contest and decided which design was best: 

The winner was Robert A.'s design
The colours were chosen by Hailey O.

The students thought this was the best logo because it showed both, hats and mitts, with the string between the mitts representing a smile. The colours represented both males and females.

Our Mission:

Collect donations of hats and mitts from the students and families of West Gate Public School. Each hat or gloves brought in will be good for two tickets to enter a draw for a pizza lunch with a friend. 

So far, we have collected numerous hats and mitts. Thank you for your generosity and thank you Mrs. Laforet for supporting the efforts of Helping Hands.

Here is our school tree decorated with some of the hats and mitts we've collected.
Thank you Mr. De l'Eveille for decorating.

May the Force Be With You

Our new science unit is about Force. We have discussed how forces are a push or pull and that objects need to have a force act upon them to move.



Different Forces and an example of each

Gravity-Falling to the ground

Buoyant-Floating up to the surface of a pool

Magnetism-A magnet sticking to a fridge

Applied-Pushing a cart

Tension-Playing tug-o-war

Drag-A parachute slowing you down while skydiving

Friction-Snow passing under a toboggan

Spring-Bouncing on a trampoline

So far, students in 5M have devised a method to generate a consistent wind speed by flapping a piece of cardboard from a specific height and at timed intervals. I was very impressed that they figured out how to make a consistent wind force without having to be taught how to do it.

Next, the students were challenged to design a structure made of playing card that could withstand the force of the wind generated by their flapping piece of cardboard. Surprisingly, the structures withstood quite a bit of wind force, many not falling down at all.

Here is a video demonstrating a low wind force and the card structure withstanding it:

It's All About the Math

Here are several pics of our class enjoying math:

• Area
• Arrays
• Making Tens
• Budgeting with flyers
• Geoboards
• Games
• Multiplication War
• Counting Money
• Problem Solving
• Mental Math Strategies