Ancient Time Capsule

Hey Grade 5's!

To end our Early Civilizations unit, you will each be creating your own time capsule. In it you may place two artifacts - including anything from an ancient map that you have made, to journal entries of someone from an early civilization, or an ancient myth you have composed, or even an ancient artifact that you have constructed!

You will choose your two favourite civilizations that we have studied in class and provide a brief description of the government, social needs, values and beliefs, technological advances, etc for both. You must also explain the items you have chosen for your capsule, and state why they best represent each civilization.

Here are some terrific websites for researching early civilizations that will help you summarize the key features of your chosen civilizations, and to give you ideas for artifacts to place in your capsule:

Ancient Egypt http://www.horus.ics.org.eg/en/History/History.aspx

Ancient Greece http://members.aol.com/donnclass/Greeklife.html

Ancient Rome http://members.aol.com/donnclass/Romelife.html

Ancient Civilizations http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/

The specific Social Studies expectations that this activity focuses on are:

-Describe the physical features and climate of two or more regions where early civilizations developed

-Explain how two or more early civilizations shaped and used the environment to meet their physical needs for food, homes, clothing, and health

-Compare how two or more early civilizations were governed

-Outline how social needs were met in two or more early civilizations

-Identify important values and beliefs in two or more early civilizations and describe how they affected daily life

-Identify some scientific and technological advances made by two or more early civilizations

-Graphic taken from http://www.earthcapsule.com/content/images/history_pyr.jpg

Favourite Poems

This is just a reminder for my class that you need to choose a poem that you enjoy for Monday's class. You must read the poem aloud to the class and discuss its meaning. You may want to look at elements, such as the poem's mood, theme, and the use of similies, personification, or point of view (as we talked about in class) - which all contribute to the poem's meaning.
Remember to consult the dictionary to check the meaning of any words in the poem that you may be unfamiliar with.
This is a great Kid's Dictionary:
http://wordcentral.com/
Here's another dictionary that will be very helpful when we begin to compose our own poems in a few days. It is a rhyming dictionary:
http://www.rhymezone.com/
If you are having trouble finding a good poem, these two links:
http://www.poetryarchive.org/childrensarchive/home.do
http://www.poetry4kids.com/index.php

This poetry activity will cover several Grade 5 Language Arts expectations, including:
-Students will make inferences about oral texts using stated and implied ideas in the texts as evicence (e.g., I wonder what was meant by...?)
-Students will read a variety of texts from diverse cultures, including literary texts (e.g., short stories, poetry, myths, etc)
-Students will identify a variety of purposes for reading and choose reading materials appropriate for those purposes (e.g., dictionaries to clarify word meanings)
-Students will use stated and implied ideas in texts to make inferences and construct meaning
-Students will analyse texts and explain how various elements in them contribute to meaning
-Students will identify various elements of style and explain how they help communicate meaning

-Graphic taken from http://www.dianakimpton.co.uk/i/MOUSE%20-%20CARTOON%2015.gif

Life Systems: Human Organ Systems

Hello Again Grade 5's!
As we discussed in Science class today, for the next few weeks we will be studying the various functions of the human body. We will be learning all about the 5 major organ systems, which include the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, excretory, and nervous system. Your homework assignment for the week is to explore each of the web sites below that explore the human body. You must find at least 1 interesting fact for all 5 major organ systems, focusing on exactly what the major organs do. Good luck, and have fun!

"Mr. Bones" will tell you all about how your muscles and skeleton function:
http://fossweb.com/modules3-6/HumanBody/index.html

Learn more about the digestive, circulatory, and respiratory systems:
http://kidshealth.org/kid/body/mybody_SW.html

Take a virtual tour of the human body:
http://www.medtropolis.com/Vbody.asp

This site allows you to explore the nervous system:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html

You will love this site, you can learn gross and cool facts about the human body:
http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/

The specific Grade 5 Science expectations that will be covered in this student activity are:
-Students will describe the basic structure and function of the major organs in the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, excretory, and nervous systems

-Students will describe, using models and simulations, ways in which the skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems work together to produce movement

-Students will use appropriate vocabulary, including correct science and technology terminology, in describing their investigations, explorations, and observations (e.g., use of terms such as teeth, esophagus, stomach, and gastric juices in describing the digestive system)

-Graphic taken from http://www.smm.org/heart/Images/heart.jpg