Grade 5 Sinarmas World Academy

This Blog has moved

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:50:00 +0000

Hi All,
Due to this being a new academic year. We have moved this blog to http://www.swatechnology.wordpress.com and I also blog at http://www.1to1inpractice.blogspot.com

Many of the students have kept their old blogs. They are now in Grade 6. I am no longer their homeroom teacher as I am now the Technology Integrator full time. I am encouraging their new homeroom teachers to blog with them too.

Jane Ross

Follow me on Twitter at janeinjava

The Mine Game by Leo

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 04:31:00 +0000

Game Creator

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Sat, 09 May 2009 15:36:00 +0000

A new game maker is at http://www.popfly.com/
Try it out. I can help you to install the plug in for your Macbook. This might be a fun way to teach the visitors at the Exhibition about your research.

A New Free eBook Maker

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Sat, 09 May 2009 15:05:00 +0000

When we get back from Sumbawa, Grade 5 can try making an eBook about your exhibition study. First make it using iPhoto photo album and then save as in print PDF. Then you can upload to this website which converts it into a flipping eBook. Nice!

YouCube - A way to present videos

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Tue, 05 May 2009 01:53:00 +0000

I am trying this one out. Could be useful for the exhibition
http://www.universaloscillation.com/youcube/?1491

Task for this week

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Sun, 03 May 2009 00:55:00 +0000

In English this week, we will finish our book about Life at SWA. We will also make a group video recording about the focus research that each group is doing for the PYP Exhibition.

Spelling has finished for this year. We will need to spend more time getting ready for the PYP Exhibition which will be on the 28 and 29th May.

We're in the News!

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Sun, 03 May 2009 00:50:00 +0000

Congratulations Grade 5, We are in Koran Tempo because of your blogging work. Take a look at the links to read the articles.

http://epaper.korantempo.com//KT/KT/2009/05/02/PagePrint/02_05_2009_101.pdf

http://epaper.korantempo.com//KT/KT/2009/05/02/PagePrint/02_05_2009_104.pdf

http://epaper.korantempo.com//KT/KT/2009/05/02/PagePrint/02_05_2009_105.pdf

I'm proud of you all. well done to Zaky and Adel for their presentations.

Negative with There + Be

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:05:00 +0000

Try these online games:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~adelegc/grammar/present_simple/to_be_neg.html

http://www.tcet.com/eaonline/GrammarCentral/negativeforms.html

After trying those activities, I want you to describe the things in this picture.

Write 3 sentences each with:

is - There is a cockatoo in the picture.

isn't - There isn't any car in the picture.

are - There are a lot of birds in the picture.

aren't - There aren't any buildings in the picture.

Post these to your blog and copy the above picture to your blog as well.

Grammar Bites - There is - There are - There isn't - There aren't

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 04:35:00 +0000

Make 10 sentences about Jakarta from the following words:

(art museums) There are some art museums in Jakarta.

(golf courses)

(shopping centres)

(International Schools)

(ice rinks)

(virtual reality game centres)

(movie theatres)

(hospitals)

(car wash centres)

(photocopy centres)

(chair lifts)

Post your sentences on your blogs with a photo for each sentence.

Embedded Maps from Google

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:01:00 +0000

View Sumbawa Island in a larger map

Today I learned about how to manage maps from Google and embed them in your blog. This is great for the PYP Exhibition teams as you can work on a map collaboratively.

Our List of Minerals

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 04:47:00 +0000

Uncountable Nouns (is)
zinc
gold
copper
shale
silver
salt
limestone
coal
quartz
beryl
agate
gypsum
fluorite
talc
iron ore
topaz
calcite

Countable Nouns (are)
diamonds
sapphires
emeralds
rubies
pearls
fossils

There is a lot of gold found on the Island of Sumbawa.
There are a lot of diamonds found in Kalimantan.
There are lots of rubies found in India.
There is a lot of agate found in Sukabumi.

Mineral Game

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 04:09:00 +0000

Today in English we learned about Uncountable nouns like water, gold or coffee. We are learning about these in connection with our UOI about Finite Resources. We learned about how to describe the quantity of each noun by saying "A lot of gold" or "Lots of gold".

The class worked in teams to find out about different minerals found in the world and then to locate them on a world map. We used the timer in my iPhone to make the team game more exciting. Each student then wrote sentences about each mineral and its location.

Mapping Games and Finite Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:21:00 +0000

Inspired by a talk this morning - we would like you to learn about the location of different countries. After you have done this, you will be required to locate finite resources around the world.
To help you, I have found some online games to teach you.
Click here -
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/World_Continents.htm
Try playing the different games. The first one is a tutorial.

Using mLearning Techniques

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:00:00 +0000

I am experimenting with using the iPhone as a tool for education. Today I downloaded Google Earth and Geotags. Google Earth is the mobile version and on the iPhone you can get an instant GPS location of where you are standing! You can also tilt your phone and the horizon on the map changes.
Geotag is a photo App that allows you to tag via GPS the location of where you are taking the photo. You can also add notes and voice recordings. The advantage of this one is that it is integrated with Google Maps.

A New Creative Project for Gr 5!

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:29:00 +0000

Today we started a new project as a class. We are planning to visit Sekolah Batu Buin in Sumbawa next month so we are making a book about life at our school to present to them during our visit.
It will be called "Life at SWA".
Content:
Intro to SWA
Students of Grade 5 – in table groups
PERSONAL GOALS Learner Profiles
The SCHOOL – facilities, location, uniform, break time games etc
21st Century Learning – the student perspective
Special Groups – Student council, Tech X, the Authors Club
Special projects:
SPORE Comics
Clock inquiry
Koran Berani
Online personal sites
Mathletics
Class Newsletters
Today we brainstormed the content and then took a picture with our laptops of our table groups. We finished the lesson by making an introductions page of each table group. Tomorrow we will divide up the different focus articles amongst the class.

The PYP Exhibition has begun!

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:17:00 +0000

Today the Gr 5 officially started the Exhibition process. All the students got a copy of the Exhibition Journal that they must write in each week with their inquiry updates. Today the kids were also put into working groups. There are 5 inquiry groups in the class. The homework tonight is to write a personal definition of the central idea:
Living creatures are connected to, have the right to use, and the responsibility to protect finite resources.
Tomorrow we will work on creating group wikis to use as the inquiry builds.

Luli's New Story

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:07:00 +0000

Mobile Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 06:36:00 +0000

I am testing this. I am blogging from my iPhone.

Our Second Cartoon Comic

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:18:00 +0000

Here is another story. This one is by Atta.

Spore Comics

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Hi Everyone,

We haven't been very active lately on this blog because we have been very busy working on a creative writing project. Here is one of the cartoon comics that grade 5 have produced. We used Comic Life, Photo Booth, iMovie and Garageband to make this. This one has been made by Adel.

Grammar Bite for this Week

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 04:41:00 +0000

Hi Grade 5,

The Grammar Bite this week is how to use positive and negative forms of be.

You will use the words: is, are, isn't and aren't

Here are some links to online games:

THE SENTENCE GAME

Remember to use Firefox to play the game. Add a game in the comment box if you find a different on online.

Grade 5 SWA Inspires International American Competition!

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 07:08:00 +0000

You might remember that last December, Gr 5 wrote a comic book called "Grade 5's Idol Interviews". I posted this book on an American website called Tikatok.com

Just recently I became aware that they are having a competition:

Classroom Writing Contest

Calling all writing teachers! Looking for a rewarding writing project for your class? Enter your classroom in Tikatok.com’s Classroom Writing Contest for a chance to win free copies of your students’ books and have them sent to President Barack Obama.

Writing Topics
Barack Obama just became the nation’s 44th president. Pretend you have the chance to have lunch with President Obama. What would you advise him to do as President? How do you think he can help the country in 2009? Be sure to include colorful illustrations to support your story.

OR

Imagine someone gives you the chance to meet your idol. Tell us what you would say? Where would you go? Use your imagination and tell us who you would meet and what you would talk about. Be sure to include colorful illustrations to support your story.

You can see how we inspired this competition. Today I got an email from the Marketing of Tikatok:

Hi Jane,

Thanks for the submission...and yes, your idea did spark the basis for the contest. Your book has been viewed by the entire Tikatok team and we all think it's phenomenal! Thanks for submitting!

Thanks,
Katie
_____________________
Katie Cowan Porro
VP of Marketing and School Programs
Tikatok, Inc.
www.tikatok.com

Wow, well done Grade 5, you have inspired America!

That's so "Jetsons"!

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:58:00 +0000

Grade 5 today worked in the piazza shared area to record their inquiry reflection. I was able to easily keep them on task through using Remote Desktop. I felt very futuristic as I was able to interact with each student remotely as they were out of the classroom.

Rainforest Maths Site

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:50:00 +0000

Hey Grade 5,

Did you know that you can sign into this site with your Mathletics login? Click here to try it now.

Rainforest Maths

A Comment from Atlanta, America

noreply@blogger.com (Jane Ross) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:25:00 +0000

This morning as I was checking your homework, I clicked on a visitor from our Site Feed. I found this lovely comment about our class blog from Atlanta in America:

"The next classroom blog I visited was the Jakarta, Indonesia class that corresponds with the fifth graders from New Zealand. Mrs. Jane's fifth grade class blog has an unusually, modern campus. Sinarmas World Academy is extraordinary. Each student has an inquiry site and their own blog site. The curriculum is outlined with helpful information. The teacher has very detailed assignments posted. The students even added a video game to their blog."

It is nice to know that Grade 5 at SWA is leading the way in education!