Grade Five News

The Grade Five class has started off the school year with a number of interesting and educational activities. During the month of August and early September, the students received and started playing their band instruments. This is a “first” for many students, and they already know how to do scales and numerous songs! They comment that they are enjoying the learning process and having a chance to be part of a concert band.

At the end of September, we joined the Grades 1,2 and 4 classes on a trip to Kortright Conservation Centre and learned many things about conservation! At Kortright, we went on the “Power Trail”, and saw many conservation efforts including various types of solar panels, wind turbines and wind mills, and an energy cottage. Did you know that there is a newly-built Archetype Sustainable House at Kortright, that is designed to demonstrate how sustainable living can be easily integrated in everyday life? The class got a tour of the house, and we noted the “Paperstone” kitchen counter-tops (which are made of 100% recycled paper), the waste water heat recovery system, and the main light switch relay which turns off all the lights in the house at the front door. If you want to see a virtual tour of the house, go here: http://www.sustainablehouse.ca/virtual-tour/

During the first weekend of October, we prepared our class for the arrival of our annual Fall Festival. The class was transformed into a craft room and most of the students were able to visit some time on Saturday, October 2 to participate in many of the events and activities. Highlights for our students included the paint ball station, the games rooms and of course, the tea room with all the goodies! I believe the highlight for the parents was the incredibly stacked Silent Auction gym, where so many amazing items were being auctioned off!

As October rolled along, we noticed signs going up in our communities – more and more of them with people’s name on them, encouraging people to vote for them. So for the first time at The Maples, our class participated in the Ontario-wide “Student Vote” program. We did a thorough examination of the candidates and conducted our own in-class vote on October 21st. Our results were emailed to Studentvote.ca and included in the province-wide count. In this way, our students were personally involved in the Municipal Elections this year.

It’s hard to believe that eight weeks of school has already passed by. We are looking forward to many more exciting events as we approach the winter season. More to come later!