***HISTORICAL ARCHEOLOGY***

This week, in our 'archeological dig' into Canada's past, we will be beginning our examination of Canada's role in World War One.

World War One, also known as the Great War was a global war which took place primarily in Europe from 1914 to 1918. At the war's end, 40 million casualties had resulted, which included approximately 20 million military and civilian deaths. It was the biggest disaster the world had ever seen, and was also the dawn of modern warfare and conflict. Stay tuned in class for the upcoming topics!

This week, we'll be beginning our examination of the Great War by looking at the background social and political situation in Europe in the early 1900s, which ultimately set the stage for the war. During this discussion we'll also be examining the immediate causes of World War One. On Wednesday we'll be taking a look at the key players in the war and the different types of weapons, machinery and soldiers that were involved. On Thursday we'll be learning about propaganda, and on Friday we'll be learning about the Western Front (both on land, in the sea and in the air).

If any of your family members were in the war, and you have either stories or artifacts (like medals, etc) I am sure we'd all love to hear and see them!

Check out the links of the week for extra interest and more information about The Great War!

*Ms. Cameron*

Parents: World War One is an exciting period in Canadian history. Let's work together to help your children understand and appreciate the efforts of the Canadian soldiers who gave up their lives to ensure peace and freedom for our country!

The Ontario Social Studies Curriculum expectation:

1.8- describe the treaties, alliances, events and people that contributed to the start of the First World War, and explain their relevance to Canada.

~**Math Matters**~

This week in Math, we'll be beginning our unit on Transformational Geometry. This may be a review for some of you, but I think that you will find it useful and fun! On Monday I'll be introducing the concept of Transformations. Tuesday we'll be refreshing our memories by taking a look at a co-ordinate grid (plotting on a Cartesian plane). Wednesday we'll be learning about Translations, Thursday we'll be learning about Reflections and on Friday we'll be learning about Rotations. Check out this great website on Transformations for extra help!

Check the homework board for nightly updates on homework. I will also do my best to follow Mr. Gillen's NO HOMEWORK policy on the weekends, but that only applies if you work in class.

*Ms. Cameron*

Parents: Working with transformational geometry helps students develop spatial visualization skills. Many everyday activities such as map reading, giving directions, and following assembly instructions, rely on these skills.

In this unit, your son/daughter will:

• Describe position on a grid.
• Apply translations, reflections and rotations.
• Pose and solve problems with transformations.
• Identify congruent figures.
• Construct figures with more than one line of symmetry.
• Explore tiling patterns and tesselations and relate tiling patterns to transformations.
• Identify the order of rotational symmetry of figures.

Here are some activities you can do with your son/daughter at home:

• Draw a map of your neighbourhood on a grid. Identify the coordinates of 3 different locations.
• Play the game Battleship
• Search your home and yard for objects with symmetry.
• Fold an cut paper to make paper snowflakes. Look for symmetry and holes with the same size and shape.
• Look for objects that rotate, such as tap handles, hubcaps, steering wheels. Ask your son/daughter how the object looks the same or different when turned.

Ontario Curriculum Expectations:

3.1- graph the image of a point, or set of points on the Cartesian coordinate plane after applying a transformation to the original points (i.e: translation; reflection in the x-axis, the y-axis or the angle bisector of the axes that passes through the first and third quadrants; rotation of 90 degrees, 180 degrees or 270 degrees about the origin)

3.2- identify, through investigation, real-world movements that are translations, reflections and rotations.

Try this Transformational Geometry Game!

~*Links of the Week*~

History:

http://www.historywiz.com/worldwarone.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/worldwarone/ A comprehensive site on World War One

http://www.firstworldwar.com/posters/index.htm First World War Propaganda Posters

Math:

http://www.misterteacher.com/abc.html#Flip A demonstration of translations, reflections and rotations.

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/icy_slides_flips_turns/ A great interactive website on slides, flips and turns. It allows you to make an educated guess and take a quiz!