Our Quirky Class

Since Quirky teacher suggested that all the students in her class would write a blog entry together with their parent(s), often at family dinner time my family discussed what to write. Finally we decided to write about our trip to Greece. .  But I never got the time to post that one yet.  But this is an after thought of writing the Greek travel log… I promise I will post it when I get a chance to select my pictures.0

My family and I all had a good time at Greece; learned a lot about ancient Greek; shared some fantastic Greek meals together; were all in awe of the breathtaking scenery. My mom felt a trip like this was great. It brought us together 24 hours a day for 2 weeks. But it ended. My parents wanted me to remember that our togetherness did not end with the end of any trip. The element of life that we as a family always experience together is LOVE.

Everyday I am thankful for my parents. They provide me with all the basic necessities of life and beyond. They provide me with love and care. They give me the best education. They teach me values. They help me to seek purpose in life. They correct me when I commit wrong doings. They provide means for me to reach my goals. They take me on trips that other people might never have a chance to go on in their lifetime. They love me beyond words.

However, we disagree with each other often too. We hurt each other’s feeling from time to time. My parents are very wise. They always manage to make up with each other after disagreements. As a child, I need to obey my parents. That is how I make up with my parents. I think LOVE and FORGIVENESS work hand in hand to keep us all together, not just an event.

On this day, Mother’s Day, I want to thank my parents for everything they have provided for me!

Maybe... Happy Parents Day!

Let’s ninjamize this situation!

Today i want to talk about a game that I made. I didn’t give it a name yet so, if you have suggestions, please post them in the comments below!

So, about the game. You’ll require:

• A nerf Vortex gun (preferably the Proton).
• A backyard.
• At least 5 Vortex discs.
• AND A WHOLE LOT OF FUN

On Saturday May, 12, my family and I went to a  Science RendezVous at the University of Ottawa.  We went right after my swimming lessons-10:45-11:45.  When we arrived, it was about 12:30.  The activities actually started at 10:00.  The ones we missed were:  Welcome Address by Alain St- Amant, Vice -Dean of under graduate program, Faculty of Science  , Macdonald Hall, room 146 and  Poker101-Probability and Games of Chance by Peter Hofstra, Department of Mathematics & Statistics in D’ Iorio Hall, room 214.  My dad is going to mail this Faculty to get some more details.

When we came, we were just in time for a BBQ held for the people coming to the Rendez Vous in the Faculty of Science courtyard.  After the meal, we walked to Cryomagic by Christian Gigault, Department of Physics, Macdonald hall, room146. It was amazing! First, he made an air canon and asked everyone if they could see the air.  Everyone said no.  then, he put extremely cold air into the canon and he pulled the screw thing and cold, visible rings came out of the canon. Next, he put two tied and deflated balloons into this big enclosed dome and started sucking all the oxygen out with a suction gauge.  Since all the oxygen’s gone , what’s left?  Carbon Dioxide.  The Carbon Dioxide filled the balloons and Christian let the O2 back in and all the CD escaped.The balloons deflated.

Right after Cryomagic, we climbed up the stairs of :The magic of Chemistry by Rashmi Venkateswaran & Robert Nadon, Department of Chemistry, Manon Auditorium. Rashmi did the trick were you dip money bills in”water”  and burning it. I knew it wouldn’t burn because a scientist came to our school just a few days ago and told us why the money didn’t burn. Then, She poured water into 6 wine glasses and turned them ino 6 different colors and then poured the colored water back into the pitcher and all the color was gone!

I found the two shows very amusing and exciting.

  ????????                                         

This is the Polish flag                                                                                                               This is the Indonesian flag

So, We were walking to the parking lot, and I noticed that two flags hung on every street lamp in a pattern in downtown Ottawa:  Canada’s and the flag on the left.  it was either Poland’s or Indonesia’s flag .  My dad guessed Poland and I guessed Indonesia. When we got home, my dad checked the book”Flags of the World “and he was right. They looked so alike! the only difference is that the colors switch and the size.  Poland’s flag is:5.8 . Indonesia’s flag is: 2.3.  My dad says that either Poland’s President or Prime minister came to Ottawa for an official visit. If it the President came, our Governor General will welcome him/her. But if it were the Prime minister that came, our Prime Minister will welcome him/her. It was an interesting experiment.

The day was fun!

The Lego engineering is a six Saturday course run by ABC (Association of Brighter Children www.abcontario.ca/ottawa/44).  The Lego engineering course was fun because we did something different every week except for the first day which was boring.  The instructor wanted to know if we had learned shapes and how strong they were.  He asked what the strongest shape is and it’s the triangle of course, but some bozo said the square which is absolutely incorrect unless of course you put a cross beam in-between two corners diagonal from each other which then
it becomes two triangles.  My favourite projected was the sumo bot.  Alex and I made a Lego sumo bot and put it into a ring made out of electrical tape with another team’s bot.  If the bots didn’t find each other within 30 seconds, than it was called a draw but if they did find each other than they would try to push each other out of the ring. The bot left in the ring was declared the winner.  My bot was called The Terminator and
rightfully so because I was tied with three other teams for first and had a draw (you should be applauding now).  One of the days we got to do free
build.  I build this wind mill thing that could propel stuff about four meters.  I accidentally hit someone (I hit him in the head) but he was fine I hope.

All in all they were fun lessons:) but it’s over:(

Every spring time, my mom commits that this is the year our garden will be in perfect condition. But every year, work comes up, we go on trips and lets just say it is kinda at the back of our memory. This year however, my mom put ME in charge of doing it! We had to buy 25 bags of soil and 6 kg of grass seed. I covered the front and the back. Remember last year that huge wind storm around this time? Ya, well, a tree on our front lawn fell over and then we had to cut it down and take the stump out and everything. Now, it’s just a big patch of dirt ( yes i know very ugly.)

I put dirt and grass seed down there and now as we speak it is being watered. Then there are just some patches in the backyard that is not very successful and so I put some down there too. But this is why I hate gardening. It never works! The packaging always says it will grow healthy, thick, green grass in weeks. But that is all just a scam because whenever we try it never works! I really don’t understand why my mom put ME in charge. I don’t even know the first step to gardening!

Does anyone have any tips for me? Please?

Hi all,
You guys know how some people do weird things to get into the record books? (pierce/tattoo themselves from head to toe, kiss a car for 7 hours, stay in a pit full of poisonous snakes for 3 days, etc…)
Some “smarter” records are: balancing on top of 17 chairs at the edge of a cliff, riding a unicycle with about 75 glasses stacked on top of your head and a basket with your cat on the top of that (in case you were wondering, the cat DID NOT fall and die). Well, on second thought, during the final run it didn’t, but maybe during the practises other cats perished.

Also there is a record where one 14 year old boy balanced 101 Thermoses on his head while unicycling across Niagara falls!!!

In another record, one doctor amputated 58 limbs in one day!!!

Now, let me ask you a question: Which of these records did I make up, and which ones are true?
Please think (or guess) and comment!

Chocolate cake, with chocolate icing, chocolate chips, Kit Kat, Skor, Caramilk and Reese bars – I must be loved!  So yummy!  I had a great day with my family – hope you all did something special for your moms!

was a great success for 5/6 A.  This is the smallest class I have ever taught with only 22 students and yet I had the most parental participation I have ever had.  That can only mean one thing… a strong parent commitment.  Now, I know how hard it is to get time off and arrange schedules to be at these sort of events, seen as I missed my own son’s open house, but I was really impressed with how many of you did manage to make it out.

I need to thank the Woodman (a.k.a. Nerfman’s dad) for his fabulous post.  It means a great deal to me that you would take the time to do that and I appreciate the feedback, especially since it was positive

I hope you all enjoyed your time in the classroom, I know I did, since I got to sort of sit back and let you do most of the work, tee, hee!

In the pictures you will see partners hard at work, parents watching and learning how the math manipulatives work and even the ELMO projecting fractions onto the whiteboard for a full class visual.  For those of you who couldn’t be with us, I hope this makes up for it a little bit.

Hey all it’s me woodman.

It was a cool, breezy  Thursday morning when I walked into Mrs. Quirk’s class, late.  Yes, not a good example to you the students.  As you know, the reason I was there was because of the school’s open house day.  So, thank you Mrs. Quirk for inviting me and letting me in even though I wasn’t on time.  As all of you know, I was not the only parent to spend the morning or part of the morning in your class.  I can’t speak for the other parents but looking around the room and listening to the conversations we all enjoyed having a glimpse into what you get up to with your very Quirky teacher.

I don’t think I need to go into the details of what went on that morning as you were all there but what I will tell you is how much things change and stay the same.  It has been many years since I have been in grade 5/6 but it looks to me like you are using the same desks I used when I was in school.  You guys get to use the computer and go online from time to time, there was no such thing as Wikipedia, the Internet or even computers for me.  Looking around the room there are thing all over the place form both Mrs. Quirk and you the student.  In my class rooms there was hardly anything up on the walls, can you say boring?  And your teacher, how cool is she.  If only I could have had her when I was in school, that would have been great.  School would have been sooooooo much more interesting and fun.  All in all there are more changes than not and from my point of view changes for the better.

As for the work that went on in class that Thursday morning, let me first say how impressed I was to hear the descriptive writing stories
from those who stood up and read them.  Mrs. Quirk you have some up and coming writers in your class.  Now if only I could have convinced nerf man 54 to stand up and read his.  Will you guys let me know what his story is like and how he did?  As for the math, well, let me just say math
was never something that came easily to me and apparently, still doesn’t.  What I did find cool was using the rods to help figure out fractions.  Unfortunately nerf man 54 and I didn’t quite finish all the questions, maybe without me there confusing him he will get it all done.

So once again a big THANK YOU Mrs. Quirk and EF5/6A for allowing me to spend a little bit of time in your class.  I had lots of fun, even though that Quiry teacher made me do math.

Nerf man 54 reviewed and approved the content of this post.

Today I will do a post on foods that make me hungry.  I will explain why it’s one of my favourite
foods and, in some cases, what is my favourite type.

Pizza

The first time I had pizza was when I was a toddler.  My favourite type of pizza is Canadian with
green olives.  Canadian has bacon, pepperoni and mushrooms.  Pizza is one of the foods
that makes me hungry because the smell from it is delicious.  The smell is a mix of melted cheese, cooked
crust and lots of other unidentifiable and tasty smells.

BBQ Chicken

The first time I had BBQ chicken was when I was a wee lad.  My favourite type
of BBQ chicken is when it’s marinated in my mom’s homemade chicken marinade, barbecued at home and it’s boneless.  I like marinated BBQ chicken because if it ever gets burned it smells amazing and it’s succulent.

Chinese Food

The first time I had Chinese food was when I was a small chap.  I don’t really have a preference for a kind of Chinese food but some of the things I particularly like are the fried rice mixed with bacon, the wonton soup and spicy chicken.  I sort of grew up eating it because it’s my mom’s favourite.

These foods make me hungry because they taste good and they make my stomach growl.