Hello Grade 4 & 5,

We mailed our Great Canadian Mail Race letters today. They are heading out all over Canada, but first, they are travelling part of the route by dog sled.

What’s that? You heard right, by dog team. We are very fortunate that the principal from our school is a dog sledder and is participating in the mail run this weekend.  As an honorary letter carrier, he will be mailing your letters for us.
(Here are the 2 cover letters of explanation. One letter is about the Great Canadian Mail Race -Source: Mrs. Judy Burnham – and one is about the dog sled delivery.)

The letters are going out through the Annual Gold Rush Trail Dog Sled Mail Run. The trail starts north of Quesnel, runs through Wells, and on to a furious finish in Barkerville. Our letters will be put in the regular Canada Post in the historic Gold Rush Town of Barkerville.

As far as I know, these are the only letters in the Great Canadian Mail Race travelling by dog team. I wonder how many other ways our letters will travel before they reach their destinations? Today, I would like you to write a comment telling how you think your letter will travel.

I would also like to ask blog visitors to comment and tell us about unusual ways of delivering mail, either in Canada or around the world. How do you get your mail?
Go Dogs, GO!

Mrs. Gammon

Hello Grade 4 & 5,

What, you may ask, is the Great Canadian Mail Race? Last week, we received an envelope from Quebec, and it contained an invitation to join the Great Canadian Mail Race. There was also a letter from a Grade 4 student named Sam, and Jaya is answering his letter. The rest of us get to write letters to other Grade 4 & 5 students at elementary schools across Canada.

I have enjoyed helping you look for elementary schools in towns across Canada, and I found out something new. Ethan and I were looking for a school in Alert because it was the most northern location in Canada. No matter how much we tried, we couldn’t find a link to a school there. We decided to look up some statistics and discovered that there are only 5 permanent residents in Alert, and 75 scientists, who work for the Canadian military, live at a research base there. Did I mention that in Alert it is either totally dark or totally light for 10 months of the year?

What makes this a race? After we mail our letters, we look to see which school replies to us first. On your mark, get set, go!

Cheers
Mrs. G

Yesterday, we were very busy working with our teams and creating one of a kind snowflakes. I loved the very different materials that you used to create them, and they are posted in this slideshare so that other people can see them, too.

Here’s a link to a flipshare book of some of your Christmas stories and poems. You could start a new Christmas tradition in your home. Try sharing your own Christmas story with your family this holiday. Enjoy!

We’ve been talking about the importance of saying thank you, and we would like to say a special thank you to Mrs. Kuharchuk, our school secretary and Mr. Houghton, our principal. We appreciate all the work that you do for us. Ho! Ho! Ho!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,
Mrs. G

Just like Santa we have been flying around the world. We’ve received a box from our friends in Dublin, Ireland and just last week they received our box. Check out the pictures of the day that they opened the box. I especially like the Maple Leaf tattoos on their faces; it reminds me of Canada Day!

We had a fun trip to the skating rink the other day, and Kristian showed us a speed skating start.

Since it is summertime in the Southern Hemisphere, our friends, @matipodiscovery, in Auckland, New Zealand, are enjoying warm days at the swimming pool. They are 21 hours ahead of us, and so they have already started their school week. Here’s a picture from the pool in Auckland. Don’t you love the contrast between our seasons?

Cheers
Mrs. G

I really enjoyed our trip to Churchill, Manitoba, and I loved sitting in a tundra buggy. The best part was seeing real polar bears out on the tundra. It’s too bad that it was just a virtual visit! I would like to thank Edmodo and Polar Bear International for letting us participate in the polar bear webinar.

This week we are going to review our polar bear research. We are going to review our information and develop questions or wonders that we still have about polar bears. Here is your assignment in the computer lab:

1. Find a picture that matches your question and save it.
2. Go to Fotoflexer
3. Load your picture. Write your question on the picture using the text tool.
4. Please put your name on the bottom right corner of your picture.
5. When you are happy with your picture email it to me.

I will put the pictures together and make a slideshow of our “wonders.” I’m excited to see and hear your questions about polar bears. I wonder where these questions will lead us?

Cheers
Mrs. G

We have had some special visitors to our blog, our friends from @St.Molaga5. They have written some comments on our blog, and today we will read through them. Then it will be our turn to visit and write on their blog. I’m looking forward to writing around the world. I wonder who we can write to next?

I’m putting a special link in this post to the World Population Meter. Monday, October 31st, is a very special day. It is Halloween, but it is also the day that the population of the world reaches 7 billion. That’s 7,000,000,000. Wow!

Cheers
Mrs. G

I have just sent our package, or “swap box”, off to Ireland. The box contained many items that we have chosen to represent Canadian culture. In another month or so we will be receiving a box from @St.Molaga5. It will contain items that they have chosen to represent Irish culture.

Today, I would like you to answer the question: What is your favourite season? Write a paragraph explaining which season is your favourite.

- Start with a topic sentence
- Be descriptive about the types of weather that make up your season
- Describe your favourite activities
- Remember to “show” lots of detail in your writing
- End with a summary sentence

I’m looking forward to reading your writing.

Cheers,
Mrs. G

I made this little video of some of our September Activities. I hope you enjoy it! I know that I had fun creating it.
September Days Believe.

Cheers
Mrs. G

Arrr, me hearteys. Twas a splendid day for pirates on Tuesday. We be talking like pirates and some of the crew be looking all pirate like.

Arrr! It be time to swab the decks
Cap’n Gammon

We had our second visit to the library. I love going to the library and exploring genre. On our first visit we looked at the genre of graphic novels. This past week we started looking at the genre of picture books. We also talked about the best kept secret in the library: Picture books are for everybody!

I would like you to choose your favourite picture book and create a commercial for it. In your commercial you need to tell the title of the book, the main characters, and tell a little bit about the plot. Also, you’ll need to think about what type of readers would like this book. Is it funny, or is it a mystery, or is it a factual book? Once you’ve finished writing your commercial, we’ll record it as a ScreenChomp.

Happy International Talk like a Pirate Day!
Shiver me timbers,
Cap’n Gammon