Woo-hoo Canada!

Way to go Canadian Olympians! You've made us all proud. The "icing" on the cake was the Canadian men's hockey victory over Team U.S.A. today. You had us biting our nails for a moment, but Sid the Kid settled the score. Phew!

Here's a victory song.

This Week in Room 204 - Coming Monday

Our student teacher, Miss Esling will be teaching this week with my assistance, so I'll have her post what we are doing this week on Monday.

Here's some eye candy to keep you amused until then...

Ms. Hawkins

Alice in Wonderland as told by Tom Petty.

More Tom Petty, just because. Don't forget report cards go home tomorrow. Yes, the waiting is the hardest part.

Cool Nic's Blog - Something for Everyone

Hello,

I was just visiting some of the student blogs to see what was new. Nicolas has heard my plea to WRITE MORE! and has been busy writing. Go to his blog for a Diary of a Wimpy Kid review, a write-up on Club Penguin, a Spongebob video, an AC/DC video for the hard rock action kids in our class and (wait for it Emily R.) - Justin Bieber's "One Less Lonely Girl" video. Nicolas, I know you're not a fan. Cheers for thinking of others and inspiring your classmates to write and blog. You'll be called upon in the Blog Club to share your film-making secrets.

Sincerely,

Ms. Hawkins

Check out Nic's terrific blog at:

http://coolnic3.blogspot.com

P.S. Do you kids know what the object is in the picture? Find out and bring your answer to me on Monday. Prizes will be awarded to students who can answer this question.

Rush Hour Brain Lab

Thanks again to our wonderful math coach Lesley Pike for the Rush Hour Brain Lab. The kids had a huge amount of fun and you've inspired me to look for new ways to engage our class in the relationship between fractions and decimals. More pics on the student blog with captions to follow. To play the online Rush Hour game go to http://www.thinkfun.com

Ms. Hawkins

Here's the game.

You may also be able to purchase it at Winners.

Mr. Church's Olympic Commandment - Thou Shalt Wear Red and White Tomorrow

Mr. Church made an impassioned plea for students and staff to wear read and white tomorrow. This positive fashion juju should hopefully help squeeze a few more medals out of our countrymen and women. For the love of Canada AND Mr. Church, wear a little red.

Speaking of the Olympics, I'd just like to thank Miss Lowen for her tireless work taking pictures of Clairlea students holding the Olympic torch. She spent most lunch and recess breaks this week making dreams happen for our kids. What a wonderful teacher!

Canadian Please - One more time!

P.S. That's not Miss Lowen in the video.

On a completely unrelated note, it looks like the Inferring video is back in action on the student blog. I don't want to tempt fate as there appears to be a ghost in the machine. You have to love Ryan's performance as a headbanger. I went to high school with guys who looked like that. LOL

More Money for Free the Children!

CANDY RAFFLE!!!!


Last week at Clairlea we had a raffle to win some really delicious candy! The point of this raffle was to raise money for Free The Children! We sold over 300 tickets for only 25 cents apiece. The winner was Michael from room 208. We raised $257.58 cents! Free The Children is doing so great with our process on building a school in Africa!


Congrats to Michael! That is all for now Megan from room 204!

No More Cursed Cursive + Pencil & Paper SOS

Egads - is this a double post day?

I forgot to mention in my last post that Miss Esling and I will be holding mini cursive workshops in the library during morning recess (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) for two weeks, beginning next Monday. Depending on the need, I may continue solo after Miss Esling leaves following March Break. Approximately 50 percent of the class use cursive in class. I would like for all of the children in our class to have the cursive breakthrough this year and I want the learning process to be fun. As I frequently remind the class, cursive is a much more comfortable way of writing since your pencil (or pen) seldom leaves the paper. If your child is one of the students struggling with cursive, please continue working on this skill at home. Cursive workbooks are inexpensive and there are also numerous online resources that can be downloaded for free.

Here are the Ramones to help celebrate making it halfway through the week. Is there ever a bad time for the Ramones?

Lastly, I have ordered more pencils and three-hole lined paper for our class, but we've run out of both before the blessed arrival of the stock order. Please make sure your child is stocked up on pencils for classroom use. If you are able to buy your child a package of three-hole lined paper, it would help too. I always buy a lot of pencils and paper when the "Back to School" supplies go on sale, but even that big stash has dried up. Yes, I know - your tax dollars hard at work.

Thanks for your help. Check out this video of a woman who can write backwards and even upside-down. We won't likely get to this stage in the Cursive Club, but it would be a very cool party trick.

Rush Hour Brain Labs and Boys Reading Club

I've enrolled our class in the very fun Rush Hour Brain Lab. This will be an interactive Math workshop facilitated by our fabulous Math Coach, Lesley Pike. She will be running the workshop this Thursday morning. Here's the description: Rush Hour is an interactive game where students try to get their cars out of gridlock. But, the only catch is that the only way you can escape the gridlock is to slide the cars around the game board Sounds easy, but as the challenges progress the level of difficulty does as well.

I have opted for the fractions, decimals, and percent workshop. Should be a lot of fun. Memo to self: bring camera that day.

I'll be helping Ms. Vincent run a Boys Reading Club in the near future. I will be approaching boys in our class whom I think would be a good fit for this club. Students will fill out a survey and we will try to make it a fun, engaging club that gets reluctant readers excited about books. More information as soon as I have it.

Regards,

Erin Hawkins

This Week in Room 204

MR's fancy pyramid was surrounded by ground coffee. I've had dreams in which I've walked across vast deserts of freshy ground coffee. Mmmmm coffeeeeeee...

Hello,

Thank you for the pancake money. Clairlea was able to raise over $700.00 for Free the Children because of this. Last week, our class held a raffle for the candy originally collected for candy-grams. Instead, Ginnie kindly whipped up a big candy basket. I believe we raised close to an additional $200.00 for Free the Children because of this. Fantastic! Megan is eager to count up the money tomorrow, so if time permits, I'll let her post the results. Thank you Megan, Thomas, and Phoebe for running this raffle. LOVE the enthusiasm of our class. Don't forget to scroll down to see pictures from the African Heritage Assembly, if you haven't already seen them.

This week, we'll be working on the following:

Language: Reading/Writing: Our student teacher, Miss Esling will carry on with our big unit on poetry. We will be reading and writing a lot of poems over the next few weeks. I was pleasantly amazed by the quality of work that went into the blues poems. Many children reached deep inside to reflect upon a time they felt blue. Others really captured the cadence and flavour of blues music in their work. I'm still in need of colourful scrap paper, such as wallpaper ends if you have any. We will be turning the completed poems into quilts.

Media Literacy: Students will be given some time in class to begin staging their TV commercial or music video parody. We will meet to discuss reasonable deadlines.

* I am returning the final drafts of the movie reviews this week. I am asking the majority of students to write a final copy. Several students just wrote summaries and neglected to critique the film. Students will have the option of writing their FINAL final draft in Library, or take it home and return it Friday along with their homework.

Math: Proper/improper, and mixed fractions. We will likely have a quiz on Friday. Miss Esling has been teaching this unit with my support. She will review key concepts with the class and perhaps give them a preview quiz mid-week to check for understanding.

Social Studies: Students have started presenting their ancient Egyptian artifact (see photos below). I have really enjoyed the presentations and I'm impressed with the work that has gone into them. Students must complete their explanation this week. If they are not completed by Friday, they will have to stay in after school next week to complete them. Miss Esling will also continue with our unit on Ancient Mexico.

Science: Simple Machines. We will be reviewing the six simple machines with some fun, hands-on Science centre activities. I've raided my son's toy box and my husband's tool box!

Homework: * Please have your child return his/her Nelson Language book this week. We will be using them in class to prepare for Literature Circles which will begin after the March Break.

1. Students will read an article from the Toronto Star about Michelle Obama's plan to tackle child obesity in the U.S. A. Students will answer a series of questions in his/her Home Reading Journal. (due this Friday)

2. For the next two weeks, students will keep a record of the food they eat each day and do their best to find out where it came from. In some cases, this information can be found on labels and stickers. Other times, it may benefit your child to go shopping with you and jot down where produce, etc. comes from by looking at store signage. This is an extension activity from our last Science unit (Energy Conservation). We will look at the concept of carbon footprints. After data has been collected, students will use math skills to calculate how far their food has travelled to get to Toronto. (due next Thursday)

3. There will be a sheet on fractions (due this Friday). If students are having trouble with Math homework (or any other homework), please have them speak to me as soon as possible. I am always here for support and I am happy to stay later on Wednesday to work with individual students.

Have a great week.

Erin Hawkins

Big spear held by happy student. Amazingly enough, nobody was accidentally impaled.

Ancient Egyptian shield cleverly recreated on an artist's canvas.

EC's clay soldier. Loincloth and spear sold separately. Some assembly required. Batteries not included.

Actually, this was all beautifully handmade. Apparently it took many an angst-filled moment to get to this sculpture completed. Great job!

Massive ancient Egyptian villa. There's more inside. I believe this is bigger than Mr. Landry's classroom. Fantastic creations, kids. We're all looking forward to seeing and hearing about more aspects of ancient Egyptian culture.

Pictures From the African Heritage Concert

Here are some pictures taken at last Friday's African Heritage Assembly. It was a beautiful celebration of the never-ending gifts Africa gives the world. Thank you to all the teachers and students who made this concert so special - especially Mrs. Brathwaite and the dance team for the stirring dances performed. Thanks also to Ms. Park for helping our class with our unique contribution that paid tribute to Langston Hughes. I took many pictures during the assembly, but due to the darkness of the auditorium, the picture quality is not fantastic. Most of the pictures are of our class in rehearsal. Great work boys and girls!

Exploring World War One

Last week, I discovered the book The Trenches - a fictional account of a Scottish teenager who enlists in the army at the beginning of World War 1. The book is written in diary form and chronicles the life of Billy Stevens, from boyhood to trench warfare in Belgium. I thought our class might find the book interesting, so I bought it. Flash forward to today's morning paper, where I read that John Babcock - Canada's remaining World War 1 veteran - had died yesterday at the remarkable age of 109.

I brought the class to the carpet, where I read the article and we looked at the pictures. Right away, the children were fascinated with Mr. Babcock's story. Many students talked of grandparents and great-grandparents who served in the Armed Forces and fought in World War 2. As soon as I began reading The Trenches, the boys and girls sat riveted. Later in the day, our student teacher Miss Esling read a few more pages. The boys and girls didn't want her to stop. Judging by their enthusiasm and the many excellent questions asked, it's clear that they're deeply interested in the history of World War 1 .

Please extend this interest at home by talking to your child about World War 1 and what you know about it. There are World War 1 sites for children, which I will try to hot link later. You may wish to Google World War 1 and let your son or daughter learn even more.

Now that I see there is such an interest in World War 1, I will create some engaging reading and writing activities on the topic as we move into the third term.

Have a lovely weekend.

E. Hawkins

P.S. We had a wonderful African Heritage Assembly today. Your children were fantastic. There is so much blossoming talent in our class. I took some snaps during dress rehearsal, which I'll upload soon.

Here is Samuel Barber's haunting Adagio for Strings used to accompany a poem brimming with wise words. Turn up the volume and let the music fill your home.

Blog News

Back in the old days, they didn't have these newfangled blogs. Instead, fathers and sons would play Battleship after dinner while mothers and daughters slaved for hours washing dishes, pretending to look like they were having fun.

First off, the Literacy Night inferring video rides again. Now you and your loved ones/co-workers can have a chuckle at some of the delightful kids from our class illustrating how to read between the lines. In order to do this, I had to remove the podcasts of soundscapes made by last year's class. * Since writing this post, I've noticed that the video is not playable after all. Sorry.

Secondly, I had a little mini lunch meeting with a couple of bloggers in our class today. They are keen to get rolling with a blog club. Realistically it will start after the March break, but I had to promise Mr. White that we wouldn't get started until he returns from a trip to a warm destination.

Mr. Knierim will help me get the club off the ground. He's creative and excellent with technology. My idea was to start off with the kids who already have blogs and then move to another round of children who are new bloggers. The experienced bloggers can return to support them.

Lastly, there was an interesting article in the Star today about a 13-year-old blogger who has taken the fashion world by storm. I read it to the class and then created a small display in the hallway of pages from some of Room 204's bloggers' blogs. We are all writers - and good ones at that!

Visit Tavi's blog at: http://tavi-thenewgirlintown.blogspot.com

She's a fascinating person. How many 13-year-olds would dye their hair grey?

ABOUT ME

Wears batman capes and oversized hats. Scatters black petals on Rei Kawakubo's doorsteps and serenades her in rap. I wish I was Daria but I get too excited about things like candy to be deadpan all the time.

Thirteen-year-old rookie reporter Tavi Gevinson is the newest and youngest sensation in the fashion world

Pancakes and African Heritage Concert

Friday is the day for pancakes and the African Heritage Concert. How Canadian! Mr. Steers is asking teachers to remind parents to send in two dollars. The money will go directly to Free the Children. We are very close to reaching the financial goal needed to build a school in a developing country. So happy to see the children at Clairlea becoming activists for social change. Thank you as always for your generosity.

The African Heritage Concert will be held on Friday afternoon between 1:00 and 2:15. Please come, if you are able to. Ms. Park has worked with our class to create an interpretive dance/music piece to celebrate the late, great poet, Langston Hughes.

Six Simple Machines & Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer"

WELCOME BACK AAHIL! We missed you. Can't wait to have you read your Pakistan travel journal to the class.

- Ms. Hawkins

Here's a short video about Six Simple Machines made by school children. It's not bad, but I feel like we could do a better job than this. Do I smell more short films being made at Clairlea?

Here's Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer." This connects to our study of Ancient Mexico. How cool is that? We'll study the lyrics, hopefully this week. It's an epic song, but you need an epic song to tell an epic tale.

Lyrics

He came dancing across the water
With his galleons and guns
Looking for the new world
In that palace in the sun.

On the shore lay Montezuma
With his coca leaves and pearls
In his halls he often wondered
With the secrets of the worlds.

And his subjects
Gathered 'round him
Like the leaves around a tree
In their clothes of many colors
For the angry gods to see.

And the women all were beautiful
And the men stood
Straight and strong
They offered life in sacrifice
So that others could go on.

Hate was just a legend
And war was never known
The people worked together
And they lifted many stones.

They carried them
To the flatlands
And they died along the way
But they built up
With their bare hands
What we still can't do today.

And I know she's living there
And she loves me to this day
I still can't remember when
Or how I lost my way.

He came dancing across the water
Cortez, Cortez
What a killer.

And a good cover version by Aussie space rockers The Church. I'm not sure why they've used a picture of Heath Ledger as the Joker from Batman the Dark Knight.

This Week in Room 204

Happy Family Day! Question - What fraction of the kids in TT's family are represented in this photo. Oh, that's easy!

Hello,

I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend. We have had oodles of interruptions as of late (most of them for worthwhile reasons, mind you), but still, we must soldier on. Hope your child had the chance to tell you about the amazing play we saw last week - El Numero Uno. Thanks to Ms. Park for making the arrangements. I am arranging to have mime artist Noriko (whom we saw at Eglinton Square Library last year), come to Clairlea soon. I'll keep you posted. Our class will be performing in the African Heritage concert this coming Friday. I'll post details in case you are able to attend. We could still use wallpaper remnants or fancy scrap paper for our blues quilts. If you have anything you think we could use, please send it in with your child. Thanks a lot.

Have a short and sweet week!

E. Hawkins

Here are a few things we'll be working on this week:

Language: Langston Hughes and the blues - Students will aim to complete his/her blues poem. For homework, they will create a visual interpretation of a place (or mental space) they like to go to when they have the blues.

Writing: Students should have their explanation of their ancient Egyptian artifact completed in class.

Math: Our student teacher Miss Esling will continue her unit on fractions. Don't forget to Google online fractions activities to reinforce at-school learning.

Science: We will begin our unit on Forces Acting on Structures and Mechanisms. This week we will brainstorm different types of forces and we will review simple machines, last covered in Grade 3, I believe. Forces is an incredibly fun strand and you know we'll be doing numerous experiments and hands-on activities.

Social Studies: Miss Esling will continue our unit on Ancient Mexico. * Students will begin presenting their Egyptian artifacts in class. They look fabulous, from what I've seen.

Homework:

1. Blues illustration (details in class) - due this Friday

2. Script for TV commercial parody - due next Monday (Feb. 22nd). We will review elements of a script in class.

3. Fractions sheet - due this Friday.

That's all for now,

Please check the Clairlea blog or the calendar in the top, right-hand corner for more news you need to know about.

P.S. Nobody built an underground house for their eco home. Here is a Swiss underground home. For more pictures, visit the Feb. 16th post on Love You Big http://love-you-big.blogspot.com It's an Australian (yeah!) blog, hence the time difference.

Fireworks and Hearts

Happy Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year. I actually thought of a love song that mentions Beijing. Once a music writer, always a music writer. Enjoy!

P.S. Go Canada!

Eco Homes and Orange Day

Here are a few pictures from the eco home presentations. Some fantastic designs were created. I'll try to get some close up shots of the structures next week. Way to go!

Here's a clip of our class rehearsing for the holiday concert. It just so happened to be "Everyone Wears Orange Day" at Clairlea. I knew we had a big class, but I didn't realize just how many kids I teach. Level 4 dancing!

Happy Chinese New Year - Just Around the Corner

Valentine's Day Shindig

I've never had a Valentine's Day party before, but there's so much love in this class that it would just seem wrong not to celebrate the occasion. We will be making sundaes and stuffing felt hearts with warm n' fuzzy comments from classmates. If you would like to send in nut-free treats, you are more than welcome. Just remember that the party will be at the end of the day, so you'll have to deal with the sugar after-shock.

Thanks as always,

E. Hawkins

P.S. This is exactly how I envision the party. It will be a classy affair. Bryan Ferry was going to sing for us. Sadly, he was double booked and the school in Ghent got him.

Secret Revealed and the Winner

Hello,

Here's your first look at our new classroom pet. It's a teddy bear hamster and - it's a girl!

The late day light meant not-so-great photos, but you can see how cute she is.

I really want to get her a bigger cage. Her feet keep slipping through the rungs on the upper level.
Thomas and Grace both guessed that it might be a hamster. I thought I'd let Spook choose the name.
Spook didn't like the folded pieces of paper and walked away.
I crumpled them up and then Kiko briefly became interested, then walked away in cat boredom.
Spook found the paper ball he liked. I opened it up and here's the name...
Sorry, Grace. Knowing Thomas, he'll probably let you help him choose the perfect name.

This little critter will never leave the cage and she'll bring lot's of love and happiness to our room. You'll see her tomorrow.

All the best,

Ms. Hawkins

Your Final Clue(s)

What's inside the box? A creature that would never tear down a clock tower, that's for sure. Do I smell a rat? No.

We all miss the Mole. Maybe subconsciously I'm replacing the Mole with something similar in size and shape to a mole - a real mole not Mathew W.

Coolest video ever alert. I don't think the home is eco. Enjoy.

Another Clue

Who does this cat belong to? Is this a 'Spook' story?

A cat on a bed, by a box with instructions for something other than what is actually inside. The box was not beside the cat for very long. Whose bed? Whose cat? What's in the box? Use your mouse and click on the pic. Phoebe and Grace, you inferred well, but alas, your ideas were close, but not correct. Think about what you see and what you know about the past, the 'present' and the class. I may post another cryptic clue later. Write down your idea on a scrap of paper and you may win the contest to do something special for the special something in the box.

* P.S. The boisterous social talking was better today. A few warnings were handed out and one child remained in class to write a letter of reflection. We can do even better. Now we must banish blurting.

This Week in Room 204

A cat and a box. Is that any cat? Is that any box?

What can you infer from the top photo? Do you smell something fishy? What might be in the box? Tomorrow, students can write down their ideas. The student who infers correctly will have his/her name entered twice for a contest connected to something special I have planned for this week. Oh, the suspense!

As last week was short and full of interruptions, this week will be a continuation of what we were working on. We will be returning to the poetry of Langston Hughes, which we began in the fall. This time, we will be relating some of his poems to the blues and listening to some blues. In Math, we will begin fractions. We were not able to have the Ancient Egypt quiz last week due to Winter Activity Day. We will have it this Friday. Students must be able to explain the mummification process, and reasons why the Nile was so important to the people of Egypt. There will be some true/false, an multiple choice questions to answer. No need to stress.

Students will also complete their eco home presentations. I'm blown away by what I've seen already. Students actually gasped in excitement during Jonathan and Sibghat's water demonstration. Well done!

Homework:

1. There will be a reading selection from the Nelson reader with a response prompt to be completed in students' Home Reading Journal. I left my copy of the reader in the classroom, so I will post the story selection on the blog tomorrow.

2. Math: Measurement - time worksheet.

3. Reading/Media: Parody planning sheet

Big reminders!

1. Ms. Park has planned a field trip to the theatre for this Thursday afternoon. The permission forms were sent home last week. Please return them ASAP. Students who do not return these by Wednesday will have to work in another classroom Thursday afternoon. I do hope that everyone can come. Sorry about the $12.00 cost. Apparently the theatrical production was cheap it was the school bus that added to the price.

2. If possible, please bring in either a bag of Valentine's Day candy to help us make candygrams for Haiti/Free the Children, or a pair of lightly worn shoes to be donated to the Haiti relief effort. Thank you for your overwhelming generosity. We've raised over $1000.00.

3. Friday afternoon we will have an ice cream/sundae party for Valentine's Day. I will supply everything. There will be no peanut toppings, and I am aware of existing allergies, so it will be smooth sailing.

4. If you haven't already done so, please send in the envelope that came home with marked work recently. Please sign it and keep the work inside. Thanks a lot.

Lastly, I've had some unfortunate reports concerning the behaviour of some students in our class lately when they've been with other teachers. It is a small group of students who are causing disruptions, but the whole class agreed that everyone plays a part in the spread of social talking and silliness at inopportune moments. To this end, I've decided to have each student sign a promise card. This will serve as a reminder that they are to talk at the right time, raise their hand instead of blurting things out, and stay on task during work and instruction periods. If this promise is broken, they will be given one warning. If the promise is broken a second time, they will remain in class until 3:45. During this time, they will write a letter to their parent(s) explaining what happened and outlining how they can turn things around. This letter will be signed and retuned the following day. I will be informing all of their teachers for the sake of consistency. Hopefully I will not have to keep anyone in after school for this reason, but if your child is late and they are not staying in to complete an assignment, they will be in our class.

Thank you for your support in this matter. I love this class - they're all good kids. We just have to nip this problem in the bud once and for all.

Erin Hawkins

Have a great week!

Clairlea Poet Laureate Visits Room 204

Last week, French Immersion SK student Aidan visited our class. This is the boy who wrote the poem "Myles the Rockstar," which would go on to win the the Munsch at Home contest. As most of you know, Robert Munsch recently came to our school to toast Aidan and read to the Primary students. It was like Beatlemania and let me say that many a junior student came to me confessing how jealous they were of the Primary kids who got to meet their childhood literary hero. Over 600 poems were entered in the Munsch at Home contest, so it was no small achievement for Aidan to take the top prize. It's a great poem. To read it and find out more about the whole experience, please visit Aidan's family's terrific blog http://growinguptoronto.blogspot.com. It's always linked to the right under Family Life.

In Writer's Workshop, we are learning that to become a better writer, we need to read a lot and reflect upon the techniques used by great writers to make their writing unique, entertaining, and true. We also need to get together and share our own work. We were all inspired by Aidan's poem, which he recited to the class and we were all encouraged by his story. Always aim to do your best work and have faith in yourself. Aidan even signed some autographs in our class. Thank you again!

On a side note, I've been in touch with Aidan's mother and we are working together to help send lightly worn shoes to Haiti. If anyone in your family has some footwear they can donate, we'd be most thankful. Please get them to Room 204 as soon as possible.

Best,

Erin Hawkins

Have a lovely weekend. I've had the EXACT same morning as Feist.

A Few Last Notes

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Winter Activity Day tomorrow. Maybe I'll see you out on the rink! A big thanks to Mr. Church for arranging this fun day.

Ms. Hawkins

P.S. The inferring video seems to come and go on the student blog. There must be a problem on the end of Blogger. If your child is in it and you'd like it burned to a disc, let me know and I'll try to butter up Mr. Knierim.

I'll be posting pictures of the special guest who visited our classroom this morning soon. He has something to do with Robert Munsch.

The Mole and Winner Revealed

Today, we learned on the morning announcements that Mathew was out of the game and that the contest was down to two players - Thomas and Justin. One of these two boys was actually the Mole. Turns out that the Mole couldn't just let the winner traipse off to victory without one last bit of mental menace. Thomas and Justin had to write letters explaining why they thought the other one was the Mole. The Mole really seemed to relish this last bit of subterfuge.

So, who is the Mole?

Yes. As many suspected, it's none other than our king of hard rock and Egyptologist. You may want to consider a career in acting since you were able to play it cool and fly under the radar as long as you did. Well done! I smell an Oscar for Outstanding Performance: Male Lead.

That brings us to the runner up. TT knew who the Mole was the longest, though he couldn't quite put his finger on why. Intuition took him to the "Silver" place. Great job!

And here is the winner of the Mole. JP played the game incredibly well. He used inferencing skills and deductive reasoning to figure out who the Mole was. I may get JP to write something on the blog to explain the moment that he knew who the Mole was. It's a great story.

Here's our champ in an upgraded Grade 5 picture. No more Grade 4 pics - I promise. Congrats again!

So there you have it: lot's of fun, lot's of learning. Prizes will be awarded next week to these two super sleuths and our marvelous Mole. Thanks also to the Mole's family and the Clairlea staff who were in cahoots.

Have a look at the finale of the first season of the real Mole show. This is the program that gave me inspiration for this lesson plan. I don't usually go for "reality" shows, but I enjoyed the Mole because of the sleuthing and inferring required to win the game. I realize watching this clip that the runner up had his bag carried by Anderson Cooper. TT didn't have his knapsack carried to his mom's car. Sorry kiddo. There's always next time...