Guidance Day and The Day before BEACH DAY!!

Today started off with a "BANG" because Ms. Sneyd from guidance came in with our new and updated Choices magazines. She handed out the course selection sheets and walked us through the magazine. I made some notes about the information for students and their parents here they are:

Course Selection sheet:

• is due back to school by February 10th, 2012
• if you have applied to a specialized program then you can wait until a later date, however the lateset that the sheet can be handed in is February 15th, 2012
• you are only responsible for one, and if you have applied to another school (Wexford, R.H. King, Marc Garneau) they will send you their course selection sheet and your teacher will have to sign it before bringing it back in.
• if you have applied to a Catholic school you deal with them directly and follow their instructions
• make sure SECTION A is filled in correctly with specific details as to who the primary contact is (mother, father etc.)
• fill in the back course selection sheet, this is where you decide either to do Applied or Academic (I am available to help if you need it.)

Choices magazine:

• p.8 has the My Blueprint education planner where you can find links to help you plan out your whole highschool career. Link http://www.myblueprint.ca/tdsb Select our school and set up a personal profile, it will help you to make decisions on career paths and the courses in highschool that will help you get there.
• p.9 has Career Cruising information. It helps students figure out what things they like doing and what careers match those needs. You can link here: http://www10.careercrusing.com/ From home you need to add the following information to use this program Username: Toronto Password: 38870
• p.16 lists the Alternative schools in our area. The profiles are there for you to browse and if regular highschool is too much for you these schools can make it work. Their programs are different and their class sizes are smaller so this might work for you if grade 9 & 10 are a struggle for you.
• p.19 highlights Summer school info as well as information about course re-do or fast-tracking options.
• p.20 gives you an idea about e-learning classes that you can do from home. You must go through guidance to enroll and it usually starts in grade 10 so this might be an option for those of you who work well independently.
• p.24 talks about the Specialist High Skills Majors that different highschools offer, SATEC is on there so you may want to look into doing one of these courses.
• p.26 Co-op information is there, for those of you looking for hands on experiences. This would start in grade 11 or 12 and is an amazing learning opportunity.
• p.27 OYAP - which is an apprentice program that can begin in highschool which leads to better careers because they allow you to start your apprenticeship at an early age and you can bank your hours as time at school and credits earned. Their link: http://www.oyaptdsb.com/
• p.33 is the Southeast Secondary school locations as well as phone numbers for those schools. Ms. Sneyd recommends that if you have a question about a school's program to call the school and ask to speak to their guidance counsellors. They will be a wealth of knowledge about their school and can answer questions in more detail if you have them.
• p.34 highlights the courses you have to take in order to graduate, read it, get to know it and track your progress
• p.36 has the course selection descriptions for applied and academic. Those pages will help you to get through it all and help you to make your decisions.
• p.38 course code descriptions, shows you how to read the codes that the schools use and this will help those of you not going to your home school.
• p.104 course codes start- the index will direct you to its description.

Ms. Sneyd's office #'s Mon&Tues- 416-396-6640, Thurs&Fri - 416-396-6310
You can call her anytime to let her know if you need some help making decisions as well as I am here for you. :)

Wow! That was a lot of information!!

After that the students had drama/dance, and after lunch we revisited some of the math teams but no one had time to present. We will do these tomorrow. Math homework is to practice on last night's math links (see previous blog post) and if you want you can post your scores to brag about your % right and your time!

French went well today, the students had a supply teacher and she was impressed with their willingness to stay on task and complete their work. I was happy too! : )

The end of the day we looked at the properties of BUOYANCY by building structures out of modelling clay and using spring scales to record and calculate the mass of the clay out of water and in water. Students built structures, poured marbles in and tried to sink their structures. It was awesome!! All scientists - Dennis, Aparajita, Tommy and Fatima were exceptional at leading their teams to victory and we all had a really fun time! Thanks to everyone for a nice finish to the day! Please enjoy the pictures attached and we will be using these images when it comes to the investigation write-up, due after Wednesday.

I am at a workshop tomorrow AM, it is BEACH DAY!! Don't forget to wear your beach wear (school appropriate) I want to win the yummy treat! ;) See tomorrow afternoon.