TGIF!!

That seemed like it was the longest week in history! I am exhausted! I think most students are tired too and it's been a bit of an off week for our whole class!

Yesterday we started the morning with a couple of word problems that we solved in small groups of 3 or in pairs. The questions were to get ready for the quiz today and of course because we had the trip in the afternoon so people were really excited(and maybe not as focused as they should have been).

We also spent some time doing a read aloud of our novel "Speak", it got really good but we had to cut out early because of an early lunch....

The trip was fun... you can see the photos attached!

Today was Earth Hour day and as per usual Clairlea overachieved in our participation for this day. We had our lights off for the whole day and used the sunlight to light our classroom, teachers even refrained from using the photocopiers for the day in an effort to cut down power and paper usage.

We finally finished the novel "Speak" and to be honest, it was an awesome end! We all felt good that our main character Melinda finally started to "Speak UP!" and become more assertive about what had happened to her. Our goal now is to: Do a soundtrack assignment and present our results to the class AND watch the movie (of course).

The final Health quiz was given today as well, and from what I could see many students were successful and thoughtful in their answers...can't wait to see the final results.

We ended the day with a brief math quiz. Many students found it quite easy as real-world math really is easy to understand. Some people didn't finish, but more time will be given on Monday morning for those students. A final test will be given next week and we will be starting Geometry ASAP!

There is no crazy homework assigned for the weekend. The only things due this week were:

• He said/She said writing assignment
• Microscope Lab on Onion skin cells and Human skin cells
• p. 29 #1-6 in Geography
• Student of the month for next week
• All girls must bring back their trip forms for MONDAY!

That's all for tonight, have a great weekend! Get some rest and next week is only a four day week! AWESOME!

**BTW- I promised to show you my stepsister's fashion show from Toronto Fashion Week. If you watch the video, she's the 2nd girl out! Isn't she a beauty? So proud of her!

Here are some of her recent pics (gorgeous right?)

Two-fer

Sorry for no blog post yesterday...I was feeling under the weather so I'm going to combine today and yesterday's post together. I hope you don't mind.

Tuesday:
We started the day with a Q &A session with Ms.Lawrence for the end of our Growth and Development unit. It was a mature conversation and a lot of questions were answered.

For math we covered the ideas surrounding % commission. We calculated how much commission we were making on the chocolate sales and it was about 50% which is quite a lot for us. Homework was: p.168&169 # 1-8, 9-15 (it wasn't checked Wednesday so it will be checked Thursday so get it done).

The afternoon was covered by a workshop from an organization our school is working with called: Tin Roof Global. We met John and he taught us about schools in Uganda and the water projects that they have been involved with. We did some water conservation activities and even played a game where the students carried 40lbs of books to mimic the feeling of carrying the water. Our school is happy to be in a partnership with this organization and we are going to have a water week coming up in the near future to help raise funds for a water collection system at a school in Uganda. You can look at their link here: http://tinroofglobal.com/

Please see the attached pictures.

Wednesday:
Today was a busy day as well. We got off to a quick start and worked on Language. We analyzed what a metaphor was, and then did an activity where in teams of four students created their own metaphors. It worked out well and the results were fantastic.

We also got through a bit of Geography where we talked about population characteristics and had a brief discussion about the advantages for the young and old in the population of the world when they have access to great healthcare and education. We also discussed how lucky we are to live in Canada and have the healthcare system that we do. As with everything though it seems no matter where you are the more money a person has, the better life chances they have overall. We will revisit this next week and have a chapter analysis to work on. So far though there is no homework other than p.29 #1-6.

FOR TOMORROW!

• Bring your lunch
• Wear closed shoes (running shoes are best)
• Wear weather appropriate clothing
• Do your math homework (if it wasn't done for today)
• Bring your permission form D.S.!!!!!!

Okay that's all...have a great night! See you tomorrow!

Water walk relay game

Waiting for the games to begin

Metaphor definition

Metaphor Activity instructions

John (from Tin Roof Global) explaining the rules

Canadian Water usage representation L-R (deep blue - drinking/cooking water, green-laundry, Yellow-Flushing the toilet, Blue- Showering & Bathing)

Due Date List!

As promised you will find a list below of all of the stuff that is due, organized by subject. Please make sure that you are up to date on the following items:

Language:

Student of the Month - March edition is due April 6th (soft due date)/ April 10th (final) - criteria is: Positive, Fun & Talented

Health reflection: Due tomorrow Tuesday March 27th (picture of the assignment is below)


Math:

p. 159-160 #1-13
p. 161 #14-21
p. 159 #1-13



We are studying proportional reasoning so if you need some help, let me know and I can help you at recess or after school. There is a quiz in your near future.

Science:

1. Onion cell lab is due by Wednesday
2. Diffusion questions #1-4 due Thursday

Geography:

There are questions from the text about population distribution and characteristics. These will be due this Thursday.

Art:
We will be doing another Grafitti project with our names...more details tomorrow.

Bring in trip forms please!

See you tomorrow!

Grad Photo Deadline was extended!!

Today was yet another beautiful and sunny day!  Fans were running and people were out enjoying their recess times! 

We began this morning with Ms. Lawrence leading the class through a discussion and information session on STI's.  We talked about symptoms, transmission and ways to protect yourself from them.  The class was also handed a writing assignment based on yesterdays discussion.  Students have to answer 4 questions and write their answers from a thoughtful perspective.  Due date is March 27th (next Tuesday).

After sunny recess, we did a word problem involving ratio on the board and students offered their various strategies to solve the problem.  I think I counted about 4 ways of solving the question and of course there are more ways for solving these kids of questions.  Homework tonight is P.155 #16-18 (18 is a bit challenging so try it at home and we'll take it up tomorrow in class).  All homework will be checked tomorrow first thing!

In geography we discussed population patterns and learned new vocabulary about birth rate, death rate, doubling time and life expectancy.  We also discussed the factors related to why people live where they live.  Students highlighted the following ideas: Access to clean water, Human Rights, Secure government, Employment, Climate, Transportation and Affordable Housing.   High volumes of population result in new rules and regulations plus a stretching of resources.  Homework was assigned p.29 #1-6 and is due next Wednesday March 28th!

The end of the day was spent with Mr.Church!  Sounds like you had some fun!

For tomorrow! If you want Grad photos bring your money in tomorrow!  Also trip forms are due!  Please bring them in! Have a great night and I'll see you tomorrow!

Grad Photo Orders are due TOMORROW!!!!

We had a foggy start to the day with a beautiful afternoon.  It was so nice this afternoon, we really had a hard time focusing in class!  We worked together and even got outside a little early which was a group effort and a bonus to the end of the day. 

The day started with our Health lesson with Ms. Lawrence.  We analyzed a story with two points of view, and talked about what went wrong, what misconceptions each person had and what we as observers could do to avoid this kind of predicament.  It was a good discussion and tomorrow we will unpack the ideas a little more and talk about STI's. 

After recess, we started with ratios.  We talked about putting ratios in their lowest form and reducing fractions.  Then we watched this video.   Homework is p. 153 + 154 #3-13 p.155 #15. 

After lunch the yearbook crew were in again, looking for questionnaires and baby pictures.  We also handed out a few forms: 1. Was a portrait form from Lifetouch 2. Pizza Lunch order envelopes 
3. Immunization information sheets for the female students 4. A trip form that is due on Friday 5. Parent Council's information sheet about Movie night & their Fun fair fundraiser. 
We didn't have a chance to touch on Geography, but will tomorrow!!

At the end of the day we did our February Student of the Month.  What is sad, is that we only had 15 out of 28 possible entries.  I was happy to see such a variety of nominations this month and students really did well with their written work (those that handed it in!).  I can see a real growth in the writing that was handed in.  So February's winner is.......JUSTYN !! Congratulations to Bory for a wonderful, personal and thoughtful paper.  We all loved reading Bory's paper and we can tell he really cherishes Justyn as a friend and person in his life.  We will have to decide on a place to eat and a date! 

Tomorrow is going to be warm again, so remember to be respectful about your hygiene (shower tonight & wear clean clothes) and bring deoderant/antiperspirant (as you have gym tomorrow). 

ALSO GRAD PHOTO ORDERS ARE DUE TOMORROW + BRING YOUR TRIP FORMS IN!!! 

See you all tomorrow, my sweet princes and princesses! ;)

Monday, the first day back!

Welcome back everybody! What lovely weather we had for our Spring Break. I hope everyone had a great vacation and got some much needed rest. I am still deaf in my left ear, and am hoping the fluid will clear soon! It's frustrating not being able to use my left ear and my awareness is still really off. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it clears soon.

Today we started the morning with an introduction to our Number Sense and Numeration unit on Proportional Reasoning. If you look below, I have attached the pictures of the Learning Goals and new vocabulary we will be using. These are posted in our classroom in a visible area so if students need it, it's there for them. Tonight's homework is the Getting Ready portion of the chapter and students were assigned 10 questions. Class time was given to complete this work and I strongly encouraged students to use their time wisely so that they didn't have to take it home for homework.

Ms. Parks is back from her maternity leave and students were treated to a lovely class today with her. Welcome back, we missed you!

After lunch we started taking up Science from the lab last Thursday before the break. Students were encouraged to get their notes and sketches ready for handing it in this Friday (soft due date) or Monday (hard due date). Please see picture attached.

For French students have been assigned a Mind Map project to draw and get vocabulary surrounding one sport (other than volleyball). The project is due on Friday and students will have time to finish it in class. My advice is to keep working on this project throughout the week and hopefully you'll be finished before you know it! I have attached a copy of a picture of a "How to make a Successful Mind Map below", good luck and get creative!

Mind Map

We finished the day with students working with their lab groups and starting to work on their lab reports by collaborating with each other and writing out their results. The deal was: Get some work done, we go outside for the last 20 minutes of the day (because it was so beautiful outside). The students made good on their promise and it was gorgeous outside!!

On a final note, I would like to congratulate Christian our class' January Student of the Month winner and Tommy our nomination writer. Due to illness, scheduling problems and school events we pushed this celebration to the Friday before the March break. After getting special permission from their parents and our administration I was allowed to treat the winners to a delicious breakfast at Cora's (and it was so delicious!). I look forward to mentioning who our next winner is as we finally have enough entries to do February's nomination. Good luck to all students!

Have a great night, enjoy this mild weather and do your teacher a favour and wear that deoderant tomorrow! Night all!

Christian and Tommy enjoying their delicious BIG BREAKFASTS!

Look what I found out front in our school's garden! 

 

Thursday!

Sorry about the no post yesterday, I am still feeling sick and was not up to writing a post. Yesterday however was a productive day. We talked about relationships in Growth and Development and how drugs and alcohol can affect your judgement in an intimate situation. We also discussed the importance of that key word "Consent" and boundaries. Student's questions were answered from the Question Box, and to top it all off we did a Birth Control Quiz followed by a take up and discussion that was both informative and mature.

Math yesterday was checked from the day before and many people had not done their homework. We used the math period for work and more questions were assigned. p.411 #14-21. Students worked in partners and on their own and if they needed help they got it with me at the back of the class. We didn't get to do any Geography yesterday because the yearbook team came in to pick up baby pictures and questionnaires and many students did not have their work for them. The day ended in floor hockey for all with Mr. Church, and sweaty teens!

On the other hand, today we started off with a.....fizz! Mr. Ndikumana promised me that he was going to bring in onions, but somehow forgot them. So instead of starting with Science we took a vote and then proceeded with a much needed work period. Some students still wasted their time, but I saw many taking advantage of the time we had and finished their work. After recess we jumped right into Science.

Students were given the opportunity to collect, analyze and sketch their observations of a onion skin cell and a human one (prepared by Boreal Science labs not by me). Students sketched their results and because I distributed the iodine there are no pictures of the kids doing the lab (sorry, not enough hands). We took up the results and I wrote a note up on the board for the students to copy, and it is attached below. We discussed the analysis questions but as a rule, for term two I am discussing the results out loud but not writing them out for the students to copy and put into their own words. The results were discussed and students were invited to write down key words to answer those questions on their own or in their lab groups.

This is what the onion cells looked like today

The Human cells looked like this

After lunch the yearbook team re-visited our class and were totally exasperated because they are still missing quite a few items from our class. I took a picture of their list and will post those photos of outstanding items below, the students know what they need to do and the yearbook deadline is fast approaching so you've been warned.

We ended the day with a math review. Students were invited to do either the chapter 12 review or the practice test or both for the test tomorrow! The test will be in the morning so make sure you study. If you'd like to practice more try this link: http://www.321know.com/equ725x7.htm.

I am still waiting for Student of the Month submissions...I think I might go crazy if M.D. asks me if we're doing SOTM more than 5 times tomorrow. It's up to you, not me but only to have 6 in is pretty disappointing. C'mon 8's tomorrow is our last day before we have a week off it'd be swell to finish off the week with our new winner!

Grad photos went home today, and the orders need to be back in by March 21st!! If you miss the deadline then you will not get the photos. Spirit wear orders are due tomorrow! Last and final day to order, so bring in that $ and those order forms!

Thank-you to all of the parents who contributed to the staff luncheon we had today, what a lovely treat! I know how much work it is to put on a spread like that and it was so fantastic to eat such a variety of food! Thank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you!

Have a great night, sorry for the late post but it's swimming night for Lucy! See you after tech! Ms.K

My little Swimmer

Yearbook List

Grad Photo Deadline!!!

Tuesday...a Growth and Development Day

Today was yet another busy day. We started out with a double period of health with Ms. Lawrence and students got to explore a lot of options. If you'd like to know more about the class ask your kids as we have a privacy code that needs to be respected. Nonetheless the curriculum was covered and we broke into single gender classes for the whole morning which allowed for group discussions and clarifications.

In the afternoon we began to discuss the film from Friday, "The Lorax". We made a bunch of notes and I will post them below. I intended to get to Math but we ended up running out on time as the discussion ran on a little long. Good news if you haven't finished your math homework. Students were assigned a reflection question and a little writing piece that's due this Thursday. Please work on it as March Break is fast approaching.

We will be starting with Math tomorrow and taking up the concepts as well as trying out some word problems. Patterning and Algebra is unit is set to end as of this week, unit test will be on Thursday or Friday. Please stay for extra help if you need it, and practice your concepts from the unit as well. Tomorrow is a quick day as we have phys. ed. to cover...please get your work done. We'll talk about the layout of the rest of the week. We start with health tomorrow, and it's a full lesson so we need to get started ASAP!

If you wanted to buy the grad composite please bring in your $30 dollars or cheque addressed to Lifetouch in an envelope with your name on it. Mary from Lifetouch should be by soon to pick up the cheques.

Still working with one ear blocked! I really hate not being able to hear! See you tomorrow! ;)

Blackout in Effect

Hello All! As promised I decided to do a little post this evening. I still don't feel right and my ear is still plugged, ringing and hurting. I will be at work tomorrow ready to go, and hopefully the blockage in my ear will clear in the next few days like my doctor said it will.

Today we hosted a bunch of teachers and did a lesson on proportional reasoning involving rate. A lot of you figured out the answer, and it was nice to see so many theories and ideas emerging from you all. Great work everyone. Below you will see some pictures of what went on, I'm just sorry we didn't have enough time for you all to present your results to the class. Tomorrow, we will talk a little about the lesson and then finish up our Patterning and Algebra unit. No homework for math tonight (lucky you!). There will be some tomorrow. Math from Friday afternoon was p.410 & 411 #1-13, I will be checking it tomorrow.

In the afternoon there was Science to read and go through. Mr. Corby led you through some reading and then assigned two batches of questions to answer while in class today. #1-4 on both worksheets. Hopefully all of you worked on your Science and have no homework this evening because you used your class time effectively and handed in your work before heading home.

On Thursday when you had a supply teacher you had a reflection question to answer, some of you have requested that I post this on the blog. So here it is:

In the film "Pleasantville" the story is filled with many instances of symbolism and irony. Choose 3 scenes, images or symbols from the story that represent symbolism and irony. Explain why you think these ideas are relevant and expand on that idea by making text to text, text to self and text to real world connections.

Other students who missed the film will be asked to look at this commercial below from American Express and make connections. Is there any symbolism going on there? What about irony? Pick three instances and write about them.

Tomorrow we have Growth and Development in the morning, and then we will have a regular afternoon. I am hoping my ear gets cleared up soon...as my husband is losing patience with me and I am losing patience with everything else. Have a great night!

See you tomorrow!

Tommy and George presenting their table to Ms.Pyke the math coach for SE1

Rachelle & Sara with Ms.Pyke showing how they made a decision and then checked their work.

Some of the teachers observing in the classroom

Terry and Bory presenting their graph, and talking about their algebraic findings