Late Night with Ms. K!!

Busy day, as per usual.  Sorry for the late post, but I went back to the optometrist and he did those drops that open up the back of your eyes...well it makes your eyes blurry to see close up and I couldn't read or see things close up until late this evening.  I looked a little like Jim Morrison from the Doors, but not as cool.

We started the day off with presentations for the Soundtrack assignment.  All of the groups who presented did really well, I feel like all of the students who have already presented really connected to the assignment and the proof is in the exemplary work they are handing in!  Great work...G.Z.,A.F., R.C.,A.B.,F.K., W.B., T.C. & D-money (not to mention B.L. & T.N. part two was great today too!).  We have a bit of a break with presentations tomorrow as Track and Field is scheduled for tomorrow.  I am hoping for warmer weather but it may not be in the cards.  If track is a no-go, students should be ready for their presentations first thing!

Forms for the Hot Docs film festival were handed out to all grade 8's today.  Please get them back to me by Friday...as an early birthday gift to me!  Please find out more info at the link below:

http://www.hotdocs.ca/youth

The trip is scheduled for Monday, and it only costs the bus fare to get there.  Students will have the opportunity to meet filmmakers, producers, directors and subjects for the films below!  I need helpers so parents or older siblings who are interested in going on the trip...please let me know!

 

 

We ended the day with Math, and reviewed the Geometry terms in the film below.  Homework was handed out (as our textbook does not have this curriculum in it), and should be completed for tomorrow if there's no Track or Thursday if there is.  

 

My new contacts are slippery and clear...I'm loving the new vision they are giving me...an expensive investment in my ability to see the world!  See you tomorrow...have a great night! Dress for the weather and for TRACK & FIELD!! 

Nighty, night! 

Monday...rainy with a chance of flurries?

Wow! A cold start to the week with an indoor recess in the afternoon. A busy day with lots going on!

We started the morning off with Math, continuing the Pythagorean Theory and word problems. We were given a-squared and c-squared and were not given b-squared. Students were given a chance to answer their questions in math with a partner and then math was assigned p. 70 & 71 #1-6,8-11 &13. Practice as there will be a quiz soon.

After recess, a double period was given to work on final touches for the "Speak" soundtrack assignments. Many groups were pretty much done and luckily the library was open for some students to go in and print up good copies of their edited written work. The past week was dedicated to groups getting their ideas organized and I have met with all of the groups at least twice to talk about their progress. Presentations were set to start this afternoon and I was determined to get the ball rolling today.

Before French we examined our Osmosis meter. The model was tampered with...and we decided that our results were not conclusive. The experiment is time consuming so we discussed the issues, and then the concepts surrounding the difference between plant and animal cells. Below you will find an experiment similar to the one we did in class where they took the whole shell off of the egg and then placed it in different solutions. After being placed in the water it absorbs quite a bit of the fluid and increases in size.

We finished the day with the first round of presentations. Great work everyone! You have inspired me again! Special thanks to C.R., D.D., T.N.,B.L. and R.P. (*BIG THANKS to R.P.'s Dad for dropping off the laptop, you saved the day!). You have all set the bar high and I look forward to tomorrow's presentations.

To finish off, it was my pleasure to take Bory and Justyn out for lunch on Friday for the Student of the Month reward! Congrats Bory for a well written nomination and to Justyn for winning the majority of votes! I can't wait to see who wins for April!

See you tomorrow!

Justyn and Bory at Subway!  

Tuesday...A-squared + B-squared = C-squared.

Day 3's always start with a trip to the library for Tech. Today students worked on their presentations for Mr. K., as well as research and printing for their soundtrack assignments. Apparently someone illegally was surfing Facebook (gasp!) and ruined it for the class. That is your time grade 8's so if you didn't use it wisely...I'm not sure what to tell you.

After recess, we worked on our Soundtrack assignments. I met with the rest of the groups and they were often on-task and had written work done. If by tomorrow your group doesn't have something written down, I'm not sure what to tell you. I feel like you might be in trouble. We have a tight deadline due to the Documentary Film Festival unit we will be covering and I want to be done this stuff as of next week.

This afternoon was dedicated to Math - specifically the Pythagorean Theory. We did an investigation and collected the results. We found that the theory works for Scalene triangles, that have a right angle. We wrapped up with a short Khan Academy video, and work was assigned: p. 53 & 54 #1-10. Please find the videos attached.

We ended with going out about 10 minutes early to enjoy the sun and wind. I will be available for extra help tomorrow. Math will be checked first thing. We will also be doing a bit of Geography tomorrow afternoon so bring your textbooks.

Have a great night!

Triangle/Square Investigation notes

New French assignment...not entirely sure what it's all about...details to follow.

Learning Goals for Geometry Unit

Nirthya (the nominator) and Sumaita the Student of the Month from the French Immersion class, after our celebratory brunch.  Congrats Ladies! ;)

Shoe Museum/Windy Monday

A late "hello" to you all, but nonetheless I am here. There's something delicious to be said about the taste of chocolate and peanut butter at this time of night, whoever thought it up...they were a genius!

Today we started the day with a new unit, Geometry and Spatial Sense. Fantastic opener, really stellar answers, everyone was pretty much on task today. We did Chapter 2 the opening warm-up and covered the Learning Goals. So far, so good.

After recess we continued our discussion on Osmosis. We reviewed what we already knew, and then looked at what turgor pressure was and how it worked. We also read about an investigation in osmosis and luckily with the help of our class we set up the model after lunch. The students did a compare and contrast on Diffusion and Osmosis (the two main ideas from last week and this week) and were given class time to complete this. We also moved on to human cellular organisms and began to learn about the many systems in the body.

French - If you haven't finished your French logo...you're in trouble, so get it done.

For the rest of the afternoon students were allowed to work on their Soundtrack projects, and I met with some of the groups to check on their progress as well as go over their ideas. I will meet with the remainder of the class tomorrow morning. So far some people have gotten some of their songs, others are on task and have started their jewel case artwork while some groups just have songs and no written work. The soft due date is Friday, and presentations start Monday of next week. So...time is running out and going fast!

All in all the wind made for an interesting day. Lots of crazy kids...and even a water fight using the water fountain. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Please enjoy the trip photos below, mixed with the Learning goals for Geometry. Sorry for the disorder but if I spent a lot of time on those details, I might be here all night.

Elton John's shoes

Sara in front of the tools her Grandma has back in Columbia, she makes shoes (beautiful ones).

Madonna's shoes

Chart from today

Fatima holds an example of osmosis

These are women's shoes from China, foot-binding a beauty trend from China

Terry Fox's shoe

Marilyn's heels

J. Biebs' shoes (my life is complete)

Indian Royalty shoes...made of silver and gold

Martina & Alex...osmosis

Osmosis models

Cowboy Boot...from a display, never worn (nice ad campaign)

Royal Men's shoes

Don't forget- Pink Day and Permission Forms Tomorrow!

I know that this is a late post, but I want to pack a bit of info in this post and it's Lucy's swimming night so you all know it's a busy one for me (especially when my husband's on afternoon shifts).

For this week these are the things we have covered:

Language: Soundtrack Assignment was assigned and started this week. Due date: April 23, 2012 and presentations start that week. We will be doing presentations of the 4 best songs from the album and that will happen in Language the week of the 23rd - 27th.

Math: Number Sense and Numeration finished, test given today. New unit on Geometry starts next week.

Geography: Got up to p.39....studying population characteristics...working on our inference skills to answer: "What is the data telling us, can we make connections about the patterns that we see?".

Health: Growth and Development finished. Eating disorders/Drug abuse research projects to begin.

Science: Covered osmosis today. Did a couple of demos in class...we will be tracking the results. Talked about the concepts today. Here's a video on the whole thing, that we will watch next week. Almost finished cells...moving to Water Systems!

Art: Final project assigned today. See success criteria attached below.

Here are some examples:

That's all that's coming up for now. There will be more posts next week...so sorry, but am not feeling well these days and the traffic in Toronto is horrific. Yesterday it took me an hour and a half just to drive home!! I was exhausted from the drive!

Below you will find a bunch of pictures from our "Girls Day" at Satec, a class picture from yesterday when Ms.Lawrence our student nurse left and we had a "Cake Party", as well a photo of Lucy from the swimming lessons...she is darn cute! Have a great night, and I'll see you tomorrow! ;)

Satec beginning of the day

End of the day group shot at Satec

Good-bye Ms.Lawrence (can you see her?)

Short girlfriend at her swimming lessons! So proud of her rainbow sparkle bikini

Twos-day!

Hello All! Today was the day where sibling portraits were taken and other students all over the school had their photos taken. By the time they got to us we were a bit delirious from the whole day and definitely not in the mood for photos!

We kicked the Chocolate Bunny Campaign off today and we had a pretty good day of sales. We made a good profit today and hopefully students will bring in their quarters to win one of 16 chocolate bunnies. Thanks to C.R. and D.D. for their energetic and fun announcement this morning. As well as K.H., R.C., S.R., A.B. and T.C. for their posters! They look great! We are raising money for grad and the grad trip so...hopefully more tickets will be sold!

Homework Reminders:
Math p. 172 + 173 #4-14 and today's math was to do either the review or the practice test on pages 174-177. We will do some review tomorrow in our math teams and then the final test will be at the beginning of next week.

Geography p.29 #1-6

Student of the Month - due Tuesday (after the long weekend) criteria is at the top of the page

Art: We started a new mini project due next week Thursday. You are to do your name or nickname in bubble letters. They must be 3D, they must be in colour and the design must have one of the typical stylistic elements on it (shimmery star, bubble highlight, bubble patterns, dripping effect). Please see below. Have fun!

You will find a bubble letter template at the following link: http://www.graffiticreator.net/

English: We also started talking about the soundtrack assignment for the novel wrap up. Today we watched some music videos and saw how different people can interpret a song and how it can change a mood in a scene. Assignments will be handed out tomorrow, and groups will be chosen. Here is one of the videos we watched, and we thought it was a good music to mood match.

I leave you with a little snapshot of Lucy's recital costume. She is over the moon that she will look like a princess...and was pleased that she was so beautiful. I am looking forward to her theatrical dance debut in June. How fantastic! See you tomorrow!