Thursday March 18th

There will be NO homework this weekend as term 2 is complete and it's my turn to do my homework and get in the reports to the office on Tuesday 23rd. I started the process last weekend and spent this week trying to get students who were not quite complete some assignments to finsih them- some were successful others not so much!!!

Reports will go home after Mrs. Paxton has had a chance to read and review on Monday March 29th and student-led conferences will take place on March 31st. If you did not yet receive a sign up form just let me know and another will be forthcoming- if you can't make it and would like a chance to talk to me, e-mail or call the school and we can set up a time to meet outside of the multiple family half hours for student led conferences on another day.

General Day
Unit 20 LAST spelling test for Term2 and the year...
I took time to explain the Term 3 vocabulary unit.
For the rest of the year in 'spelling' we will be turning to a middle school vocabulary development unit which will encourage dictionary work, etymology and development of vocabulary usage in context. (the students have also requested a spelling bee using the spelling words from the first two terms- great idea- I will provide Scholastic book vouchers for the winners.

Music with Mrs McPhee

Math- Cross Canada time zones and working out flight durations factoring in time changes- sounds easy BUT it is (can be) a bit confusing naming and travelling forawrd and backward in time and out of different time zones (Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern, Atlantic and the extra half hour to Newfoundland/Labrador). We just stuck to Canada zones this lesson but I would like to delve into international zones from Greenwich Mean Time another day!!
I find it quite confounding that you can leave India at 7pm at night and arrive back in Canada before you left :) Lol

We also spent 20 minutes on card games- I learned four new games today although I think one was a ruse to see how gullible I was (the tongue game) in which you were supposed to gather three of a kind as quickly as possible and stick out your tongue!! The game moved fast and I was out because I didn't realize all the other players had their tongues out regardless of the cards they had the 'point' was to be aware who already had tongues out and not to worry about the cards just don't be last with your tongue out!!! Yeah- that was great math practice!!

BEDMAS game was good (thanks Huntington)- four cards up and one extra to represent the solution - if the student can determine a way to use BEDMAS using the four cards to find the solution on the fifth card, they win the hand. Cool and more sophisticated than me with my tongue out!!
The other games came to us from Raj and Navdeep and are played in India- I need more of a lesson from the boys before I can explain them but they tried to show classmates how to play today.

P.S. I'm still working on a formula for yesterday's problem about how many loaves after 30 days- I'm stumped. Any ideas among my parents?

Physical Education with Mr. Parker

DEAR time- I was impressed that the students wanted more reading time today - they read for nearly 40 minutes! They will be so primed for the daily sessions at high school where the practice will continue. I can't tell you how thrilled I am that the students are reading so seriously to the point that they are requesting more time. Love it.

Personal Planning to end the day- I think they may have been too tired to do it justice but I gave out a web to consider postive and not so positive ways to meet their needs. What's a thumbs up way to have fun? What's not such a great way to have fun? Perhaps it was my explanation but some had difficulty or just didn't really buy into the point of the activity. This is interesting as it kind of suggests that they maybe not be so sure what ways to meet their needs are not so great!!!

Before dismissal I went over the procedure for tomorrow's fieldtrip to UBC.
The busses will be leaving the school at 10am. Students have been asked to arrive at 9:45am for a head count not a head check (when I said that earlier one of the students thought I'd be checking heads before they got on the bus!!!!) There will be a stop if necessary at Britannia Beach. If travelling with families, students had to confirm today.
We will be seeing the Sweden verus Italy semi-final game at 12 noon- 2pm and we should be home by 4pm- dpending on rush hour traffic through Vancouver!!
Thanks for supporting the trip on a pro-d day. We are happy to be able to attend a Paralymipic event with our students.
I booked 160 tickets and I'm only left with 10 or 11.

See everyone on Tuesday March 23rd. Hopefully I'll have reports done and I'll have developed my brain at Terry Small's workshop for teachers on Monday March 22nd!!!
Have a fabulous weekend. Maybe see you tomorrow.
Mrs. J.