Friday April 9th

Interesting weather today!

Homework
NO new homework this weekend
Bottle Drive Saturday
Forms, Forms, Forms (I have a list in the class as a visual reminder to students who are forgetting the forms that they need to return)
Hot Lunch forms out today

General Day
Started the day with a lesson on the basic moves of Karate with Mr. Juric our school counsellor- he taught a few self defense skills whike ensuring that they are used only when it is the last resort and you have to get out of a situation (there was a lot of groaning during warm up so many students have not been feeling well this week)

I finally remembered to bring the Viking runes that we had discussed last week were used by J.R.R. Tolkein in his story The Lord of the Rings. The Viking used them the same way we might consult our horoscope although they definitely were a bit more serious about the 'advice' the runes suggested (like the Oracle at Delphi perhaps in Ancient Greece). Today we tried a few private questions and did some 'readings' of the runic advice. Some students were surprised that the 'advice' was meaningful but really it is in the interpretation of the mind for the most part- the power of suggestion if you will.

For science I had prepared a What Am I? activity using 6 mystery items from my bathroom cabinet (mostly cosmetics) and the students worked well together to figure out what they thought they were- they managed to do a fabulous job and we were all very surprised how many chemicals are integrated into the products that are used on our hair, faces and bodies.

We finished our look at safety during science labs and are ready to start into the labs next week.

After lunch we went to our school speech assembly and listened to a very brave group of grade 4-7 students who had prepared speeches. Everyone did a great job and we were entertained by all the different toics and personalities. Three of our group will go to next Friday's District Speech Forum.

At computers today I introduced the students to the website of the Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org) . It is a site that has lots of information about the chemical contents of many of the products we use on our bodies every day. I found the site very interesting, educational and a bit scary actually - it rates products according to the types of ingredients used in the beauty and baby products.

The rest of the session the students checked out some Greek mythology images and had some free time.

Before dismissal we reminded everyone about the form needed and tomorrow's bottle drive. Thank-you in advance for all the support. I will be at the depot later in the day due to my Curling Club fundraiser that I will be involved with in the morning.
My son has a soccer game but after it he and my husband will drive some Highlands routes and bring the 'spoils' to the depot. Remember to bring rubber gloves and some clothes you don't mind getting icky and sticky. Thanks so much. See you tomorrow.
Mrs. J.