Beautiful Tuesday Sept 28th

It turned out to be a lovely afternoon- I am so confused how to dress these days!!

Monday's pro-d day was about Assessment for Learning which in a nut-shell is analysing and presenting to students the Learning Intentions for the work that they are undertaking in the classroom in order that they can see the journey and the process of improving their own learning and skills. I do think that the older students are and the more they can reason the easier it is to help them see where they are in the process of learning so we can find a path for them to follow that will get them to really respect their own and others' independent learning. It was interesting.

Tonight's homework
tomorrow I will be conducting a redo for spelling test #1- anyone is welcome to redo it but 10 students MUST redo and their job is to study for it again tonight
Spelling Test #2 is on Thursday (next 12 words on the list)
Math - today we did a booklet on the place value of decimal numbers- most students have page three of the booklet to do or to complete for homework (some didn't take it home!!!)
the Personal Planning activity that was set Friday and was due today was very disappointing- 2 students completed it!! That activity is now overdue and is expected to be turned in by all students!!
FYI Sent home today a PAC letter regarding the Oct 21st Carnival and a request for donations
Still looking for verification forms, one parent-contact form and any t-shirt orders

General Day
Was it the long weekend or the short term memory about the nature of the personal planning activity that resulted in two students doing the expected work over the weekend????? Personally I think it was a little of both- need to rethink long weekend assignments I guess.

Started the day returning the 1st spelling test- about 10 atudents need to redo it to improve their performance and there will be a chance tomorrow but they need to 'want' to do some serious study and make an effort.
We prepped for the 2nd test today by examining the words and why they are on the list. We completed an activity that had the students work with the 12 words on a double puzzle.
Most were very engaged - some needed to focus a bit more on the task and work more diligently to get it completed.
I encourage students to help one another with the assignments but discourage  intereference in the working process of  other students.

Music was next and it was conducted at the computer lab today.

Math - today we tested the research that maintains that the human brain can only retain so many numbers in a combination. This is an introduction to the processes of mental math. In a class reflection of the activity the students realised that
a) their brains need to be warmed up just like their bodies do for a workout
b) that once they had completed a few samples, their rate of success was better and
c) confidence was greatest when students knew what they were doing
Not rocket science but what was proved is that the average human brain can only remember 7 numbers forwards and 5 or 6 numbers in a backwards sequence!!!

Next we looked at decimal place value and placement - the students have a practise booklet for practise work tonight. Mrs. Kurki provides some learning assistance in our class from 11:20-12 Monday through Thursday. That means she will be available in two math classes and two language arts classes.

DEAR time after lunch- getting better

French (FSL French as a second Language)
- un mot cache (word puzzle): les phrases pour communique (communicating). Some students are still a little resistant to the pronouncing of the French language- we really need to work on promoting language acquisition.
More about French and the necessity of preparing for high school classes later.

Phys Ed. It was such a nice day we played a class game of California Kickball outside- the game started well but by the end of the session we had some issues with misbehaviour and silly antics. I suggested that we have a class meeting to determine what participation behaviours should be assessed for Phys Ed.  For the most part though it was a good game and I appreciated the fair play. I think most students enjoyed it.

Art time was squeezed out by the end of the day- it was 2:45pm by the time we returned to class- I will always try to find some extra time for art in the coming days. As a class we are still challenged with transition time. We completed agendas and went over the homework. I gave out the letters from PAC regarding the carnival and the dimissal bell was not long after.

It was a good day- quite a few absent- hope everyone will be back soon!!
Have a nice night.
Mrs. J.