The dismissal bell rang as we were finishing up in the gym this afternoon so half of the class were out the door before the volleyball nets were dismantled... which means that if they do not have their homework tonight it is because they did not return to the classroom to collect it!! My bad- I'll set about getting that better organized for the future- the afternoons just seem to fly by!!
Homework
Unit 8 spelling words for Test Thursday (next 12)
Unit 8 spelling wordsearch
Math- complete the plotting of points on the graph paper (some had to redo it as their graphing scale was incorrect)
THINK- about a 'satsifying' ending to the novel, The Giver, as we are going to follow up today's discussion after the completion of the last three chapters to consider alternative endings.
General Day
New seating plan in effect today- I'm not completely sold on some of the combinations but they are easy enough to change- we'll see how it works out this week :)
Welcome Antonio from the Philippines (Manila)- today was his first day and I think he might be having a bit of culture shock- you know when you look at someone and just can sense that they are a bit uncomfortable? Well, that was Antonio today! Of course my Scottish accent probably didn't help much especially when I talk 100 words a minute! Our students made him very welcome and he is in good hands with the group of boys that whisked him off to a volleyball practice at lunch.
Spelling Unit 8 first test for the second term assessment- test Thursday- went over all words and meanings by syllable and prefix, suffix- part of speech etc. Then we completed a hidden phrase word search for the 12 words. Students will have time throughout the week to work on learning the words before the test.
Math - coordinate plotting of points on a Cartiesan graph of four quadrents. Today the students learned how to draw an accurate graph, plot points by (x,y) axis and managed to follow the directions to draw out the shape of the constellation called Cygnus (The Swan). It is always interesting to watch the students who have difficulty with precision (because it is not demanded from them as often as it could be?). Even the act of drawing a straight line is a major accomplishment. Graphing requires different kinds of math skills- the visual-spatial- hand-eye coordination, ability to create accurate lines, connect and create. I love it - it is such a neat unit.
Novel - finally- we managed to complete the last three chapters of the novel, The Giver, we had a brief discussion about the author's reason for concluding the book the way she did- some like it others do not. She (the author) maintains in her Newbery Award acceptance speech that she did it purposefully- we'll follow that up more on Tuesday. We will be writing different conclusions tomorrow!
Lunch- in day- too wet out there- boy's volleyball practice (girl's tomorrow)
DEAR time for reading - took a bit of cajoling on my part to get the students settled but they finally managed. Still having to convince some non-readers that looking at pictures is not reading!!
Mr. Juric ( our school counsellor) began the first of four 40 minute workshops on Bullying and Bystanding. It was interesting to see the class from an observer's perspective!! Today the students considered what the real issues were behind the prevalence of bullying- an interesting 10 minute video by the NFB called "The Bullying Dance" (it's on YouTube if you are interested) allowed the students a chance to watch an animation and becuse it was cartoon, they readily discussed what they saw happening.
They took a while to 'warm up' but were engaged once we managed to get the technology to work!!! (kind of - I forgot that the projector overheated !!!)
We finished the day in the gym- volleyball- it was noisy but the students all managed to get in a few 'games' with different peer group teams which were co-ed. There were a few wild voleyball shots but we all survived!! :) It is the first time I have seen a volleyball 'header'!!
Have a nice evening everyone. Stay dry.
Mrs. J.
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