December 7th Tuesday

Today was interesting- the first day of band classes- it was so neat to see the students all arrive with their instruments and they were so excited to start learning how to play them that I had to ask a few times for them to put their instuments away during our morning class time.
If anyone went home tonight with an instrument that is not his (or hers) can you please return it to class tomorrow as we have a lost flute which I am sure will turn up tomorrow. We had a very upset student after school tonight and I'm sure it was taken home accidentally by another student.

Homework
Nothing new unless some took home their socials text for some ancient civilizations research
Another night to complete the Math Reflections worksheet
Remember the Read your face off contest- the class MP3 draw and READ, read and read some more even if it is for research purposes :)
Heads Up
Christmas Community Care items- thanks to those who have already contributed

General Day
As part of both language arts skills and social studies, I used the 45 minutes before music class to introduce the students to the skills and procedures for good research and note-taking. Each student received a 'research package' which included a selection of graphic organizers for planning and note-taking.
I used the socials text to show students the four steps of research and the importance of recording sources. All of the research procedure information is included in the class text and today we located and read the tips for doing quality research and note-taking. Every student has what I consider to be the basic tools of beginning to read and note-take for their project.

Music- first band class- students were excited

After snack family groups assembly- we introduced our family groups by the names we recently voted on and the grade sixes and sevens sang Viva la Vida by Coldplay and it sounded excellent- what a great job. Congratulations.

After the assembly, we used the 40 minutes to lunch for actual research- it was rather noisy in class - we have to work on a more 'library like' research time!! I think good research like reading needs to be conducted in a 'hushed' environment so a person can really think and be productive.

DEAR time was used well :)
We took the opportunity to write a personal goodbye letter to Tony who is leaving us for Korea. It was so sweet. Tony was quite emotional and the students really rallied around him to say good luck and goodbye!!
We will miss him. Bye Tony (and James).

Before Phys Ed, we followed up on a story that we had discussed earlier this year about the Afghan refugee girl who was photographed by a National Geographic photographer in 1984 when she was 14. He went back to find her 17 years later in 2004 and National Geographic published her 2004 photograph next to the 1984 picture. We discussed the similarities and differences in the pictures. It ws very intriguing and the students managed to visually pick up a great deal about the life and hardship of the Afghan woman. How true the adage is that  'a picture is worth  a thousand words'.

Phys Ed. was a bit of a disaster!! I tried to follow up the dance routine that we were planning to do for the Christmas concert but let's just say I did not get a lot of help from many of the students who were disrespectful to each other as well as to my efforts made to help them polish the routine for the concert in 6 days. I guess I will have to change the plans which is too bad but at this stage in the year necessary!! I took them back to class early as I couldn't handle any more silliness.
In class we took the opportunity to play and sing the lyrics for the Christmas in Killarney song for the concert- the students have good voices and we finished the day on a better note than how I was feeling during the Phys Ed time.

3pm Dismissal came fast and everyone hugged Tony. Have a good evening - stay dry- see everyone tomorrow. Remember to look and see if you have an extra instrument at home by mistake. I have one upset flute player with no flute!!
Mrs. J.