Hope everyone has a very hearty Monday !! We had an interesting buzzy, busy day!
Homework
Unit 18 spelling vocabulary for Thursday this week
Unit 18 activity (started in class) Still waiting for approx 9 Unit 17 vocabulary activities from last week!!
Head's Up
Hot Lunch forms will go home tomorrow
Family Groups tomorrow
Short week - no school Friday- Pro-D day- I am going to a workshop on mathematics instruction using AFL (Assessment for Learning) practices after hearing Dr. Art Hister give me some much needed health pointers
General Day
Same old routine Monday morning- return spelling Unit 17 results and prep. this week's Unit 18 vocabulary- many words have some tricky double consonants
I used the history of St Valentine's Day to create a hidden message in the students' vocabulary activity today. Trivia Time:
Did you know that in ancient Rome on February 15th, the festival of Lupercal was celebrated? This precursor to today's Valentine's day was a fertility festival and women thronged in the streets of Rome hoping to be touched in the shoulder by one of the young male runners who ran a foot race around the city. Shakespeare used this in the opening Act of his play Julius Ceasar.
I'm a fountain of useless information!!! (great metaphor there)
Next I read Chapter 2 of our class novel , Dear GC Please Marry my Mom, so far it hasn't quite caught on like Word Nerd (I was afaid of that but, oh well, the students enjoy being read to!!) I think the character Amanda has been written into this novel though- we'll see where it goes :)
Math- Concept Review time.
We created 'reference cards' so to speak- some students needed metric information, some needed the order of operations acronym, others needed to remind themselves of the formulae for area, volume or circumference (Pi) and a few needed to review how to find a percentage discount or convert a fraction into a decimal and into a percentage. There are so many concepts that we have covered in math it is not possible to cover them all but sometimes a bit of general review really helps focus a brain when a certain question comes up.
11-12 FSA Numeracy section in the computer lab. 40 multiple choice questions on-line. Calculators were able to be utilized and evryone had access to an on-line calculator or a hand held depending on preference.
You could have heard a pin drop! The students were very focused and I was like a proud mama to see them all counting on all their fingers and toes (joking!!) I appreciated the acknowledgement from some student that the math concept review helped them with some memory recall :) That's what it was for...sometimes the planets align.
We are nearly finished with this years FSA (Oh please...,Oh please...) Just have the students who have missed sections due to absence to catch up.
DEAR time much needed as the rainy lunch hour brought out the 'milling around' crowd that don't know what to do woith themselves!! I am insisting now on reading of novels or nonfiction books during this class reading time.
Socials- some people have been asking about their ancient civilizations socials projects and I am happy to report today that they are all returned - every last one :) I was waiting for approx. three students but realized that it wasn't fair to have the whole class wait for the students who haven't completed the work. So... dah dah....drum roll please....the projects were returned with individual and personalized assessments.
I reviewed the process and ensured that the students took the time to read over my comments and didn't just look at the grade letter! The assessment is meant to be a review of strengths and areas for future improvement.
I have copied all the templates on which I completed the assessment for each student and will be sending them home in the Second term report card envelope so you can see your son's or daughter's results for yourself as I usually find that these assessments don't always make it home. If you would like to know the project results before the term 2 report please just contact me or drop me an e-mail and I'll be happy to oblige.
The results were impressive for the most part considering for some this is the first formal and in-depth research project. The research was thorough and the presentations creative- I encouraged use of the outline for the content order of the project and most learned the importance of the presentation components of a project and how they both enhance and are integral to the complete project.
Valentine's Day activity: Olive, My Love!!!!
Each student received a 'heart' into which they wrote their name. I ead them a cheesy kid's story called Olive, My Love (Olive is a beagle who tries to return a heart that she thinks is lost to its rightful owner, Dexter, the winged dog, only to find out it was hers and was a gift of love Awwwww) It was silly but I hoped to get the students in a good mood for writing some nice messages to each other in the hearts so hopefully everyone took away a filled heart today!! I took part too and had to write a message of appreciation in each students heart - they (the students) completed a heart for me too :)
Happy Valentine's Day. We don't need Hallmark!!
Phys. Ed. as promised the students' request for line soccer was today's activity. Lots of fancy footwork but I have to get my numbers right as the call outs were a little repetitive thanks for the understanding - no whining just a few students asking VERY reasonably for the numbers to be given equal opportunity. Consider it done- I'll work tonight on combinations that cover all numbers- sorry guys and gals. But, you still 'heart' me, right?
3pm dismissal- yeah our bells are back in working order so we didn't go over time although I don't think the boys would have minded much as they had basketball practice after school.
Have a great Valentine's night. More fun at school Tuesday- can't wait...
Mrs. J.
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