Friday, February 4th

Thursday was a successful day according to Ms. Drenka's notes which were very detailed about how well the students managed the day. Good job.
Congratulations go out to the boys' basketball team who had a win over the GHE (Garibaldi Highlands) after school last night.
Gung hay fat choy (Happy Chinese New Year) Welcome to the year of the Rabbit.

Homework 
Only the incomplete Ch7 science work and vocabulary word search.(good news is that most are now all caught up)
Still have 4 UBC forms to receive and everyone (Matt, Antonio, Thomas and Lucas) said Monday :)
A school newsletter was distributed and sent home yesterday

General Day
 I requested the cooperation of the students because I am still not feeling 100% and don't have much of a voice. The DPA session was fabulous and everyone participated in a sportsmanlike manner and had a great deal of fun- I see so much improvement in their general ball handling skills and team work. Great way to start the day.

Word Nerd our class novel was such a hit today the students asked for another chapter and I was only too happy to oblige- while I read with the aid of a microphone, the students imaged their artictic interpretation of the main characters and after the chapters, we had an Art Gallery walk of their creative imtreptretations. They did an amazing job. We ahve completed up to Ch 22 now and the students are still laughing. What's not to like?

Science introduction to a new section of the unit. Group poster activity for Ch8: The Earth's Moving Crust.
We discussed the concept of Pangea and shared some basic information that we know of have seen on shows about the theory of plate tectonics. Some of the students have watched a few documentaries and have a working knowledge of the science behind the theories. Good to know as it will guide my instructional  planning. It is such an interesting unit- I love it. Considering the weather we are experiencing globally it is also very timely.
The students worked in six teams of four or five to preview the chapter 8 vocabulary, concepts and topics and created a poster web of their discoveries. This way I can ensure that, without me boring them to tears, they have at least a peer based perception of the chapter's main ideas.
The results were colourful, insightful and impressive. It showed me their ability to work together (only one team had problems) and that they are very capable of summarizing main ideas without having to read every word.

indoor lunch due to weather

DEAR time- wow - very good today. Still allowing some to catch up on science so they can start afresh with Ch8 work without any old assignments hanging over them!! Inpressed with reading time and concentration today.

Art continuation of the different projects we have on the go- yesterday they all recieved an Egyptian piece to colour- some continued with that. Others worked on the Landscape project and some planned their rotation (transformation) pieces. It did get a little noisy but I see progress.

Computers as a 'thank-you' for such a great day (and the fact that they have worked hard this week) I allowed a half hour of free time at computers today. I think they enjoyed it- it's funny how they sre so much quieter when they are working on thier own at computers!! I appreciated it too as it allowed me to get a jump start on the Blog.

3pm Dismissal came before we knew it.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. See you back here Monday :)
Mrs. J.