Hope everyone had a restful and happy Spring Break- it was nice to see the sun this past week- the promise of spring and warmer weather. I feel rested and ready to embark on an exciting last term for my grade sevens - I have been working on a newsletter which will go home this week -(maybe tomorrow) as I have some exciting plans but need to get all my 'ducks in a row' first.
I have just spent some time arranging the seating that I ran by the students today for approval- only one student had an issue which I will monitor but other than that I think the students know that they have had a chance to give input and that the groups are needed for the nature of the projects and units of learning that we will be working on this term.
Homework
Novel- I requested before the break that students read at least up to the end of chapter five- I will be allowing daily reading time in the afternoon that students can take advantage of in class
Grade 8 registration is due
If you want a hoodie orders are now overdue
Please return Term 2 report envelopes and reflection sheets
General Day
Some housekeeping to start- seating plans, registratrion forms, hoodie orders, report card returns etc
Journal.write: I had some important questions to ask to help me with planning the term and specifically the next couple of weeks. I asked the students answered privately in their journals.
Q Did you read your novel over the break?
Q What year end awards are you interested in?
Q Will you be commited to participating in the year end fieldtrips we have discussed?
Q What units of learning are you looking forward to this term. Which are you nervous about?
Q What role would you like to play in the projects planned?
Finally, tell me about your Spring Break. I look forward to reading the answers to my nosy questions :)
Next we looked at reviewing the 8 parts of speech to create an 'interesting' sentence using modifiers and expansion phrases. We discussed the acronym CARE (change, add, rearrange and edit) for combining ideas into strong sentences without being repetitve and finally we considered the 'art of editing' and how we often feel that once a piece is complete that we don't want to reread or rewrite BUT that's what writer's do! We will be taking some more time with our writing pieces this term to edit more effectively- at least that is the plan!!!lol
For Math today we strted a review (pre-test) of what students could recall from their previous learning about geometry. Results were majority 50% of the material was recalled which is pretty good for having last looked in depth at geometry vocabulary and concepts a year ago! Now I know what has to be included in my unit plans for bringing everyone up to speed before we launch into anything new like pythagorus theorum!
DEAR was good once we got there- a bit of crazy energy after break -this group seems to be unique for getting more energized after a break than expending their energy during it- it would be an interesting study for someone so inclined to analyse why this is so!
I will be encouraging READING now during this time now that the end of term 2 has come and gone!
Social Studies was challenging for silliness and interruptions. We used the text to look at the project planned for keeping a virtual (fictional) travel journal and what it entailed. We completed a look at India's ancient caste system for a comparison to the Greek way of life. Today we generally looked at Greek mythology, Greek language influences and read the introduction to the 'good life' as conceived by the ancient Greeks.
What is the 'good life'? generated some interesting ideas but it was a challenge to control classroom discussion for long! I have put the students on notice that they will be undertaking a group newspaper project for the social studies units this term (Greece and Rome).
Phys. Ed. Took us a while but we managed to play at least three round of 3-3 line hockey. Good way to end the first day back to the grindstone :) They played well and the teams were more even -score 6-5. Good work in goal Thomas and Callista.
3pm Dismissal
Have a good evening.
Mrs. J.
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