A very royal Friday April 29th

Congratualtions to Mr. and Mrs. Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. No, I didn't stay up to watch it as I am sure there will be lots of post coverage for the next few months (years?) until maybe P. Harry marries, no doubt.

Well, after a good night's sleep and a l-o-n-n-n-g-g-g refelction on yesterday afternoon, I managed to get it back together and we all managed to have a decent Friday.
I asked them to think about the part they are personally playing in the tension that can exist in class- I acknowlegded my part in the escalation of 'button pushing' behaviour and we all tried again :)

Homework
nothing new ... however, there are a handful who need to complete
Novel activites as they are getting more and more behind (by May 13th lucky for some) I will be expecting to wrap up the novel activities
That's it, enjoy the weekend...
Reminders
Scholastic Book Fair until May 5th
Some students still have to pick up (remit payment) fro hoodies ordered!

General Day
Personal Planning: Began today with a retrospective on who they saw themselves 'being' and 'becoming'
I'd like to encourage those who want to go the extra mile for themselves and because they love something to go for it and not be harrassed by those that are jealous or have negative things to say! We had a bit of a look at different personalities:

• those who move and shake and MAKE things happen for others and for themselves
• those who are happy to participate and join in if something is already organized
• those who have difficulty committing- might show interest if it isn't too much work (then quit when things get tougher)
• those who didn't know there was anything happening in the first place (nobody told them!)
• those who never join or participate seriously but enjoy harrassing those who do

I encouraged each student to consider which category they might fit into- just to consider- it wasn't discussed generally. The students were very receptive and I thought it was worthwhile...

Reality Check: I was encouraged that a couple of students had their hands up and wanted to speak :)
However, the only comments were polite reminders me that we were missing our gym time! SMASH!
I organized a Phys. Ed. time for later in the morning!

Science: Solid to Liquid to Gas- today's hands on experiment was conducted in the undercover area due to the mini-explosions that would get dangerous and messy in the classroom. It was a look at time needed for all three states to be reached and an analysis of the liquid solutions used.
We took a solid Efferdent tablet and added a variey of liquids (water, vinegar or a mixture of both) to a small lidded container and timed how long it took to blow the lid off the container with the trapped gas created by the dissolution of the bicarbonate of soda in the tablet. All told, only one container did not explode perhaps due to a faulty lid (or interference of imaptient students) all blew approx. 8-12 feet in the air accompanied by screams and general hullabaloo of the kind that science is supposed to inspire :)

thank goodness it was sunny today

Back in class we used a laboratory report template to report on the experiment individually. Our results showed that the smallest (taking the longest time) explosions happened with the mixture of water and vinegar (one didn't blow at all), the vinegar on its own was second timing but had the highest exploding caps while the plain cold water mixture was first to go off but height wise perhaps a couple of feet lower than the vinegar exploding caps. It was fun although I still had to ask some to come off the kiddies' playground equipment apparently it was much more attractive than the experiment on a sunny day!

From 11:20- noon Phys. Ed.
We took ourselves out into the sun (although the wind was still a bit cool) and we set up a game of Goldrush. Picked teams (20 minutes!!)- then they complained that the teams weren't fair! Fixed that- then established rules before the game- 5 minutes
We started the game - after ten minutes they were all upset  that each team seemed to be following different rules. Called both teams in to agree to the SAME rules. Resumed the game 10 minutes later it was time for lunch. Well at least we all got some fresh air! lol
Goldrush did not 'pan' out!
They had originally wanted to play Capture the Flag in the woods around the school but the bears are up and at it after a long winter nap and they are hungry so in the interests of safety and being Bear Aware I asked them to chose another game.

DEAR Was good today :) yeah! I chose to turn a bit of a blind eye to those who were doodling and just give myself a reading police break.

Tuck Everlasting-  90 minutes, Walt Disney- I am embarrassed to admit that my copy is an old fashioned VHS tape and that the students had to hook it up by removing the plugs from the DVD player so we could get it started. Oh my- I have become my mother! (sorry mom :))
Now we can compare and contrast the movie with the novel.

Funny story- the boys really had a reaction to the 'kiss' scene (which is really quite sweet) between the characters of Winnie and Jesse (Eeewwww!) and after that they had a bit of a difficult time reamaining interested in the story to the point that some even missed the point that the Tuck family were immortal.
However, there were still tears and appreciation of the story once it concluded.

3pm Dismissal
Have a nice weekend.
I'll be involved in the Spring Chicken (I'm the Spring Chicken lol) sale for the curling club tomorrow. See you Monday. It'll be May 2nd already.
Mrs. J.