Tuesday, May 24th

It is always difficult returning to the school schedule after a long weekend but ,boy, it was one challenging day in the classroom today...

Homework
Math- an opportunity to complete a 'make-up' for the area and perimeter unit- it was started in class and is due tomorrow (read further if you care to see why a 'make-up' was necessary)
Socials Day 5 Delphi: Greek trip travelogue
Science Ch 4 review and crossword
Reminders
10 students to return track and field forms if they want to take part in the Meet Thursday 26th
6 students holding out on the UBC forms
7 students apparently are interested but may not be able to participate in Camp if they do not return the commitment forms!!

General Day
I drafted a one page worksheet this weekend called Choices and Consequences
I am having a great deal of difficulty with students not  finishing or not following through with various responsibilities and commitments. I wondered if they would be able to identify consequences for themselves (and, from the results, apparently they can). What still remains is the general malaise of not seeming to be phased by the possible consequences. I'm no closer to an answer- maybe there is no answer to be had at this point in the year. As the year winds down, time is....too!

Students need to be responsible for their own learning and responsibilities.

French After a translation assignment, we completed the basic questions from the comic book, Bonne Fete, and reviewed the vocabulary for questions in francais.

Band

Math
Today I returned the review tests for the Area and Perimeter Unit that we completed on Thursday of last week. Please be aware that the test consisted of examples that we had done in class, that the students were sent home to study as a guide for the test and that we had solved in class together to make sure they had access to the correct solutions and methods. Before the review itself, I provided each student with the formula and allowed them to use the formula in the form of a 'cheat sheet' for the test.

So, I was more than a little disappointed that half of the class (14) achieved less than 49% which means that the other half (16) achieved more than 49% the top assessment being 80%. What's going on? Three main issues:
1. test-taking skills are weak- many students did not follow the test directions to show the full working for the examples and some missed or left blank an important section
2. few students (if any) bothered to study for the test or review the class booklet from which the test examples were extracted
3. skills particularly for finding the area of circles seem to need more practice! [legitimate]
Today I returned the tests and we reviewed two major sections together.
For classwork (and to be completed for homework tonight) all students were issued a booklet of more area and perimeter examples. Completing this booklet tonight will (in my opinion) show me two things 1. the students who complete it are commited to showing me they know and can successfuly use the skills and 2. they realize the importance of completing and reviewing math work at home.
It will help me revise the individual achievement/assessment of the students' area and perimeter skills.
No booklet = no revision or remediation of skills.

Our next unit will be fractions

DEAR time
it seems a few of my students can no longer use a quiet 20 minutes to read quietly without interfering in the business of others!
Good news is the majority still can! Hope springs eternal!

Socials- what a gong show!
It honestly took 20 minutes to get to a point in class that I had everyone's attention and could start the instruction and presentation for the Day 6 trip to the Sanctuary of Olympia.
After a few interuptions and a couple of student re-assignments we managed to get the presentation underway for 10 minutes before students wanted to know when we were going to Phys. Ed.!!  So frustrating!
I felt like saying that we would NOT be going to the gym but it doesn't do anyone any good to 'cut of their nose to spite their face'. So I used approx 10 moinutes of our gym time completing the socials presentation to a certain point.

Phys. Ed. We did get to the gym and we actually got 10 minutes more than our time (so NONE was missed) as the grade three class didn't come right away-( thanks, grade threes- I owe you one :)
The grade sevens played hand ball- oh my, they kind of forgot about the strategy but everyone seemed to enjoy the game (kind of- there are always complaints) even though we had to run two shifts. I made sure everyone played who wanted to play.

Back in class, we finshed the day in Olympia presentation and I reminded them about the homework especially the MATH booklet. We packed up and guess what approximately five students left the class withoit their math booklet. WOW- too bad for them!
3pm Dimissal
Have a decent evening
Mrs. J.