Wednesday, May 25th

Having a few difficulties with the Blogger program tonight but I am finally on...

Wednesday disappeared faster than a speeding bullet (not that there were any speeding bullets!)- my students tell me that I have some 'weird' turns of phrase and that more often than not they don't 'get' me!!
Today I said something about how collecting homework was like 'dancing around the mulberry bush' and they just looked at me and said "What are you talking about? What's a mulberry bush?"
What to say- when I was a lass "Here we go round the Mulberry Bush" was a children's nursery rhyme and song! I shared but my students thought it was 'lame'!
I also think it might be the leftover Scottish sense of humour that can be both self deprecating and sarcastic. In Scotland, we laugh at sarcastic humour and say 'touche' and try to outdo each other but here, even after all these years, people sometimes think I am being nasty instead of humorous- guess it depends on perspective and how seriously people take the comments. Lighten up people- life's too short not to have a laugh at your own or someone's else's expense...

Anyway...
Homework
Socials- now on to Day 6 (Olympia) in our Greek travelogue- students had two computer sessions to get this underway.
Science Ch4 Review and crossword (zzzzz- it's getting old)

Reminders
Guess the 10 students on the track team really wanted to go tomorrow- guess what? they managed to bring in their permission forms and payment (well all but one- that's a record!!!)

Now for camp, I still have 6 students who say they want to go but when I issue the permission forms tomorrow (due back by June 1st) they will not receive the permission and waiver until they return the commitment forms. That means they may not be able to go to camp June 6/7- better get off the 'potty'.
It's also time to pay the $50 (or $30 for those who sent a deposit)

UBC research- six students will not be taking part in the UBC study as they have not returned forms despite being issued them twice

General Day
Unit 4 Greek and Latin roots: today we analysed words that we use everyday using the roots of graph, cycl, act, tact and mem
Today's phrase was mea culpa and we roughly translated it to mean in today's terms My Bad! (it's my fault)

Degrees of Adverbs was our grammar focus:  positive, comparative and superlative- we discussed the various uses and methods of using adverbs of degree and after a class chart of the more irregular examples like bad, worse, worst and good, better, best, we completed and corrected an activity on class.

Poem frame- Dumb and Dumber- it is a poem which uses adverbs of degree as in ...
dumb: pouring coffee into my cereal
dumber: walking into a cement pillar (in HSSS's multi purpose area which was full of students) because I wasn't looking where I was going
dumbest: driving on the wrong side of the road wondering why I can't read the road signs!
(Can you tell these are all bona fide examples of yours truly?)
So we shared the dumb things that we have done or other people have done and we had a laugh and then we looked at Bruce Lansky's poem - I had some examples from former students which I read and before recess we started the process of trying to create our own poems along the same theme. Needs a follow up.

Math collected the area and perimeter homework math from yesterday that students had the opportunity to complete to 'make up' for the review test. I received 18 (which is in keeping with the numbers of students being successful in math and other pursuits) Thank-you to the 18 who showed me they wanted to be responsible for their learning and work [and to the other 12 keep trying to accept some responsibility for your own learning because there will be many, many opportunities.] Two thirds are pulling their weight- what of the other third?
Today I did a pre-quiz for the upcoming operations with fractions unit to see what the students knew already or could remember from other grades. This will help me plan the unit. I asked a confidence question:
On a scale of 1-10 how confident are you with fraction operations ? Results are very telling and very consistent with recent results...
1-4 low confidence 11
5-7 average 9 students
8-10 strong 9 students
So there is that third thing happening again. It is very interesting.
I like to finish the year with the fractions unit because we have already worked on decimals and percent and generally in high school it is often the first unit they start with.

Computer lab provided time for the Socials travelogue- the Factoids about Olympia w/s for our Day 6 excursion was to help those who were having difficulty deciphering their notes from yesterday's super interrupted class! Time was for the most part used wisely.
Sometimes I'd like to have the ability to have parents see how their child is working (or not). I think it would be a real eye opener for some!

lunch time -shot put practice- tomorrow's the Meet in Whistler- last practice to set a target distance. Thank-you weather- it didn't rain on us.

Dear time (I had some lunch!)
... and so the afternoon disruption starts with a few and spreads to a few more until it gets to the point some have to 'take their leave' before our afternoon classes are a write-off! By the way the majority were either eading or working so it's all good...

The students in question managed to get some Science work done in the office with Mrs. Paxton. The whole class says 'thanks'.

Personal Planning- having now learned about the male and female reproductive system, we will be looking at the development of a baby throughout the three trimesters. The students were eager to discuss the controversial topic of abortion but for now, while not meaning to dampen their opinionated spirits, I intend to leave debate until we have information. I need to introduce 'debate' as informed presentation of a stand (understanding) on an issue and not an emotional argument based on high spirits and disinformation. It will be
part of the equation but not until we have reached a point of  balance.

offered more computer time for the socials work- not quite as well used as this morning's session but there is still forward movement which can only be a good thing :)

Class group photographs were handed out- ask to see it- I thought they were great.

Phys Ed
European handball
Two lines, four teams and a ball (volleyball) - great workout- some great ball movement and defense- good way to finish the day. Score 3-2 so the teams were even and all students did a great job of following the 'crease' rules and not allowing aggression to get in the way of a fair game. Good job.

3pm Dismissal
Bike Race after school tonight
Have a dry evening and rest up for the Track meet tomorrow.
Mrs. J.