Friday Oct 7th TGIF

I wish everyone a Happy Canadian Thanksgiving (that's just incase I confuse my American readers :)
Remember to enjoy a family dinner whether it is turkey or tofu and I'll see you all on Tuesday October 11th.

Homework and Reminders
Nothing new
The posters (French), the novel  and math work that did not get completed this week was done in class this afternoon during art/organizational time (less art time for those who need to catch up on curricular assignments)

Reminders
Oct 10th -no school
Oct 11th nurse will visit Gr 6. with information for shots (November, 2011)
Oct 14th spirit day- twins dress the same as a friend and come as identically as you can :)
Oct 20th picture day and 5-8pm Halloween Carnival at school

General Day
Daily French- learned the phrase l'action de grace (Thanksgivig)

Science; topic: 4 main needs of all living things - reading from respective texts Gr 6 and Gr.7 texts have the relevant information on topic in Ch1 pp. 6-9 inclusive. After a review of the meanings and elements of habitat shelter, food, water and oxygen which included the water cycle and the miracle of photosynthesis, we read and then we headed to the computer lab to do the first quiz on-line.
Students did quite well but the neat thing about the results of an on-line quiz is that it instantly assess and provides the correct answers for the questions students may have had incorrect and then students can try again and improve scores :)
Reading a science text is quite different from a novel or work of fiction and needs a different set of reading skills for zeroing in in the information that the text provides.The biggest hurdle this year will be to guide the students into paraphrasing (putting textual info. into their own words) textual information into something that they truly understand- students are very good at parroting text but the real question has to be whether or not they understand what they have read and written.

Math 7 today we finally completed the examp-les on text Ch2 pp.58 and 59. We looked at how written answers need to be organized for ease of work and assessment. I was fortunate to have Ms. Masterson because she taught high school math and science in Ontario and she was able to back up the advice I was providing to students about always showing their working. I encourage use of the answers at the back of the text (which actually aren't always correct either) so when students work I insist that they show their working and even if the final answer is incorrect I can still assess the method used to reach the answer. 1 mark for a correct answer- 3 marks for working, correct answer and final statement of answer (short phrase). Today I showed the students visually what I was looking for in future assignmnets.
Also introduced today was the TPS strategy (Think, Pair, Share) for working on numeracy problems. 3 mins independent thinking on the given problem, 3 minutes working through the problem with a partner and 3 minutes in a group- then we share different solutions and methods for solving the problem of the day on the board in class for all to share and learn various ways to problem solve.
Today's problem if you are so inclined to try it out was:

Ski lift tickets numbered 100-800 are part of an incentive random draw for a free cup of hot chocolate. Any ski tickets whose three digits add (sum) up to 8 will receive a free cup of hot chocolate at the cafeteria. If all tickets sold- how many free hot chocolates were given out?

Answer on Tuesday's Blog: hint that this is easily solved by using the pattern of diminishing return(s)
Some students have already solved it :) However, we will follow it up in class on Tuesday.

Silent Reading- some having a difficult time focusing this afternoon! Still have a few wandering the class looking for a book and then another book and then another book....get my drift!? drives me nuts...sit down and read already, sheesh!

Hello Friday Organization 20 minutes- you think this would be easy BUT it is a major challenge for some and even when I direct the clean out there are still a couple of students who have difficulty getting all their ducks in a row. Clean out desks of 'homeless' paper, tidy desk with books on one side and binders and two pocket folder on the other, have only daily necessities for writing and working in your desk and put everything else into your class bin - no scissors, glues , felt pens and /or other miscellaneous items in desks, please and thank-you. We're still working at it in October but they will soon (I hope) get the hang of my nitpicky expectations.

Art- haven't had much time this week for artistic endeavour so during the rest of the afternoon, the following things took place

• any student not finished the Ch 5 novel work did so before art except T who promises to have it Tuesday
• French posters were completed except for a few students who told me they were (the posters) at home: Hannah, Tesla, Eric and someone else (I'll check this weekend and ask on Tuesday)
• Remembrance Day posters were continued and
• I introduced a new project in which students use the letters in their name to create an acrostic that describes who they are i.e Cathy: Caring, Artistic, Truthful, Happy and Young (hey, I am liking this imaginary kid :)) You know you need a weekend when...

Anyway- the class was a bit of a disaster zone tonight. Popcorn doesn't tend to stay in bags or in mouths it seems! Thanks to the ladies who did MEGA bags of popcorn today, I know the students enjoyed them.

My timing was off this afternoon and I dismissed my students five minutes early- no one corrected me- I wonder why- you all owe me five :)
Have a great Thanksgiving long weekend. Enjoy.
Mrs. J.