Halloween October 31st, 2011

Well, it is the BIG day...or really the BIG night tonight
Apparently the weather is supposed to hold so it will not be dark and miserable but dark and cool I guess. I'll be manning the door at home for all the trick or treaters.

NO HOMEWORK !! NO POINT!! We'll get back on track tomorrow when they are so tired they won't complain! (evil laugh)

I have been trying to pull of a disguise as Rapunzel today but some students had to ask me who I was and one colleague asked me if I was Broomhilda so you can imagine that I am not exactly looking as sweet and innocent or pretty as the lovely princess from Tangled!!
 I told my students that it was a medieval story and Rapunzel was a maiden (in my world an old maiden) who was so desperatley looking for escape she let the first knight climb up her hair braid and then ran off instead of getting married and was an old maid forever! I don't think they bought it. LOL

The students costumes were great- we had a parade assembly this morning and the recycled prize went to Nick in gr 5 who was a lego man- in old painted boxes- very cool.

I noticed my students costumes were influenced by TV and media but was happy to see a couple of girls who so love the Hunger Games (a fictional trilogy of stories set in the future) that they dressed as Katniss twins :) We had a brain surgeon/donor who apparently likes to carry her brain in a jar of food colouring- great red colour :) We had Kenny from Southpark aned Ronnie from Jersey Shore. We had some freaky Friday type costumes with masks and long black capes. We had the obligatory witches- very cool witches- some great ideas (imagine if you will a grass skirt for hair and a broom as a brush). Our class costumes rounded out with a kitty kat, a bunny rabbit and of course the Grim Reaper- no class is complete without one!
I would like to send a GREAT BIG (((hug))) and thanks to the generous mamas of Rowan, Teresa, Autumn, George and Eric who provided us with our Halloween afternoon goodies. I am very grateful for the donations for the hungry monsters :) We had some beautifully decdorated cupcakes, a vanilla thematic Hallloween cake, some munchies (chips etc), some gummy treats spiders (I think) and chocolate minis to go home on!! Merci.
The rest of the students send their thanks too.

General Day
Daily French was quick, we just did the date today

I shared Friday's notes from our visiting teacher (TOC) Miss Borsoff and was proud of how the day went. FYI on Friday the students completed (well most did) the next section of the Science chapters, had computer time for the Reader Response #2, Math was problem solving- I'll post them a bit later this post and the afternoon was reading. personal planning and art. The TOC said that the students listened well and were a 'really nice bunch'. It is nice to come back to school and get great news about the students. Great job everyone. And, thanks also to Miss B.

Returned Spelling test #5 (redo #4)
our next list is a cumulative list made up of words from lists #1-5 The students and I worked on the words (3 from each test) that were giving the most trouble. We have chosen 15 words and on Thursday, instead of a spelling test there will be a class spelling bee which everyone will participate in.
I like to promote the Spelling Bee that we enter every year and give students who might never feel confident enough to do the BIG one, a chance to try out the skills of public spelling in a small, safe class community first.
Instead of a spelling activity this morning we created ghoulish, gross menus for the Monster Cafe (fine dining for monsters, witches and ghouls)- the students didn't disappoint- on the menu were such items as
hairy eyeball soup, toe jamb salad, booger milk shake, spaghetti and eyeballs, fried human organs, slow cooked spider legs in mucus sauce and such sipping delicacies as puppy pop and giraffe drool drinks.
It was fun and creative.

Band

Math 7
briefly review the problems from Friday's math class and ensure the students are confident solving them
First one:
If there are 56 students who need to assemble for the school choir on four steps on stage, and each step had 4 more students than the previous step, how many students will be on each step?
Quick hint the correct answer is not, "I don't care"!!

Second one:
If a book has 250 pages, how many times will the number nine (9) be written on those pages?
Answers tomorrow for my mathematically minded parents although tonight is too busy for this kind of thing (maybe Wednesday?)

Next we corrected the work from last week's 1.5 Exponents worksheet together
We completed class with a quick review of BEDMAS- order of operations.

At 11:30am we assembled in the gym and had a costume parade from Kindergarten on up- it was kind of fun to see all the little students in their Halloween finery :)

Silent reading
class vote on movie for this afternoon's 'treat'
Thank you for the 'technological' assistance hooking up the correct wires and 'feeds' for the machines to work. This medieval old maid thanks thee from the bottom of the manor well!

We watched a semi- 'romantic' comedy together and I think the students enjoyed it from the laughter which is always good to hear- only two girls found the silliness too silly and opted instead to work on their haunted houses. Gotta love this age level- they are so hard to please but I do appreciate that they were, at least, polite about it.

During the movie we shared the student brought treats and saved energy for the evening.
The movie was just the right length and we managed to clean up for the last five minutes of class and get everyone packed up with all their costume bits and pieces that came off during the day out the door (not exactly in one piece).
If anyone has seen or finds a missing phone please let me know. Thanks.

Have a wonderful, safe and fun-filled Halloween- please be careful with candy in the dark- don't eat it until you get home and can see what it is. Carry a flashlight or flashing button for vehicles to see you. Don't wander off on your own- be with friends. Stay far away from fireworks. Finally get a good sleep and be reasonable with the amount of your candy 'treasures' that you chose to bring to school tomorrow. A little goes a long way and too high a blood sugar reading can cause fatigue and headache so be sensible with snacks.
See you tomorrow.
Mrs J.