Oh boy, I know I have worked hard when I stink like a mouldy cloth at the end of the day!! Sorry, but really I need to buy more cotton breathable tops and send my 100% polyester away until it is really cold- well, enough about me- hope I haven't put you off the Blog tonight!!
Remember the Halloween Carnival is tonight- come and enjoy and bring a few extra dollars for the silent auction- some great goodies to be had :)
Homework and Reminders
As mentioned yesterday what follows is a specific list of assignments wanted (that means they have not yet been handed in and that the parties responsible for handing them in have until Monday morning Oct 24th to submit them)
Spelling activity #4 Eric
Reader's Response Ch 6-10 Brody, Tesla, Arsh and George
Socials Web Day I was Born Nic and Ethan
Venn Diagram for the Stonehenge activity George, Eric, Brody, Tesla and Nic
Science Gr. 7 questions on p15 Arsh, Nic and Autumn
Science Gr.6 Brody and Tesla
Manisha- if you are reading this, I found your spelling work- I had stapled it to another students- oops- no worry I knew you had hnaded it in. Sometimes I'm in too much of a rush collecting things.
Sarah remember the Spelling worksheet #3 which is at home :)
As you can see from this list we have truly been working hard to complete activities - everybody else has all these activites completed and handed in :)
I set no homework for Math 7 and I believe there is no new h/w for Math 6 but everyone is gone now and I can't confirm.
Reminders
we will be carving pumpkins on Monday afternoon (for the Railway Heritage Park display)
General Day
Daily French- same old, same old: date, weather and information about 'les photographies, aujourd'hui'
Thank-you to the photogrpher's helpers who really worked hard pretty much ALL day to work through the classes. Keanan and Manpreet did an excellent job- I saw them in action in our class and I guess they had done the routine so often by the time they arrived at us LAST they took over and I was 'chopped liver'- they didn't need me at all but I was there:)
Manisha and Ethan helped in the morning hours and I am sure they did a great job too. Thanks, you don't know how much we are grateful for your assistance :)
Spelling Test #4 and redo #3 after a bit of study time
As promised 'catch up' time for all the assignments and activities that need to be completed this week (we have been working on some for the last couple of weeks but it is time to get them 'off the table')
Students worked on Spelling activities, novel, web, venn diagram, science and art projects both in class and at the computer lab. So, everyone was working on their own independently although again the frustrating thing about noise level is it creeps up until I have to raise my voice or turn on the microphone to bring the noise level back to a 'working hum'.
I tried to explain to my students that for the brain to think and to work efficiently needs to have a certain level of focus and that can't happen if there is so much interruption that the brain gets 'shaken' (think of a snow globe). What tends to happen is the attention level can't be sustained and it is easier for the majority of students just to become social and chatty because they can't concentrate anymore- a class doesn't need to be silent but a 'working hum' is my misnomer for it. Honestly, there are a few students who can ignore what's going on around them or can efficiently multi-task (listen to music, eat watermelon and do their spelling hanging upside down from a chair) BUT research has shown that it is actually not good for us to continually multi-task and that's why I think the brain being overwhelmed is what is causing the surge of students who are being diagnosed as ADD. They haven't learned (or been taught) how to focus, how to organize and how to concentrate. I have a study skills unit that I intend to introduce with some introductory lessons from the MindUp program (guess what I'm doing for Pro-D?) More about that later because I am already off topic- sorry!
computer time was available as mentioned for students who preferred to word process or needed the printer.
Math 7
Quiz redo (six students)
Checked h/w (still about 10-11 students not doing any h/w) I need to get on that and while I can't MAKE them do it (and neither can parents really) perhaps if there are only one or two standouts, the culture will be one of a more positive show of homework (more care and respect for their own learning). One thing we don't want is to turn it into a battle against our 'control' because we will most likely lose.
Corrected the work together on factors, multiples and primes- most seem to be comfortable with the concept
introduces the concept of Scientific Notation- a fancy phrase for writing HUGE numbers as a number between 1-9 multiplied by a multiple of 10 using exponents to indicate the value
example: 3657483029000 is the same as 3.657483029 x 10 to the power of 12 expressed in scientific notation. 10 is the base number 12 is the exponent written like a cardinal nth on a base number (just can't do it on the computer) and that indicates that 10 is multiplied by itself 12 times to re-create the original numeral.
We also will be working on division skills and then on the order of operations (BEDMAS)
good class today- most students completed a subtracting decimals worksheet :)
silent reading- as it is Thursday/Friday so to speak we did organization of desks and binders (fit to be tied) and I produced a 'witch-hunt' list (very thematic for Halloween). The list was to let students know what they still needed to work on so they didn't have any homework for the weekend.
It was effective but I also let them know that I can't be chasing them down all the time and that they will be expected to become more and more responsible for their own learning and assignments and that includes storing, organizing and submitting them without continual reminders. I'll be contacting parents soon to give everyone a heads up on progress and organizational issues.
Some read- many did work during reading time today (yes, I stole more reading time!)
Time for photographs next - the boys did their make-up (kidding) and the girls tousled their lovely locks and off we went to pose. It went very smoothly but no one could see their papers for the flash in their eyes- too funny they all looked starry eyed. lol
Art - we now have 12 Name acrostics completed and dispalyed - they look fabulous and we continued the assignment grind- really, we hustled the work until 2:30pm (taskmaster extraordinaire)
At 2:30pm (the gym wan't available due to the carnival- Phys Ed cancelled- I'll try to schedule more time next week) we stopped cleaned desks and hunkered down to a class discussion and vote on the new seating plan- it may not last long but we are going to try a horseshoe-like desk arrangement and I have put my grade sixes on notice that come Monday they will be seated around the room and not in a grade 6 enclave :) that was my bad! At least they know and it won't be a surprise that will traumatize them on Monday. I'll let you know how it works and if it works.
Once I made sure (although Eric you got a way on me!!) that all my students who needed to take things home to complete this weekend had their kit and kaboodle, it was the end of a strangely busy day and we packed up and headed for the door.
There is lots of excitement about the carnival tonight. Hope you have a great time.
See everyone Monday
Mrs. J.
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