Tuesday Oct 4th

I so wanted to post last night but as I was not at school I could not presume what kind of day everyone had even though I did leave the dayplan!
I am delighted to report my TOC and students enjoyed a rainy but otherwise productive Monday together. I was impressed and very proud of their general behaviour. They should be proud of themselves :)

Homework and Reminders
Math 7 p 57-58 text book- complete numbers 10-12 (we did #9 in class) and 17 and 19 for tomorrow (skill: multiplying decimals) N.B. some students who missed, have slightly different examples from p56
ALSO quiz REDO on Thursday
Math 6 multiplication facts 7's
Spelling Test #2 Thursday Oct.6th
some French posters still to be handed in (you know who you are)
Reminders
Popcorn for sale (PAC) this Friday Oct 7th $1
Walk to School week if you can
October 14th Twins spirit day
picture day Oct 20th during school day
Halloween Carnival Thursday October 20th 5-8pm

General Day
Shared the TOC notes that said some very complimentary things about the class :) Congratulated them.

Spelling- chose next 4 words to study for test this Thursday.
Returned results from first spelling test- generally good results- some I think need to study a bit more seriously- spelling is a tough skill. Some students naturally have good word formation and sounding skills others not so much. Some students are going to find they need to work harder to recognize word patterns and usage. I expalined to the students that I can provide opportunity and guidance but I can't make them study (neither can parents) only they can decide how much study they are willing to do.
Ask for the results of the first spelling test and see if your son or daughter thinks some more study is recommended! Make them responsible for their own learning.

Novel after returning and reviewing the work for Ch 3 and 4, I read chapter 5 and had the students complete the Ch 5 questions and ch 1-5 summary now that the introductory chapters of the novel are complete.
Some issues of written work for Chapter 4: students need more practice writing in complete sentences, being more accurate and complete with answers (using the text as a reference!) and being careful to answer the question asked.

Mrs Paxton visited and out the seal of approval on our class Charter. :) We are official and I must say that yesterday was a chance for the class to put the Charter into action and they did a great job.

Math 7
I returned the assessed quiz written Friday last week and was sure FIRST to have the students analyze the results which were 60% pass and 40%  below expected proficiency on rounding numbers and recognizing written whole numbers and decimal place value.
With this age group, some take the results of things very personally and use it to prove that they 'can't' do math and shut down effort. Others are okay with it but don't look at areas where they might improve the next time. I like students to look at their results- we review the strengths and weaknesses (mine and theirs) and we use it to prepare for a re-test. 10 students need to re-test. We will re-test Thursday.
I do not like students to recycle (or throw out their work). Please ask your son or daughter to show you his or her results- it can always open a discussion about emotions and math.
I told them a story about me as a 14 year old 'bag' teenager who wouldn't accept help from a tutor until I had failed at least one National exam (GCE) in Scotland. Pride goes before a fall!
Some students couldn't really believe I was once a 'teenager'!
We also followed up the skills in the text which student started work on yesterday- multiplying decimals- I have encouraged the students to feel free to use the answers at the back of the book to check their practice work BUT the deal is that they have to show their WORK not just write an answer- I need to get an idea of where that answer came from (this is especially helpful is answers are inaccurate so we can look at what stage or step is difficult or needs remediation)
Text pp. 56-58 practice for tomorrow's class # 10, 11, 12, 17 and 19

Silent reading- Catching up with some missed spelling tests- thank-you Manisha for offering to do the spelling test with a couple of classmates.

Daily French- new words today mais (but) and maintenant (now) and a quick review of the negating of a verb phrase using ne...pas
students are nearly complete with Weather posters (need to move on this week)

Phys Ed (used some time in class before gym time) Students participated in a jigsaw type activity about our October (and remainder of 1st Term) Phys. Ed. program- we looked at rules in the gym, safety in the gym, organizing fair teams, leadership in the gym and skills that would be assessed. Hopefully once we are all in agreement about what the expectations are, we can have smoother transitions and more skill time (less management time).
Phys Ed. in the gym - excellent use of time today (I wonder why?) small group and partner work on volleyball passes and ball control. Great participation and following instruction!

Back in class, I distributed 3 pedometers tonight (3 different students tomorrow) for walk to school week to see how many actual steps are taken by individuals walking to and from school. Reporting will be done each morning. and another three students will repeat the process on Wednesday night :)

We discussed but didn't really come to a consensus on creating 'fair' teams for Phys. Ed. I have a plan but it will have to be sotrted out before Phys. Ed. tomorrow! Sometimes what happens is the students realize that they would really rather (sometimes) just be told who is on what team by ME !!! lol
However, I have to let them see that even this small decision is not as easy as it seems (like coming up with a working seating arrangement). Then when they give me the 'reins' (so to speak) there is less unhappiness. There's a method in my madness. Again, my responsibility is to create a positive experience NOT to please everyone!

Review homework and prep for dismissal.
Have a good evening. Curling starts for me tonight- wish me luck as I haven't slid out on the ice since April.
Mrs. J.