Monday, November 28th

I'm not sure if it is the sun that is making everyone so squirrly today but there was definitely more energy than I could handle- I was getting a little concerned that I was sounding more like a 'bag' and less like a motivational speaker (ha, ha old joke- my students once bought me some coasters that had that as a logo!!)

Anyway...we all survived

Homework
Term 2 list 1 for Spelling- first 15 words for test Thursday
no math- starting new LO's (learning outcomes) tomorrow
Science as per Friday- remember they ran out the door to the volleyball tournament? Yes, well many left their Science behind. There are students with Ch 1 and Ch2 work pending!!
Reminders
A school newsletter went home today please ask for it- I was short some so I can always send it home tomorrow with those who didn't receive it.
ALSO writing day information was distributed for this week- we would like to encourage our older students to consider writing a Christmas greeting to our Canadian troops in service in the Middle East (or elsewhere) who may not be home for Christmas.
We have a cross country ski date boooked for Dac 14th- permission forms will go home this week

General Day
I was on duty this mornng so didn't have time to set up daily French- the students were grateful !!

Spelling Term 2 List #1
I have found a great list of the 'most mispelled' words in North America. Today I gave lists until March for Term 2. We are starting with the first 15 which we analyzed today as to why they might have made that list. We have discovered that the reasons follow the pattern of the words we were finding challenging in our novel: they had double letter combinations, had a vowel 'schwa' which was difficult to 'hear', followed or were an exception to the the 'i' before 'e' rule, had silent letters and/ or had an 'ion' ending or suffix.

Language Arts (divergent thinking)
We completed a neat worksheet today that had the students analyze the sounds of letters and the words that could be created from them i.e. PPP peas, CCC sees, sieze or seas, TTT tease or tea(s), ERG energy.
It was an interesting activity for them as they needed some assistance to get into the formula of finding the words (these are the kinds of code that are used to create personal license plates for people).
They got into it and started to create their own. The majority of students completed the activity- a few need to hand it in tomorrow.
Hannah gave us this one ...

9s8a7f6e5t4y3

We tried but she had to put us out of our brain block!

(answer at the end of the Blog!)

 Band

Math
Before the quiz I had students join me in a breathing exercise- I know some thought it was a bit 'weird' but after three times some of them were asking for more. I asked them to close their eyes (you would be suprised how many have trouble just closing their eyes) and breathe in deeply for three counted breaths and then let it all out with a BIG sigh- they enjoyed that part!!!
The intention was to focus their attention and energy. Remember our goal is less student doing redo tests this quiz. I'll let you know.
We used most of our class time to complete Quiz #4 for the last ten minutes of class while some were finshing up we played with the shapes of a tangram after determining the % of each part of it. I was very impressed with the competence and confidence that I am seeing in the students. It is very encouraging.
There are still a few whom I know didn't bother to study- it is very obvious to tell at this level!!
Can't win 'em all.

silent reading - some asked to get a chance to work on their novel work.

Socials
Today the specific component outlines for the socials projects  (grade 6 modern day country and grade 7 ancient civilization research) were distributed. We read over the outlines and expecctations together and determined a due date that works for everyone. The report is due Monday, January 16th

That gives the students three weeks before break and three weeks after to create a research project. It is meant to be a class time project and while some work may need to be completed at home, the students are expected to have their work in class and use class and computer time wisely to complete this project.
I personally think it is too long a time span BUT the students needed to have some input and they opted to take a bit longer thanm I suggested so I expect good quality.
If I can't figure out how to post it to the Blog I will give every student an outline to take home for FYI (parental perusal)- just let me know if that would be helpful.

Computers
Today was find your Internet sources day and take note of the names and URL's on the sites you plan to use for the social studies project- we surfed the web looking for relevant sites. Some  needed to be reminded why they were there!! Not the greatest start to a research project but just as many did a great job! We'll follow this up with note-taking from text Tuesday.

Back in class we took time for all the handouts and read a chapter of Word Nerd Ch 5 to finish our sqiurrly day.

Dismissal
answer to the letter and number code= SAFETY in numbers
Have a good evening.
Mrs. J.