Thursday, November 10th

This morning we had our Remembrance Day Assembly, the students stepped up to the challenge and did a marvellous job. With the direction of their teachers and Ms. Sorban (who did all the sound checks and music/choir practices), the students designed and created a bulletin board display, prepared readings, wrote and read their work, M.C'd. the assembly, sang and played for the musical selections which were all very well performed. They created class wreaths as well as doing the sound, setting up the gym and helping with gym clean up after the assembly for lunch time practice.
I hope they are proud of their efforts.

I always find it an emotional memorial- I guess many memorials are or can be emotional just for the fact that they are about remembering!

Homework
Nothing new
BUT the 'leftovers'...
novel- read chapters 23-33 (10 to finish the novel)
Math 7 study for the Quiz #3 redo (those who are doing it)
Reading Response #3 now overdue

Reminder that Legion Remembrance Day competition entries are due to the local Legion on November 15th
Art projects for Oct and Halloween are now overdue
No school Friday- stat for Remembrance Day

General Day
Daily French

Spelling Test #6

reading for novel- Who is Frances Rain? end of the book Ch 23-33
writing for Remembrance Day (entries due Nov. 15th)
deciding on creative and written project(s) for the end of the novel

computer time for completion of reader responses and word processing of the entries for the Remembrance Day literary competition. There are some fine poems that students have been working on- we are still at the rough and 'tweak' stages of the writing process but they are promising entries and the students are proud of their effort which is worth the price of admission :)

Remembrance Day Assembly: 11-11:30am

Math 7 (20+ minutes) - reminded students re-writing Quiz #3 Monday what they needed to study and then we played tweo rounds of a game called I Have... Who Has...? Cards are distributed and the class participates in a round.
Example: Who has 5x9...I have 45, who has 8x7?...I have 56 who, has 6x7 etc.
It is a  quick and entertaining way of practicing mental math and focussing on both listening and spaeking skills. We did well once we got the hang of the pattern with the multiplication facts (6-10) but we didn't have time to finish the mixed computation games which somehow got 'railroaded' without half of the cards being played.

hot lunch day

silent reading- the students were rather difficult to settle this afternoon but we eventually managed to calm everyone down (including me- I told the students I needed to breathe and couldn't or wouldn't answer any more questions until we had had a quiet reading time) It worked and we were much more civil to each other after the reading session.

Personal Planning today needed a focus on some housekeeping issues: namely our class recycling, our belongings and instruments in the cloakroom are becoming a health and safety concern and it's time for some items to go home for a good wash! It is time for another seating arrangement- the majority chose a groups of 4 setting this time. There was a bit of discussion and we created a plan together. Soon, I am hoping the discussion will no longer need to happen and that we can sit anywhere with anyone for the most part (although there are always a few personalities that might clash but, really, for a couple of weeks???)

Phys. Ed. following up yesterday, we played a couple of rounds of Dr Dodge which I think the students enjoyed. It is a quick game once the 'doctor' is tagged out!!

Back in class we shared (at least the students who were comfortable with it) the poems and writing for the Remembrance Day competition.
 I read an article to them about how injured veterans who are suffering from PTSD are finding that dogs, trained by a group (based in Ottawa) called Courageous Companions, can really help them to recover and regain some confidence and self-esteem.

Time for clean up, homework reminders and dismissal already! The afternoon was a blur today- it has been a very quick week (four days!)
My thanks to Autumn and Cassidy who helped me with the chairs and desks sfter school while waiting for their busses. :) I appreciate every little kindness :)

Have a moment of silence 11am tomorrow and enjoy the weekend. See you all Monday.
Mrs. J.