Tuesday Jan 31st

Last day of January- when did that happen?

Stuff for Home
Spelling list #7 for test Thursday
Brainstorm a list of words (use a dictionary if you are stuck) that begin with the same letter for the "letter paragraphs"
Math 6 worksheet on polygons
Math 7 no homework but have suggested instead that students go on-line and try some of the on line sample problems from IXL or the Min Ed for BC website for practice

General Day
We had a productive day if I say so myself...

Daily French

spelling practice

Science Lab
Mystery Materials: group work lab to showcase how our senses are not as reliable as we might think and it worked perfectly. The students are given five small containers filled with various everyday forms of matter and they have to infer from the weight and the sound what the mystery contents might be. There has to be consensus and they have to complete a ranking chart from lightest to heaviest and record correctly inferred materials versus those incorrect.

We split into 5 groups and two groups had a 1:5 ratio of correct inferences and the other three had a 2:5 ratio. We learned today that
1. we need to be able to use quantitative methods to determine the difference between the middle (medium) weights and create a parameter for weight to be considered lighter or 'medium' [the lightest and the heaviest were easier to determine]
2. our inferences by weight and sound alone are not 100% reliable (we need to be able to observe with our sense of sight)
3. importance of working as a team to consensus and creating a record of the results
It was a good first lab. for the unit and I was impressed at how well the groups all followed the procedure. I would like to think that they enjoyed the activity. It was fun watching them try to decide and reach an agreement.


SRA reading lab (took us a bit longer than usual to settle to quiet reading.

Math 7
Today we reviewed the problem that I posed at the end of yesterday's class- a problem about how many ways there were to make 50cents from a dime, a nickel, and a quarter (no pennies).
We reviewed the method of making a chart of combinations to ensure that the work was both easy to follow (read) and no possible combinations were repeated or forgotten. We determined 10 different ways to make 50cents.
The we began an activity which seemed to pose a bit more difficulty in taking a work problem and creating an algebraic equation to find the solution. I thought they were ready to try this but it seemed to cause a bit of stress. Here is an example:
If the temperature drops by 5 degrees throughout the day and the current temperature is -2, what was the original temperature before the drop?
let t= original temperature
t-5=-2
t-5+5=-2+5
t=3 or +3
the original temperature was +3
In algebra we create a balance so whatever we do to one side using the zero principal to leave the variable (-5+5) we need to ensure we do the same to the other side of the equation so we need to +5 to the other side to balance the equation.
We need more practise- some students are having a difficult time with their focus!!

Silent Reading
more reading today less "shushing"

French
The cultural dish called Poutine: who invented it?, what is it?, how long has it been around?
I had a silly song today to introduce the French 'histoire' (tomorrow we will continue with it)

Library session Mrs. H. reminded us to visit the library today as we missed our time Monday. Thanks.
We have over 1200 books in our library about all sorts of topics so I don't 'buy' the excuse that they can't find something. I am trying my best to wean some of my students off books like, Clifford, the Big Red Dog!

Phys Ed. Basketball drills and 2 mini games cross gym 5on 5
the boys are playing a game at home and one in the Highlands tonight- good luck- play well and remember good sportsmanship is key!

Art: Logo Letters while I read the last two chapters of Word Nerd
We have just two pages of the story left- we are at the epilogue

The boys were excited. We packed up and after a reminder or two, the dismissal bell rounded out the afternoon.
Have a great evening.
Mrs. J.