Another late post- things have been a little hectic personally, professionally and mentally! There are just some times in our lives I guess that things seem to all happen at once and become a bit overwhelming unless we keep our heads up and keep taking in oxygen.
Homework
spelling list #11 for Thursday test
Math 7 complete the worksheet for practice of one step equations and review the patterns (pre-algebra concepts) the nth term of a number patter for a one page review tomorrow
Math 6 repeated tessellation (geometric movement of a design which creates tiling effect)
Reminders
Wednesday is our anti-bullying Pink day at SES- morning assembly
General Day
New seating plan went over pretty smoothly- there is no pleasing everyone so there were a few quiet grumbles from a few but all in all, they handled it well
Return Spelling List 10 and prep spelling list #11
spelling is one of those skills that some students will always find easy and not really have to 'study' so much and then there are others who have real difficulty with word-letter connections. As usual the majority of students are somewhere in the middle but it can be rather difficult to tell if a student just hasn't bothered to prepare for the test or whether they've studied hard and are still struggling.
Editing skills (Communication text)
I wanted the students to pretend that they had to re-write a poorly written article (three short paragraphs) on dolphins for a nature magazine which had a target audience of 9-11 year olds. This led us to a brief discussion of what it would be like to love travel and being outdoors and have a career that paid you to do what you love. I have a friend who writes for Rolling Stone (or did, he's freelance now) as a music critic and he used to be able to go to get tickets for all sorts of concerts and meet the band, be backstage as well as take in and write about the evening's music.
Anyway, the students need to combine some of the short, choppy sentences and make them more complex. Change the style of the sentences so that they do not all begin the same way and find a positive way to conclude the article as the one they are working from ends with the death of a dolphin which is never a good way to conclude anything.
Band
Math 7
Linear equations in a T-chart creating the coordinates (x,y) from substituting variables.
Two step equation solving using the original variable to solve for other questions i.e.
If Kevin has 9 more hockey cards than George and George had 2 times as many as Andrew. How many does each boy have if they have 61 hockey cards total?
x+x+9+2x=61
4x+9=61
4x+9-9=61-9
4x=52
x=13
Andrew has 13 cards
Kevin has 13+9= 22 cards
George has 2(13)= 26 cards
check: 13+22+26=61
We did three of these equations today until the kids brains were full! Then we went over the pre-algebra patterns (nth term of a pattern) that will be on tomorrow's review. The review will not ask for solutions but instead for creating the expressions and equation.
Silent Reading (was a little noisy for silent!)
Socials map quest
Rivers of the world- the longest rivers in the world in each continent. The Nile wins hands down for Africa. The Mackenzie River in Canada is up there but the Missouri beats it for North America.
Two power point presentations were delivered in class to peers today and both were well done. Gurpreet explained in his how much work, care and dollars it would cost to buy, maintain and enjoy a salt water aquarium if you wanted to have Clown fish (like Finding Nemo) and Hannah and Teresa had some fabulous facts and pointers on keeping turtles. We all found out some interesting things...
Did you know that male clown fish can become female if the female leaves or dies it can still save the species! Turtles can outlive humans.
Great stuff.
Library exchange
Computers
I wanted the students to use some computer time to look for/find a positive conclusion regarding dolphins for their article before I allowed 'free time'. Most came across the argument that dolphins are as highly emotional as humans are. Another big hit was the healing powers that dolphins are supposed to be able to transmit to humans. The research is out on that one as some claim that it is a 'touristy' type of activity that makes people feel good rather than 'heals'.
My sister used to work with the dolphins which were at the Edmonton Mall back in the 80's. I have some great pictures. They are such a beautiful mammal.
free time 10 minutes
back in class I asked the students for their interest in opening a class G-mail account (not a full house!) which is interesting- about 15 said they'd be interested. It means doing more on-line (paperless) work and editing on line (me too) and it also means more accountability for all of us (me included)
Another activity is the Climate Change goals that need to be checked off by parents. Thanks to Manpreet for his efforts over the weekend- he is the first to earn a white sticker that starts us (our class) bringing down the carbon footprint of our students and their families. :)
Dismissal
Chuckle for Monday: Teachers in our district held an assembly and march after school today to rally some much needed solidarity and protest the possible legislated end to our right to bargain a new contract.
One of my students wondered if it was because of how I voted in the last federal election- he wondered if it would be different if I hadn't voted for whoever I voted for! I bristled a little when he asked me how I voted!
Gotta love it and by this I hope parents can rest easy about the students getting any political 'indoctrination' from their teachers about the politics- it is not happening on my watch. I do feel that they should be better informed but it is a fine line between informing and politicking in the classroom. I just don't think it is a professional thing to do.
Have a good what's left of tonight,
Mrs. J.
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