Thursday Feb 9th

Late Post
Another after school meeting this time for the grade sevens' transition information to the DRSS counselor. Mr. Parker and I met with Mrs. Riley to discuss the grade eight schedule and support system.

Anyway- American Idol is on tonight and I'd like to catch some of the drama so I will be double quick with this post!

Homework 
nothing new
Reminder
a letter went home today regarding Evans Lake Camp May 28/29th
Monday is a Pro-D day - take the day off- No school in session (lucky you!)
tomorrow is the last section of the 2012 FSA assessment for grade seven

General Day
Spelling Test List #8

FSA long write session in the computer lab for the grade sevens. Topic: Creating a healthy community. Really? They are 12 and 13 years old. A new KFC outlet won't be appreciated! LOL
Wonder who came up with the topic. Just saying!

SRA reading program for the grade sixes

Math 7 worked today on general review of math skills including problems involving skills as diverse as:
LCM, GCF, prime factors, circumference of a circle, ratio, reading tables, algebra expressions and perimeter of quadrilaterals which are irregular. We covered a lot of ground (and circles!) in an hour.

Silent Reading
returned the spelling tests- the general class average was much improved over last week's slump and the students rose to the challenge. It improved from 50% to 73% great effort-see just a little bit of effort and study and they can 'move mountains'. They just have to believe it (and in themselves that the effort is worth it).

French- la recette pour faire la poutine
How to make Poutine Quebec style- cheese curds not Mozzarella!

Phys. Ed. tried a fitness circuit today- hoo, boy and I thought my core was weak. Interesting some enjoyed it others not so much- think I'll be making it a regular session and see if we can improve our general fitness. First I need to get commitment  from as many students as possible to do the exercises correctly otherwise we might be doing more harm than good. Had to explain that medicine balls are not meant to be thrown like a game of catch!

Back in class we cleaned up and packed up out gear a little earlier than usual and we played a personal planning themed game of 'freeze' which encouraged role play about Internet safety, having an awkward conversation about body odour, intercepting gossip and finally trying to tell someone that you really 'like' them!! I used volunteer actors today and I think the students were just beginning to get a feel for the activity
by Dismissal time!

I think the students enjoyed being entertained by their peers and it gave me a great insight into how the students deal with situations and, while it is a different thing when they are 'acting' in front of their classmates, I can see lots of areas for improvement in how they are handling (or not) the everyday social interactions that occur.

Have a good what's left of the evening.
American Idol was very disappointing! I have more drama in class every day and while my students don't sing quite as well, they have drama down to perfection! And anyway there really wasn't a lot of singing tonight was there?
Mrs. J.