Monday, April 16th

There's always another curve ball it seems! Sometimes I spend the weekend getting caught up on the week's paperwork only to find I didn't get as much done as I would have liked and there are always two or three students who missed and need to catch up. So what I thought was done is not quite complete!!!

It's Monday we are collectively a bit ornery!! However, it has been an okay Monday as Monday's go!!

Homework
Unit 3 spelling test Thursday (redo Wednesday for those interested and anyone who was absent)
Stories not completed today (or being word processed at home) due asap
no math (some confusion in class so I'd rather no one goes home and does it incorrectly BUT for those away last week I have drawn up a plan for catching up with missed assignments

Redo Ch 8 Math review on Wednesday (returned today- three still to write and some to redo as requested)

Reminders
Spring PAC flower basket sale info. went home last week
hoodie orders are now in (I checked with everyone FYI approx. 5 students are choosing not to order which is fine - but I cannot re-order for any mind changers!!)

General Day
Daily French

Spelling Return Unit 2 (much better results this week although there are a handful who obviously don't appear to study seriously)
Prep Unit Three (Unit 3 is challenging)

Preview in library for the Scholastic Book Fair offeringd that will be showcase this week. No obligation to buy but the students always get a  chance to go see what is there.

Communications text Grammar work- Antecedents and pronoun agreement
completed an assignment about those pesky singular antecedents that need singular pronouns to complete the sentence (and which sometimes sound 'off') i.e.
Has anybody completed his (or her) math activity?
Neither of the girls brought her skiis.
If anyone needs a pen, he (or she) may borrow mine

Band

Math
Return results for the review test on Friday (Ch 8 circles: circumference and area)
It took me a while to assess partly because students did not streamline their formula work and I had to follow some unexpected patterns. Results are as follows
25 of 28 students wrote on Friday (three to do)
The average mark was 61% C
8 failed with less than 50% (although some were as close as 45% and 48%)
17 passed (5 C-, 2 C, 2 C+, 2B and 6 A's)
Pass/ fail rate 70% pass 30% fail
The fail rate is way too high and I have encouraged anyone who wishes to redo the review a chance on Wednesday. If I have to have a rate of under 50% I'd rather that it was in the less than 10% range which would allow me a smaller number of students to remediate.
General patterns of error in the review...

• Mix up of application of the formula for circumference and area of circles (forgetting to half a diameter to find a radius or multiplying a radius to find the diameter)- generally circumference questions were completed correctly
• not including the measurement units in the solution(s) especially squaring 'area' solutions
• organization of the arithmetic work for the formula lead to computational errors

For the redo I will be encouraging students to use the formula to organize their computational work. Showing working is of great importance as it allows me a 'window' into understanding where students are going wonky (if they are) with the computation. So, even though the Ch 8 unit is finished, it is not completed!!

We also started a Probability worksheet today which I thought would be super easy BUT I was proved wrong as the results are expressed in fraction form and we are all out of practice in bringing fractions to their lowest terms. Interesting. No homework until I sort out the rule that you actually have to divide the numerator and denominator by the SAME number to bring a fraction to lowest terms!! lol
I couldn't figure out where the issue was until I realized the same divisor was not being applied!!!!Oi vey
Monday????

Silent reading
most read. I was a little distracted by trying to get some students caught up with missing activities from last week. I'm getting a little tired of the "He stole my pencil" silliness- word to the wise: you don't need a pencil to READ!!

Personal Planning - completed the Endocrine (hormonal) systems and started into the Nervous System and traced how our brains communicate with our bodies via sensory nerves and cranial nerves. The central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) are motoe nerves that carry messages from the brain to the muscles.The sensory nerves take messages for the outside into our brains. The nervous system controls and communicates how we react to our environment and enables us to understand- too hot, too cold, painful, pleasant, scary, etc.

Computer session
time as promised Friday for completion of the stories started last week
Horrible, No Good stories and The Goalie story response. Recieved more completed today. Thanks.

One observation that I would like to share about computer lab time is that a few years ago we (parents and teachers) were concerned that students would not communicate as they once did because they were so engrossed in the screen. We worried that they would become isolated by technology.
What I have noticed in the span of a few years is that the communication is stronger than ever. The students are anxious to share what they have found on line and send it or show it to each other (or me) to the point where I have had to ask them to avoid moving around the montiors!! If I told them they'd have to share monitors there would be complaints but today I observed a number of students sitting at the screen together talking and communicating with each other through the game or assisting each other ewith the activity.
The kids are alright. Technology is fast becoming (if it is not already) the form of communication which our children are both competant and comfortable using.
Now they are teaching me how to 'get with the program'!!

back to class
where did the day go already it is 2:55pm
clean up and prep fopr
Dimissal
Have a dry evening it s a little wet out there.
Mrs. J.