Thursday, April 19th

Holocaust Remembrance Day- I explained what it was a memorial day for and why but I didn't plan any activities around it yet.

Nice to see the Canucks have a win in L.A. The students are not convinced they can pull off another at home. I can't see any reason why they can't do it again and make a real series!
Another day is done...thank-you to the parents who dropped by today on the way through just to check in. I appreciate it.

Homework
stories to complete
biography posters to get info for or continue at home
Math 7 last section of the last page of the Statistics booklet for tomorrow
Reminder
Topsy Turvy Day tomorrow

General Day
Spelling test for Unit Three

Biography posters time in class to continue working on them and for some at computers for images and info.- have two complete now and others close behind. Good stuff!

Math 7
 After the redo of the math review test, we raised our class average achievement to 73% B (from 61% C) and I am happy to report a pass/fail rate 26:2 which is fabulous. I still don't understand why some students do not make an effort to improve on a redo test. How can you redo and be worse that the first one?
Statistics
Today we completed (nearly) a booklet that looked at relative frequency, ratio and the mean, mode, median and range of a set of data. Tomorrow we will be using the data generated from our math test scores to work and analyse the information that can be inferred from a set of numbers. Of course, many times it can be more speculative than realistic but it might be interesting to see what they have to say about their own results. I personally use this kind of data to help me determine if I need to reteach, revisit, change or carry on with what I am doing in a given math unit.

Silent Reading

French: Answering French questions in complete sentences in French.
Repondez aux questions par des phrases completes (sorry about the accents my computer isn't inserting them!! Je ne sais pas!?

Phys. Ed. split gym seemed like a inclusive session for almost everyone. Had to have a word about floor hockey - you know, the one that goes "Boys this is not the NHL". That one. I want to see a bit more sportsmanship and less contention. Like I said I don't keep score even if some of the students do. My concern and intention is to ensure that all students no matter their level of athleticism have the chance to participate, enjoy and be part of a collective effort in the P..Ed. program. Not in this particular order but sportsmanship, enjoyment and safety are paramount in a physical movement program. How can we work together to ensure everyone has a positive experience in the gym?

Science teaser for tomorrow
Matching the chemical names of the common ingredients used for baking and cooking. At first the students were stumped but once they started seeing the clues in the chemical names they caught on and actually made light work of a worksheet that took me longer to create than it did for them to complete.
Tomorrow we are going to be picking apart the chemical ingredients in common body lotions and make up- it is an eye opener to see what the industry uses in those potions and lotions and which is a multi billion dollar industry. There is a fascinating website called Environmental Working Group (I have provided a link) below on which you can look up just about any product for safety of its ingredients or contaminants and links to cancer. I know that I have changed some products I once used because of the information I learned about their manufacture. Check out the cosmetic database under health/toxins. Be aware- be very aware http://www.ewg.org/
Can't wait to see what the students have to say about it.

And so disappears another day.
Have a good evening- see you all topsy turvy tomorrow (I have no real idea what that will look like. maybe I can wear jammies? No, that's pajama day- okay maybe my clothes backwards- seriously? Need help!)
Mrs. J.
P.S. had to come back into this post to fix all the typos!!