Tuesday April 3rd

I am hoping that my schedule will be back to normal or whatever normal is (was) after the upcoming break. Things have been a little crazy for me for the last couple of months and the last two evenings have been just insane. Sometimes when life hands you lemons you don't want any lemonade especially in April when it feels more like January.
If you are checking for homework I will post another 'sorry' and even if after the school day I could post the homework that at least would be better than nothing until it is too late!

Homework
Spelling Unit 1 term 3 test Thursday
no new math but there are some still completing yesterday's math!
posters/ Lit circle activities ready for word processing

Reminders
hoodie orders due after Easter break ($25)
Hot lunch forms went home today- I'll post the due date tomorrow as I don't have a form at home with me!!
Easter Break weekend no school Friday/Monday back at it April 10th
Purdy's Easter orders went home Monday (just forgot to post that yesterday)

General Day
We had a very productive day if I say so myself although I do find the constant chatter a big distraction- sometimes I wonder if it is just me that gets annoyed by the constant 'noise'. More often than not the students are chatting on topic and giving each other ideas or even reacting to the lesson presentation and that's a good thing.
But how much? When does a good thing lead into QUIET, independent work? That is the challenge I face trying to balance the social with the quiet time for work.  I have stopped students chatting even when it is on topic and although sometimes I feel like a big 'meanie' I believe brains need quiet time and an organized work space to function optimally (well, mine does!)

Spelling practice

Proofreading activity- finding spelling errors (20) and correcting them

Follow up the the countries of Europe

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible,No Good, Very Bad Day 
This is a children's story book about how the main character Alex wakes up and has some mishaps that set his day off for one of those days that you wished you had just decided to stay in bed for. We all have them.  I shared some after school incidents and mishaps (most I had little or no control over) from my Monday and had the students brainstorm some ideas about similar things that they might have happen that make a day 'terrible, horrible'. There were things like: bad hair day, no dry clothing in the dryer, last of the milk drained from the container (dry cereal), accidents at school, forgotten homework, computer crash, dropped i-pod, lost keys, bike stolen etc. Now you know why they were all chattering up a storm.
I have provided the option of imagining a 'fabulous, excellent' day for those students who wanted or preferred to focus on the positive.

Math Area of circles continued. We also looked more closely at a couple of strategies for multiplying 3 digit by 2 digit by manipulating the numerals. I came up today with a statement that I think explained to students about the different strategies we are trying to present. Instead of asking the question "Why can't we just do it one way?" think instead "How can I see/do this differently to get the same result?"
I am not able to do this every class and wouldn't or I would not get through the learning outcomes of the expected curriculum. Sometimes it is time dependent. We don't have the luxury of endless time to 'experiment' and therein lies the issue about high school math. There is only so much time. So, if students arrive there with a variety of algorithms (traditional or not) and arithmetic strategies it should help with time management and math accuracy.

Silent reading ( forgot to do the March draw for the Scholastic book today - will remember tomorrow)

Personal Planning- Introduction to the body systems that keep us all ticking although our focus today was on what we will be learning about the endocrine system, the reproductive system and the nervous system. Today we did not get onto any detail (as I would like to better inform parents what I will be covering first) but created  columnar chart and introduced the names of some of the key glands, parts and affects. We managed to get the endocrine system completed before gym time.

Phys. Ed
Boys played a rousing games of floor hockey and the girls started some badminton drills and skills.
They seemed to enjoy it. No drama, no injuries and no problems with the clean up. Thanks everyone.

Continued the chart for personal planning (I had asked to do the French lesson after P.E. but the students wanted to complete the chart) We complete the other two columns. Then, the day was done- hard to believe!!
Great day.
have a good what's left of the evening.
Mrs. J.
P.S. I haven't forgotten about the math article but just haven't found the time for posting my reflections yet but I have been thinking about it every day and would like to share my experience as a teacher. Hopefully, I'll find some time before the summer!!