Wednesday, April 18th

Happy Anniversary to my parents 52 years married!

The day was a quick one...perhaps because we scored a bit of extra Phys Ed. time as Mrs H's grade threes were at the local swimming pool :)

Homework
Spell test Unit 3 tomorrow
Biography posters
any INC or NHI (not handed in) stories
Reminders
Topsy Turvy day Friday (oh, joy!)

General Day
Daily French

Language-picked up on daily French in our English language activity about personal pronouns (subject and object) I hope that some of the rules will be applied to their written work. I know that I do include ceratin grammar  exepctations in their written work once we have covered it in class but teaching out of context grammar does not always filter into their writing assignments.

Biography posters- I was surprised how the students have become very social about each other posters in a good way. We were looking up such things today on our overhead as what role, if any, DaVinci played in the Sistene chapel and whether or not there were other Spartan generals who were well known. I'm learning with the students as I do not know all the answers either. The questions are all part of learning and research.

Band

Math
Redo day for the students who missed Friday's Ch 8 review test and any who wish to redo. So far I have marked about 10 of the 14 who redid and can report that the results are much better. Area still seems to cause some confusion but there are no fails so far. Yeah!!
Those who did not need a redo did some bonus extra circle problem activities and then we all ened the class at the computer lab although the math part of it seemed to quickly become 'free' time!!

Silent Reading
(Aaron (our primary buddy) was back- this time Autumn did a great job partnering with him. I didn't think he was supposed to be with us yesterday but oh well,,, He is so funny... When my students were taking longer to settle than usual he said "I am up here to act like a big kid so how come all the big kids are acting like little kids". Out of the mouths of babes, indeed. Gotta love it. The big kids settled well after that observation. lol

Social Studies
My bad. I did this big introduction to a series called Western Civilization only to discover that I couldn't find it on my computer. I was sure I copied it but I am no technology expert and it is even possible that the school server might have identified it a 'foreign' and deep freezed it off my browser!! I even had my resident experts search for me to no avail. Sorry.

So instead, we popped in an Ancient Civilization CD ROM on Crete and the ancient Minoans and how we know what we do about their civilization which was pre-Greece (same time line as Egypt give or take). It turns out that only in 1900 Arthur Evans uncovered the remains of the palace at Knossus. This palace is one of four that were uncovered on Crete and it is from these excavations that we have learned so much. The Linear A writing in the documantations of the ancient Minoans has still not been deciphered. Isn't that crazy?

Physical Education:
Okay so call me more crazy. I tired a new game. I think it went over okay except for my loss of the number pattern for which I was calling on partners of students.
It's a line game. Half of the class line up at the stage end of the gym the other half at the back wall.
They are all numbered. I call a number and the students race from one team to the other. First there gets to decide a 5 vs 5 team game (I guess it could be more but 5 is manageable for me): basketball, soccer, dodge ball or floor hockey. Once the decision is made I call another four numbers and those students join the play. All the equipment needed is already with the teams. The students not playing are part of the defense.They can be used a goalies in soccer or to assist in ball advancement or retrieve a ball gone out of bounds. The trick is to make sure that I have called all numbers equally so everyone gets a chance to race and to play.
They seemed to enjoy it- certainly a lot of excitement. I don't keep score- who cares? It is about participating and teamwork.
My number patterning needs 'tweaking'.
Due to the fact we had more time we finished the session with an everybody in game of dodge ball. For some reason it seemed a bit uneven team wise but nobody seemed to be unhappy. They were too busy celebrating an extra half hour of P.Ed.

Back in class we didn't have time for much more than clean up and preparation for dismissal.
The sun is out now. have a great evening.
Mrs. J.