Tuesday, June 26th

Our Field Day : Monday, June 25th

Looking back on my concerns about how Monday would work, I must confess to be humbled by how things worked so smoothly and the students (parents) took over and made it happen just how they wanted!!
Everyone remembered their permission forms (I even had a few signed at the Pancake brekky on Friday!), those who hadn't received them as they were away Friday had parents come to sign them, parents showed up to drive and to walk with our group, the students all brought a little something to share and we had enough for a group of 30 to be fed and watered all day. Thank-you.
Finally the weather was great and despite a bit of cool afternoon wind, the sun shone on us and made the day a huge success. The students hiked, biked, played tennis and played together with water balloons and were very grateful for the day out and for the lunch I provided for them.
It makes me realize that sometimes when we think higher, faster, bigger, the students simply were ready to enjoy each other and a semi-structured day to be together. I am very grateful to Mrs. Thandi, Mrs. Gratton,, Mrs. Chagger and Mr. Bassi. Thank-you for your time and for the popsicle treats you provided.
Best of all, on out hike back to school Peter the bus driver picked us up as the school bus was headed back to Squamish El. with the grade 3 and 4 classes from the swimming pool. It was a real treat as I don't think we had enough energy left to get back to the school by 3pm.
We were tired but had an enjoyable day together. Some things are just meant to happen. We are blessed to have facilities like Brennan Park a walk away from our school.

Tuesday, June 26th
Back in class

Organizationally we need to have a class vote for the students who are willing to be considered to do the address to the staff and parents tomorrow at the morning assembly.

We split into 5 groups to do a Whodunnit: Murder Mystery challenge
27 clues (17 true 10 red herrings) and the students have to team together to read, organize and determine the victim, perpetrator, weapon, motive, place and time.
I let the teams be formed by the students and with a little adjusting (personality clashes), they settled to work. They were very engaged and are being top secret as there is a 'favourite chocolate bar" reward for the ultimate first palce group to have all five categories correct.
So far a couple of teams have 3 of 5.

Band last class for the year- the students who did not have instruments came back to class and busied themselves with games, reading and their fav. mind bender puzzles. Hannah loves and has a very sharp mind for the puzzles that drive others bananas! :)

More about the day as it unfolds.

The winners of the Whodunnit were the girl's group: Teresa, Hannah, Manisha, Autumn and Rowan. They have won the chocolate bar reward.
A VERY close second runner up to the Girl Power group: Simi, Roshni, Tesla, Ashley and Sarah. Congratulations on your superior teamwork!
Freezies for everyone else tomorrow. Thanks for playing!

After Band class we held the 'valedictorian' address vote as fairly and secretively as I could (heads down, eyes closed, hands up to vote for two students). 5 students were brave enough to nominate themselves as candidates for the address and of those 5 the students vote came down to Nicolas and Simi who were both willing to take on the work of listening to their classmates many memories and preparing a farewell speech for tomorrow's assembly. They did a great job and are commited to practicing reading their parts tonight. (right?)
I had a number of templates for them to work from and they worked through lunch time to write and decide 'parts' and managed to share their speech with the class in the afternoon. Impressive.

Meanwhile, in class, the students had never really become engaged in the Eragon movie and had asked me to bring some other choices. I made this big deal about voting and Forrest Gump won out only to discover I had brought the Blue Ray version that won't work in the classroom !! My bad!
So we popped on Charlie and the Chcolate factory for about half an hour before lunch - the Johnny Depp version (Tim Burton) which is kind of weird and quirky and despite my worry- the students actually watched it- I think Johnny Depp is a captivating character no matter what movie he is in and the novels and stories of Roald Dhal are all rather wonderfully weird themselves.
I once watched an Actor's Studio hosted by James Lipton which featured Mr. Depp and his answers were interesting and his reaction to the crowd gathered there more shy and humble than I expected. When asked what his favourite thing to do was he answered, 'breathing' and the worst thing he could do was 'stop breathing'. He (Depp) went on to explain that most people do not realize how important each breath is to them!

After lunch I tried to have a quiet 20 minutes which is important at this time of year. I was semi-successful but the majority did engage in quiet activites some together and it set the tone for the sharing of the address that Nic and Simi read.
Back to Charlie in the Willy Wonka movie for 15 minutes

Phys. Ed.
This is perhaps the last gymnasium class for the grade sevens and by popular demand it was a split gym (Duh- big surprise) Floor hockey, basketball and a 'mini-baseball' game out in the back section of the field by the gym.

Once we had returned to class we had approx. 20 minutes for the movie. We have just met the Oompa, Loompas. Apparently, the amazing world of digital animation made one actor look like many- how to save money in movie production- just digitally reproduce an army! Again, I was amazed at the students' collective attention but the special effects were quite spectacular. Is Tim Burton a genius? It is said that genius is one step from insanity! Hmmmm

We stopped the movie at 3pm for clean up and dismissal.

I have requested students bring bigger, emptier bags to school tomorrow as we are planning a clean up of materials and STUFF that has been kicking around desks bins and the cloakroom since January!! Be afraid- be very afraid. I hope I sleep tonight!! You want to know where your plastic containers are? Really? I'll send them home if they are not growing penicillan! Not kidding!

If you are available , we are having our annual end of year assembly at 9:15am for the whole school. We will honour the grade sevens, there will be some awards and some speeches and a year wrap up to provide a sense of closure.
Please feel free to join us if you would like to be part of the morning- it will be crowded and emotions will be running high but that's what it's all about. Farewells are necessary but not always easy.
I get quite emotional when I think of the future for 'my grade sevens'. They are embarking into an unstable and changing educational world which hangs its hat on being 21st century when we really don't have a clear vision of that that means.

Anyhoo, I have things to do and need to stop the philosophy 101...
See you tomorrow?
Mrs. J.