Wednesday, February 20th

Welcome Mr. Wong.

Homework
Students requested another day to study for the d/e vocabulary spelling list (seems fair as the last test was only yesterday!)
Reminders
2 students to catch up on the last section of the FSA assessment (the majority of the students are complete :))
Dress tropically day Friday
camp forms please keep them coming in (thanks)

our day...
daily French

yesterday was sunny today it snowed- love February (a bipolar month for weather patterns)

This morning we had a guest presentation that was very inspiring. Sometimes when time is short and many other classes are queued up for their chance to meet and greet, presentations can be rushed and even cut short but Mr Wong used the time we had so expertly that his message was received and repeated throughout the day. It was a treat to be the first group to meet him.

Our key word was respect and our presentation emphasised other (different) ways we can show respect to people and adults in our life.
Mr. Wong shared a lunch time story from his grade four days at Simon Fraser Elementary. The cultural backgrounds of his friends ranges from Japanese to Unkranian. He had been to other friends' homes for lunch and when it was his turn to host he was concerned about what his buddies would make of his grandmother's food preparation (the type of food being prepared). SO he asked his grandmother to prepare Kraft Dinner and she did- however, she prepared it as a bowl of soup in the traditional Chinese way. Duly four bowls of orange soup with macaroni pieces floating in it arrived and Mr. Wong said that not one boy laughed or said anything disrespectful to him or his grandmother. Of course being a group of friends they tried hard not to look at each other or they may just have not been able to supress the laughter. He remembers how respectful his friends were and at his 50th reunion that uis coming up he will more than likely tell them that he still remembers the kindness.
I am sure if we had more time he would have shared another anedcdote about why the upcoming reunion is also a time to remember that perhaps some apologies also need to be shared!
His message today was that one way you can show respect is to know when it is okay to laugh and a great life skill to know when NOT to laugh.
I know Mr. Wong did his research homework before he shared that story with my class. :) Thank-you, Mr. Wong.

Band class was next

Math 7
[managed to get another two students caught up with the FSA (that leaves only two who are not complete]

 The rest of us who are now completed used the time to do a retrospect on what we have completed in math 7 units to date and what we have left to do before spring break (complete the pre-algebra unit) and in term 3.
We also went over some of the questions from the FSA that we could remember.
It was a productive chance to look back and forward to what is upcoming in math learning. I always find it interesting that students get annoyed about scientific type math questions like capacity. For example there was a coffee mug image and the students were asked to choose an appropriate capacity of coffee for it in miililitres 0.001 of a litre. I had to explain why it was a math question to them!! The best answer was 200ml considering that 1 cup = 250 g and 1g =1 ml.
 I resolve to use some grade seven math time in term three looking into the math behind chemistry and physics and using set formula just so they recognize why math and science go hand in hand.
Silent reading
we welcomed Sarah (gr 5) for the afternoon

Phys Ed
I started class with a few steps - yes folks, dance steps - I want to try to teach the students how to do the Mississippi Slide Stomp version (stomp, cha cha, back and turn). Today we listened to the music and tried some steps (without music). More later, I'll let you know how it goes- they all tried :)
class game today was 'skittles' but I used cones instead. This game allows balls to be thrown around at a static object and not at each other and I do believe that this game was more successful than last week's fiasco. At least there were no injuries and just a couple of errant bounces that were dealt with well.
Managed to get a few minutes more in gym and played a tag game until the next class arrived :)

Art- time to complete the puzzle pieces that we will be sharing and replicating for our little buddy class tomorrow.

read aloud chapter 7 (our class novel)- not quite finished yet- a few interruptions.
I took the opportunity to end our day reflecting on the beginning and our presentation with Mr. Wong. Reflect on ways that we can be or show respect to those in our lives in different ways.

Dismissal
Have a snow free evening!
Mrs. J.