Back to school
I always have trouble sleeping the day before school starts back after a holiday whenever it is in the year and I found out today it is the same with my students- anticipation, nerves, excitement and a little bit of concern about getting back into a routine perhaps a little bit of everything all mixed in and it is a perfect recipe for a sleepless few hours.
Anyway today was a really good first day back- the students did seem a bit tired but they all managed to fit right back in where we left off in December.
Reminders
Popcorn sales tomorrow $1
Seating plan change soon
Spelling Unit 2 test 4 and H words for challenge group (haversack, homogenous, harangue, hostel, haberdashery, hubris, hypotenuse, heliotrope, hibernaculum)
Socials research underway for the project (suggest that students chose one topic at a time and take some notes for word processing Tuesday/Friday at out computer sessions)
Our day
Physical Education: Dr. Dodge - played various formats and started with good participation although the girls tended to 'play' one another but the general consensus was that it was a fun, fair and safe game session. Great way to start the new year :)
Language Arts
Spelling lists and preparation for the week
Irregular verb activity which we managed to complete before recess
Quickly discussed 'gratitude' and how scientifically being grateful is linked to better resilience in people's lives. The power of being positive and thankful has been proven to help improve brain function and ability to deal better with adversity. Would like to explore some of these ideas through the children's writing this coming month.
Math 7
Picked up pre-algebra where we left off
Reviewed the vocabulary and continued the booklet of creating mathematical expressions from English explanations.
Practiced simplifying like- terms
FYI the schedule for the FSA assessment is Jan 13th - Feb 21st, 2014
We will be completing the assessments for the most part in the 11-12 time that we have math 7
Read to self
Congratulations to Kobe and Maria L. Winners of the December reading draw
A new record was distributed today (I offered the incentive of 2 boys and 2 girls as winners for January's draw)
Social studies time for review of what we have done so far and where we need to go for the projects- distributed the work done before the break and provided some resources for the various places (need to visit the school library ASAP)
Personal Planning
Quiz Respect Yourself
Discussed the idea of a 'gut feeling' when your body/brain knows that something just does not feel right. This activity is a follow up to the How is the Weather and has the students recognize when something is 'weird' or 'okay'
Scenarios ask them to decide which is normal for friendships relationships and which are not. The students did a great job of recognizing the weird scenarios.
Mrs. P called for some assistance with moving the old metal chairs and the students were only too happy to lend a hand.
End of day - introduced the students to 4 different novels from which they will decide on our next read aloud. Vote tomorrow.
Dismissal - seemed like a short afternoon!
Hope you had a good winter/Christmas break.
In Scotland we say 'Lang may yer lum reek' which roughly translated means "May you always have a source of heat for your chimney" or "hope you always have warmth in your life". Many years ago people would 'first foot' (the first visitor of the New Year) with a lump of coal or a piece of wood for a neighbour's fire.
May 2014 be happy, healthy and prosperous.
welcome back.
Mrs. J.
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