Monday January 13th

Mondays are necessary to begin the week (or then Tuesday would be the new Monday!!) Actually I think it was the rainy morning that made things a little gloomy today.

We had an interesting start to the day with some students returning from extended Christmas breaks, news of some sporting mishaps over the weekend and a new student in Mr. Parker's class (starting tomorrow) for math 7.

Reminders
Spelling Thursday unit 5 general and I words for the challenge group
Socials projects due by the end of the January
January newsletters went home today- parents requested printed newsletters at the recent PAC meeting

Our day

Phys Ed
Split gym for basketball and badminton

Language arts
Spelling prep for the Unit 5 test Thursday
I words for the challenge group
Grammar work on verbs  and correct use of 'troublesome' verbs

Math 7
Writing expressions from patterns of numbers
Handed out a reference sheet of the most frequently used 'code' words for computation symbols to help students write their expressions more accurately

Started the process of solving one step simple equations
1. Isolate for the variable
2. Balance both sides of the equation
3. Solve completing the computation
4. Check answer is correct

Example:
   X+ 85 = 93
X+85-85= 93-85
          X= 8
Check 8+85= 93

Practice of the procedure

Read to self
Record

Socials project research or science activity - students had the choice today as some have project work at home or just need a break from the socials studies activity. About half of the class chose a science activity and the other half worked well on their socials studies for about 35 minutes

Personal planning prep for the 'puberty' unit
I asked the students 10 basic questions about what they know about such things as the pituitary gland and what hormones direct which body changes. Their answers will help me to plan around what they remember from grade 5 or 6 and make clear which concepts need to be clarified.
Once I am ready to teach the unit (usually in February) I will let you (my parents) know my unit intentions and content are so you hVea n idea of what you might want to follow up discussion with at home.

We then took some time to work on the collage poster activity we started last week.
I tried the read aloud novel but it was not the right atmosphere to continue the story- too chatty and some needed a synopsis of the story so far which is telling.... I am still to convinced this is the right novel.

Dismissal
Have a good evening
Mrs. J.