Friday 29 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 29th

One of the drawings for our Farewell program!
First thing this morning the grade 7's boarded the bus and headed over to Wascana Park where they were able to participate in Geocaching all day!  This field trip was planned for the Grade 7's as they missed their Cross Country field trip in the winter due to inclement weather.  While the Grade 7's were away the Grade 8's spent the entire day working on Farewell related activities such as letter writing, taking a Strength Finder survey, designing the cover of our program and voting on peers for speeches.  We got quite a lot accomplished today, which will make the rest of June less stressful for the Grade 8's and their teachers!

During the last hour of the day the Grade 7's joined the rest of our class for the Month End Assembly in the gym.  A big congratulations goes out to all of our new 150 Point Club Members as well as the big AR winners for the prize draw!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing weekend. See you on Monday!

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Final Product is due on June 8th

Grade 8 Math: 
All Unit 10 assignments are due on Wednesday

Fully Alive:
All questions from previous lessons are due on Wednesday, June 3rd

Reminders:

-Grade 8's please email Mr. B a picture for your Farewell Star.  - m.j.bresciani@rcsd.ca

Wednesday 27 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 27th

Testing out the effects of heat on copper wire!

Track Meet: This morning we were missing a large portion of our class who were competing in the Track and Field meet at Douglas park.  As a result, the students who who remained at school were given the morning to work on their Genius Hour final projects as well as any other homework they have.

Fully Alive: After lunch we continued to work our way through our Fully Alive unit by learning about the affect Hormones can have on the mood of a person going through puberty.  We also discussed the different areas that can cause stress in a young adults life and different strategies to cope with it.

Grade 8 Math: At the beginning of class we briefly went through the main ideas for 10.4 as the video was not working last night.  (Someone may have forgot to upload it to youtube!)  Students then had the remainder of the period to work on their 10.3 assignments as well as their new 10.4 assignments.

Science: During the last hour of the day we finally got around to testing out our heat experiment on copper wire.  Students were tasked with identifying the effects that heat has on a copper wire holding a one gram weight. Check out some of our pictures from today below:





Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Final Product is due on June 8th

Grade 8 Math: 
10.2 Handout is due on Friday

Fully Alive:
Reproductive Quiz Tomorrow

Reminders:

*Read, Read, Read for tomorrow! You need to have atleat 10 AR points in order to join in the Senior Spray Park afternoon tomorrow!


-Grade 8's please email Mr. B a picture for your Farewell Star.  - m.j.bresciani@rcsd.ca

Monday 25 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 25th

ELA: Once we arrived back from the assembly students headed outside to measure the wind from the locations they selected last week. After recording their measurements we came back inside and began to watch the beginning of a short video entitled "Green Energy".

Religion: After lunch the students spent the half hour period writing their "Seven Sacraments" quiz. Hopefully I will be able to mark them all tonight and we can go through the results in class tomorrow!

Grade 8 Math: Students were given the entire period to work on their 10.2 handouts and potentially watch the 10.3 lesson.  As I mentioned last week, we will be moving rather quickly through this unit in order to finish in time for the Math Diagnostic Exam.

Science: During the last hour of the day we had Science and learned about Heat Capacity as well as Conductors and Insulators. We also took a little bit of time to redo our Particle of Theory of Matter experiment that we attempted last week.  Check out the video below to catch the end of our experiment!



Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Final Product is due on June 8th

Grade 8 Math: 
Watch 10.3 Video for Tomorrow
10.2 Handout is due on Friday

Fully Alive:
Reproductive Quiz on Thursday

Social Studies:
War pictures are overdue

Reminders:

-Track Meet on Wednesday.  If you were selected, you need to be at the school no later than 7:45

-Grade 8's please email Mr. B a picture for your Farewell Star.  - m.j.bresciani@rcsd.ca

Friday 22 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 22nd

Measuring the Wind!

ELA: This morning we started out our day with a quick AR session until 9:30 After AR we discussed the terms "Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources" that we learned about yesterday.  We then learned about different types of renewable energy sources with a focus on wind turbines and students were tasked with identifying where the best location in our playground would be to install a wind turbine.  In order to answer this question, students created their own Anemometer (measures wind speed) and headed outside and measured the wind speed in two different locations around our playground.  We will continue to take data from these locations next week in order to determine which location generates the most wind.

Fully Alive (Before lunch and after lunch): We started out our class by reviewing the key terms learned over the past few classes through a brief assignment and then continued on to the Grade 8 topic of Intimacy, which we will continue to cover this topic on Monday.

Grade 8 Math: Students were quite excited to learn that I had cancelled their Unit 9 quiz for today and instead students were given the entire hour to work on their 10.1 handouts and watch the 10.2 video. Next week we will be moving rather quickly through Unit 10 as we will be writing the Year End Math Diagnostics within a couple of weeks.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Final Product is due on June 8th

Grade 8 Math: 
Watch 10.2 Video for Monday
10.1 Handout is due on Monday

Religion:
Sacraments Quiz on Monday

Social Studies:
War pictures are due on Monday

Reminders:

-Grade 8's please email Mr. B a picture for your Farewell Star.  - m.j.bresciani@rcsd.ca

Wednesday 20 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 20th

Fred Fox speaking to Deshaye

ELA: This morning we started out our day by sharing the conflict assignments that groups finished up yesterday.  We then watched a short video titled "Sustainability in the 21st Century" and the students worked on a short viewing assignment that accompanied the video.

Genius Hour: Over the period students continued to work on their final projects for Genius Hour.  I'm starting to see a lot of progress with each project and I can't wait to see all the completed projects in two weeks.

Religion: After lunch the Grade 8's headed outside with Mr. Rieger to take a Grade 8 photo for their upcoming Farewell. While the Grade 8's were out the Grade 7's had the period to silently read their AR books.

Fred Fox Presentation: We were very fortunate to have Fred Fox visit us today for a very special presentation in the gym.  Fred is Terry Fox's older brother and he took some time to talk to us about Terry's life before the Marathon of Hope and the legacy that he left behind.  

Social Studies: During the last hour of the day students got back into their Colonization Simulation groups and were presented with some issues that they will be debated next class.  Essentially, the European groups have decided that the First Nations groups should no longer be able hold Pow Wows and should dress more like the European groups.  Next class both sides will be debating this very serious issue.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Final Product is due on June 8th

Grade 8 Math: 
9.3 is due on Friday, May 22nd
Quiz is on Friday, May 22nd

Reminders:

-Grade 8's please email Mr. B a picture for your Farewell Star.  - m.j.bresciani@rcsd.ca

Tuesday 19 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 19th



Our fully Alive Presentation from today

ELA: This morning we got down to business the minute we arrived back from assembly. Students who had not completed their writing assessment were given this period to finish up their good copy, while the rest of the class finished up the conflict assignment that we were working on before we began the assessments last week.  With two assessments officially wrapped up, I could hear a collective sigh of relief from the students as we only have one left to go in June!

Fully Alive: We had a double dose of Fully Alive today and continued through our unit, by reviewing the different the male and female reproductive organs before learning about the different changes the human body goes through during puberty.  After lunch we had an extra Fully Alive class to finish up the lesson from this morning.  Please see full power point above.

Grade 8 Math: With the Math Diagnostic only a few weeks away we have to move fairly quickly through the remaining units.  As a result, we officially started Unit 10 today by learning how to solve one step-equations and I have cancelled the Unit Exam on Friday and replaced it with a quiz.

Science: During the last hour of the day we continued to work our way through our Heat and Temperature unit by learning about Temperature, Sublimation and Heat Energy.  We also headed outside at the end of class for a quick demo on the particle theory of matter that involved a little "fire power"!

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Final Product is due on June 8th

Grade 8 Math: 
9.3 is due on Friday, May 22nd
Quiz is on Friday, May 22nd

Reminders:

-No School on Friday or Monday!

-Grade 8's please email Mr. B a picture for your Farewell Star.  - m.j.bresciani@rcsd.ca

Thursday 14 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 14th

Listening to the quartet play!

ELA: We started out our morning similar to each of the others this week as students continued writing their Persuasive and Expository Writing Assessments.  Both Grade 7 and 8 students worked on their final copies over the period.  Unfortunately the hour was cut short due to a Severe Weather Drill, so students were given the remainder of our Math class today to finish up their assessments.

String Quartet: Shortly after lunch we headed to the gym to listen to the wonderful String Quartet perform numerous songs for us as well as teach us about the different instruments that were being played.  The highlight of their performance was definitely their final song! Have a listen in the video below:


ELA: As stated above, after we arrived back from the String Quartet students continued to work on their Writing Assessments instead of our usual Math class.

Social Studies: During the last hour of the day students got into their Colonization Simulation groups for their first post-war meeting.  Groups have changed quite a bit due to the deaths that occurred last week and we were also introduced to a new group, the Irish Immigrants.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Final Product is due on June 8th

Grade 8 Math: 
9.2 is due on Tuesday, May 19th
Unit Exam is on Friday, May 22nd

Reminders:

-No School on Friday or Monday!

-Grade 8's please email Mr. B a picture for your Farewell Star.  - m.j.bresciani@rcsd.ca

Wednesday 13 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 13th

ELA: Students continued working their way through the Persuasive Writing Assessment.  Over the period today, they finished up their rough copies and began the editing process.  Tomorrow we will finish up the assessments with the students completing their good copies.

Genius Hour: Due to the band field trip, we were missing a large number of students in our class today.  Rather than start the next concept in Fully Alive, students had the period to work on their Genius Hour projects as well as any other homework they had.

AR: After lunch students had a half hour period to silently read their AR books.  *Students, don't forget you need to have a minimum of 10 AR points by May 28th in order to attend the 7/8 Spray Park afternoon.

Grade 8 Math: Students were given the entire hour to work on their 9.2 assignments as well as get a head start on the 9.3 assignment.  Since we are cruising through this unit, we will have our Unit 9 Exam on Friday, May 22nd.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Final Product is due on June 8th

Grade 8 Math: 
9.1 due tomorrow
9.2 is due on Tuesday, May 19th
Unit Exam is on Friday, May 22nd

Reminders:

-No School on Friday or Monday!

Tuesday 12 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 12th

New teacher for the afternoon!

ELA: Once again this morning the Grade 7 students headed to Ms. Zenuk's room right after announcements to  write their Expository Writing Assessment while the Grade 8's remained in the classroom to write their Persuasive Writing Assessment.  Yesterday students used the hour to research their topics and today they spent the period working on drafting and editing.

Genius Hour: Students spent the forty minute period working on their Genius Hour Final Projects. Students must have their final product completed by June 8th as we will be beginning presentations that week.

Religion: After lunch we continued to work our way through the Seven Sacraments and learned more about Reconciliation as well as Confirmation.

Survey: As part of the Deshaye focus on School effectiveness, students took some time to complete a quick online survey entitled "Tell Them From Me". Information about this survey went home with students today and if you would like more information please contact our Principal, Monica Norris.

Social Studies: During the last hour of the day we followed up our simulated war from last week by learning about historical battles and wars that occurred during the time of Colonization.  Students also learned the importance to certain events that occurred during our simulated war last week as they reflected real events in history.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Start thinking about how you are going to present what you learned. (Final Product)

Grade 8 Math: 
9.1 due on Thursday

Reminders:

-No School on Friday or Monday!

Friday 8 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 8th

Teaching us about the rear emergency exit!

Bus Safety Presentation: This morning we started out the day by heading to the gym for a presentation about bus safety.  We then headed out to one of our school buses with our little buddies and practiced a few of the safety drills in case of an emergency.

Fully Alive:  We officially started our Fully Alive unit which focuses on the theme of "Created Male and Female".  Over the period we learned about how the gender of a baby is determined, Primary and Secondary Sexual Characteristics as well as Sexual Identity and Gender Roles.

Religion: After lunch we continued to look the Seven Sacraments and learned more about Baptism, Eucharist and Reconciliation.  Next week we will continue to learn about the remaining four Sacraments.

Grade 8 Math: Today we started Unit 9 which focuses on Linear Relations and Analyzing data/graphs.  Students came into today's class having watched the 9.1 video and spent the entire class working on the 9.1 assignment.  Since students seemed to be near completion of this assignment today, I have asked that they watch the 9.2 video for Monday's class.

Science: During the last hour of the day we had Science and continued to learn about the affects Heat (and absence of heat) can have on matter.  We also learned about the different freezing and melting points of ice, water and oxygen through a few different experiments.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Start thinking about how you are going to present what you learned. (Final Product)

Grade 8 Math: 
Watch 9.2 video for tomorrow, May 11th

Career Ed: 
Trip Planning is Overdue


Reminders:

-Grade 7 and 8 writing assessments will take place on May 11th to May 13th.  Students may want to do research over the weekend to help with their topic.

Thursday 7 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 7th

Today we started out the day by wishing good luck to all the students in our class who were competing in the Track Meet today as they boarded the buses for Douglas Park.  Those students who were not participating in the meet today had the first half hour of the day to silently read their AR books and work towards their goal of 10 points by the end of the Month.  After AR students were given the next hour to work on their Genius Hour projects as well as any other homework they may have had.

Grade 8 Math: Over the hour the students wrote their Unit 8 Exam on integers.  Tomorrow we will be moving on to Unit 9 which focuses on Linear Relationships as well as analyzing data and graphs.  Please be sure to watch the 9.1 video for tomorrow's class.

Science: During the last hour of the day officially kicked off our next Science unit which will focus on Heat and Temperature.  We learned about the Particle Theory of Matter and examined the affect heat can have on the volume of liquids and gasses through a few demo's.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Start thinking about how you are going to present what you learned. (Final Product)

Grade 8 Math: 
Watch 9.1 video for tomorrow, May 8th

Career Ed: 
Reality Check Reflection and Bar Graph assignments are overdue
Trip Planning assignment is due tomorrow


Reminders:

-Track Quad Meet Thursday, May 7th 9:00 -11:55 at Douglas Park Track.  (Only select students attend)

-Grade 7 and 8 writing assessments will take place on May 11th to May 13th.  Students may want to do research over the weekend to help with their topic.

Wednesday 6 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 6th

ELA: This morning we kicked off our day with the usual AR period from 9:08 - 9:38. After AR we quickly reviewed the story from yesterday as well as the conflict maps. The students were then placed in groups and were tasked with reading a short picture book and completing their own conflict map.

Religion: Due the fact that we missed Religion in afternoon due to our Track meet, we switched things around and Religion after Arts. Ed.  We officially started our mini unit on the Seven Sacraments by looking at Baptism and First Eucharist.  We will continue to explore these sacraments over our next few Religion classes.

Deshaye Track and Field Meet: After lunch all students from Grades 4-8 boarded the buses and headed over to Douglas Park for our school meet. Students had the opportunity to participate in all Track and Field events this afternoon as we had the entire Track to ourselves.

*Fully Alive:

Our class will be starting Theme Three in Fully Alive, titled: Created Sexual, Male and Female.  This theme will discuss sexuality, examine puberty, fertility and identify STIs.  If you would like additional information, please let me know.  I am happy to send a textbook home for you to familiarize yourself with the content your child will be learning.  


Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Start thinking about how you are going to present what you learned. (Final Product)

Grade 8 Math: 
8.5 handouts are overdue
Unit 8 Exam is tomorrow, May 7th
Watch 9.1 video for Friday, May 8th

Career Ed: 
Reality Check Reflection and Bar Graph assignments are overdue
Trip Planning assignment is due tomorrow


Reminders:

-Track Quad Meet Thursday, May 7th 9:00 -11:55 at Douglas Park Track.  (Only select students attend)

-Grade 7 and 8 writing assessments will take place on May 11th to May 13th.  Students may want to do research over the weekend to help with their topic.

Tuesday 5 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 5

The map from our War today!

ELA: This morning we started out the day with ELA and we continued to look at conflict in literature.  To help the students understand the conflict map we learned about yesterday, we read the picture book "Snow White" together.  Then as a class we discussed the different types of conflict in the book as well as the cause and resolution for each one.

Genius Hour/Homework: Students who were not in band were given the entire period to work on their Genius Hour projects or work on any other homework they had.

AR: After lunch the students were given a half hour period to silently read their AR books.  As a special incentive this month, all 7/8 classrooms will be heading to the spray park on May 28th for the afternoon.  However, in order to attend students must have at least 10 AR points for the Month of May.

Social Studies: The day that we have been slowly building towards each week in our Colonization Unit finally came today....WAR! Over the course of the hour we had a simulated war with the British and Algonquian groups battling against the French and Plains groups.  It was an intense simulated battle that mirrored some of the historical wars throughout time such as "King Philips War". We will be looking the consequences of this war next class and how it will impact each group.

Science:  During the last hour of the day the students wrote their Unit Exam on Cells, Tissues and Body Systems.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Start thinking about how you are going to present what you learned. (Final Product)

Grade 8 Math: 
8.5 handouts are overdue
Unit 8 Exam is on Thursday, May 7th
Watch 9.1 video for Friday, May 8th

Career Ed: 
Reality Check Reflection and Bar Graph assignments are overdue
Trip Planning assignment is due on Thursday, May 7th

Religion:
Gifts of the Holy Spirit assignment is overdue

Reminders:

-Deshaye School Track Meet is Wednesday, May 6th 12:45 - 3:00 at Douglas Park Track. (All Grade 4-8 students attend)

-Track Quad Meet Thursday, May 7th 9:00 -11:55 at Douglas Park Track.  (Only select students attend)

-Grade 7 and 8 writing assessments will take place on May 11th to May 13th.  Students may want to do research over the weekend to help with their topic.

Monday 4 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 4th

Nice and orderly for our fire drill today!

ELA: Once we arrived back from our assembly, we took some time to review the four types of conflict that we learned about last week.  Students were then tasked with finding examples of each type (Character vs. Character, Character vs. Self, Character vs. Nature and Character vs. Society) from "The Lorax".  At the end of the class we began to look at the elements of a conflict map
(Type, Cause and Resolution) and tomorrow students will be tasked with identifying these elements from a read a loud story.

Career Ed: Students were given one final class to work on their trip planning assignment.  This assignment will be due on Thursday, May 7th and will now be homework for students who have not completed it.

Genius Hour: After lunch we had another Genius (half) Hour and the students were given the period to begin working on their final products for the projects.  Students have the option to present what they learned about their project in whatever form they like.  (ie. presentation, video, poster, demonstration etc.)

Grade 8 Math:  With our Unit 8 Exam only three days away, students were given the entire period to work on their Unit Review and Practice Test.

French: During the last hour of the day Ms. Bachiu stopped by for a special French class and the students wrote their verb quiz.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Start thinking about how you are going to present what you learned. (Final Product)

Grade 8 Math: 
8.5 handouts are overdue
Unit 8 Exam is on Thursday, May 7th
Watch 9.1 video for Friday, May 8th

Career Ed: 
Reality Check Reflection and Bar Graph assignments are overdue
Trip Planning assignment is due on Thursday, May 7th

Religion:
Gifts of the Holy Spirit assignment is overdue

Science:
Cells Unit Exam is now tomorrow.  (It will not be bumped again...I promise!)
If you would like to use our jeopardy game from yesterday's class to study from, please click the following link: https://jeopardylabs.com/play/cells2198

Reminders:

-Deshaye School Track Meet on Wednesday, May 6th 12:45 - 3:00 at Douglas Park Track. (All Grade 4-8 students attend)

-Track Quad Meet Thursday, May 7th 9:00 -11:55 at Douglas Park Track.  (Only select students attend)

-Grade 7 and 8 writing assessments will take place on May 11th to May 13th.  Students may want to do research over the weekend to help with their topic.

Friday 1 May 2015

What We Learned Today...May 1st

The scene at our debate today!


ELA: This morning we spent the entire period hosting a debate whether or not cutting down the trees in the movie, "The Lorax" was wrong.  Half of the the class debated on behalf of the Lorax and argued that cutting down the trees was wrong, while the other half of the class debated on behalf of the Onceler and argued that cutting down the trees was not wrong.  Over the hour we had some great points exchanged by both sides as well as a few laughs.  In the end, the side arguing on behalf of the Lorax won by a vote of 22-5.  Below I've posted a the wonderful intro by the Onceler side!





Career Ed: Over the period the students continued to work on planning their vacations.  The students worked so well today that we will have one more period next week for this assignment before it is due.

Genius Hour: After lunch the students had Genius (half) Hour and continued to work on their projects.  This project will be due the first week of June, so students should be approaching the end of their projects and should be working on their final product shortly.

Grade 8 Math: We started out our class today by writing the Unit 8 Quiz, then the students had the rest of the period to work on their 8.5 handouts as well as their Unit Review and Practice Test.

Farewell Assembly: During the last hour of the day we had a very special assembly to say goodbye to Mrs. Wiebe as it was her last day at Deshaye.  She is someone who has meant a lot to everyone here and she will be truly missed.  We wish her nothing but the best in her new life in Manitoba and look forward to crashing on her couch during the Banjo Bowl!

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Genius Hour:
Start thinking about how you are going to present what you learned. (Final Product)

Grade 8 Math: 
8.4 handouts are overdue
Unit 8 Quiz Tomorrow

Career Ed: 
Reality Check Reflection and Bar Graph assignments are overdue

Science:
Cells Unit Exam is on Friday, May 1st  been 
If you would like to use our jeopardy game from yesterday's class to study from, please click the following link: https://jeopardylabs.com/play/cells2198

Grade 6 Science:
If you would like to study from the jeopardy game from today's class please click the following link:

Reminders:

-Grade 7/8's will be at Miller Tomorrow Morning for a special Faith Presentation.

-Grade 8's please remember to email Ms. Zenuk your recreation photos. B.zenuk@rcsd.ca