Mystery Skype! January 22nd

This morning the students were here extra early to get prepared for our Mystery Skype at 8:30.  We've been preparing for this Skype for the past week, and it really showed as our class looked like a well oiled machine throughout the entire activity.  Each student had their own responsibility and executed it to perfection. 

Ms. Millwater's class started off the Mystery Skype with a few correct questions in a row before we got our turn to ask a few.  Both classes were exchanging great questions and making significant progress in trying to figure out the others location. We knew that they were somewhere in the UK and they had figured out that we were somewhere in Canada.   In the end though, Ms. Millwater's class ended up guessing our location first but gave us a few hints to help us figure out their location.  (They are located near the Sherwood Forest in the UK & they have a population of roughly 30,000)  After some thought, the students guessed that they were in Nottinghamshire, UK and they were absolutely correct! 

Overall it was an amazing experience and we learned quite a bit about Ms. Millwater's class and Nottinghamshire, especially the time difference. (They were just ending school as we were starting).  I would like to thank Ms. Millwater's class for participating with us in such a cool activity and we hope to connect again in the future.  A big thank you also goes out to all the students for coming to school extra early today as well as the parents for getting them here so early.  Our class would also like to thank Ms. Stewart-Mitchell and Mr. Benko for joining us today for our Mystery Skype, it was awesome having you both here to check out our project!

Now on to the rest of the day!  We spent the first half hour of the day with our usual AR time from 9:00-9:30.  At 9:30 we changed up our usual ELA period in honour of the Mystery Skype this morning.  Since the students came to school early on their own time I repaid them by giving them free time and showing a movie for the first part of the morning. 
In Grade 8 Math the students began to work on Handout 5.3  - Calculating Surface Area of Prisms.  *This handout will be due on Friday

After lunch, the students finished up their movie from 12:45 - 1:15 before Mr. McCulloch came in for Health.  In Health, the students continued to present their Diet Presentations to the rest of the class.  During the last hour of the day the students split up into their colonization groups and each group followed their instructions for the days activities. 

Here's a few more pictures from our Mystery Skype:

Due Dates & Homework:

Math:
Handout 5.3 is Due Friday

Pg. 179 - Due Tomorrow
A) 1-3, 5, 6, 8
B)1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
C) 1,3, 5, 10-16

Science: Optics and Vision Unit test is on January 29th (Part 1) and January 31st (Part 2)

Social: Group Drawings are due on Thursday

Overdue Assignments:

1) French Poster Assignment
2) "What's in a Name?" Blog Post
3)Any of the 3 Advent Blog Posts

Reminders:

- Downhill Skiing forms went home today. Parents please take a look at these forms.

- Grade 7's will be going Cross Country Skiing on January 29th.