What We Learned Today...January 31st

The two lucky AR winners from our class!

We started off our morning by reading the short story, The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe.  This story fits in quite well with our Mystery Unit but also is a perfect segway into our next Short Story & Poetry Unit.  After we finished the story the students split up into their "Daily Five" groups and began working on the assignments at each station. (Reading, Spelling & Grammar, Word Work and Creative Writing)  However, since the story took quite a while to read we only had time for two station switches and will complete the full activity tomorrow.  
In Grade 8 Math the students continued to work on their 5.4 handout as well as their Chapter Review on Pg. 188.  On a side note, I just received an email from IXL.com letting me know that in 24 hours our class has already completed 500 math questions.  Well Done!

After Lunch the students had Arts. Ed with Ms. Norris and had one last class period to work on their Social Justice Drawing Assignments. Note: This assignment is due tomorrow!  In Science Mr. Csada continued to review the Optics and Vision material to help the students study for thier Test next week.  Another Note: The Science Test is on Tuesday, February 5th.
During the last hour of the day we had our month end school wide assembly in the gym.  Congratulations to our Blessed Mother Teresa Award winners for the month of January!

Due Dates & Homework:

Math:
Grade 8
Handout 5.4 will be due on Tuesday, February 5th

*Math Quiz is on Tuesday, February 5th

Science: Optics and Vision Unit test has been moved to the week of February 4th.

Arts. Ed

Grid Drawings are due on Friday

Overdue Assignments:

1) French Poster Assignment
2) "What's in a Name?" Blog Post
3) Social Group Drawings

Reminders:-

- Hot Lunch forms will be due February 5th.

-Downhill Ski forms need to be handed in by Tomorrow.

What We Learned Today...January 30th

Learning about Lent from Mr. Meyers

Today we were very fortunate to have Mr. Meyers come out again and visit our classroom.  He spent time with us today teaching us about the importance of Ash Wednesday and the history behind why we recieve ashes on our foreheads.  Mr. Meyers also taught us more about Lent and about the three major concepts associated with it: Fast, Pray and Give.  As per his usual visits, the students were quizzed throughout his presentation and were treated to different sweets for each answer they gave!  I know I speak for the entire class when I say we really appreciate whenever Mr. Meyers visits because we learn so much and have a great time doing it!  (If you want to check out the really cool Lent Calendar Mr. Meyers showed us, you can check it out at Busted Halo)
In Grade 8 Math the students were given the 5.4 handout, "Surface Area of a Cylinder" and worked on it during the hour.  *Reminder: We have our Unit 5 Quiz on Tuesday, February 5th.  You may bring your study sheet into the quiz with you, so make sure you have it written out for Tuesday!

After lunch we had French and we continued our Music Unit by learning some basic French statements for going to a concert.  At 1:15 Mr. McCulloch came in for Health and continued to teach about healthy eating practices (I believe the students may have viewed part of the documentary "Super Size Me"). 
During the last hour of the day we had Social and continued our Colonization Simulation Unit.  Today was very important class because each group participated in an event that simulated the First Encounter between each group.  Students will learn next class what consequences (good or bad) this will have on their group and the direction the unit takes. 

Here's some more pictures from today:



Working hard on Mr. Meyers quiz!

Eating some Pretzels as part of Mr. Meyers presentation.



The French meeting the Algonquain

The Algonquain meeting The Plains

Due Dates & Homework:

Math:
Grade 8
Pg. 186 - Is due on Thursday
a)1-4, 6, 8
b) 1-3, 5, 6, 8-10
c) 1, 2, 6b, 9, 11-13

Handout 5.4 will be due on Tuesday, February 5th

*Math Quiz is on Tuesday, February 5th

Science: Optics and Vision Unit test has been moved to the week of February 4th.

Arts. Ed

Grid Drawings are due on Friday

Overdue Assignments:

1) French Poster Assignment
2) "What's in a Name?" Blog Post
3) Social Group Drawings

Reminders:-

- Hot Lunch forms will be due February 5th.

-Downhill Ski forms need to be handed in by Friday

What We Learned Today...January 29th

Taking a second to pose during Cross Country Skiing.

This morning we began our day differently than we have in the past.  Instead of our usual half-hour AR period, we started right with the "Daily Five" stations and incorporated AR time into one of the stations.  Students rotated stations every 20 minutes between Silent Reading, Word Work, Spelling & Grammar and Creative Writing. 
In Grade 8 Math the students continued to work on their assignment from Pg. 186 in the textbook.  Students who finished early got a chance to work ahead on their handout for tomorrows class and some even began testing out IXL.com for some extra practice.  *All Grade 8 students have been given their user names and passwords and are now able to log on to IXL and check it out.  Grade 7's will be given their user names and passwords tomorrow.

After lunch the Grade 8's went to work with Mr. Csada while the Grade 7's went cross-country skiing for the afternoon.  I got the chance to go with the Grade 7's so I took some pictures from our adventurous afternoon that you can see below!

Due Dates & Homework:

Math:
Grade 8
Pg. 186 - Is due on Thursday
a)1-4, 6, 8
b) 1-3, 5, 6, 8-10
c) 1, 2, 6b, 9, 11-13

*Math Quiz is on Tuesday, February 5th

Science: Optics and Vision Unit test has been moved to the week of February 4th.

Arts. Ed

Grid Drawings are due on Friday

Overdue Assignments:

1) French Poster Assignment
2) "What's in a Name?" Blog Post
3) Social Group Drawings

Reminders:-

- Hot Lunch forms will be due February 5th.

-Downhill Ski forms need to be handed in by Friday

- Girls Basketball Practice Team has a game on Wednesday, January 30th @ Deshaye at 4:00

What We Learned Today...January 28th

Re-Learning the Steps to Gangnam Style

We had a great start to our week this morning with a nice school wide-assembly in the Gym.  During the assembly Ms. Grad talked about the Gospel Readings from Sunday and also the importance of the Apostles Creed.  To end the assembly, we even got a chanc to say the Apostles Creed together as a school. Once we got back to the classroom we started our "Daily Five" ELA stations and students switched every 15 minutes from each station.  So far the students have really impressed me with testing out this new way to teach and learn ELA!

In Grade 8 Math we continued to learn about calculating the Surface Area of a Cylinder before the students began their assignments on Pg. 186. 
Also in Math News, our class recently signed up for a trail on IXL.  This website provides the students with extra Math practice and lessons that are paired with our Saskatchewan Math Curriculum.  I've made an account for each student (both Grade 7 & Grade 8) and will give them their usernames and passwords tomorrow.  If you would like to check out the site tonight just click on the link above and explore IXL. 

After lunch the students had Arts. Ed with Ms. Norris and continued to work on their Social Justice Grid Drawing Assignments.  These assignments are due this Friday, February 1st.  In French we quickly reviewed regular ER verbs and some irregular verbs (Faire) as well as some reasons why people go to a concert. 
During the last hour of the day the students continued their dance unit by learning the dance steps to the popular Youtube song "Gangnam Style".  The students should be quite familiar with this dance seeing as we practiced it every day in September as part of our Brain Breaks. 


Reminder:  Please bring back your Downhill Skiing forms by this Friday, February 1st. 


Due Dates & Homework:

Math:
Grade 8
Handout 5.3 is overdue
Assignment from today:
Pg. 186
a)1-4, 6, 8
b) 1-3, 5, 6, 8-10
c) 1, 2, 6b, 9, 11-13

Grade 7
 Mr. McCullochs math class can continue to work on their tests tomorrow
Pg. 149 Practice also due

Science: Optics and Vision Unit test has been moved to the week of February 4th.

Social: Group Drawings are overdue

Overdue Assignments:

1) French Poster Assignment
2) "What's in a Name?" Blog Post
3) Social Group Drawings

Reminders:-

- Hot Lunch forms will be due February 5th.
- Girls Basketball Practice Team has a game on Wednesday, January 30th @ Deshaye at 4:00

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

What We Learned Today...January 24th

Our new seating arrangement. Yes, that meant me too!

Unfortunately I had to be away at a PLC meeting all morning, but the students were in the very capable hands of Mr. Krammer.  They started out their morning with their usual AR period before moving on the ELA.  In ELA the student's read the article "Investigating the Aurora Borealis" and were tasked with answering Before, During and After response questions on an accompanying handout.  We will continue with our Daily 5 stations next week and may even add the fifth station to test out. 
The student's had another change in their schedule today as Ms. Norris was away for a meeting and did not have Phys. Ed.  Instead, Mr. Krammer continued to teach the Digital Citizenship lesson on Strategic Searching that we began last class. 

During Religion students were given the opportunity to look over their "What's in a Name?" Blog Posts and use the blogging rubrics to assess their own post.  I will be working with each student individually next week and we will go over their self-assessment.  At 1:15, the students had Health with Mr. McCulloch and we ended the day by watching the end of the movie we started on Tuesday. 

*Reminder: There is no school tomorrow as it is a TPD. 

Due Dates & Homework:

Math:
Handout 5.3 is Due Monday

 

Grade 7 - Chapter 4 Test on Monday

Science: Optics and Vision Unit test has been moved to the week of February 4th.

Social: Group Drawings are overdue

Overdue Assignments:

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

Reminders:-

- Hot Lunch forms will be due February 5th.

- Girls Basketball Practice Team has a game on Wednesday, January 30th @ Deshaye at 4:00

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

What We Learned Today...January 23

This morning we began our day with our usual AR period before moving on to ELA.  In ELA we switched things up and tried out a version of the "Daily Five".  Essentially for this activity, the students were split up into four groups and were each designated a specific ELA station to start at.  After 15 minutes the students switched stations and started the activity at their new station.  Since today was test run, we only ran four stations: Silent Reading, Word Work, Spelling and Grammar and Creative Writing.  I think it ran quite smoothly and the students did an excellent job staying on task at each station. 
In Grade 8 Math we quickly reviewed how to find the area of a circle before moving on to calculating the Surface Area of a Cylinder.  I've posted a video below that also explains the same concept if you would like to review what we looked at today or were having some difficulty.

 

After the lunch the students had Arts. Ed with Ms. B, (no relation, just same letter) who was in for Ms. Norris today.  During the half-hour the students continued to work on their Social Justice Drawing Assignments. After Arts. Ed Ms. B stuck around for Science and helped the review for their test and were given study sheets for Primary & Secondary Colours of Light.
In Social Studies the students continued to work in their Colonization Simulation groups before coming back to the class for the last 20 minutes to work on our new seating arrangement. 

Here are some more pictures from today:

Tech & Talk Break

At the Grammar/Spelling Station

At the Word Work Station

Playing some Just Dance during recess!

 Due Dates & Homework:

Math:
Handout 5.3 is Due Monday

Science: Optics and Vision Unit test has been moved to the week of February 4th. 

Social: Group Drawings are due on Tomorrow

Overdue Assignments:

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

Reminders:-

- Hot Lunch forms will be due February 5th. 

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

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.