Thursday, January 31, 2013

Thursday, 31 January

We started the day with a little cursive writing.  The exercise is useful for three purposes: 1) to practice our cursive writing; 2) to practice the components of a good paragraph, especially the topic sentence and closer; and, 3) to act as a springboard for discussion on the topic covered that day.  After writing, we read Scroll 14 from the Ostia novel.  We also wrote a one-sentence summary (topic sentence) of the chapter.  Next came band.

Test Question
Test Question




After recess we read for 10 minutes and then started math.  I returned the mid-unit math tests that we did yesterday.  We debriefed a few questions and then did the intro to the next lesson that looks at comparing percent with fractions.  There is no math homework.

After lunch we watched and discussed more of yesterday's documentary on the threat to our water supply.  We then participated in personal research towards our Egypt inquiry projects.  Some students took a long time to get settled.  I know that this is new, but we will have limited class time so we need to transition more quickly.  By the end of the session there was a quiet hum in the room as people worked - let's try to achieve that more quickly tomorrow.  We ended the day with basketball in the gym.  Now that we know the skills drills, things are going well: thanks for being good about holding the balls during instructions.

1. Tomorrow is our first p.e. class with Nicky, our yoga instructor.  Please wear comfortable clothes to school, or bring clothes to change into.  I've booked two 30 minute sessions to start, but we can see how it goes in terms of requesting more sessions.  We have limited school funds.  Would parents be willing to pay $2 per student per additional session.  Please comment below or e-mail me to let me know.

2. IMPORTANT MEETING: Tuesday 19 FEB: AT 6:30 P.M.
I'd like to hold a parent info meeting to discuss the winter snowshoe trips to Bachelor Cabin in Tetrahedron Provincial Park (near Tuwanek).  I will be asking for drivers - some will need 4-wheel drive vehicles.  I'll be sending a notice home shortly.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Wednesday, 30 January

Today we started the day with art - lots of art!  We set up the room and got right to completing our action items from last week.  We issued all of the materials - our primary colour palettes included white today.  While the kids (and I) painted, Joanna hung our art all around the room; we are now awash with colour!  It is aways so interesting to see how varied the response will be to the same set of instructions.  Thanks 1,000,000, Joanna.

After recess we tidied up art and then moved on to math.  The 7s had a mid-unit exam.  Once everyone was finished, I went over a few questions on the board.  Parents, do you remember being stumped on a question back when you were in school, and then having the teacher show you how to solve it and it seemed "so simple when he does it"?  Well, some of our mathematicians experienced that today.  I want everyone to work hard but it is important to remember that if you fail to meet your goal, you may opt to re-write any test.  There is no math homework.

After lunch we read our own books for 15 minutes and then transitioned to science.  It's funny, yesterday we had a discussion that eventually asked if we should share the microwave in our class with our neighbours.  Today, we viewed the first half of a documentary that had many of us asking if we would share our water.  In some cases, the response was not the same.  Ask your children about the documentary; they had some very interesting perspectives.  Here is a link to the movie Last Call to the Oasis:

http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeye/episode/last-call-at-the-oasis.html

We ended the day in the gym where we had our second basketball session.  We're working on dibbling and passing.  Today we closed the class with a few minutes of scrimmage.

Band tomorrow: please remember your instruments.

Think: Egypt research!

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Tuesday, 29 January


Today we began with a short cursive writing practice and then we read two "scrolls" from the Ostia novel (12 - 13 or should I say, XII and XIII).  For Scroll 12 we wrote a one-sentence topic sentence/summary.  It is difficult to try to squeeze a whole chapter into one sentence.  We shared our writing so everyone could hear a variety of responses.  After recess we had the QMUNITY Gab Youth presentation.  The two speakers handled their talk very professionally and respectfully.  I learned the history of some of the current homophobic slurs and that was very interesting for me.  I thought the class was very engaged and the students had many ideas to share with the presenters and one another.  Hopefully we'll all think before we consider saying, "That's so gay."  If you want more information on this group, here is the link to their website: QMUNITY

After lunch we worked on our social studies inquiry projects.  Now that everyone has a question to answer, and now that we've had a chance to refine our sub-topics, we're ready to move forward.  Students do not need to work together in their groups because each is doing his or her own research.  Each will also be graded on the merits of his or her own demonstration of learning.  Parents can ask students when and how they plan to conduct their research at home because i expect that everyone will have to do some out-of-class research.  I'll give updates as they become available.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Monday, 28 January

We began the day with an introduction to the parts of a story - what we call the elements of fiction.  The class also read Scroll XI in the Ostia novel with a visiting teacher while I met briefly with staff from Elphinstone who were inquiring about how they might better plan for this year's grade 7s with their course offerings for next year.  We will be using the elements to help us discuss the novel as we move on.  At 9:40 the class moved to band.

Solutions to the quiz




After recess we wrapped up our discussion of the ways to examine "character" and then transitioned to math.  The 7s did a pre-test and will write their mid-unit test on Wednesday (we have a presentation during math tomorrow or else we would be doing it then).  There is no math homework other than to review for Wednesday's test (some of you found weak spots today).

Inquiry Groupings
After lunch I selected the groups for the socials inquiry projects.  I know that not everyone is perfectly happy with the way I created the groups, but I wanted to ensure that people worked a little outside their normal peer groupings.  Where possible I tried to ensure everyone had at least one "friend," but there were other dynamics that I needed to manage and so that didn't always work.  I hope everyone "can live with it;" this is a short-term collaborative project - please celebrate the autonomy you do have and let go of any disappointment. Students had the tough job of coming together to try to decide on a central inquiry question that their groups could use in this project.  This is even difficult for adults to do, so I was expecting that some of the students would experience tension during this process.  Things actually went smoother than I expected.  In fact, I thought the class showed remarkable resilience and flexibility.  I was able to help some of the groups with the wording of their questions, others didn't did any.  We'll have to continue tomorrow to tune up the exact wording and split up the work.

We ended the day with p.e.  We tried some basketball today.  I'm no basketball coach, so we settled for some basic ball handling development.  Thanks everyone, for holding the balls when asked; you all did well.  There is no homework other than to consider your inquiry project.

Tomorrow morning is our class's turn for the PrideSpeak presentation.  As was explained in the notice home, the grade 6/7 presentation will consider bullying, homophobia and transphobia in schools.  Please remember that there will be a questions/answers session for parents in the library tomorrow from 3:00 - 4:30 p.m.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Friday, January 25

Today I introduced the class to their three-week inquiry project on Egypt.  The students wrote first impressions of the process below.
I will select the seven-person groups on Monday.  You can see from the notes that this project will have a three-week timeline.


After recess we read for 15 minutes and then started math.  In Math 7 we did a quiz to prepare for the test on Monday.  Ordering mixed fractions (decimals and common fractions) seems to be the most time consuming - practice.  There is no homework, but our test will be on Tuesday, so you have one more class to master these concepts.  

After lunch we worked with our little buddies on their provinces projects.  We then read Scroll IX and X in ...Ostia.  I did not ask for chapter summaries this time, but some students did them anyway.  We ended the day with a talking circle.  I feel it's important to ensure everyone has a voice, and the circles are a good way to manage that.  What we say in the circle is confidential to those in the circle, but I can report that the talking stick that Simon made for me as a gift was very well received; it was nice to have a real stick to pass this time around.  Because our talk went into our scheduled p.e. block, I committed to making it up at a later date.

Don't forget we have band on Monday.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Thursday, Jan 24

We started the day by watching this video and then writing our own sentences.  Dan Pink's Question
I allowed the students to post their sentences anonymously so they could be honest without having to feel they were exposing themselves.  I wonder if we know each other well enough to be able to pair the sentences with their composers? At 9:40 we had band.


After band we did a word search puzzle that included terms/ideas that the students came in contact with after lunch during the "TCO2" taking care of ourselves presentation.  The words were: sexual exploitation, internet, image, safe people, digital dirt, reach out, safety, trust, online, computer, ismart,webcam and respect.  After that, we transitioned to math where we started with a brief quiz and then finished our mid-unit review.

After lunch we saw the last water cycle song.  It was worth the wait.  We then had the TCO2 presentation.  I thought the presenters did a very good job speaking about the issue of Internet safety, especially the topic of sexual exploitation.  The students were engaged and showed through their comments and questions that they understand the issues.  I'm pretty aware of this problem, but it's good that we all get tuned-up from time to time.  Thanks to TCO2!  We ended the day with a game of indoor soccer.  There is no homework for anybody.  Enjoy the rest of your day.




Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Wednesday, 23 January


We started the day learning some of the basic colours in French. Here is a screenshot of the table and a link to the page: Colours link


Next, we did our art lesson with Joanna.  We did two action pieces that incorporated painting and re-scaling a previously done piece.  The class went very well and there was a great tone to the lesson.  We had to end a bit early for a fire drill.  That too went very well.  Almost everyone was able to stay silent throughout and that really helped model good conduct for the younger students - thanks!

After recess we tidied up art and then transitioned to math.











Today's was a good lesson.  We did a number of examples and dug deep into the concepts of converting fractions to decimals and also simplifying fractions.  We'll be ready for our test any day now.

After lunch we read for pleasure and then read two chapters of the ...Ostia novel.  We then wrote two chapter summaries, each with a topic sentence and three supporting sentences.  Those should be completed at home if you were unable to complete them in class.  We ended the day with p.e.  Thanks for another good day.

Don't forget tomorrow is band.


Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Tuesday, 22 January

We started the day by logging onto the blog and responding to the following:

Yesterday we read "Scroll" 5 and you created a three-sentence summary.  Please post a your summary as a comment AND give a one or two sentence reflection of the story so far.

Anyone who did not compete their posted comment should do that for homework.

Next, we had a whole-school assembly where Mr. Paish outlined the results of the two surveys that the students completed before the Christmas break.  He then explained a system to highlight the school's key words that we will embark upon from now until the spring break.  Our grade 6 and 7 students will be key players in promoting a healthier, safer and warmer school experience for all.  I was quite pleased with our behaviour during the assembly and took time out of recess to explain that to the class (yes, I gave them a bit of an extension to make up for the time I "borrowed").




 After recess we read and then moved into math.  In Math 7, I spent most of the class working with the group to assess sets of mixed numbers and decimals to order them from least to greatest.  This is not easy as students have to decide how best to compare "apples and oranges" but by the end of class, most students were demonstrating mastery.  We'll see tomorrow whether or not they retain that ability.

The start of a sample topic sentence.
Following lunch we read another chapter from the Ostia novel and then composed a summary.  I added a catch: they had to write a topic sentence that reflected on the whole chapter before getting to specific details.  During our debrief and sharing it became apparent that many students had difficulty with this.  We'll do the same routine next time to give practice at this key synthesis skill.  Anyone who did not compete all of supporting sentences for their summary should do that for homework.

We listened to half of a podcast on Egypt's Middle Kingdom and it was clear that without the PowerPoint slides to act as a bridge between the content and the students, that many had difficulty understanding.  I did this purposely because I want the students to understand their thinking processes and to have the ability to assess their learning.  Research has shown that this metacognition (thinking about one's thinking, or, thinking about how one thinks/processes ideas) is a key element in a student's growth.

We ended the day by working on our action pieces from last week's art lesson in preparation for tomorrow's lesson where we will begin to paint!  Have a good day.

Band homework:  Please practice pages 10 - 13 for Thursday.

Please bring something that doesn't require the microwave if you are having a practice or other activity during lunch.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Monday, 21 January

Today we began with a review of the pronouns in French and then we learned how to conjugate the verb "to be" (is, are, was...).  We used the website I linked to in the past and I would hope that the students will use this well-organized resource in the future.  There is no easy way to learn a second language.  At some point it involves some tension.  I hate memorization-based activities, but there will have to be some here.  Here are the links to the page we used today.

The French site homepage

Present tense of the verb "to be"





We did a few little quizzes and I tried to mix up the way the students saw the information.  By the end of the week, I hope everyone will have memorized the present tense conjugation of "to be." After French, was band.  Remember that band meets next on Thursday: you'll need to have your instruments back at school.
a non-example: always divide the
denominator into the numerator.


Using n/n to reduce fractions
If two numbers repeat, put them over 99;
if one number repeats, put it over 9;
if three numbers repeat, put them over 999
and so on...

Ordering on a number line

After recess we read for 15 minutes and then did math.  In Math 7 we reviewed the solutions to the mid-unit review questions that I assigned for homework.  Most students did their homework, thank you.  During the review I tried to take the learning further so that it wasn't just a case of me writing down solutions/answers.  We will need time to finish this tomorrow.  If you didn't do your homework on the weekend, please to it tonight.

After lunch we read for pleasure and then together we read from The Thieves of Ostia.  Everyone seems to be enjoying the story.  I thought that those who read today did a good job with the character voices.  We wrote two summaries: one for Scroll 4 and one for Scroll 5 - they are to be completed for homework.  I also reviewed exactly what needed to be done for the science homework and then we went to p.e. where we played three-corner soccer.

Please note: if you have an activity or practice scheduled for a lunch hour, plan to bring a lunch (like a sandwich) that can be eaten quickly.  Noodles are not a good choice: they just take too long to prepare and eat.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Friday, 18 January


Tetrahedron: a "pyramid" that has a
triangle for a base.
Today we began with a cursive writing practice that talked about our planned showshoe trip into the Tetrahedron.  We transitioned into a review of our knots (figure-8, bowline and clove hitch).  I also talked about the importance of tarps and then gave an introduction to building a tarp shelter called the flying wedge (it takes about one minute to build - a real life saver).

Proving that Aida got it right!

After recess we read for 15 minutes and then did math.  The 7s completed the problem set on p.109.  There were two questions that took a lot of trial and error - frustrating, but very useful for solidifying the concept of the order of operations.  I have asked that the class complete the review questions on p. 110 for homework.  This could take up to an hour, but I don't often give homework and so I'm hoping it gets done.  I'd like to go over the questions on Monday and give the test soon after that, perhaps Tuesday or Wednesday.

After lunch we supported our little buddies who are studying the provinces of Canada.  I saw good support being provided by our students who acted as readers and scribes.  I was pleased by the dialogues and it is clear that the older students take their work with the little buddies seriously.  Next, we learned the points of a compass card and then the students used those directions to guide me on Google Earth to the ancient harbour of Ostia, at the mouth of the River Tiber.  We then read the third chapter of the novel.  We ran out of time to create a summary/journal entry and went directly to the gym for p.e.  Ahh, another great day.  Enjoy your weekend.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Thursday, 17 January

Is it a paradox to practice cursive
writing in a 21st century classroom?
We started the day by having the grade 7s write ideas for their year-end celebration.  These will be collated by the parent volunteers and presented to the weekly grade 7 planning committee tomorrow at lunch.  Next we did a cursive writing practice that acted as a brief class discussion about collaboration and teamwork.  I talked about how important collaborative work will be in the 21st century and how I think it is key for school to prepare our students to be competent contributors is such an environment.  It  takes work to learn to work effectively in a team, but I think it will be a very useful skill in what has come to be called "the information age."  It's not easy for us teachers because on one hand the government is promoting a new vision for learning while at the same time holding on to "industrial school models" such as standardized tests.  Most of the provincial exams have been scrapped at the grade 12 level, but others persist and we still have the FSA tests in elementary school.  It is a hot debate and I encourage you to inform yourself so you can join in.  A good starting point would be to listen to one of the most widely recognized voices on the subject, Sir Ken Robinson.  Here is a link and it includes a good example of the type of visual information that I'm investigating in my practice:

Changing the Education Paradigm

And here is another (I just couldn't resist):

Do Schools Kill Creativity?



After our discussion on teamwork, the class had band.  Following recess, we read from The Thieves of Ostia and then transitioned to math.  I reviewed the order of operations, first showing what it isn't, then showing what it is.  We saw how using decimal numbers makes the calculations a bit messier, but not more difficult (especially if you can use a calculator to solve some of the math facts).  Please complete page 109, #1-4 for homework.
We can't just do the operations in
order from left to right
Ah, the first example done properly
Using decimal numbers does not make it
more difficult
1) all brackets are done first
2) then multiplication or division (in order from left to right)
3) finally, addition or subtraction (in order from left to right)
Finally, the example on page 108 solved
Here is the first line of a summary; you
complete it.
After lunch we read a bit more of The Thieves of Ostia and then wrote a summary using cursive writing.  Next, we completed the questions on p.57 of the science text.  You need not 8, 10, 11, and 13.  Those should be done for homework - due Monday. There was much cooperative work in science.  In fact, I was ABSOLUTELY pleased with the way people collaborated - it was an example of what I would call the perfect class. Thank you for that.  We ended the day with 30 minutes of p.e. in the gym.

Have a good afternoon.