Welcome to June. This week, June 2nd to 4th

Calendar Notes:

Spirit Week Next Week:
Monday - PJ Day
Tuesday - Dress Your Best (The Opposite of PJ Day!)
Wednesday - Blue and Green Day (Journey Colours!)
Thursday - Cosplay Day (Basically Halloween in June)

Tuesday - Grade 8: Reach for the Top -- A Battle of the Wits! 

Friday - until further notice, school is not in session on Friday.

Academic Notes:

Reach for the Top Teams - please have your teams organized by this Monday. If you don't have a team, we will be putting you on one.

Math - we will graph linear equations using coordinate points from a table of values. There won't be a test this week. Next week we will begin our year end review. Your course final is scheduled for Friday, June 12th.

Science - we will continue looking at ocean currents and explore some environmental concerns that are particular to oceans. There will be a test on tides and currents on Thursday.

S.S. - we will continue to look at the Scientific Revolution and begin the Renaissance biography presentations. (Your essays are due on Monday. The presentations will be completed by next week)


And now for something completely revolting, Mr Horner's bee-bitten leg. He officially wins a prize for Mantracker's most wounded after he battled with a swarm of bees last Thursday.

For an entry, the word is: "Gross!"

May 29th

Sometimes a good laugh, is good medicine...at this poor guy's expense. Looks kind of staged to me.

Camping Trip Update (as discussed today):

The Grade 8 Teaching Team, the same team that knew that the snow would come for our ski trip, is remaining optimistic for our camp trip. At present, we are not cashing your cheques, we are holding them. If we cannot go on the camping trip, we will notify you as soon as possible. What we do know is, if we have to cancel, we will design an alternate, school based activity that is equally enjoyable.

Today's word is: "hopeful"

May 28th

Not exactly scientifically accurate, but funny.

Tomorrow you have a quiz on waves. Use your question sheet and last week's wiki to review. We conducted a quick review today.

Last exploratory tomorrow. Mantrackers there is a super soaker version on tomorrow and a competition for best camo.

Please refer to CBC's website for information on job action/lock out; this is the national news service and they will report out, if circumstances change. I am continuing on as if it is business as usual in the classroom unless instructed otherwise.

Today's word is: "neap" (yes, as in "neap tides", but it is such a cute little word for a cute little tide)

Neap, neap. Isn't that something a frog would say?

May 27th

Before/ After Tides

We had a great afternoon at the High School. I was really impressed by the leadership students' maturity as well as Mr Baldwin's chemical change demonstrations. The message I got was that High School means more "freedom", but at the same time more "responsibility". This is true to every step of life from this point on.

Some of you really need to work on your Renaissance projects. I know that it is beautiful outside, but set aside at least a half hour for homework.

Today's entry is a comment: What did you like about EMCS? What concerns do you have about the school? Do you have any questions still? Will you cry when you have to say goodbye to Mrs Bridal because I can tell you right now she most definitely will!

This week, May 26th to May 30th

Hope all of you are having an enjoyable weekend.

Calendar Notes:

Monday, May 26th - Job Action --Teachers will not be working and the school administration is encouraging students to stay home for safety reasons. For up to date information, please refer to the news and the school blog.

Tuesday, May 27th - EMCS visit in the afternoon. EMCS would like our students to come prepared with sharpened pencils. Both Divisions 1 and 2 will be broken up into groups of 5 to tour the school and participate in planned activities.

Thursday, May 29th - Last exploratory session. Mantrackers, camo competition and super soaker game so dress accordingly.

Academic Notes:

Math: This week we will continue to work with the Distributive Property and we will begin working with creating a table of values to graph linear equations.
Social Studies: You should be working on finishing your written essay on your Renaissance biography and you should be working on your presentation. You will be signed up for presentation dates this week. If you are making a video, this weekend would be a good time to shoot.
Science: Thursday, you will be tested on your understanding of waves. What's on the test? Refer to your notes on the question sheet distributed last week for that information. This week we will explore tides and currents. I will ask our Port Renfrew students to put a message in a bottle and we will also set one off of Whiffen Spit.

Today's phrase is: "Adventure outside!"

May 22nd

I don't know what the SPCA would say about this. Are these dogs having fun? Make a comment for an entry.

Lots of you have fallen prey to this stomach flu. I wish you well and will try to detail what we are doing in class so that you can keep up with the lessons.

Tomorrow we will:

-have a Math Quiz on two step equations and I will ask you to explain the Distributive Property. If you don't understand it, view this week's links on the Math wiki to clarify your understanding. I can help you before school starts too.

-(Div 1) use one last computer block to work on your research project in Social Studies.

-complete the questions on wave science.

-watch a dance performance in the gym 5th block.

-we will have a blog draw.

Get well all of you sickies. Let me cheer you up with this funny gif:

May 21st

Camp Update:
The grade 8 team met about camp and we discussed the following points:

1. Deposits. We will deposit your camp deposit this Friday and we will refund your family, if job action interferes with the trip. Of course, we are hoping that this is not the case. Remember how optimistic we were about the ski trip and it worked out? Well, we are taking the same approach with this situation.
2. Volunteers.
Group Chaperones: We need one parent/teacher per cabin group. All of the teachers are committed to     staying for the two nights.We are looking to our parents to fill the other spots. We especially need men. All adults working with students need to get a criminal record check and the cost will be covered by the school.
Drivers: We save a lot of money by going local. We do need drivers to bring students to camp on the Tuesday at 8:45 and to bring students home on the Thursday at 11 am.

Many of you, including my own daughter, have expressed that while your parent wants to come, you don't want them to...I want you to read "I Will Love You Forever"...now tell me you don't want your Mum or Dad there....you can't can you?

Today's phrase is: "Noooo, don't go!"