REMINDER: Waiver form meetings should be done by this Friday, February 2nd. Payment should be in that day too. Any questions, email me.
Two for one summaries today. Scroll down for an entry...after you have read what's up.
Math Div 4: You wrote your rate check up on Monday. On Tuesday, you reviewed ratio.
S.S. Div 3 and 4: You were given time to develop your feudal character and to complete the character sheet which is a graded assignment for Term 2.
English Div 4: You have had the equivalent of 40 minutes of essay drafting time. You have a few more in class sessions to develop your 5 paragraph essay. If you are away, you need to make up this time at home.
English Div 5: You selected an article of interest to analyze and you have been given questions to help focus you on the task. We will be doing a "Fish Bowl Activity" this Friday. This activity is an old one, like ancient Greece old.
Today's entry is an answer to this question: What did you learn about Haida Guaii today from our visiting UVic professor?
Mount Washington waiver meetings and forms plus payment need to be in by Friday, February 2nd. Cheques payable to SD 62 so that the district can pay the resort and bus.
Subject Goals:
Math: You will finish with rate and move on to ratio, another type of proportional thinking.
Social Studies: You will complete a character game card for the Game of Fief using your research. Plus, you will learn about the pivotal historical event that changed your world in 1066, The Battle of Hastings.
English: We will be working on non-fiction informational text both writing and analyzing it.
Here's to a great week. Today's entry is the answer to a question: How fast do horses trot? Give me the rate for a chance at noble rank for the week, a comfy chair and lunch on Wednesday.
Mount Washington Update:
You were given an information sheet today which is to be returned by February 2nd. If you have any questions, fire them off to my gbridal@sd62.bc.ca account.
Summaries for today:
Math Div 4: We reviewed the answers to the exercises that you did in class. You will be checked in on or tested on Monday. Questions will be like the ones that you have worked with and you can review for the test using Khan Academy practice on rates.
English Div 4: You were given direction around using compare and contrast language frames. Then, you were given time to compose a title for your piece. You will have 2 full work blocks to draft this essay.
English Div 5: You were asked to record questions to consider when you were reading through the article that you chose for the Non-fiction Unit. Here is the link to the activity.
S.S. Div 4: You researched your medieval character and their role in the feudal system.
All hail Lady A.E., for she is the lady of the week for January 29th to February 2nd. NOOBS Noun, Slang: Usually Disparaging. 1. a newbie, especially a person who is new to an online community and whose online participation and interactions display a lack of skill or knowledge: Some games and gaming forums are crawling with annoying noobs.
For an entry to have noble status for the week, the word is noobs.
Students going on the ski trip. Tonight was the Waiver meeting; you need to have your parents come in for a face to face meeting with your teacher or an administrator to sign the waiver. You cannot go on the trip without it. Both parents/guardians need to sign except in the event of sole custody being awarded one parent/guardian or if your parent is overseas/out of town and cannot sign.
The trip is February 13th.
Here are today's summaries:
Work BC FIND YOUR FIT Job Fair in the morning.
S.S. Div. 3: You were introduced to aspects of your feudal character including important details like whether or not your name would be a Norman or Anglo Saxon one based on your rank. Next class, you will research to complete a game card flushing out your character.
English Div 5: Final work block. Plus, we began the next unit, non fiction texts. You were asked to comb the net for a non-fiction article of interest. We will work with these articles next class.
The point of this presentation is that you break the stigma of mental illness and suicide:
What should you do for the people you care about if they appear to be acting differently and you are concerned that they are mentally unhealthy or thinking about suicide?
T- Tell --Tell them about things that are worrying you? (signs and symptoms) "I have noticed that..." A- Ask -- Ask directly about suicide? "Are you safe? Are you thinking about suicide?" L- Listen --Listen WITHOUT judgement. K- Keep safe -- How to keep them and yourself safe?
Remember, if you are intending on going Skiing or Snowboarding on February 13th, your parents must meet face to face with your teacher or admin to discuss and sign the moderate risk waiver form.
To facilitate this, there is a meeting THIS THURSDAY AT 7:30pm at the School. The exact location will be posted at the door. Tell your parents to bring a pen for all the initialing and signing.
Today's summaries:
English Div 5: You had one work block for your English essay (1.5/3)
Math Div 4: We reviewed the concept of rate. Then, we applied rate to calculating the difference between a babysitting job paid $5/hr and a typical minimum wage, entry level job. Rate is a math that you will use in life.
S.S. Div 4: You started to research and develop your feudal character's role. Part of this involved selecting the name. If you were a noble, you would have had a Norman name. That is unless you were a female, Anglo Saxon noble. Your choice. If you were a peasant, a serf, a nun, or a monk, you would have had an Anglo Saxon name. Name generators list historically and linguistically accurate names. Chris P. Bacon is not an historically accurate name.
You wrote an assessment on the feudal system that will be marked using a rubric that was provided to you.
Mr. Phipps, the Counsellor from EMCS, is collecting the Career Cruising permission forms tomorrow. That is your hard, deadline for those forms. Scroll down for a link to that document.
Math: You were introduced to the concept of rate. We discussed and explored the uses of rate in the "real" world. We defined unit rate and learned how to calculate it. Plus, we investigated its uses through a couple of videos. Namely, we looked at the Welfare challenge. Could you survive on $3/day in groceries?
S.S. Div 3 and 4: You were divided into your fiefs and you were 'born' into your feudal roles. From the noble class, a King, William the Conqueror, rose to the top of the social pyramid. This social system doesn't allow for social mobility; once a serf, always a serf and so on.
English Div 5: You were given block 1 of two drafting blocks for your compare and contrast essay. The link to this lesson is here.
SUICIDE AWARENESS and Mental Health Literacy January 24th
MANDATORY Parent Meeting for MOUNT WASHINGTON SKI TRIP at 7:30 on Thursday, January 25th at JMS (room to be posted on the front doors)
Find Your FIT - JOB Fair January 25th
Course Notes:
English: Both divisions will be hand writing 5 paragraph, compare contrast essays in class over two blocks. If you are absent, you are expected to meet with me at lunch to work out a plan for completion.
S.S.: You will be viewing some presentations and participating in activities around the Vikings Inquiry as well as starting the GAME of FIEF to explore the concept of feudalism.
Math: You will look at the concept of RATE. We will be practicing the math skills associated with this concept and applying the concept to the real world (eg. income/month; heartbeats/min.; km/hr etc.). If you want to preview the unit, it is linked to the Math side to the right of this page.
I will do the draw on Monday in advisory. Apologies for missing it on Friday!
Today's word is: helmet
Math Div 4: You completed your research and then calculated 4 months of an unpaid credit card bill. The totals were chilling. The math target skill here was calculating a percent of a number as well as working out your computational skills. One student even saw applications to graphing; I wonder if they will go into finance with this kind of mind?
English Div 5: You were given time to finish and code your notes for your compare and contrast essay. You will be given two class blocks and a night to hand write a 5 paragraph essay. This is an in- class writing assignment for the most part; I want to note your process.
I took a crew of kids to a VIKES game Friday night and it was so fun. For those of you who missed it, if you wear a team jersey to CARSA at UVic, they will let you attend the game for free tonight. The game is really entertaining and the bling is awesome.
Math Div 4: You learned how to calculate compounding interest. Tomorrow, you will complete your research and calculate some bill totals. Many of you don't have a Scientific Calculator and at this grade and beyond, you need one.
S.S. Div 3: You got your tests back. We viewed a presentation. All of you were given self evaluations to complete on your projects.
English Div 5: You concluded The Giver movie and now should have enough evidence to write an essay. Tomorrow, you will be given time to detail those notes, organize them into a paragraph frame, and start drafting your essays.
Div 4 and 5, you started a sleep journal. I will keep one too. We will share our data on Wednesday next week to see how our sleep is affected by our diet and routines as well as looking at how our sleep patterns determine how we conduct ourselves.
English Div 5: We watched "The Giver". You were to take notes on your evidence sheet to inform your essays which we will begin on Friday.
English Div 4: You viewed "The Giver" and finished it. You took notes on your evidence sheet and we will begin the essays tomorrow.
Math Div 4: You began researching "credit" cards to compare interest rates and fees. Tomorrow you will finish that research and look at how each interest charge can impact your bill especially if you only make minimum payments and don't clear your monthly debt. (The math of this is calculating percents of a number, the application is financial literacy)
Today's word is: adaptation
Thanks to Mr Cluff who ran lessons today while I worked in the office.
English Div 5: You watched and took notes on "The Giver" looking specifically for evidence backing your points of comparison or contrast for your 5 paragraph essay.
Math Div 4: You reviewed calculating percent of a number in preparation for a mini credit card lesson.
Guest Speaker: First Nations Elder.
English Div 4: You were given one last block to read "The Giver", take notes on 3 points of comparison/contrast in preparation for your 5 paragraph essay.
Exploratories begin this week so come prepared on Thursday.
S.S.: We will look at feudal roles and create FIFES within the class. Div 4 You have a "Think About It Review" on Tuesday
English: We will view the screenplay version of "The Giver" and take notes on key story elements for comparison/contrast with the novel version. The goal of this evidence collection is to write a formal, five paragraph compare and contrast essay.
Math: Your "Declare and Save" posters are due tomorrow. We will continue working with percent this week. You will be learning how to calculate percents of numbers, practice this skill, and apply it to understanding how credit cards work.
Welcome to your long weekend ( I am doing new curriculum training on Monday)
Here are today's summaries:
English Div 4: I would like you to finish the novel, "The Giver" by Wednesday. There is a copy available in pdf on line, an audio book version, or you can take home a novel to make this happen on time. We will be writing a compare and contrast essay on this novel so it is essential that you get it read.
English Div 5: I would like you to finish the novel, "The Giver" by Tuesday. There is a copy available in pdf on line, an audio book version, or you can take home a novel to make this happen on time. We will be writing a compare and contrast essay on this novel so it is essential that you get it read.
S.S. Div 4: We reviewed feudalism and did a "Think About Feudalism Assessment". You were given time to finish your self evaluations for the Viking Inquiry.
English Div 4 and 5: You were given envelopes for your letter to your future selves. Those letters are due sealed in their envelopes tomorrow. We took notes on "The 5 Paragraph Essay" and how to adapt it for a compare and contrast essay. Those notes are included on the English course link.
S.S. Div 3: We discussed pyramidal social structures and how modern day organizations use this structure. You will be tested on this system tomorrow.
Math Div 4: Financial Literacy and percent. You were given an assignment to advertise the advantages of declaring yourself tax exempt at the cash register. The assignment can be found at the foot of the page of the Shopping and Percent Link on the Math page.
Today's word: thrift store (always cheaper and more environmental)
This morning an Ethno Botanist, Della Rice-Syvester, toured you around our back woods teaching you about medicinal plants. How can you use your environment around you to survive and thrive?
Those who were not touring read an article on "The Martian" specifically around the scientific and social accuracy of the film/novel.
English Div 4: You were given time to read "The Giver"
S.S. Div 4: You reviewed the concept of Feudalism. Tomorrow we will present S.S. Viking Projects.
English: We will finish reading "The Giver". You will outline the story elements so that you can compare the novel with the screenplay adaptation which we will watch this week. We will be looking at sentence structure and how to vary it to make your writing flow. We will look at compare and contrast language and how to write a 5 paragraph, compare/contrast essay. I want to do a spelling mini unit with you as I notice some of your mistakes have a pattern.
Social Studies: We will be starting a new unit on social systems from the middle ages namely "feudalism". You will revisit your Viking Inquiries and present them to a small group. I would like to put these projects out for the April Open House.
Math: We will be reviewing percent and how to calculate a percent of a dollar amount to help with shopping and tipping.
This week's word is "resolution"
