Friday, November 4, 2011

This entry will not be very long as it comes in the middle of preparation of the Progress Reports.  Parent Teacher conferences will be on the evening of November 17 and the morning of the 18th.  I will be sending home a sheet for conference time preferences on Monday.

The class completed watching a film that was referred to me from the Strength Based Resilience program I and Mrs. Machado are a part of.  It is called October Sky and, to quote from Amazon. ca:

"...Based on the memoir Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam Jr., October Sky emerged as one of the most delightful sleepers of 1999--a small miracle of good ol' fashioned movie-making in the cynical, often numbingly trendy Hollywood of the late 20th century. Hickam's true story begins in 1957 with Russia's historic launch of the Sputnik satellite, and while Homer (played with smart idealism by Jake Gyllenhaal) sees Sputnik as his cue to pursue a fascination with rocketry, his father (Chris Cooper) epitomizes the admirable yet sternly stubborn working-man's ethic of the West Virginia coal miner, casting fear and disdain on Homer's pursuit of science while urging his "errant" son to carry on the family business--a spirit-killing profession that Homer has no intention of joining."  http://www.amazon.ca/October-Sky-Jake-Gyllenhaal/dp/B0006FYOTC

In any case, the purpose of viewing it was to focus in on the determination of the movie's main character, Homer.  He had a dream and was driven to follow it in spite of the voices of opposition around him.  It was quite inspiring.  I will talk a little bit about it on Monday.


The students had Health with Mr. Moye today along with their French Culture class with Madame Tucsa.

In the morning we continued our discussion about the Holocaust.  I compared the brainstorm from a couple of days ago with some definitions I recorded on the chart paper.  Here is the paper:

This discussion will continue and I will make a point of linking this discussion with some of the "Historical Concepts" I posted a few days ago.  Making this connections makes history animated and dynamic.  A number of years ago, I received a really great publication from the Canadian Jewish Congress which looked at the history of oppression, Anti-Semitism, and bigotry in Canada.  It came with a DVD which I will selectively use with the class.

On a different note, our class worked with the Kindergarten class today.  I did not take a lot of photos, but here are two shots I quite like.  Enjoy the weekend, if you are able to.

HOMEWORK:  Read 2 more chapters in the Book Talk Book and record jot notes for them.  I am hoping that the reading of the Book Talk books will be wrapped up within the next couple of weeks.  I do not want  the reading of the books to draw out too long.  I want the students to remain engaged, happy and interested in the books they are going to read and present to the class.