Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Today there will be an afternoon trip for the Grade 8s to attend a tour of Central Tech.  Even if they are not attending that school, the exposure will be a positive one.  They will be introduced to the size and general routines of a high school in the TDSB.  The Grade 7 students will be assisting in the Grade One classroom.

The students had a double period of Music this morning and this did not allow for a lot of time for instruction.  We did return to the article on the Occupy movements and began to watch a short, animated film.  The link for it may be seen here:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/video/2011/nov/16/99-v-1-occupy-data-animation

As we review the article, I am encouraging and guiding the students to use some reading strategies (questioning, looking at headlines and images) to help them comprehend the material.  So far, I think the class has an overall understanding of what the phrase "we are the 99%" refers to.  We will continue our discussion and activities tomorrow.

Here are a few images from the trip to Central Tech.  I did not go on the walking tour with the students because Senior students from the host school did that.  Ask your son or daughter how they enjoyed the tour and what they learned.  The teachers from AMG spent some time talking with the Guidance Counselor about the importance of the students developing strong Learning Skills.  I found it interesting that a great deal of maturity can take place between Grade 9 and 12 and the attitude and effort of learners can really shift for the better!

There is no homework tonight.