Tuesday, November 29 and Wednesday, November 30

Today I was away in the afternoon attending a Union (ETT:  Elementary Teachers of Toronto) workshop on issues connected to poverty.  I want to be able to use some of this information from the workshop to share with the staff and use some lessons with our class.  We have a tentative field trip to the Daily Bread Food Bank in January to help out and learn some more about poverty in Toronto.

Today in class we had a discussion about dealing with the issue of death.  It is unfortunate but one of the students in our class recently lost his Mother.  She was fighting Cancer.  We read a story together, I Miss You. 

This can be found at Amazon.ca.  http://www.amazon.ca/Miss-You-First-Look-Death/dp/0764117645/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322616703&sr=1-1
I am not endorsing the sale of this book because I borrowed it from our school Library but it did offer a gentle explanation for introducing the concept of the death of a loved one.  We had several opportunities for the class to offer ideas and share their experiences with death.  I am sure we will continue this discussion in the days to come.  As of today, the student has been absent and I am not sure when he will return.

The class began to work on the rough versions of, what I am calling, their Community Circle Thankful art.  They have been told to select at least 3 Elements or Principles of Design.  We have looked at some examples.  I managed to find an example with photographs.

We will continue with this on Wednesday.

During my absence on Friday, the Supply Teacher did not pick up on some Math that he was assigned to do with the class.  I have managed to find some JUMP Math units on Time. I also had the privilege of being able to listen and talk with Dr. John Mighton, the creator of the JUMP Math Program.   It was very exciting for me.  

One thing he mentioned is that students, to be successful in Math, even in high school, must have a solid foundation in their basic numeracy skills.  Even before success can be found with problem solving, it is very important that students learn how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.  I think it is very unfortunate that a lot of students are not able to do this.  Even students who are in "regular" classroom programs are often missing these skills before they leave for high school.  So, it will be part of my mission to weave these foundational  skills into the Math program.  Here is a photo from last night's talk at Bill Crothers Secondary School in Unionville.

HOMEWORK:  Review of article on Occupy movement to prepare for in-class quiz tomorrow.  Practice questions will be reviewed before the quiz.