Thursday, which feels like Friday

Jessica is the one and only Cross Country athlete from Room 52

The above screenshot is an image of a possible Grade 7 Study Sheet.  Both the Grade 7s and 8s will be responsible for writing notes, and doing examples from the homework and class work we have been doing on the topic of Multiples and Factors.  All of the work that will be on this test has been assigned before to the students and reviewed in class.  The Study Sheet encourages the student to review his or her work.  After it is handed in, I will look at it and provide some feedback on what else they may want to consider in getting ready for the test.

Grade 7 topics on test

Grade 8 topics on test

The multiplication chart runs through the list of multiples and factors for many numbers.

Here are two extra concepts that the Grade 8s looked at:

This is a short video that I tried to make a little larger for you to see.  I found that the other videos were too small to view.  This one is a sample of the word problem type question, from the homework.  It is not an 100% improvement, but it looks a touch better.

The photo posted on the New York Times website every Monday offers the students the opportunity to speculate on what is going on in this picture.  Here is the image from this past Monday and the link to the explanation.

http://photos.oregonlive.com/photo-essay/2013/08/taiwanese_lawmakers_physically.html

In the area of Language, I am finding that a lot of the students are very eager to want to begin writing their Myths, but are not approaching the assignment correctly.  Over the weekend, I will scan another sample of a Myth from a former student to show what I am looking for or expecting in this assignment.

Last week, we did an exercise where I read them a couple of myths and they had to pay attention to the key details outlines in the Success Criteria (what I am expecting) and write some points about what they were listening to.

Add caption

The short homework I assigned for the Myths was intended to "chunk" this writing into smaller parts and help the students plan more effectively.  So far, only a few students, out of 16, have completed the second stage of planning for this assignment.

On Tuesday, I will model the planning we have been doing so far by developing a Myth for the class to see.  I will follow all of the steps the students have been told to do.  This is known as Modeled Writing and do some think-a-louds to model the thinking that may go into the initial steps of writing.

The next planning portion of this assignment will use another graphic organizer.  After this is completed -- some time next week -- we should be able to begin the draft portion of this assignment.

HOMEWORK

Complete Study Sheet for Tuesday (this will be worth 10% of the final test mark).  The test will be on Wednesday, after the Study Sheets have been returned.
A short quiz on the 6 & 7 Multiplication table will be on Tuesday.
Enjoy your long weekend.  There is no school tomorrow.