Tuesday, May 3, 2011

We began the day, in out usual routine, of having snack and reading quietly.  Afterward, we prepared for our Community Circle and placed emphasis, again, on selecting a single topic and adding details to elaborate on it.

The paragraphs we have been working on have now been completed.  We will continue to work on this form of writing until the end of the year and will experiment with other types of paragraphs (narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive).  For some students, this is the first time they have worked on this type of writing.  We have spent a lot of time talking about what goes into making a strong paragraph.

An "anchor chart" was created for the students to check, while they were writing, what should be going into their paragraphs.  Mrs. Machado and I conferenced with the students to explain  the feedback I wrote on their paragraph outlines before they started writing their paragraphs.  I expect to have the paragraphs marked by the end of the week.  A photo of the chart the class used is here:

The Health project was discussed today.  Due to Mr. Moye's absence, many students are confused about how or where to begin.   Mrs. Machado and I decided that the project could be linked with the "paragraphing" unit by asking three key questions around a topic and answering those questions paragraphs.  I plan to do a parallel project to assist the students through the research process.

The Grade 8s have had a thorough review of the adding and subtracting of integers and will have a re-test tomorrow.  The Grade 7s are also working on integers, but are only dealing with the initial ideas of integers on a number line.

We will be finally viewing the documentary on bullying (Speak Out).  To activate some prior knowledge, I had the students do a couple of things:

1.  Think of 2 things they might learn from watching the documentary.
2.  Come up with 2 questions you want to ask about bullying.


All students completed this, will view the film, and then answer a question once the film is completed.

The photos of the mask making from last Friday are now available.

Homework:  Grade 7, Math (second page of JUMP Math on Integers)
                    Grade 8:  Integer re-test on Wednesday
                     Parent signature on memo sent home from last Friday