Friday :) Hey, where did the warm go?

I went back to the Math collage/scavenger hunt that the students created in the first week to create my own.  The purpose of the activity was to observe how often we see or use numbers in our day to day life.  I provided the students with a checklist of the numbers they were to look for.  Here is the image of the items I found.

I modeled this for them because I wanted to demonstrate the strategy of using a checklist to help focus the search and keep track of what items were found.

Another activity that I am trying out will integrate some Art and poetry.  The students will use a type of cloze or fill in the blank form of writing to create a personal story about themselves.  The students will work on a draft in their Language notebooks, share it with a peer, to ensure clarity, and then publish it (type it up, write a good copy).  I am hoping to introduce some Visual Art into the mix by having them paint one aspect or part of the poem.

Here is an image of the assignment, along with some of my own writing to help them along:

In the morning, we sometimes do a Journal entry or attempt a Problem of the Day.  Today, I posed a problem involving a problem facing Minnie.  Here is the question:

 We will review the answer on Monday, after I look through the notebooks where they did the work, but I will leave the viewers with a little hint to the solution.  Here is a similar problem, where I used myself as the main character to figure out how many combinations I could have with the following set of clothes:

 
HOMEWORK:
-  complete rough draft of the I am poem in Language Arts notebook
- have a look at the Blog
Enjoy your weekend.

It was supposed to be cooler today!

I am still waiting for this cooler weather to come.  I sense I will regret saying this in about three weeks.

Today we looked at the Level 1-4 sample answers for the counting to a billion exercise.  I want the students to get a sense of what Level 1 (a grade of C) through Level 4 (a grade of A) looks like.  Here is an image of the answers taken from the exercise book:

The students doing some self-critique of their answers after looking at the sample answers.

It is very hot

I am hoping that with the cold front on the horizon, the learning environment might be cooler.

Despite the weather we pushed forward with the exercise involving the time it would take to count to a billion.

The students worked in groups to figure out some of the problems.  Usually problem solving in Math is challenging for students and I plan to make this a part of the work they do in the Math program.  Some of the students figured out how many seconds were in a minute, then an hour, and used these statistics to help estimate the answer.  I provided some guidance after all of the groups attempted to solve the questions:

All of the groups completed the questions I assigned.  Tomorrow, we will spend a little bit of time looking at the answers the students created and compare them to Level 1 - Level 4 responses in the workbook I took the question from.

Answers by the students

In an attempt to support the students, I made a few jot notes around some examples where I had to be resilient.  Here are the notes.  The idea was to show how jot notes could be used to create a story.

A visual for the first example I used in my story.  Sometimes when you have a lot things to deal with, you can feel overwhelmed.

But if you see them one at a time, and deal with them one at a time, they are not so overwhelming.

 As for the story, I created a Success Criteria chart to show the students.  

A more visual look at how to set up the Resilience based story.

Like some of the other schools in the AMG community, we are a model school.  http://www.tdsb.on.ca/Community/ModelSchoolsforInnerCities.aspx

Being a part of this community requires us to take part in the Canadian Achievement Test (known as CAT).  A letter went home detailing the test (the results are not used for the report card, but are useful as a discussion point with parents).

This will happen before the end of September

It was a little late in coming, but I wanted the Community Circle to be put into practice by allowing the students the opportunity to talk a little bit about what they did in the summer.  Upon reflection, I should have done this last week, but today's temperature felt enough like summer to think back to those lovely memories of a few weeks ago.  Here is an image I took of us:

The talking and listening that takes place during this exercise becomes a part of the Oral Communication mark for the Language program.

HOMEWORK:

- multiplication quiz (2-5)

- return Hepatitis B forms (Grade 7 only)

- complete rough drafts of your story of resilienced

This is the chart I use to keep track of assignments students have been working on. They should use the agenda, but this poster is up, in the back of the class, for them to see what it is they have and have not done.  A happy face indicates a completed piece of work and a red X indicates that work has not been done or needs to be completed.

Tuesday: Resiliency

Today we began some discussions on being resilient.  This is a theme I would like to carry throughout the school year.   The students recorded a couple of definitions from the board:

I then shared one of my stories of demonstrating resilience and then explained what I wanted the class to work on:

Because this is going to the basis for a writing assignment, I asked the students to brainstorm 5 (or at least 3) examples of when they were resilient.  I provided them with an example:

To develop some of these ideas, each student will share one example during a Community Circle discussion tomorrow.  This is an example where students work on developing their oral language skills to provide details to what they are talking about.  Here is the framework:

For Math, the students began to work on a problem:  How long would it take to count to a million?  We each went through just how big a billion is.

We will go over this problem tomorrow and I will break down the steps to help the students understand it more.

HOMEWORK

Complete 5 jot notes for Resiliency writing assignment
Bring a book for quiet reading for tomorrow morning
Please bring in $6 for an agenda and all completed forms

Junior brought in his permission form.  Yay, his picture can be published:

Have a good evening.

Sunday morning and schedules

I am hoping you are enjoying a nice, late summer afternoon.
I gave the class a copy of the Rotary schedule on Friday.  Most students posted a copy on their desk and some took an extra one for the locker.  Here picture images of the Grade 7 and 8 schedule.

The blank portions will be filled in by the end of the week.  I am thinking about the best arrangements for the Math and Language periods, in addition to the Arts based subjects (Visual Art, Drama and Dance).

A portion of this upcoming week will be spent completing some diagnostic work (Reading Comprehension, another assessment of learning styles [how the students think they learn best], and a piece of writing relating to being Resilient or the ability to bounce back when we are faced with difficult situations or challenges).

On the topic of resiliency, I will share a little more about this in the coming week.  Two years ago I was involved in a project known as the Strength Based Resilience project and found that it offered a lot of lessons for myself and the class.

As we become more involved in Language and Math, there will be more homework.  Not a lot, but more.  As you will come to hear on curriculum night -- September 26 -- I am not a huge proponent/advocate of homework, if it is not necessary.

Here are some photos from the students who have brought in the completed Media Release forms. This was from the activity where the students had to interview one another.  Please get those forms in, if you haven't done so already.

  Enjoy your Sunday.

Thursday

I have been pleased with the way the class has been working together as we settle down into some of the routines in Room 52.  There is still a lot of diagnostic assessment (to see where the students are at in the area of Math, Reading, and Writing) to get through and by next week, I am hoping to have a clear sense of direction for both the Math and Language program for the learners in 52.

I will post a couple of photos and add some notes as they relate to some of the learning we have been doing:

These two photos are related to a Math Scavenger Hunt (some of the students are not finished).  The students used a 24 daily paper to locate as many of the items on the blackboard that I posted.  The idea behind this was for the class to see how numbers and Mathematics are all around them.

Before we did this, I had the students brainstorm what they thought about Numeracy and Mathematics.  Each student took a Post-It note and wrote an idea.  I went through them and grouped them by ideas.  I will come back to this chart paper once we begin our Math in more depth.

HOMEWORK:

- return all forms signed (Junior, Jackson, Tamar, Brandon, Rasheed, Chad)
- $6 for agenda (they just arrived today)
- complete personality profiles

First day of school!!

The first day is done.  Whew.
What a great class.  It may take me a while to get back into the blogging mode, but I will take one step at a time.  So, I will add some off comments, here and there to outline some of the things from today.

 This is a photo from the front board.  Everyday, I usually write up the activities the students will be doing, so they have a sense of direction.

UPDATE:  Since I do not have the Media Release forms from the students, I am not able to post photos on the blog.  So, I did manage to slip in a couple of secret shots of students doing an activity.  This one involved them interviewing another member of the class and then presenting them to the class:

There are many times when I try to take advantage of opportunities for learning.  As I was sharing my story about being undiagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder).  I asked anyone what the prefix "un" means.  I used the example of winding versus unwinding an object.  A student was able to explain this and then applied it to the word undiagnosed.   I looked online and found this page that I will share tomorrow:

I shared a couple of short stories with the class about the importance of positive thinking.  This is something I want to work on throughout the year and weave it into the other work we will do in the HSP class.  Here is one the stories:

The students wrote a journal response.  I will read them and provide feedback and engage with their ideas.  On Monday's post, I posted up a link to a welder, from Edmonton, who was told that he would not be able to become a welder because he was dyslexic.  Please have a read of this article from Monday's post.

** I forgot to post a copy of another story I read, in the same spirit as the one posted above.  Here it is:

Tomorrow, we will continue to work on name tags for our desks.  Here is an example of a tag that a Grade 8 student did for me last year:

HOMEWORK:
Please return all forms that need to be signed.  Please keep the copy of the first day newsletter that has the blog address and my email (marc.proudfoot@tdsb.on.ca)
The Grade 8s have Gym tomorrow

Have a good evening.

Trades Alberta: Welder with learning disability proved naysayers wrong

Trades Alberta: Welder with learning disability proved naysayers wrong

The day before it all begins

The classroom, just before the year starts, looks a bit like an ordered museum.  Once the first student walks in on Tuesday, it will never be the same until the end of June, 2014.
Looking forward to the journey.

 

August, 30, 2013

Late August, 2013

Getting ready

Welcome back.  Well, almost.
I hope to be in Room 52 today to prepare for the upcoming school year.  As I sit at home, doing some professional reading, I thought I would add my first post:

https://homeworkhelp.ilc.org/secure/login.php

I will probably add this to my list of important links on the blog.  This is a site that will assist students with help in Math.  The students may find this website useful and will need to have their OEN to register.  I believe this is indicated on a copy of the Ministry of Education Report Card.  If not, I can provide you with it.