Each week there are students in charge of a current event. I have sent home a reminder with these students but I will also list them here.
Monday - Claire
Tuesday - Christina
Wednesday - day 2, no current events
Thursday - Lucas
Friday - Jennifer
Here are some student friendly sites for Current Events.http://gimundo.com/news/
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/pages/search.asp?catid=7
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/teachers/wr/article/0,27972,1888376,00.html
Students now have a link to enter the books they have read. This will be their book log for their year of reading. I sent an email to each of my students and asked them to keep the email until the end of the year. For each book they complete, an entry needs to be made to their book log. They might want to bookmark this form for future entry as well.
We are almost completely caught up thanks to the diligence of the students. The extra two pieces of homework this past week that included blogs have really helped with this. Thank-you for this assistance.
We seem to be well entrenched with the routines now so I will begin to expect these from students on a daily basis. Our broken start to the year has been hard for some students to remain with these. I am also thankful to all of the parents for keeping up with the daily temperature logs. This really speeds up the morning opening and start. Please continue.
Learning is a journey that does not start and stop at the doors of the classroom. Students will have to explore their own learning this year through reflections and blog entries. They completed their first exploration this past week and coming up is an opportunity to do this in math. Throughout the year they will be asked specific questions that have them critically look at themselves.This week I expect to start reading projects. These will involve the students looking into characters, setting, and plot of the books they have completed. Should be some interesting outcomes from this.
I spent the weekend at a Learning in the 21st Century conference over at
the Tai-Tam campus. It was very enlightening to explore what learning and teaching will look like as we progress through the next century. One of the most compelling ideas is that we are educating students for jobs that do not yet exist. It really made me stop and think. One other study session involved looking at defining 21st Century teaching. Just what does collaboration, technology infusion and creativity look like - and I mean in a very broad sense. It was quite exhilarating to be a part of these panels.
Student council elections are this week and permission forms must be in by Monday. There is no extension for this. Students running for election will have poster paper given to them on Monday, posters are up Wednesday to Friday with elections on Friday. Best of luck to all the participants. I do remember fondly my time in Student Councils throughout my education.If you have not returned Camp forms could you do this ASAP. We cannot move forward with planning and organization until these forms are returned. Monday would be great if it is possible.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Harold Daw
