Dear Parents,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 - Halle
Tuesday - Max
Wednesday - Faven
Thursday - Stephen
Friday - Claire
Here are some student friendly sites for Current Events.
Good News Daily
Science News for Kids
Time for Kids
Thank-you to all of you for participating in your students Student-Led conference. There was a l of great conversation that was started during this time. Since there is so much of the students work on-line, these conversations should be easily continued at home. Sometimes the generic, "So, what did you learn today?" does not elicit the response wanted, but a conversation about learning can have long lasting positive effects.This week will see us continue with our Civil War journal. Students will work on a Biography, two maps and a spreadsheet all that will end up in the journal. Lots of interesting work in these journals/portfolios and something that students will be proud of for many years to come. I still have students, who are now in grade 10 & 11, writing me and telling me about how they have kept their Civil War journals and occasionally look through them. Kind of nostalgic.
We are well underway with our Book Talks. Each student has chosen a book and the groups have met once. This week they will meet again and talk about the 5C's of reading - clarification, connections, comments, context and continuation. Since this is the second time this year, these book talks are really taking on an interesting tone and discussion.In math class we will continue with coordinate geometry and also begin to look at area, volume and capacity. Some of this is done with experiments that prove certain points. Very interesting learning here. Students will also complete a second exemplar involving area.
We have a special guest speaker for our Chapel this week. He is a member of the Friends of God and he will be in to talk about his religion and his relationship with God. We use to have a teacher here in the UP that was a member and when she gave this talk the students always learned a lot about the worship of other people. Should be an interesting talk.
Students have been busy collecting used cans,
bottles, cartons, plastic trays, etc. as they are getting ready to construct their Trash Kids. Please help by giving students all the left items after a meal or that are no longer needed in the home. Make sure that they are properly cleaned out and washed. Thanks for your help with this. In the past these sculptures have been a highlight of the students art year.I am a little behind with the movies from our last Pollution Unit but hope to complete these and get them up on our websites by the end of the week. Students have been anxiously awaiting these for quite some time now.
Please make sure that students are reading at home for 20-30 minutes each night for at least 5 nights a week. There is little time in class to do this so it really helps if they have time at home to complete this important part of their learning.
Students are going to need about 20-30 minutes on a computer each night this week as they are now commenting on other students blogs. We have practiced this in class for the last couple of weeks and now it is time to put it into action. Please help with the computer time if necessary. Next year this will not be a problem since each student will have their own lap-top.
As always, if you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Harold Daw
