We are fast approaching the Chinese New Year holiday and in the last week before the holiday there are some things the class is going to complete or prepare for later.
We have been writing our first essay piece on changes to the cafeteria. So far we have chosen three ways to improve the cafeteria and written about them, explained them and dug as deep as wel could. Next we will put in the introduction and conclusion to the piece and then publish it. We are using Office 365 for this and so far it has gone fairly smoothly.
We will complete unit 6 on Graphing and Fractions by Thursday of this week. Our next unit is on Exponents and Negative numbers. This will be the first time this year that we dealve in to the number system as it works before 0. We also finish math stations this week with two more meetings before the final assessment.
We have also started lessons on inferencing or the creating of a conclusion based on textual evidence. This is hard for the students but necessary as they progress in their reading level past the basic to understand deeper meaning.
We have had our first two reading club meetings and they seem to be going well. I was asked why students cannot read ahead - it is not that they cannot but rather that I would prefer not. This is because I want to explore predicting and it cannot be done if the reading piece has been completed. I also want students to really dig into the reading and not just cover the words. The books I have chosen for the students to read are at the top end of their reading level so they will offer students some real chances to think through what they are reading.
Our inquiry this week will start to look at human conditions. We did a brainstorm of these last week and developed quite a list. This week we will read a couple of books that will help studenst relate to what these are the possibilities for a cure. It will also look at a real life situation. If you have people in your family that have a condition please talk this over with your student as it might well be the interest they need to research this after the CNY holiday.
If anyone is planning on leaving early for the holiday could you let me know ASAP so I can make the proper arrangements. I thank you in advance for this.
Have a great week,
Harold Daw
