Tuesday, 16 April

Thankfully, my two typing fingers are
not affected.

Wow, and just like that we're halfway through April.  I spent part of last night at St. Mary's waiting for the results of the x-rays of my thumb (the new building is very nice).  I've been in denial for a week but confirmed that I broke it catching a softball.  There is no way to make that sound manly and dangerous - I tried to in class today but the kids just laughed at me.  My only defense was to strike a power pose and put on a brave face.  If it was a hardball, it might have been better, but believe me, the dad who threw the ball has quite an arm.  I'm posting the photo in a lame attempt to get residual sympathy.  My wife is an E.R. nurse and if you know anything about nurses, they don't give much sympathy - especially to their spouses (and doubly-especially to spouses who wait a week to see the doctor).  I'm just glad that softball season started after the snowshoe trips.

John Wayne in the film "True Grit"

We began the day completing our responses to the study guide for yesterday's story.  Next I gave the students a "grit" test to see how they rated on a "stick-with-it" scale.  I find that some are more resilient in meeting difficulty in their work than others are and it is something I'd like to address.  Here is a link to the quiz: on-line grit tests

After recess we debriefed the test results and discussed how "grittiness" might be seen in terms of a character trait.  I also introduced the idea that we are judged by others and that character traits are usually long-lasting so we need to be careful about how we approach our actions and our words.  I asked the class to think about what kind of a people they wish to be and how they want to be seen by others.

In Math 7 today we completed the problem set on pp 151-152.  We even found a typographic error in the text which led to some figuring to make things jive with the answers at the back of the book.  I think most people completed the questions; we went over some of the more difficult questions on the board.  Regardless, all questions should be completed for homework.

After lunch we listened to the first science inquiry presentations.  Thank you Sam, for volunteering to go first, and to Kira, Emily, Goldney, Hannah, Simon, Mackenzie and Kiah for presenting on Day One.  I was pleased with the speed of the transitions between speakers; there was little wasted time.  This represents a significant improvement over the last round of presentations.  Good work, everyone.

We ended the day with a big game of capture the flag, hosted by Mr. Pond and Division One.  We don't normally have p.e. on Tuesday afternoon, but we didn't get a real shot at last week's C.T.F. game so I thought a do-over was in order.  It was a lot of fun and ended in a tie.  Thanks, Division One!

Tomorrow morning is movie making with Joanna.  We also have the sexual health educator coming after lunch (I thought it was today but read the schedule incorrectly - sorry), and we'll end the day with yoga - a busy day to be sure.

Please remember that at the snowshoe info session we voted to collect $2 per student for each yoga session.  I expect we'll have a few more - one family generously volunteered to pay for one whole session themselves, so this week is covered!

Here is a screen shot of the notice sent home today.