Tuesday, 16 October

First, I chose to shift gears a bit today in terms of dealing with students talking when they should be listening.  I started the P.B.Q.D.R.C (Practice Being Quiet During Recess Club) and the P.B.Q.D.L.C. (Practice Being Quiet During Lunch Club).  I realized that I'm being unfair repeatedly talking to the whole class when in fact it is the same nine or ten students who seem to be having difficulty increasing their self control.  Today's club had two members; with luck tomorrow's will have fewer.

The day started with a short discussion on the use of the blog and most students admitted that they do not use it.  Next we did a session of cursive writing instruction and then we practiced our French.  I tried to get everyone to respond to a few basic questions, but chose questions that could be asked a variety of ways to ensure they had to listen, rather than just parroting what others had said.  We also played a short game of eye-spy and while today's lesson included my staring clearly at what I was naming, in time it will be less obvious.

After recess we did math.  I did a quick practice of the in/out machine and finding expressions and then gave a joint lesson on balancing equations.  Then the two grades worked on questions from their respective texts (grade 7 = pp. 27-28 and grade 6 = p. 35)  Students who finished early did a session of XtraMath.  Anyone who didn't do so should try to do it at home.  The class code is 9YXH7F.

After lunch we did our socials quiz on Sumer.  The map I chose caused confusion because it didn't clearly show the difference between what was land and what was water (I apologize and have corrected this).  In addition, many students had difficulty following test protocol (no talking/ eyes on your own paper) even after warnings. This led to a post-quiz discussion about expectations during a test.  I also spent some time discussing the kind of answer that is required for the written section of such a quiz.  Anyone who had their test removed, or would like to re-do the quiz, may do so tomorrow.  
NOTE: As discussed in class, the re-test will NOT be exactly the same as today's test.  It will, however, be similar and assess the same objectives/material.  To prepare, I would suggest that you also examine the role of trade in the way we examined the role of irrigation after today's test.

We ended the day with a short game (with the other grade 7 class) in the bush.

Don't forget that tomorrow
1) is picture day; 

2) science mini-ecosystem report is due; and

3) is the last day to buy Terry Fox raffle tickets.