Friday, 23 November

Today we started with a discussion about how we are progressing as a group in general but also about some students are still having some difficulty with class routines.  To help, we did some small and large team work to create a rubric around the following areas: organization (ex. desk, binders, cubby, area around desk) learning skills, attendance and conduct.  Because the students have become so fluent at creating, reading and self-assessing using rubrics, this was easy for them.  We will complete this next week and after it is done I will ask the students to self assess their week in class each Friday.  This will be considered in deciding their HACE (health and career ed.) mark for the second term.

Review of adding

Homework set

After recess we did math.  The 7s completed p. 69 - 70 or should do for homework.  Our next lesson involves using the number line to subtract integers.

After recess we did art.  Students either worked to complete the magazine/music piece, or Action Item #8 - the boat using the pastel/water colour technique.  We ended the day with a leadership/
teambuilding/problem solving activity.  I set up a horizontal rope in the gym that was four feet off the floor.  The students were asked if they wanted to accept the challenge to figure out a way to pass over the rope.  They had to do so without touching it, and so that they were always in contact with the floor (directly or indirectly).   They seemed keen, however, two or three times I had to stop them and tell them that their techniques weren't safe and that they had to slow down and figure out a way to do it safely.  We learned that we need to consider all the members in the group and not get tunnel vision concerned only with completing the challenge.  We closed with a debrief, but we will revisit this activity and what it taught us, again.

Please remember that there is no school for students on Monday. 

We have skating on Tuesday.  We still require one more driver, so please check your schedules to see if you could make yourself available.  We are in good shape for the following week.  Here are the drivers already committed: