Weekly Update For Monday, November 18th to Friday, November 22

Hello Everyone in my language and science classes! Here's the weekly update plus some general reminders!

• Your musical trip form and money are due this week please! It looks like it is going to be a blast! I'm so glad that we are going on an outing together. After we come back, during the month of December, 7/8A Language class: we are going to look at Fairy Tales, Disney and the Impossible Dream!!! Stay tuned!
• GRADE 7's: THIS WEEK IS THE ONLY WEEK YOU WILL HAVE IN CLASS TIME TO WORK ON YOUR ECOSYSTEM. IT IS DUE NEXT WEEK.
• Interviews with the teacher: the interviews with a teacher don't have to be only for students who are struggling. I like to see ALL of my students' parents! I much prefer if the student (YOU) accompany your parent however; it makes for a much more productive meeting.
• Indoor shoes - please bring them. And then, when you get here, please put them on. The number one response to, "Where are your indoor shoes?" - "My locker."
• Wear winter clothing. It's cold out. It is not cool to be cold.

Monday, November 18th Day 3

- 7B and 7C Science!!!!! Today you will be given the entire science class to work on your ecosystems. Please make sure to have your information and anything you need with you.

- Music Instrument sign out for 7/8A today.

- Please return your report card envelope and signed portion to your homeroom teacher. 

- Begin your spelling assignments 7/8A!

Tuesday, November 19th Day 4

 - 7D Science!!!!! Today you will be given the entire science class to work on your ecosystems. Please make sure to have your information and anything you need with you.

-  Please return your report card envelope and signed portion to your homeroom teacher. 

Wednesday, November 20th Day 5

- 7A Science!!!!! Today you will be given the entire science class to work on your ecosystems. Please make sure to have your information and anything you need with you.

-8A Science - you will be doing a water experiment today. You will also receive all the information you need for the culminating test the following week.

-  Please (last call!!!) return your report card envelope and signed portion to your homeroom teacher. 

Thursday, November 21st  Day 1

-8C Science - you will be doing a water experiment today. You will also receive all the information you need for the culminating test the following week.

- Interview night! Hope you see you then!

- 7/8A Language - Spelling activities due please!

Friday, November 21st  - INTERVIEW DAY!

I am at school, meeting with parents and students. You could be:

• studying for your Water Systems Test (grade 8's)
• working on your Ecosystems Project (grade 7's)

Have a great week. Over and out!

7/8A Language Homework

Please read the Debating Student Info Sheet:
Debates - Student Handout

And be prepared to tell me what it's about tomorrow morning.

7/8A Language Assignment

The 5 W's: Summary for Non Fiction

For Thursday, at the beginning of class: I would like you to complete the writing assignment on, "How The War On Drunk Driving Distracts From The Real Danger." I will give you some class time tomorrow, (Wednesday), to work on it. Typed is preferred but not necessary. It should be approximately one page in length, single spaced. Here's the 5 W's page: 5 W's

7A, 7B, 7C 7D Science Homework

7A, 7B, 7C and 7D Science Homework: be ready for next week to work on your Ecosystem in class!
1. Completely fill out the Abiotic and Biotic Elements Planning page:
My Ecosystem Elements
2. On the back of that page (or on another page), draft out some of the food chains and food webs that exist in your ecosystem.
3. Bring your Ecosystem Elements page and ANY SUPPLIES YOU MIGHT NEED (if it's mine craft, I have computers for you to use, please be ready with passwords, etc.)

Weekly Update: November 11 - 15

7/8A Language:

Reading Strategy: reread tricky words and then keep on reading to use the context (story) to help you understand the meaning of the text.
Writing Strategy: Use the 5 W's to help you summarize non-fiction text.
Spelling: Last week I did not ask for the spelling activities until Friday. This week I would like them on Thursday please. That way we know our words better for our quiz! Want to know what your words are? Here they are! Spelling Words
Book Forms: I would like 6 done by the end of November. If you don't think that will be possible, please tell me.

Grade 8 Science:

This is the last week for class time to work on our scientific posters. We will have the first period of science to finish our posters. The second half will be spent preparing for our science expo the following week!

Grade 7 Science:

This week in Science, we will continue to prepare and research for our culminating project: creating a model ecosystem. You homework last week was to fill in this form (Model Ecosystem Form ).  This week, we will plan out our model ecosystem, looking at terms such as: biotic, abiotic, consumer, producer, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, food webs, food chain, populations and ecosystem. If you have an electronic device, please bring it, to help research your ecosystem!

Elephant Toothpaste Science Experiment

7/8A Spelling Activities

Great Spelling Activities!

Just click on the link above and you will find a great list of different ways to show your  learning of your spelling words. I would like you to do three of the activities. If you have a better/another activity you would like to try, go ahead! Just, show your learning!!

When is it due? Friday.

Classes 7A, 7B, 7C and 7D Culminating Project: Interactions in an Ecosystem

I have handed out an outline for the Model Ecosystem Project.  If you have misplaced yours, here it is:
Model Ecosystem Project

Your homework: Fill in this form!
Model Ecosystem Form

This Form will ask for the following information:
1. Read the success criteria
2. Decide if you are working alone or who your partner is
3. Choose an ecosystem: forest, desert, coral reef, ocean, rocky shore, grassland, mountain, savanna, prairie, pond, etc.)
4. Decide how you will present it: drawing/mural, diorama, real ecosystem (that is self-sustaining - with a parent's permission), mine craft, observations of a real ecosystem - vlog(video blog)

November Newsletter

November News!!

7/8A Language Arts:

This month in English Language Arts, we will continue on perfecting our paragraphs, this time looking at non-fiction and persuasive writing. For Media Literacy

We will focus on the RSA videos - mainly the  video 23 ½ hours. Have you seen it? Check it out:

Doc Evans's 23 1/2 hours

Very cool!

Reading: mostly self-selected texts plus articles I choose for in-class reading. WHY? WHY DON’T YOU DO A NOVEL STUDY MRS. BIBBYSMITH?  Because, what if you hate the novel? I once had a grade 11 teacher drag me through Macbeth.  We read it word for word. She would stop every couple of lines or so and explain in her plain English what it meant. Ugh. By the end of that play I hated it and hated English class. There is nothing wrong with Macbeth (or as McDeath, as we nicknamed it), but it was dissected to death until there wasn’t a wonderful play written by the world’s best playwright, but rather a pile of mush on a plate a dog wouldn’t touch!

I think you should enjoy and choose what you want to read, for the most part. And by grade 7 and 8, books can be swallowed up by paragraph after descriptive paragraph, sometimes whole chapters in one gulp, not cut apart until you can’t see the forest for the trees! Okay, I’ll get off my soap box now. On to:

DEBATES!!!

Yes, we will be entering the severely rule-based world of formal debates for our oral language skills. This should go along nicely with the persuasive writing.

sPeLLiNg:  We really need to work on this. I wish spelling would go away but it won’t. Everyone is at different levels so you will get your own list on Monday and get tested on Friday. There will be many different activities you can choose from to help you learn the spelling rules.

SCIENCE: Grade 7

We will finish working on Ecosystems, with a test and a culminating project. There will be many different options for showing your understanding of an ecosystem. Stay tuned!!

SCIENCE: Grade 8

Our Water Systems Unit is almost complete, as the students finish up their Scientific Posters on the distribution of the World’s water, or researching our Grand River trip. Yes, there will be a test. Not a big one, but we will have a good, old fashioned test.

What motivates you? Do you agree or disagree?

"Humans have an innate drive to do things for their own sake because they matter. This is one of the most robust scientific findings of the twenty-first century, but it has largely gone ignored." - Quicklet on Daniel H. Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Paula Braun. http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Quicklet-Daniel-Pinks-Drive-The/book-iFFNqXqAF0qnFgp1GmKMyQ/page1.html