Welcome Back

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year, we should be finishing off the Geometery and Heat Unit's within the next few weeks. Mrs. Bergevin will be teaching us some dance and I'll prepare our HomeBuilders challenge within our science unit.

The end is in sight

Well we managed to squeeze in our Math unit test and I've marked about a quarter of them so far. One or two students are in line for high 90%s which is encouraging.

Good luck everyone in the school show, I'm filming it tomorrow so I'll see if I can post a clip or two here.
In the meantime here is what I'd like to do in science on Friday; except I'm not allowed Liquid Nitrogen in elementary school. I can't imagine why ....

Care Day

Poor Pippa is sick so I'm looking after her again today :(
We're on the last chapter in unit 3 with our unit test coming up on Monday. Check out the Nelson link for great study tips and questions for Unit 3.
I'm excited about piloting a Unit from the New Nelson text book being published next year. I'll be taking a look at the expectations and see where I need to make adjustments to our programme. More details to follow.
Don't forget to pick up your secret Santa $2-5 gift. We can spend Friday Afternoon Decorating the class so. with permission, bring in your decorations.
I should see you all tomorrow.

Mad Science

The crowd were enthralled!

Sk8ing

Fun at Skating, not so much the walk back in the driving snow. The things we do to reduce our carbon footprint.

Good Grief

Has it been so long since I last posted. It's easy to get out of the habit other things quicky fill the space. We're well underway in our heat unit. For language we have some writing to do and I think we can finish up the Bully boys this month.

Remember to return reports and see you Monday. Enjoy the lie in Friday while I tell your parents everything

Grammar

We didn't finish our grammar so it's for Homework. We're working hard to finish off our body systems presentation this week. See the website for the rubric if you're unsure about something. Great ideas so far, opne student is planning to video themselves on a treadmill for their Cardiovascular project. I'll be showing them how to import that into the Smart Board.

keep up the good work.

I'm experimenting with youtube and the smartboard. I'm triing to embed videos.

Remember the babysitting course homework and the math which is due on day 4

sdrawkcab yaD

!sdrawkcab yaD at segroeG

MacAttack

HELP,My,Macbook,seems.to.be,suffering,from,some,strange,affliction,where,the,spaceaar,delete,and,other,functions,dont,want,to,work,,

Not.good!

The International Space Station

Check out when the ISS will fly overhead
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/SSapplications/Post/JavaSSOP/JavaSSOP.html

Osmosis Jones

We'll begin some work on diffusion and Osmosis this week explaining how stuff gets into and out of cells. The lab sheet is up on my website. In the meantime check out this story about tracking a T-Rex in the U.S.

Back from the brink

After two litres of IV fluid over the weekend for the dehydration I'm feeling a little better. I was at the board office this morning for a meeting and came back to find many of our students are off sick too! Homework this week consists of completing the 'e'-lab for Friday and preparing for the overdue spelling test tomorrow. I also believe there is some outstanding Math HW to be collected tomorrow too.

We'll get the backlog cleared and begin our next language assignment this week on fractured fairy tales.

Check out this collection of fairy tale links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_tale
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/introduction/ftdefinition.html
http://www.tooter4kids.com/classroom/FairyTaleUnit.htm
http://www.ivyjoy.com/fables/
http://www-ma.beth.k12.pa.us/jhoke/jhwebquest/jhwebquest.htm

Pond water investigation

Euglena! A possible sighting in several students slides. Also, the Onion skins, as prepared by the g8's for the g 7 class! Great job!

The grade 8's finished up their 'e'-lab with a pond water investigation. I need not have worried, the water was teaming with life. I was very impressed how well our students are using the microscopes now and so I expect a high standard when the completed 'e'-labs are returned for homework on Monday D1. Students can download a fresh copy of the lab from my site.

Well done, don't forget that tomorrow is a PA day so there's no school for students.

On Monday g7's will get to make their own slides and hopefully have time to check out the pond water which is in the sun on the window sill!

This long weekend check out Bruce Westling's great collection of microscope images.

Cell theory and Math

Grade 8s' have almost finished their 'e'-lab and will be handing it in shortly (a fresh copy is available from the website!). We're now looking closely at the structure and functions of plant and animal cells. Check out this companion site from Nelson.

G7s' homework is to finish page 206 q6-13 by Thursday, don't forget the P.A. day on Friday!

Integers mid-topic review

We're about 2 lessons from our mid-topic review on integers. So far we've covered the basics and are adding positive and negative integers.
Don't forget to check out the Nelson website for web based support.

Breakfast Club

Comedy breakfast was a huge success. Thanks to everyone who brought a little extra to share, so we didn't have to eat Lucky.

Microscopes and Math

Grade 8's will get another chance to get cracking on their microscope work. Grade 7's will begin the e lab for the microscope. A copy of the worksheet can be downloaded from the website under lesson 2.

Check out this site to learn about the microscope. It takes a moment.

Grade 7's math H/W on integers far from zero due on D2 page 199 q5-18

Integer Homework

Here is a useful website to help you as we start to work with integers. Can you make up your own rhymes to remember the rules!

Back to school

Dear Parents and Guardians,
School is now underway and already I feel privileged to be working with such a fantastic group of students. I’m sure the
students have been telling you about ‘TRIBES” or “Lucky”the fish, the newest member of our class. Perhaps they have been
asking you to tell them jokes for the comedy routines we have been creating and performing in Language Arts. I want to
take this opportunity to say thank you for the kind messages I have received and to let you know about a few things we will
be doing over the next few weeks in grade 7.

Breakfast Comedy Club
Next Friday, September 21 we will be having a class breakfast starting at 8:30 st am in room 301. Students are invited to
arrive at school a little earlier than normal to share a simple breakfast with the class. Students are free to bring bagels and /
or cereal and their own milk and utensils. I will provide a toaster.
After morning announcements, students will share the standup comedy routines they have been working on this week.
Marks will be included in Language Arts and Dance / Drama programmes. Parents are most welcome; please let me know if
you would like to attend.

Babysitting Qualification
I have arranged for the Canadian Red Cross to run a babysitting course for free, as an enrichment to our Health and Physical
Education curriculum. All of my grade 7 students will spend Thursday mornings from October 11th to November 1st in class
learning first aid and simple child care techniques from Red Cross instructors. This is a wonderful opportunity for our
students to learn valuable life skills. Students who successfully complete the course and wish to receive the official Red Cross
babysitter’s qualification may do so for a fee of $40.

Planners and Homework
Students should be showing you their planners every night to sign. I am encouraging students to become more responsible
for their homework and appreciate your support. Assigned homework is written on a board at the front of the class, and
students are given time to copy this into their planners. Parents can also access our online homework calendar from a link
on the school website. www.tvdsb.on.ca/georges

Clothing for Physical Education
As the fall approaches we will be moving our lessons into the gym. Ideal dress for Physical Education lessons consists of well
fitting training shoes, shorts or track pants, and a loose fitting t-shirt. Jewelry, especially bracelets, long earrings and
necklaces, should be removed for safety.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me at school should you have any questions or concerns. I look forward to working with
you throughout the coming school year.

Fluids, mass vs density students we are investigating the link between the two. The worksheet needs to be finished off for next lesson.

Planning

I was away this morning preparing work for our Steps to Success, students learning about work skills and careers.

Tomorrow grade 8's have computers while 7's have art and language. We'll work on our 5 paragraph essay about poverty. Check out the provincal budget regarding poverty.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2007/03/22/ontario-budget.html

Back at the coal face

I'm half way through our second week back and getting to grips with the smartboard. Tomorrow moring I am out of school for a planning meeting, be nice to our supply teacher. I'm looking forward to the weekend when we have the London Science fair. It should be great!

March break is here!

Oh at last, I've been so tired and now I can relax for a few days. My mind has already started to wander a little thinking how I can the new smartboard in lessons. I've got a few hands on ideas already for the kids.

I'm still playing with facebook but at the back o f my mind I'm aware that I could end up at the beck and call for all my night owl students, the union isn't too keen on any of it.

For now I"m testing the water.

Smart boards

Well I used the smartboard today to show the class a quick presentation on British culture. Then we watched 'Flushed away'

PD day continues

So we're all in the lab looking at eworkshop.on.ca with great stuff for literacy for k-6. So far I'm chewing over this morning's work on guided reading.

Lots to think about but so little time for reflections

Up and running