Language Arts 7

September 30 2013

Today students began with a short journal entry.

We then discussed the makings of a good sentence.  Students must remember that we do not usually begin sentences with "because" until we have mastered writing.

We then read all of chapter 5 and most of chapter 6 from Touching Spirit Bear.  Chapter 6 must be read next class.  Students will have a short quiz on chapter 6 next class.

Socials 9

After a discussion with Mr Bishop and Constable Shepherd, students completed a short quiz.   This will have to made up at lunch on Wednesday.

Students then discussed as a class, social interactions of different religions.  We talked about empathy and treatment of people in past society as well as our own.

Many students were away today.  I look forward to seeing everyone back in class on Wednesday!

Socials 7

September 30 2013

Today students, after a brief discussion with Mr Bishop and Constable Shepherd, students began working on marking an assignment using their evidence rubrics.

Students are reminded to bring their mucky clothes on Friday instead of Wednesday, since Wednesday is picture day.  Please also bring any of the following:

small garden shovel (or sandbox shovel)
gloves
change of clothes
gum boots
rain jacket (depending upon weather)
old paint brush
old toothbrush
IGA bag

Foods 11/12

September 30 2013

Today, since numbers were very low due to the fire today at The Grasshopper, we made muffins.  Your pie crusts will be made on Wednesday.

Socials 7

Today students completed another artifact response journal.

Students will partake in a school archaeological dig on Wednesday.  Please make sure to bring some grubby clothes!

Foods 11/12

Today students watched a demo on pastry creation.  Unfortunately (and my fault), our gluten free flour did not make a worthy crust.  However, the filling of the quiche was delicious.

Each student will make pastry next class.

LA 7

Today we began with some quiet work time so that students could complete chapter three and four questions from Touching Spirit Bear.

Students, when finished, went to the library to read silently.

Socials 9

Friday, September 27 2013

Today we started the class with a quiz on religion.  We will have a re-quiz on this content and the content from two classes ago.  Please look at the previous blog entries to ensure you are reviewing the correct content.

We then looked through a number of slides and "wondered" about what was in the pictures.

Finally, we read from Daniel Defoe's Journal of the Plague Years.  This primary source provides much information about the time period, from superstition and science to gender relations and religion.

We will continue looking at this source next class.

English 8

September 26 2013

Today students began with a lesson on sentence structure (subject and predicate).  Students should now understand that a sentence names and tells more.

We then began our yellow belt training of punctuation kung-fu!

Students had a chance to summarize chapters 6 & 7 of The Outsiders before completing their quiz.  Make sure to see me if you have missed the quiz.

Students then went over story plot (see the graphic below).  Students then created a topic sentence (TS) to express how the story plot relates to what they have read of The Outsiders.  Students were then responsible for bulleting the activating circumstance (AC) of The Outsiders and two events from the rising action (RA).

Finally, we read the beginning of Chapter 8 together as a class.  Students must read the rest of Chapter 8 and all of Chapter 9 for homework over the weekend.

Reading 8/9

Today students shared their research on philosopher Karl Marx.

We then continued reading Animal Farm.

Senior Band

Hi All,

Please remember to practice our Remembrance Day pieces over the weekend:

Amazing Grace and As The Dawn Breaks.

Thanks for another great rehearsal today!

Foods 11/12

Wednesday, September 25 2013

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Today you have three main tasks to complete.  Please know that I will be choosing what I feel is the best recipe from your entries to cook as a class on Friday.  I am looking for quality of ingredients, as well as a detailed instruction plan on how to create the dish.

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU MUST WORK ON THIS ON YOUR OWN.  

NO PARTNERS PLEASE.

Task One:
Create a menu option for a hot lunch meal.  Consider what was on the menu for today's hot lunch.
Write down your menu option and check over with a partner (though EVERYONE must create their OWN menu option).

Task Two:
Find a recipe that will support your menu option.  You may choose from books up at the front, or look for a recipe online.
Create an ingredients list.
Take a Canada Food Guide and check in with your ingredients.  Is there anything that you might add or delete to make the recipe healthier?

Task Three:
Write out the recipe complete with directions.
Don't forget cooking temperature and time.
Consider each step.  This will take a great deal of mental imaging.
This should be done on a laptop, printed off and handed in.

Once you have completed these three tasks, please take a cooking term sheet and unscramble the words and find the definitions.

I will look forward to cooking up one of these creations on Friday!

Socials 7

Wednesday, September 25 2013

In the groups provided, please work to investigate my artifacts.

Groups will investigate four different artifacts.  Each group will be given 10 minutes to sketch, assess, and inquire about each artifact.

Please hand in the sheets at the end of class.

Students and teacher will then read p.22-25 together as a class in the textbook.  Students should then complete the Try This on p.26.

Have Fun!

Socials 9

Wednesday, September 25 2013

Today I am away at an iBook seminar.

Today students will begin with a quiz on religion in Europe c.1600.

In small groups I've assigned, students must investigate a religion and create a short slide show (use powerpoint on the laptops).  Please answer the following questions:

• What are the origins of the religion? (when and where was it started?)
• What do its members believe?
• Where in the world is it worshipped (in the past and today)?

Please present these to the class.  The class must fill out the information on the sheet provided.
These sheets must be handed in at the end of class.  There will be a quiz on the different religions discussed on Friday.

After, students will read p.28-30 together.  Students should take turns reading.

Please answer the following questions:

1. What is does it mean to believe in the Divine Right of Kings?
2. Imagine that you are a monarch.  Defend your position that the Divine Right of Kings is legitimate in today's society.  It would be a hard sell with people today, so please give five reasons to support your argument.

This will be due next class and read out loud.

Language Arts 7

Wednesday, September 25 2013

Good Morning All!

I am in Vancouver today at an iBook seminar.

Your tasks are as follows:

1) Complete a journal entry (15 min)

2) Complete the What is a Sentence? sheet.

3) Summarize the most important part of chapters 3 and 4 from Touching Spirit Bear.  Once you have summarized this as a class, write down your response on your summary sheet.

4) Complete chapter 3 and 4 questions.  Please write these in complete sentences with capital letters and punctuation.  Remember that a sentence names and tells more!

Have a great day.  I look forward to seeing you all on Friday!

English 8

Students began class with a quick quiz on chapter six of The Outsiders.

Students must read chapter seven for homework.

We will have a quiz on chapters 6 and 7 that counts for marks on Thursday.

Please view the story plot diagram below.

Please remember to read chapters six and seven for homework.

Reading 8/9

Today students continued with their projects.  We will be ready to present these next class.

Students then had the rest of chapter two and all of three read aloud.

Senior Band

September 20 2013

Thanks to all of those students who made it out to the jazz band clinic.  Your participation was very much appreciated.  As well, thanks to Wendy and Solveig for braving a solo!!  Hoorah for you!

Practice up this weekend.

;-)

English 8

September 20 2013

Today students began by watching a short clip on parkour and assessing skills required to complete such a task.  The focus here was on the breakdown of skills.  We then created a rubric to breakdown the required skills.

Using this as a model, we transferred the language of skill levels to conventions in writing.  Students then assessed their own performance on their last assigned paragraph.  Most students were accurate with their assessments.

We finished the class with some review questions on chapter five of The Outsiders.  Students were asked to complete questions 1-5 in complete sentences.  I will be checking for capital letters and punctuation.

I have assigned chapter six to read over the weekend.

Reading 8/9

September 20 2013

Today Mr Bishop will be teaching you!

You will need an iPad for this assignment.

Once provided with an iPad, please look up Karl Marx.  The following are some sites that might help you to better understand who and what he is famous for:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/marx_karl.shtml

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/karl_marx.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_von_Westphalen

http://www.pitara.com/magazine/people/online.asp?story=24

http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Socialism.html

http://articles.student.com/life/politics/socialism-what-it-is

http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Capitalism.html

http://www.stanford.edu/~ldiamond/iraq/WhaIsDemocracy012004.htm



Please feel free to do any further investigation.   I would ask that you keep in mind the following questions:

Where was Marx born?
Where did he live?
When did he live?
Who and when did he marry?
What did he believe in?
How did he change the way people viewed their society?
How is socialism different from capitalism?
What is a democracy?

You will be working in groups to present this information to the class at a later time.
Feel free to begin creating a slide show on the iPads.

Please work on this research for 40 minutes.  Make sure that all information is saved in the drop box.

Please read over the connections sheet provided.  This should take about 5-10 minutes.  When finished this, begin reading the rest of chapter two.

I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!!

English 8

September 19 2913

Today we began the class by reading the rest of Chapter 4 together.

Students then read the paragraphs from below and discussed possible themes of each:

Paragraph 1: style, personality, judgment

Paragraph 2: insults can cause injury (anger and violence), poverty

Paragraph 3: embarrassment, impatience, distraction

Students then made three connections to ONE of the paragraphs.  These connections included one to self, one to the outside world, and one to a story.  Students were expected to provide two sentences for each connection.

Students then created topic sentences for each of the paragraphs.  These can be seen in the two images below:

Students then created or borrowed a topic sentence and rewrote their previous sentences into paragraph form.

Chapter 5 reading has been assigned for homework.

Language Arts 7

September 18 2013

Today we read the rest of chapter 3 from Touching Spirit Bear.  Students then chose one paragraph from any of chapters 1-3 to make connections.  Students were asked to make connections to self, the outside world and another story.

After students had handed this in, they independently read chapter 4.

Socials 9

September 18 2013

Students began by refreshing themselves on how to create rubric.  Students were then responsible for filling in the evidence rubric.  We will use these next class to chart our progress in evidence based histories.

Students then watched the you tube clip below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fadCAHjN-s


We read pages 27-28 in Crossroads and discussed religion and witchcraft.  Students will have a quiz next Wednesday based on the following word diagram:

Religion in the 1600s

Catholic - - - - - - - - - Protestant
(Spain,                             -Presbyterian             (Scandinavia,
France,                            -Mennonite                 Germany,
Italy)                                -Puritan                       England)
                                         -Lutheran
                                         -Calvinist            

Finally, we looked at a witch-case trial from 1688 Scotland.

Foods 11/12

September 18 2013

Today we had a lab.  Students made plum or apple muffins.

We will have a quiz on terms next class.

Socials 7

September 18 2013

Today we began the class by learning to create a rubric.  Students will work this year towards proficient self and peer assessment.

We then read pages 11-12 from the textbook.

Students must always keep in mind that history is ever evolving.  Our perceptions change with every new added piece of evidence.

Reading 8/9

Students were asked to complete their Turtle and Beaver scripts.

Students who completed their work were given the opportunity to read assigned homework from their English class.

Finally, we read a few limericks and students began writing their own.

English 8

September 17 2013

Today students began with a 20 minute journal write.

Students then summarized, as a group, chapter three of The Outsiders.  Students were asked to pick a paragraph from chapter three that they found important or interesting.  Students were asked to write three sentences explaining the connection of the paragraph to 1) self, 2) the outside world, and 3) to another story.

Students finally read their paragraphs to each other and shared one connection.

Finally, we began reading chapter four.

Language Arts 7

September 16 2013

This afternoon students completed a journal entry.

We then summarized Touching Spirit Bear thus far.  Students discussed as a group many themes of the novel.  We then began reading Chapter 3.

Socials 9

September 16 2013

After completing their symbols and class evidence charts, students read pages 26-27 in Crossroads 9 textbook.  Students were also introduced to the ways religion influenced the maintenance of social justice.

This is the start of our study of the British Civil War.

Foods 11/12

Today students tested their tastebuds and critiqued their teacher.

It will be my turn to critique their plum muffins on Wednesday!

English 8

September 13 2013

Today we had a quiz on chapter one and two of The Outsiders.

We then worked on sentence structure.  Students created and then shared two full sentences.

Students then answered three questions from The Outsiders in full sentences.

In small groups, we then came up with leadership qualities.  Students discussed their class dynamic within our school.

Finally, we began to read chapter three of The Outsiders.  Completion of the chapter is assigned for homework.

Senior Band

September 13 2013

Today we worked through Mambo No. 5, El Toro, and Mystic Dance.  The blend is starting to come and I am very happy with all student progress.  Please make sure that you practice over the weekend!

I look forward to Tuesday when we not only make music, but everyone will surely have handed in their sheets!

Reading 8/9

September 13 2013

This morning students continued working on their legend scripts.  When these are complete, we can begin working on shadow puppet presentations.

Have a great weekend!

English 8

September 12 2013

Today students began with a short quiz on chapter one of The Outsiders.  We then read the first half of chapter two together aloud.  Students then broke into groups of three to work on a mini script from chapter two.  Students then performed these scripts in front of the class.

The rest of chapter two was assigned for homework.  We will have a short quiz on both chapters tomorrow.

Read 8/9

September 12 2013

Today students began by reading a longer script in small groups.  Students then, once mastery had taken place, read their scripts aloud to each other.

Finally, we worked toward completing our Turtle Races with Beaver scripts.

Foods 11/12

September 11 2013

Today students participated in a successful lab.  Students worked together to create an appetizer with a limited number of ingredients.  Every group was successful.  There were a fabulous montage of flavours that I took great delight in tasting.

Thanks for your safe practice everyone!

Socials 7

September 11 2013

Today students completed their History of Mac assignments.  They then completed their symbols to represent our class' collective history.  Students were helpful and polite when placing their symbols on the quilt.

Students then used the evidence they brought to class to begin a written collective history of the class.

Finally, we read from the textbook to review primary and secondary sources.

Thanks to parents for helping students find evidence for our assignment!

Socials 9

September 11 2013

Today we reviewed individual vs collective histories.

Students completed their History of Mac assignment and then worked to find evidence to support a history of our collective class history.

Students also worked towards completion of their symbols.

Thanks to parents for helping students find evidence for our assignment!

Language Arts 7

September 11 2013

Today students worked to complete their letters to self.

We then had a class discussion on how our society deals with violent criminals.  Student responses were well thought out and interesting.

Finally, we read more of Touching Spirit Bear aloud.  By Monday, I have asked all students to read all of chapters one and two.  There is a good possibility that students will be quizzed on these two chapters on Monday.

Senior Band

September 10 2013

Today numerous handouts were delivered.

1) Jazz festival notice
2) Interest in trip form
3) Rental agreement (for those students borrowing from the school)
4) Band Camp information

Please make sure to get these sheets back into me as soon as possible!

Thanks.

ps. You sounded great today!

English 8

September 10 2013

Today students completed a journal entry.  Predictions for the novel, The Outsiders, were checked.

Students then reviewed the function of a noun by watching the short School House Rock video on nouns, and by highlighting nouns from a selection from The Outsiders.

Finally, we read half of chapter one together.  The rest of chapter one was assigned for homework with the promise of a short quiz on Thursday.

Reading 8/9

September 10 2013

Today students read through a few small scripts.  We then read a Seneca legend called Turtle Races with Beaver.  Students began developing this story into a script format.

Socials 7

September 9 2013

Today we began researching a personal past.  Students will work to provide a history for the evidence that they have collected.

Students then worked on their personal symbols.

Foods and Nutrition 11/12

September 9 2013

Today students completed their taste tests.

Students also worked on a lab assessment rubric.

Just a reminder that we will be offering students the Food Safe Program this year.

Language Arts 7

September 9 2013

Today students worked to complete their letters to themselves.  This has been a longstanding tradition at PHSS.  Grade seven students write to themselves a letter that is to be opened upon graduation from secondary school.  The finished product will be locked away until such a time!

Students have also been looking at parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections.

Finally, we have begun reading the novel Touching Spirit Bear.

Socials 9

September 9 2013

Today students began investigating history using primary source documents.  Students identified the various types of evidence.  They then created a class rubric to assess future historic inquiry.

Students will use their collected evidence to create a history. 

English 8

September 5 2013

Today we discussed the parts of speech:

• noun
• verb
• adverb
• adjective
• pronoun
• preposition
• conjunction
• interjection

Students impressed me with their knowledge of the function of the various parts of speech.

Students then completed a journal write.

Finally, were asked to predict the story plot of our upcoming novel: The Outsiders.  This prediction is to be complete before the next class.

Foods and Nutrition 11/12

This year we will be working with various parties to provide nutritious food for our school.

Today we designed menus.  We will continue to consult Canada's Food Guide to ensure the food we create is healthy and tasty.

Social Studies 9

September 4 2013

Today we began exploring the notion of a crossroads.  Students then began an investigation into research techniques needed to begin an inquiry into the British Civil War.

Students must have an inquiry question ready for Friday September 6 2013.

Social Studies 7

September 4 2013

Today we began discussing the difference between individual and collective histories.  Students will be able to decipher between the two different types of history.

As well, students explored research techniques that will help them when they begin their inquiry into ancient civilizations.

Language Arts 7

September 4 2013

Today we discussed the parts of speech:

• noun
• verb
• adverb
• adjective
• pronoun
• preposition
• conjunction
• interjection

Students impressed me with their knowledge of the function of the various parts of speech.

Students then completed a journal write.

Finally, were asked to predict the story plot of our upcoming novel: Touching Spirit Bear.  This prediction is to be complete before the next class.

A New Year!

Dear Students and Parents,

Thank you so much for your warm welcome this 2013-2014 school year.  I had a fabulous time in Scotland completing my masters degree and am refreshed, bright-eyed, and ready for the new term!

I will do my best to keep my blog up to date so that you are able to virtually see into the classroom.  I look forward to working with you all this year.

Sincerely,

Ms MacInnes.