This Week At School

... wait we had school this week?

Confession:  My students were only at school 2 days this week!  The reason?  Friday was a professional development day and on Monday and Tuesday the area was recuperating from a little (big) natural gas emergency leaving the school without heat.  Since we were only at school 2 days this week I hardly have anything to say!.. And if you know me you know this is a lie.  I always have a lot to say!

- On Monday and Tuesday I was supposed to be at a math professional development and have a substitute come in.  BUT Monday was a snow day so I stayed home and just went on Tuesday (yes, I went to PD even though my school was closed)

-  We started multiplying (again) and shocker, my students are actually enjoying it!  Yay!  No one has panicked over it or had a heart attack about it yet.

-  It had probably been about 2 weeks since we had done any science.  So I used a health class to remind us that we do in fact study science and we are doing a light unit.  We did a reflection experiment.  The kids love the experiments because we turn out all the lights in the room and they get to play with flashlights.  I sent them home with homework:  to check out their shadows at different times (morning, noon, and afternoon) hopefully one of them remembers!

-  In ELA we talked about responding to articles with our own opinions.  I used an article on dress codes as an example.  Then handed out articles either on Justin Bieber and his recent arrest or the Seal Hunt.  Now, they have to write a blog post as their response and then respond to another blog post about their topic.  Hopefully they get them done soon... My grade 8 assessments are due at the end of the month!

-  In French we are working on introducing a friend to the class.  They are actually doing quite well with it.  Everyone forgets my STUPID rule (you don't pronounce the S, T, P, or D at the end of French words... usually).

-  We also started a French program online.  I'm the first person in the school to actually use the program with the students.  Someone give me a pat on the back, gold star, and $100!
-  On Thursday I had my hair kind of curly.  My grade 4's thought nothing of it.  The grade 8's though asked if it was my natural hair to which I responded it was... and every other day they had seen me I was wearing a wig.  They thought it was funny and yes, I know they meant to ask if my hair was naturally curly (it isn't) since I normally have my hair straight (which I do with the help of a flat iron)... my natural hair is somewhere in between the 2.

-  I'm going to take a break from our regular health curriculum to talk about inclusion.  I have one small group of students that only like working with each other.  It isn't a huge problem but if I pair them up with someone other than someone from their group they would rather choose to work alone.  There is also a clear leader in the group and if the leader decides they don't want to do something the others don't either (thankfully the leader is a good student and the things they choose not to do are things like decorating cookies or eating ice cream).  If anyone has any great ideas on how to bring this up with my students let me know!  I'll just be happy if those in that tight group start including others in their things or make their own decisions.

I don't have many pictures from the week (okay, I only have one) but come on... we were only there 2 days! My grade 8's wrote stories from an inanimate objects point of view and here is a little excerpt from one of their stories.  Can you guess what this student's inanimate object was?

Looks like this student is admitting the class is stinky!