It's Good to Be "NOSE-Y"

On Wednesday Staff Sergeant Mizuno joined us for another session of VIP.  This was the first of two sessions that will focus on illegal substances such as drugs and alcohol (under aged drinking).  For a guest speaker, she brought with her Officer Hardy who works for the Canada Border Services Agency.  He is a dog handler, and he brought his best friend Zora with him.  We learned all about how dogs are trained and used to sniff out illegal substances.  We even got a first-hand demonstration.  Check out the photos and ask your child about it! 

Zora is very active and smart.

What a face!

Good girl!

She found it on the first try!

Please note:  Literacy Evaluations were sent home today.  Spitfire tickets for the March 8 game were also sent home with those who ordered them.  Thank you for your support!

Transformational Geometry - WHO NEEDS IT?

 
Often students ask (or I hear them discussing among themselves) why we need to do certain topics in math if they will never need them in real life.  Check out this video below which shows some of the practical applications for transformational geometry in an exciting profession.  You may be a graphic designer some day!







Check out this link if you would like to play a quick, fun digital review game of rotations, reflections, and translations.  Give it a try, then record the results in Friday's area of your agenda.  Keep your agenda open on your desk Friday morning and I will give your further instructions.

Field Trip on the Horizon!

 Our class will be travelling with the grade seven and eight classes to see Holy Names High School's production of "High School Musical" on Tuesday March 3.  This will help to satisfy some of the requirements in our drama curriculum.  The permission form was sent home yesterday.  Please submit the completed form and $5 by Friday.  Thank you very much in advance!

                                     
            Don't forget to try for a meatless lunch on Friday!

How are your community service requirements coming?

Have you been able to keep your Lenten promise?

Math tests were finally returned to the students on Tuesday since the last one was completed.  Please sign them and return them as soon as possible.  Hopefully the literacy evaluations will be returned today.  I will let you know through the blog when they are.

Proportional Reasoning Results and CHOCOLATES!

Congratulations to the following students who earned one or more good news tickets for submitting one or more answers to the proportional reasoning questions that were posed on Friday's blog:  Hannah, Kameron, Helena, Karissa, Gina, Joey, Justin, Katarina, Connor, Julia, Isaac, Andrea, and Robert.  A little more than half of the class!  As with all good open response questions, there is more than one way to solve them.  So the solutions you see here are only one way to do them.  Notice that multiple steps are required and students must make all of their thinking clear to an audience.  Keep up the good work!

Here is this week's question.  Please submit it by Monday!

If five chocolates cost $0.75, how much do thirteen chocolates cost?  Justify your thinking.

Good News and Dances!

  Congratulations to last week's Good News ticket winners:  Gina, Justin, and Katrina!  Keep up the great work!

 We finally have been able to work on our last dance:  two minutes to the music of the students' choice, including props and costumes.  The students are able to bring a personal electronic device to school on Monday and Thursday for dance, until the completion of this assignment.   Check out the works in progress!

Recent Tests and Vocabulary Words

As you know, we had a math test on Tuesday and a literacy evaluation on Thursday of this week.  As seems to be the pattern this year, not all students have written them yet.  They will be returned to the students once everyone has completed them.  Thank you for your patience.

Here is the latest crop of vocabulary words.  Our class has come up with some great words - some that I had forgotten about!  Keep them coming!


Proportional Reasoning - In math, I am trying to develop this concept with my students.  Simply put, it is the ability to compare two or more things using multiplicative thinking, and apply this skill to new situations.  We have been dabbling with this all year, but we recently dealt with this for a summative problem solving task (in the purple duo tang that you saw during your child's student-led conference).  The results were very mixed, with some students being very successful with the question and others not.   

Which jar of salsa is the better deal?  Justify your thinking. 

For this weekend, please have your child complete this question for practice and feel free to pose these types of questions to them when real life situations present themselves.  The grocery store is a great spot for this since you can use proportional reasoning to determine which sized package is the better deal, for example.  Give it a try!

Here is another to try:  If two dozen cookies cost $12.00, how much does one dozen cost?  How much does one cookie cost?  Justify your thinking.

Well Done Class!

I am pleased to report that our class did a fantastic job of their roles in the Ash Wednesday mass.  Their behaviour was impeccable.  Special mention goes to the following students who volunteered for specific jobs:
Readings - Gina, Christian, Katarina, Brooke, Connor, Helena, Eric, Mahleik, Katrina, Hannah, and Devon.
Offertory - Kameron, Isaac, Julia, Nate
Technology - Andrea
Choir - Logan

There was one omission during mass, and the students who were prepared to read the intentions (prayers of the faithful) did not get the chance to.  As a result, Mr. Marenchin allowed them to read the intentions on the P. A. system back at school. 

Thank you very much to all of the family members who attended to support us!

How are your Lenten promises going?  Plan for a meatless Friday.  Keep up the great work!