Spring Break - Day 11

Project
Dummy
Cool
Goes to Egypt
Drives a tank
Shara Desert
Flies a Messerschimidt
Fiddled with the zipper
Going to work
Hitler's daughter
Silly idea
Another story
Can choose
Story about Heidi
Make her a princess
Stubbornly
Other Heidi
Talking about

-----------------------------------------------------

Lily went into her bedroom

A glass of lukewarm iced tea

A spring of mint

Mrs. Colgan's Victory Garden

She sent over

Her mother's stars pasted

Still thinking about tomorrow

-----------------------------------------------------

One thing

Just one

Saving for my brother

A soldier

He gets everything

I'm going to have a nut thing

With chocolate

-----------------------------------------------------

We're fools

I

Thinking more heroes

How?

You

Uncovered plot

Escaped despite risked lives

First respond alarm

I protested

-----------------------------------------------------

Spring Break - Day 10

This post is long overdue... Please note that all poems were written by Division 3 students.

Clouds stretched

Tight grey sky shrank

Mushrooms puffed

Diamonds began

-----------------------------------------------------

Flanders fields

Crosses mark our place

Larks sing bravely

The guns sound below

Dead

Days ago we lived

Saw the sunset glow

We were loved...

Quarrel with our foe

From failing hands

The torch is yours

Break our faith, we die

Though sleepless

The poppies still grow

-----------------------------------------------------

Everything seemed opposite

Couldn't beleive that

The house in Berlin

On a quiet street

Along a hand full like its own

Nice to look at other boys who he played with

New house stood empty

Desolate place

No families

No other boys to play with

Berlin was enormous

Lived there

Nine years

-----------------------------------------------------

Found freezing

They will probably die

Let her look after them

They didn't die

Let them go

Hoped they'd remember

And come back

Would be good to have friends

Scuttled off

Didn't see them again

-----------------------------------------------------

A present

What is it?

Something small and warm

A rabbit

Lifting it

Soft and black and white

-----------------------------------------------------

Spring Break - Day 4

It was raining
It was still raining
Mama was crying
The whole world was crying
It was getting dark
So angry
The noise
Slam, slam, slam

Spring Break - Day 3

A plane coming

Over the water, so low

Above the waves, its wings tilt

See the people standing on the beach

Watching far down the beach

Looking up

Perfect wobbly shading

Roared over the beach

Huge, dark shadow

Flattening

Spewing along the sides

Backed against the boardwalk

Heart is thumping

Bursting with the sound

Stinging plane gathered speed

Gathered height

Was up, over and past

She realized

See his face

His blue eyes huge

Blowing across the beach

Without thinking

Spitting out sand

Wiping her eyes

The noise fading

See Albert's hand trembling

Reached out and grabbed his arm

"It's alright," she told him

Everything went still

Waves rolling in on the shore in front of them

Spring Break - Day 2

A traitor

A nazi

Loyal only

to Germany

Always look

To those who protest loudest

Tie up your brother

No

Now!

Tighter

These poems were inspired by novels we are reading in class.

Spring Break - Day 1

Saw the next moment

Loving eyes

Sorry, Isobel

Cry

Letting her speak

A small voice

Don't want me

She choked and had to stop.

Spring Break!

Students have been writing poems and doing art these past few weeks.  I thought I'd share a few projects and pictures every day during Spring Break. Out of respect for them I won't give names.  Feel free to add any positive comments you may have.

Enjoy...

Everything Makes a Difference

How do I choose?

How do I remember?

I listen to the sound of the water

I feel the cool smooth caressing

I imagine the hugging, stretching and lifting that will guide me

I walk with pride

I dive with my heart

No life vest now,  just love and memories wrapped up in a big warm towel.

How do I thank everyone?

Everything makes a difference, remember that.

Operation NICE

I discovered a great blog recently. It's called Operation NICE.  Have you guessed what it's for?  Well here's a link that will tell you more about it. 

What is Operation NICE?

Two of the tips I really like that came from the Readers' Suggestions page are:

1. Give at least one sincere compliment a day and it doesn't have to be much.  Tell someone they have a nice smile, or you like their shoes or you envy their patience.  If you look for it, you can find something positive to say about anyone.

2. Make eye contact with people and smile.

So... Which ones out of THIS LIST do you like best? Feel free to also add some of your own ideas in the "Comments" section of this blog...

School Wide Write + Cooking With my Kid

This is such a great blog that I thought I'd share it with you.  Let me know if you try any of the recipes.  There is a "School Lunch" section, if you are looking for some new ideas.  I'm getting hungry just looking at the pictures!

On a more serious note, students recently wrote a persuasive essay and I'm done marking them.  Every student at JQ went through the writing process and teachers used the Ministry's Performance Standards to mark students' work.  All of the rubrics can be found here.

No video today, I'm taking a break! :-)

Adaptations - Be the Creature

There is a really neat show on TV right now, on the Knowledge Network (channel 5). It's all about animal adaptations, exactly the stuff we've been learning about in class.

Here's the website if you want more info.

Hope you get to watch it!

Who can tell me the adaptations that cats have? Don't write your answer on the blog, put it on a post-it on my desk! A draw will take place at the end of the week...

Writers' Toolbox

I've been talking about 'thesis statements' for a while now and I thought this website could be useful to some of you.

There are many more useful tips given on the site so feel free to browse through.

-Effective Titles

-Introductory Paragraphs

-Thesis Statements

-Development

-Unity and Coherence

-Conclusion

-The Basic Principles of Persuasive Writing

This is also a great site if you wish to know more about writing.

Learning Logs, Masks and a Cute Video

Wow! I started reading your learning logs and I'm so impressed by your responses! I'm in the process of typing some of them so we can look at them tomorrow in class. Should be fun!

On a different note, make sure to come to school this week. Some students are already behind schedule with the masks and it's not easy to catch up. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be spent painting them. If you have your own acrylic paint feel free to bring it to school (I won't be expecting you to share). I might not have all the colors you wish to use but I'll try my best to buy some good ones.

And the video of the day is... (my favorite part is at around 55 seconds)

Phishing - Important Message - Please Read!

I found an interesting email in my inbox today.  A lot of intermediate students have already fallen into the trap.

-If you get an email and it looks something like this (see picture at the end of this post) DO NOT GIVE OUT ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION!

-If you have already fallen into the trap, change your password immediately.  Please watch this video if you can't remember how to create a safe password.   

-If you received the message and haven't replied yet, delete the message immediately. Tell you friends to do the same thing. 

This is called phishing. The following definition was taken from this site. 

Phishing is the use of email or Short Message System to encourage individuals to reveal financial details like credit card numbers, account names and passwords or other personal information. Phishing messages can look like genuine messages from a real bank, telecommunications provider, online retailer or credit card company. Often the message will contain an urgent ‘call to action’, such as claims that the bank account will be closed or compromised if action is not taken. Phishing is usually sent by email from falsified email addresses, but is increasingly being sent to mobile telephones and VoIP telephone services.


Let me know if you read and understood this message.  I'll make an announcement tomorrow so that everyone knows about this.

Body Image: The Real Me Vs the Media

This was the theme of today's lesson for Health and Career. 

Videos viewed were:

1. Dove Evolution  (don't forget to click on the link!)

Tomorrow I'll post what some of them wrote following the lesson (it was done anonymously).

Click on this link if you have some time to kill!

Cute Stuff!

One word: ADORABLE! (image found on reddit)

Let's see if students remember what they learned in school...  Ovipare ou vivipare?  You have until Wednesday to come see me with the answer. Don't write it on the blog!!! If you have the correct answer, you will be eligible to win a prize on Wednesday afternoon.

"Be the person you are asking your child to be; the person that you wish for them to be."

This quote was taken from an article I just read in the March issue of Today's Parent.

"You can't make me!" - Discipline and Older Kids 

The same issue was also featuring a bedroom makeover that I really liked.  Purple has always been one of my favorite colours, it might be why!

Many other designs can also be found here. Make sure to check the various articles and pictures featured on the site by clicking on the links.

Review for the Weekend

Some sites to visit in case you have nothing to do tomorrow!

1. Our Toolkit (to review balance and color)

2. For the Love of Art

3. Google Art Project (make sure you click on 'learn more' to view the tutorial video)

Happy Friday!

Yay for the art we worked on today!  Yay for the weekend!

Students are currently learning about the elements and principles of design.  They are creating posters while keeping in mind balance and color.  I can't wait to show you the results, their work looks terrific!

Here are some pictures I took this afternoon.

And since I'm talking about color, I wanted to share this really neat product I just came across on the internet.  Created by a "Université du Québec à Montréal" student.  Isn't it cool?

Late Work

Today students were supposed to hand in two things:

1. Their learning log (which was completed a few weeks ago) with a parent signature on it.

2. Their improved timeline. The work was initially handed in last week but I gave everyone a chance to improve their work.

So far here is what I received:

-Learning log with parent signature: 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 15, 22 => 26% of the class

-Timeline: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26 => 59% of the class

A HUGE thank you to all students who remembered to hand in their work!

Work Habits and Efforts are as important as Grades on a your child's report card.

Now let's see... Who remembered to take their binder home? Off to do a desk inspection...

Organization - Binders to Go Home!

I want to thank all students who have started taking their binders home. I checked some desks this evening and found many binders left behind.

Thanks to all parents who are still reading the blog and who are helping me out with this. It's important that we all work together so that your child can be as organized as possible when entering high school. Grade 6 students have another year to go but the Grade 7s are running out of time.

Organization is key, it's as simple as that.

=>No more loose papers (in desk or back pack, on a separate clip board, in accordion folders)

=>Agendas must be completed daily

=>All daily tasks need to be clear and detailed

=>Everyone must set up a priority list when writing down in their agenda

=>Deadlines must be written down too

When making plans and setting up appointments (doctor, dentist, etc.), parents should encourage their child to note things down in their agenda. Having a big family calendar at home also helps so that he can start referring to it when unsure about future plans.

My other advice for the day? Everyone should start wearing a watch!

Have a great night everyone... :-)

Maru says hello, too!