A big day tomorrow!

As the title leads you to believe, tomorrow will be lots of fun in Room 137. I sent home a science study guide for students to complete to the best of their ability (using their text and notes), which we will complete and correct tomorrow. We are also going to be finishing up our Beothuk/John Guy projects to present on Friday! I think there's something else....

OH YEAH! IT'S PIZZA PYJAMA PARTY THURSDAY!!!!

As a reward for completing a task on KidBlog earlier in October, students will be enjoying a Pizza/Pyjama Party tomorrow. They have been working very hard lately, and I think this is good timing. The class also has music and gym tomorrow, so it's shaping up to be a pretty exciting Thursday.

In terms of the science review, my expectation is that students will define, respond to and diagram the things I have asked them to. They had time today to create notes on some key points, and they have their texts at home as well. All of the answers are found in the text, in images, and in the glossary at the back of the book. We also went through a sample test in English today, to familiarize students with the material a bit more and practice our test-taking skills.



See? Everybody likes to read. Turns out
Darth was his father after all.

 It seems that most students are reading nightly, but I can't overstress how important it is to keep this up. I would suggest changing up the type of reading students are doing, and monitoring their understanding and enjoyment. If you feel I have misjudged their level of understanding or interest with a certain selection, please let me know so I can help them find something more appropriate. Some strategies you might try at home are:

• Reading aloud, or taking turns
• Reading your child a book before bed or when waiting for something else
• Encouraging your child to look up things that interest them in a book or on the web
• Taking trips to the library to change up books frequently and explore different types of text (comics, novels, picture books, etc.)
• Discuss things you have read or heard, or things that your child brings up.
• Refer to things I have mentioned on the blog, or encourage them to show you some of their favourite posts from KidBlog.

Believe it or not, there are only 3 lessons left in this chapter of math. my hope is to test this chapter before my reports are due on November 18th, and then focus more heavily on problem solving for a week or two. That being said, things change all the time and we never know for sure what will be coming up the next week. I will keep you up to date, and please encourage your child to tell me when they are having trouble with anything in math or other subjects.

I sent home a memo about my typing classes today, outlining what days they will be offered in November. Even if your child will not be able to participate (or is not interested, which is fine), there is an option to bring home a CD-ROM  and install the typing program I will be using in class. It went very well yesterday, and I will continue it as long as it seems beneficial.

Have a great evening, and talk to you all soon.