2012. What a year it’s been so far! We all expected that 2011 would go down as the greatest and best year of our lives, but only three weeks into this new year and that theory is out the window. Our classes have kept us busy for certain. Astronomy, Polynomials, Fitness tests, small engine repair, pyjama sewing, plasticine art, cultural studies… if we were Cub Scouts, our sashes would be full. We’ve also started an amazing book in ELA called The Sunflower, by Simon Wiesenthal. It’s a true story about a prisoner in a concentration camp who encounters a dying Nazi soldier. It’s a book that should be read by everyone.

If you good readers remember, in December the grade nine class conducted some fundraisers through which we hoped to raise some money for various World Vision projects. We were able to raise $500 and we hope that that money will help make a big difference for someone, somewhere. Thanks to all who chipped in.

This has been a very busy month for the Grade Nines. In November, some members of our class approached Mr. Graham and proposed that we as a class look outside of ourselves and try to spread some goodwill to others less fortunate. It was decided that we would raise money for World Vision and use that money to purchase items for a village in a third world country. We held a soup sale, a bake sale and allowed the staff to wear jeans on any given work day for the small price of one dollar a day. As of this notice being typed, we have raised over $500. This is great and we want to send a huge thank you to everyone who has supported our venture. Again, it must be stressed that this project was solely student initiated and student driven. These really are amazing young people! We are looking forward to our Grade Nine Christmas Coffee House and Poetry Slam on Tuesday the 20th. We’ve been working hard on our Poetry Anthologies and we expect that these compositions will become treasured family heirlooms. We also want to extend a huge thank you to Miss Rugg who has been teaching our Art Class since the beginning of the year. You will be missed. To everyone else, We hope you and your family have a tremendous holiday and all the best in 2012.

Hello from the Grade Nine Class! Wow we have had an awesome year so far. In E.L.A we just finished Romeo & Juliet and are about to write a SUPER HARD “ROMEO AND JULIET” TEST THAT ONLY A BRILLIANT ROBOT CAN PASS! In math, we are working on our Rate, Ration and Proportion project. Science we are having a blast, Mr. Tyndall keeps up the razzle and the dazzle in the Science lab. In Industrial Arts we are continuing on Welding and Small Engines and in Home Ec. we have moved on to learning how to sew and knit. Physical Education is a real hoot; every- one has been enjoying Tchoukball. Miss Rugg has us making surreal art and graffiti in our Art class. In Social Studies, we are exploring Ancient Civilizations. Our “Take our Kids to Work” day was very successful. Thank you to all those parents and businesses who helped out.

Have you heard of Greta? Greta has apparently been here since the 60’s, she has been haunting our room and we are starting to get annoyed with the strange happenings. Our class cheese- burger, “Maddy”, is now 75 days old and still looking and smelling terrific. Way to go little fella.

All in all, we love school, our teachers and each other.

Someone once said that grade nine was the greatest year of all the school years, and we are beginning to understand what they meant. We love it. We love every minute of it. We get to do so many amazing things and learn so much interesting stuff. For instance, every day we get to go to Mr. Herman’s math class and learn about numbers. RATIOS!! We thought the Exponents unit was terrific and it looks like this whole ratios unit is going to blow it away.

On November 2nd, we get to experience a Grade 9 rite of passage, as we participate in the Canada wide “Take Your Kid to Work Day”. We will be going to work with our parents, or with some- body else, getting a taste of what our teachers refer to as “the real world”. Stay tuned for permission forms.

In English Class we are tackling Sir William Shakespeare’s tragic love story “Romeo and Juliet”. What a story!! We can’t get enough of it. Sometimes, one hour classes simply aren’t long enough. We act it out, we sing songs and yell at each other in old English and learn every step of the way. We even threw our own mas- querade ball as we read that classic scene where Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time. Scandalous.

In Social we have developed deep into our personal histories and learned a great deal about our country, our families and ourselves This is learning at it’s best. Mr. Tyndall is teaching us about the Solar System in Science class. Some things never change…the solar sys- tem, however , does. Bizarre. We know.

Miss Rugg is an artist. She is teaching us Art. Wait until you see the stuff we are creating. You will be very impressed.

We round out our days with fitness testing, small engine repairing, welding and working with grains…GRAINS!!

There is so much more we could tell you, but we’re out of time. If you want to know more, please track us down and ask us. Oh yes, one more thing….235 day until the canoe trip!