Once upon a time, there was a group of Grade 12 students who were starting their last semester of school.  These students were separated into two groups: the first group had English first thing in the morning and learned about Inner Beauty and how society shapes our thoughts on what beauty means, while the second group made resumés in preparation for their future.  Every day after English, the first group took a treacherous journey across the dreaded hallway to Prakashland to learn about Physics and Kinematics.  Some of these Grade 12’s were brave enough to risk the perils of Calculus, but before they could face that feared Mathematical Dragon, they needed to review and practice their previous Math training. Biology was considered to be of use for both groups of students, so all declared “Yes, we will Biologize!” And they did, by exploring the building blocks that make up the Human Body.  Amidst all of this rigorous learning, the youthful Grade 12’s kept themselves in top shape in Physical Education. They also set forth on their most exciting adventure yet: Planning Graduation. Oh the wonders of being in Grade 12. The End.

Tori

We are busy into the second semester. In math, we just wrote an exam on the properties of angles and triangles. In History, we are researching personal projects. In PAA, we are learning about international foods. In IA, we are looking at the theory of building houses. We also, have just started building saw horses.  In Chemistry, we are examining the functions of the Lab, including scientific method, lab equipment and safety in the lab. In Visual Arts, we are exploring world cultural art. Have a great February break!

Well, the grade 10’s somehow managed to survive their first set of final exams, albeit with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Now we’re hard into second semester and finally have them convinced that when a new class starts in Term 2, your marks from Term 1 don’t count towards it.  Really.  On that note…  In ELA the young adults are talking about morality, what’s right and what’s wrong.   Which makes discussing political philosophy in Social all the more painful, I’m sure.  In Commercial Cooking, the kids are preparing for the Food Handler’s Safety Course aka How To Feed People Without Killing Them. Since the teachers are all enthusiastic consumers of Commercial Cooking’s meals, we’re very glad that they’re taking this first step. Drafting is the focus of IA. In Wellness, they’re just wrapping up Basketball. Wildlife Management has been examining aquatic and snow-based life forms.  Math has the students doing unit conversion between Metric and Imperial and in Science, the boys are examining Species At Risk.  Have a great break!

In this season of love and Valentines, we thought it would be fitting if we told you, the dear readers, about some of the things we love. We love school and learning. We love it when Mr. Tyndall starts a new unit in Science class, especially a unit on electricity. We love doing water color painting and geometric toothpick structures in Art class.  We loved the Polynomials unit in math and we are very sorry to see it go.  We love healthy minds and healthy bodies, so of course we love Health class.

We love reading new books, stretching our minds and asking ourselves big big questions.  We just finished reading The Sunflower by Simon Weisenthal. It is a very powerful and important book that everyone should read. We used our Social Studies class to further explore some of the lessons learned of more current world events such as in Bosnia and Rwanda.

We love listening to our new record player while we work.  We love the classics.  Always have, always will.

Thanks for reading.

In Social Studies we are looking at the issues of the history of Treaties and First Nations. In Physical Education we are trying to organize going to the rink/curling rink to have some fun! We will be starting a Badminton Unit shortly.  In Science we are looking at Forces, Fluids and Density.  Finally, in Industrial Arts, we have started to draft in 3D and complete Isometric drawings. Health class is focusing on Emotional Maturity and Career Guidance is finishing a project on Finances and Budgeting after getting a job from an online work experience game. Math has us doing a Perimeter and Area review. Then we will begin a section on Volume and Capacity. While in English we are working through the novel “The Giver”.  In Art Class we are studying Frescos and are starting a Fresco project.  In Home Ec. we just started a new semester and right now we are doing a review of Lab Procedures, Kitchen Equipment, Kitchen Safety, and Proper Use of Equipment.

We are well on our way into the third quarter of the year!  The year is flying by.  We had a fabulous time at Table Mountain in January – great weather, awesome kids, fabulous chaperones, and a wonderful bus driver!  Thank you to all who attended and/or contributed to the day. I know the class and I are already looking forward to our Blue Mountain trip in June.

Academically, we have been busy!  Math has our class exploring Decimals, and in English, we are just beginning our Challenges Literature Circles. In social class, we are doing a comparative study between Russia and Canada.  We are currently focusing on the physical geography aspect of this study.  Finally, in science, we are investigating Mixtures and Solutions!

Tri-Conferences are to be held in March.  If you would like to see me regarding your child’s progress, please do not hesitate to call the office for an appointment. As always, please call me if you have any questions or concerns (544-2511).

We have been busy adding and subtracting decimals. Students are catching on quickly. Our flight unit in science is really taking off so to speak. Trying to figure out the most aerodynamic shape, the students are really coming up with some creative designs as well as some flops but we all learn from our mistakes. If you get a chance to come to the grade 6 room come and see our origami scenes. We have done some cooperative games in Phys. Ed.  Can you guess what activity they like the best?  If you said floor hockey you would be right. The potluck meal we had during the “no bus” days was enjoyed and we will have another when we are sure the weather will cooperate.  We went on a field trip with Dundurn grade 6’s to get to know them as we will be together in grade 7. It was a lot of fun.

From Mr. Vedress grade 6 class.

Wow, months seem to be flying by! We have kept busy in our classroom since Christmas. Our Titanic projects turned out to be a really amazing learning experience! I think I learned more than the students during this mini unit! What a blast it was!  We have started a new novel study recently and are reading Bridge to Terabithia.  It is a very adventurous and imaginative story that I think many of our classmates will enjoy!  We are learning about Canada in Social Studies, everything from geography to Canadian stereotypes! We have an extremely curious group of kids in our class which makes our learning explore into the unknown and is taking us to places we never thought we would end up!  I like to think of us as the non-magical version of The Magic School Bus.

Please feel free to stop in any time!

Ms. Rancourt

The February break is just around the corner! I would like to welcome Ms. Baylee Gabora who will be covering my maternity leave for the remainder of the school year. It has been a joy teaching the 2/3’s and I will thoroughly miss them!

In math, the grade two’s have just finished learning about measurement and will begin addition and subtraction to one hundred after the winter break. The grade three’s are also learning about measurement. In ELA, we have been continuing to read several short stories and are working on various reading strategies to support our reading skills. We have also been focusing on word choice with our writing skills, learning about nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs to assist us when we write. We have finally finished our HUGE unit on communities in social studies! In science, we have learned about different animal classifications, such as amphibians, reptiles, fish, invertebrates, insects, mammals, and birds and in health we have been discussing friendship.