Week of January 17-21, 2011

Thursday HW:
1.  Math Data Management quiz Unit 5, Lesson 1,2,4 on Monday.   The focus is on types of graphs (bar, line, pie) and their unique uses as well as median, mean and mode.
2.  The good copy of the commercial analysis is due at the end of class on Monday morning.  Students should ensure that key pieces of rough work are at school and not left at home.
3.  Social Studies presentations take place on the afternoon of January 26.

We have been making our way through the learning curve of using the laptops in class.  Although the wireless access is functioning students still have trouble opening and saving to their home drives and the school shared drive.  USB memory sticks are still a good idea to have at school until the bugs are sorted out on that end.  We are getting some good results with the use of Excel and the students are engaged and keeping busy. 

Wednesday HW:
1.  See note # 2 from Tuesday.  Have your rough versions in the writing notebook in class for tomorrow.
2.  Math Data Management quiz Unit 5, Lesson 1,2,4 on Monday.   The focus is on types of graphs (bar, line, pie) and their unique uses as well as median, mean and mode.
Thank you again to our parent and guardian volunteers on today's field trip.  We couldn't have done it without you.  Watch for our Cross Country Ski trip permission form next week.  The trip is on February 24.

Tuesday HW:
1.  USB Drive at School.
2.  Find a commercial for the Media Literacy activity introduced in class today.  Finish a rough version of page 1 in your writing notebook for Thursday.  Complete the page 2 rough draft on Wednesday night so that both halves are available for in-class good copy work on Thursday.
3.  Field Trip tomorrow.  Bring a lunch.  Dress for the weather.  Regular arrival time in the morning and regular dismissal time in the afternoon.  We travel by TTC.

Today was our final day for A Person I Admire writing.  Most students completed a full assignment.  The class did struggle with their in-class effort however.  This assignment, which has many similarities to EQAO assignments, took much longer to finish than would be given for EQAO writing.  We looked at Social studies Origins of First Nations peoples in the afternoon and examined two commercials in detail for Media Literacy:  "Dove Evolution" and "The Coke Side of Life".  Our focus is on audience appeal in this media literacy arc.  As an additional note, we received our wireless access points today and the laptops are able to be used to their full extent within the parameters of our school's broadband connection.  Hooray!

Monday HW:
1.  No Homework was assigned today to give students time to complete presentation preparation for the Social Studies projects.  We also have a book report due on January 20.

Today students made good use of the laptops and desktops to work on graphing with Excel.  Several students had a USB flash memory stick in class for saving files which was very handy.  If you have such a device available I suggest you bring it daily to class.  We also worked on Person I Admire writing for the second to last period on editing and good copy writing.  We will finish up tomorrow.
Finally a note about absences:  students are requested to stay in at recess or Homework Club times to catch up when they are absent or when they miss school for sports or other team activities.  I do what I can to provide extra time but I cannot delay infinitely.  Certainly, as the students reach older grades, more and more of this responsibility is shifted to them.  The blog and the web page are good places to start for catching up.