Week of September 19-23, 2011

Friday HW
1. Math Quiz 2 on Prime & Composite numbers and Mental Math (Unit 2, Lessons 5 and 7) on Tuesday September 27.
2.  Finish News Journal started in class:  Summary and reflection.
3. Terry Fox Toonie
4. Stratford Form and fee
5. Student Data verification form
6. Book Report is due on October 6, 2011.  Reading of the book sghould be done.
Yesterday's spelling was completed by a much higher percentage of the group.  Thank you.
Thursday HW
1.  Math Quiz 2 on Prime & Composite numbers and Mental Math (Unit 2, Lessons 5 and 7) on Tuesday September 27.
2.  Math HW Book pages 22-23
3.  Terry Fox Toonie
4.  Stratford Form and fee
5.  Student Data verification form
6. Spelling textbook page 9 # 1,2; page 10 # 4,6 and 7; page 11 # 1
Today's math quiz went well.  The Spelling above was worked on today for a period.  Yesterday's spelling was forgotten at school or not done or left at home by 15 of 28 students.  I have started tracking homework/practice incompletes.  Most work is simply finishing up in-class work.  It is work I consider valuable and spend class time doing it as well as assigning it as homework.  I am out of the room for 2 of the 5 days in the cycle during the last period but students are reminded to pack their backpacks when we write the agenda out daily right after lunch.

Wednesday HW
1.  Math Quiz on Unit 2, Lessons 1 to 4 on Thursday September 22. See study review suggestions from Monday's entry.
2.  Finish Spelling Cycle (Syllabication and Derivatives -- a guide with explanation is glued on the inside cover of the notebook).
3.  Finish your summary and reflection based on Mika's or Jasmine's presentation
4. Terry Fox School Run on Wednesday September 28. Please bring a toonie for Terry on that day and dress for the morning run.
5. Book report due on October 6.

Tuesday HW
1.  Math HW Book pages 20-21.  A number of students have been forgetting their books at home or not doing the assigned practice.
2.  Timestables independent practice from 1 to 6 and up to 12 (ie:  6 X 12).  I find the number of students that have shaky control of their number facts to be significant.  We do practice working with number facts in class as well, but some basic review on scrap paper at home is a good idea.  I do permit calculator use for the most part, but  tables from 1 to 12 are best memorized.
3.  Math Quiz on Unit 2, Lessons 1 to 4 on Thursday September 22.  See study review suggestions from Monday's entry. 
4.  Terry Fox School Run on Wednesday September 28.  Please bring a toonie for Terry on that day and dress for the morning run.
5.  Book report due on October 6.

Monday HW
1.  Math HW book pages 18-19.
2.  Math quiz on Unit 2, Lessons 1 to 4.  Students should study the corresponding lessons in their texts, notebooks and Homework Books.  The "Connect" (textbook) and "Quick Review" (homework book) sections are useful for strategies and vocabulary.  I usually have questions I do not assign in the text for each lesson. These are helpful for review.  As well, there are questions in the text at the end of each Unit in the "Show What You Know" section (pages 76-77 for Unit 2) that are keyed to each lesson. 
3.  Student data verification sheets returned with or without corrections.
4.  Stratford form and fee.
5.  Toonie for Somalia famine relief tomorrow.
6.  Book report one is due October 6.  Reading should finish up by this weekend.
Today we spent time in Math reviewing the idea of Prime and Composite numbers and the special vocabulary that goes along with that cluster (ie:  factor).  Understanding and retaining the vocabulary is very important in helping a student understand a problem on a quiz.  I also stressed that students should never erase rough work in a word problem and modelled an exemplary problem solution to a multi-step problem in class. We also finished up with a CASI practice and reviewed one more News Journal example.