Moving fast...

Things are really moving at a fast and furious rate in room 308 these days...

In math we are blazing through activities dealing with volume, having really gotten into surface area in past weeks.  We are looking ahead to a return to patterning, and algebra.  Students are encouraged to practice multiplication and division skills at home, when they have a chance, as these are useful in the completion of most of the problems we are now encountering.  (ask your child about dominoes and sticky notes, and math, and see if they have stories to share).

Yesterday we had a special visit from the Youth Orchestra, which included our own Kenny on double bass.  After that we had another of our Growing Up Organic workshops, where we planted a seed bed in our garden.  During the lunch break we had CSOR rehearsal, where a reporter from CKCU radio did some recording, and later interviewed a couple of our students.  This interview will be on CKCU radio next Tuesday morning, at 8:30, and we hope to listen in during class to catch the show!  It will also be available on their website following the show, so keep posted for info on that, which will come home in our agendas.  

And that sounds like a big day...but no...not by a long shot!  During the last block of the day our class took part in the CLIC workshop that we had arranged.  The class did themselves proud with excellent comments and observations during the reflective portion of the workshop, and really showed their strong knowledge of design and photography.  Then it was out in the field to capture images.  Today we had our second part of the workshop, and there were some great stories being told through the lense.  The topic was their 'memories' of Churchill, and the objects they chose to photograph were really interesting.  Hopefully we will be able to share some of these images later in the year.

Forms for next week's Churchill School of Rock went home today (see the article in this issue of the Kitchessippi Times - an image is below).  All students will either perform, or attend the event, May 8th, at Nepean HS.  The daytime show is noon, and the evening show is 7pm (and is being filmed by Rogers TV).  See the information packages coming home.  There is a lot of pertinent info for School of Rockers, including media release forms for Rogers, and information about Westfest.  We will need volunteers, so please let me know if you are able to come for the walk, and help on the date.

Alpha Biographies are finally going to be submitted.  They are due tomorrow (Friday is acceptable).  Anyone who needs an extension I just ask that they approach me and we can sort out an appropriate due date.  Forms went home today concerning the binding of these projects.

We have confirmed that we will have a Mock  Trial workshop in our class on May 11-12.  This is a great program, run by local lawyers, who will give students a chance to see how the legal system works, through a staged trial right here in our classroom!  I have had the program in several times in the past, and students really come away from it with great experiences.

We are looking for anyone willing to donate a nutritious snack for the Choir, for them to eat following the daytime concert, prior to the walk back to Churchill.  We need the students to maintain their energy levels for the evening show.

Finally...we are looking for anyone who has experience working a soundboard, as we need some experience to help us mix sound for the concert next week.  An arrangement we had hoped on, has fallen through.  Please let Ray know if you, or someone you know, is able to help us out for the sound check Tuesday, and the two shows on Friday.

Cheers,

Ray

Youth Orchestra

Today in the school, some kids from this area came to perform. A student from our class, Kenny, was performing too. There were Violins, Violas, Celllos and Kenny on the Double Bass. They are young kids but sound like they are professionals.

Taylor

Create a Creature

In writing and in science we have been creating creatures to explore various ideas.  Mainly it is the idea of how adaptations help living things to survive in difficult times...but the following links are fun extensions on this idea...We will check them out in class this week.
http://www.buildyourwildself.com/

http://switchzoo.com/zoo.htm

Stay tuned for some of our photoshop creations and poetry inspired by the book Mixed Beasts.

Creative Comma Use

Today we looked at how to use a comma properly, and the class reviewed Lynn Truss' classic book, Eats, Shoots and leaves.  Room 308 has been tasked with coming up with some creative comma sentences that highlight how incorrect usage can create problems.
Some fun can be had testing your comma knowledge by playing the game, found at the following link...
http://www.savethecomma.com/game/

In preparation for our Earth Day sharing next week, we have been doing some reflective writing on the topic of beauty, inspired by the words of Macy Gray.  Check out her song here...

We are creating a video ourselves to share our reflections on our beautiful world.  Stay tuned for more on that when we are done....

And another reminder that our Alpha Biographies are due, printed, on April 30th.  Anyone who needs help printing, can do it at school in B&W.

April Showers...

It is looking like a wet week ahead, which should be just fine to wash off the last dust of the winter, and send us into an event filled spring.  
For the coming week, there will be no Literacy Log homework, as all students are working hard at completing the editing and revision of their Alpha Biographies.  These have been a work in progress since September, and are going to be due in (finally) on April 30th.  
With 26 letters, we should have roughly 30 pages in our final copies.  They are to be printed on regular 8.5 x 11 paper.  Every letter/chapter does not need to have a photo or image to match, but it would be good to include images whenever possible.
In class we had guided writing lessons on writing copyright pages, back covers, about the authors, table of contents, and more, so there could be a number of additional pages.
Students have been encouraged to increase font size to at least 18 when printing.
We are hoping to send these off to be bound, so keep your eyes open for the order forms that we will send home in advance of the April 30 due date.  The cost to have this 'autobiography' of your child bound is going to be less than $12 I believe (this will be on the order form)
We have completed checklists in class, but you should check in with your child and ask them where they are in the process of completing this project.  Most of the writing should be finished, and some cleanup likely needs to be done to get it ready, and this is why we are passing on literacy logs.  Students should still be reading for the provincially recommended 20 min a day, but their writing should focus on getting their alpha biographies ready to go.
This past week we received our pen pal responses, and we sent off a reply the same day, via our Chromebooks.  We are hoping to set up a visit with our penpals in the coming weeks.  I will let you know when this will take place, as their visit last year was one of the most moving experiences of the year (and of my career).  Our pals are students from Crystal Bay, and all have exceptionalities that keep them out of the regular stream programs.  They all have several challenges, but often vision, hearing, speech, and motor control are the ones that others notice when they meet them.  Last year we were able to connect during their visit to Churchill, over snacks, various games or puzzles, and some music that our students performed on uke and guitar.  This set up our visit to their school, where we put on a mini performance.  
This time around we will likely prepare a couple of songs to sing for them, and we will be looking for volunteers to donate extra snack for that day so we can share with our pen pals.  Stay tuned for more details on when they are available to visit.
The class got deep into some three act math problems this past week.  Ask your child about surface area measured in sticky notes, or calculating floor area with goldfish crackers...
Just FYI....
School of Rock shirts have been ordered, but you can still order a poster up until the week of the show.
Buttons will be going on sale this week for a dollar a button...
The show is on May 8th, at noon and 7pm.  We are looking for volunteers to help with the walk over.  
There will be a dress rehearsal on Tuesday, May 5th, at 7pm.  We are looking for help putting up posters on this night, so if you are dropping off your child, please stick around and lend a hand...
Anyone who is looking to help out between now and the show can drop in and let me know, and I will likley put you to work with a set of students to create posters for the show.
BTW, ask your child about the 'Seen Your Citizen?' performance we had this past week.  It was really impressive.
Cheers, Ray

A Ted Talk to talk about

I recently re-watched this Ted Talk by Sir Ken Robinson, on creativity and education.  It hits so close to home, and I think it should be seen by all parents, especially parents from the Alternative Schools.
Check it out.  If nothing else, he is really entertaining for the duration of the short video...
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity

test link for class today

https://docs.google.com/a/ocdsb.ca/spreadsheets/d/1QmfzZcIBkjsrxZzUwYMQ7QIbpw8kNfNIcfsA0BJ2zHY/edit?usp=sharing

Happy April

Easter weekend has come and gone, and I hope that everyone enjoyed some good family time.  It is a busy season at Churchill that we are moving into.  Last week we had a great turnout from our class at the Coffee House event on Tuesday night.  Students from our class performed with the strings ensemble, and in small groups of Ukes, Violins and guitars, with the guitar club, and as part of the big finale with ukes and guitars all together.  The jam packed crowd loved every minute of it, and we are looking forward to the next chance to highlight our musical skills at S of R 10 this May.
Put May 8th on your calendars, as that is the date for our S of R 10 show at Nepean auditorium.  Tshirt order forms will go home this week, as will order forms for anniversary posters that we are printing for those who would like one (both tabloid, and giant poster size for anyone who wants one that big).
As you all have heard by now, our class is the recipient of a set of Chromebooks that were purchased for use by us and Room 310.  As this will result in more regular use of devices in class, we sent home a Chromebook Use Agreement last week.  Most of the class has returned these forms, but we are still waiting on a handful.  Future use of the Chromebooks will depend on the return of these forms.  Please get them in right away, and have a conversation with your child about the responsibility of these devices.  I need you all to know that I do not take 'screen time' lightly.  Students of this age need to be able to navigate a variety of learning approaches, not just virtual ones.  Use of the Chromebooks will limited to learning objectives that we set out in class.  There will be no use during down time, and they are not to be used for pure entertainment purposes.  Primarily we will be using them for research, writing/editing, data collection/manipulation, and some communication.  The prediction is to have us using them three to five times each week, as will the other class we share them with.
Warm weather is on the  way, but it is not quite here, so please have your child bring weather appropriate clothing to school each day.  It will be a cold week, and we will be outside each day, so hats and mitts should still be coming in.
Literacy logs will be going home this week, to be returned on Friday.
Regards, Ray