Dear Families of 310,

I wish I had the time to thank each of you individually for the positive feedback and words of encouragement you have shared with me over these past few days. Please know that I take each of them to heart and that they mean so much. They really do.

The students and I had a great day today! They have bookmarks that I made for them that include warm fuzzies from their classmates and from myself. Thank you for all of the kind and thoughful cards and gifts. They were unecessary but appreciated. We did a few taboo things today as well. We ran in the hallways, played a game of sardines, went into the staff lounge and the principal's office, and chewed gum. We also had a dance party and played Teacher and Student Revenge with some of the teachers at lunch.

There were many tears at the end of the day. I will miss this team and all we have accomplished together. It has been a momentous and memorable year for myself and I know that I will never forget this bombdiggity team. For reals. Thank you. 

A beautiful wall mural made by Donna Weldon and the grade 6 class of 2012

 Dance Party!

Goodbye 310. I will miss you.

(I have some more updates for the blog so check back soon)

Recess Mob!

Honouring Ceremony

Our Honouring Ceremony is coming up on Monday morning. The students should arrive to school at the normal time. We will meet in our classrooms, take attendance, get prepared, and then the ceremony will start. I am going to guess that we should be ready to go between 8:15-8:30. The ceremony should last about 90 minutes and there will be a reception to follow.
This is an important event to the students. Please make every effort to be in attendance. Each student will be delivering a speech that they've written to honour their years at our school. Students should be neatly dressed but not too fancy as we will be going to the park in the afternoon.
Permission forms for the park celebration were handed out yesterday. They are due back tomorrow. Please remember to fill out the back which asks how many slices of pizza they are ordering.
We are also hoping for some snack donations for the park celebration. Please bring them with you on Monday morning.

The Chalk Festival this Monday was a lot of fun. Many students were reflecting on how it would be their last. Yesterday's National Aboriginal Day Celebration was a scorcher but it was a neat experience getting to see the Governor General. It was also impressive to see his many security guards dressed in full suits standing in the blazing sun and not breaking out in sweat!

Nine!

Last Friday, we were treated to a visit from a friend of mine who performs in a bluesy band. Matt Chaffey has been performing for almost his whole life, most recently with his brother Curtis in the Brothers Chaffey. He came in and talked about the history of blues. He taught them a song and then helped the class to write one of their own!

West Fest pictures and Honouring Ceremony

Kate Settle is a parent in our community and also a gifted photographer. She has taken pictures at both West Fest and at our performance at Summit. The photos are posted in a gallery on her website. Head over to www.katesettlephotography.com  click on the 'clients' link in the left hand menu bar. The access code is rock2012 - this will allow you to look at the albums from both the performance at Fisher and West Fest.
I believe she is selling prints for $7 if you are interested.

I have more information regarding our upcoming Honouring Ceremony which takes place on Monday, June 25 at 8:30am. The ceremony usually lasts between an hour and an hour and a half. A short reception will follow in the foyer. We will be heading to Dovercourt Park in the afternoon to continue our celebration. We are hoping that some of you can donate some extra snacks to go along with the pizza that we will be ordering for the park party. Students should dress neatly but there is no need to go overboard. Each student will be delivering a short speech celebrating their time at Churchill. We have already started writing these in class. You are all invited to attend! Although seating is somewhat limited, there should be enough space for a few grandparents and siblings as well. Please let me know if you have any other questions regarding this special event.

Artists

It has been a busy couple of days! They've been a bit of an artistic blur.
Yesterday we finally got cracking on our conceptual art pieces. They are looking amazing.
We started by talking about an invisible art exhibit in London right now. You can read about it here.
We can't wait to share our final pieces with you. I think they will be very powerful when they are all done. So many of the students put a lot of thought into their messages. A big thank you to Lyne for helping us with this.
The art gallery visit was amazing today. Thank you to Peter, Soula, and Birgit for volunteering. The students behaved like Ladies and Gentlemen and I was very proud. I heard so many interesting comments about the art that we saw. Many of the students noticed things and made connections to the conceptual artwork that Lyne shared with us. We even saw a piece of invisible art and a urinal!
Van Gogh was amazing. If you get the chance, I would highly recommend it.
I was once again impressed with how Churchill students set themselves apart from others through their behaviour and their creativity. At lunch, we watched a large group of our students organize themselves in dance and song. Amazing.

Conceptual Art in the making

 Maman and 310

 Churchillians at play

Tomorrow is another busy day with a karate lesson from Julia's parents, a music lesson from a musician friend of mine, and a thank you movie for the lunch time monitoring program.

13

In case you were wondering, we had engaging, appropriate, and respectful conversations today. Both Ray and I felt great about how our lessons on health went. Here is something that we watched:



Students are now on their own for their Travel Brochures. I am expecting all of them to be handed in on Thursday morning.
Lyne Filion is excited to be working with on our conceptual art projects tomorrow. I hope everyone is prepared.

Ok GO

We still love Ok Go in 310. Here is another video that we watched and talked about today.

The conversation touched on collaboration, physics, to how hot it is today, to musicians accepting corporate sponsors, to creativity, and back to how hot it is today.

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOUR BROCHURES ARE DUE ON THURSDAY AND THAT YOU NEED TO HAVE YOUR CONCEPTUAL ARTWORK HERE ON WEDNESDAY!

Who are you?

I just want to see how many of you are checking in here. If possible, could you please comment and tell me who you are and if you are reading the blog? Thanks!

14

Travel Brochures will be due this Thursday! Please read on to find out more.

I forgot how invigorating our morning runs were! Not that I ran today but yelling at kids to get going can be equally energizing. I am still missing about five permission forms. Please get them in tomorrow as we will be running for each of these last thirteen mornings.

When we got back in, we started our day with this:

We also watched this:

Then we made a list of what does work and what doesn't work when writing our Honouring Ceremony Speeches. I read them some examples from a previous year. Students have started drafting their speeches which they will deliver on Monday, June 25 at 8:30am. Please mark that date on your calendar and make the effort to be there to celebrate their time here at Churchill.

I had lofty goals about some projects that I still wanted to do with the students. I have made the executive decision to be more realistic. I have presented the students with a choice of a final in-class project.
I have one student doing a poster on a Canadian space invention. One group is getting crafty and wants to make some props and do a live demonstration explaining how we have days and nights and seasons.
A few people are writing their own versions of "Bat Loves the Night". These students are choosing an animal and finding some facts about this animal. They are then changing these facts into prose to create a factual but poetic story.
Most students are choosing "The New Life Convention". For this project, in groups of two, students are "dicovering" new life. They are creating a new animal and proving that it belongs somewhere on the tree of life by discussing the skeletal features, the physical characterisitcs, the habitat, the young, and other interesting facts about their new animal. These students also need to do a dramatic presentation where one member will take on the role of the scientist and the other will take on the role of the animal.
We will work on these projects in class.

This week:
Morning run everyday
Tuesday and Wednesday: health lessons with Ray's class
Conceptual Art: Wednesday
Brochure due, Art Gallery: Thursday
Karate, Musician vist, Lunch Time Monitor: Friday

Tomorrow will be the last day to work on their travel brochures in class. Projects need to be completed at home and handed in Thursday morning.

We will be doing our conceptual art project on Wednesday. All students need to have their materials here for that day.

Rock Stars

Our Rock Stars on CBC.

15-Angry Ray

This morning, we were sitting in room 310, minding our own business and trying to learn about a writing technique called "exploding the moment" when in walked Ray. He was visibly angry and frustrated. He started questioning me and yelling about a mistake I had made when I handed out a permission form to his class. As he walked closer to me, his anger and voice both grew. I tried to diffuse his anger, but to no avail. Finally, he picked up a large cup of water, threw it at me (splashing several of the students in the process), and then stormed out. We were in complete shock.

Luckily, it was all a ruse. I had planned that little dramatic experience so that the class would have a "moment" to "explode ". After he left, and I calmed their nerves and filled them in on the gag, we dissected the moment into details. Now, they are writing about it in the first person, trying to be as descriptive and juicy as they can. I'm trying to convince myself that ten years of working together hasn't created some pent up anger in my colleague, as he was really convincing, too convincing.

In the end, he mostly got the room and the students with the water.

 He reached the other side of the room with his anger!

 The aftermath

 What we heard

 What we saw

 What we thought and felt

Next, we went to the computer lab to keep working on our brochures

THESE WILL NOT BE DUE ON MONDAY. Students are encouraged to work on them over the weekend. I will provide one more working session in class and then assign a due date.

The gentleman from CHEO came today for those students who handed in permission forms to participate in the study on student transportation. These students are coming home with pedometers and instructions on how to use them and the paperwork that they need to fill out. He will be back next Friday to collect everything.

Most of the School of Rockers just came back from an extra practice. Alan Neal from CBCs All in a Day was there to record some soundbites. We will be on the show Friday between 3:00 and 6:00. Check us out!

This was our daily problem today:

There are 7 girls in a bus.
Each girl has 7 backpacks.
In each backpack, there are 7 big cats.

For every big cat there are 7 little cats.
Question: How many legs are there in the bus?
 
I tried to explain to students that they needed to use words and/or pictures as they tried to visualize the problem. Some students are trying to do all of their computations in their heads. Others write out a mess of calculations over their papers with no words or explanations and easily lose their train of thoughts. This problem is attainable if they attempt to organize their thoughts as they solve the problem.
 
Students are now working on a One Point Perspective Surreal piece of art.

The idea was based on this piece of work that I found online.

 

We also read this book to prepare for a writing activity coming up.

Riddle

A box without hinges, key, or lid,


yet golden treasure inside is hid.

What is it?

No cheating. That means you Lukas.

Sixteen

Sixteen. Not that I'm counting.

Today Andrew came in for his regular weekly slot. The students worked on their ukulele skills and are gearing up to lead the school in song one morning.

We finished up our civilization game. Students were divided up into nomadic tribes and were lead through a series of scenarios. To start, each tribe had to describe the parcel of land they decided to settle on. Other rounds had them using available resources to build shelters, forage for food, solve waste issues, cultivate civilizations, and solve issues of potential battles.

There is a double sided field trip form in the students' bags. One side is for a trip to the National Art Gallery next Thursday. I will need two volunteers for this trip. We will be seeing the Van Gogh exhibit. The other side is to continue with our morning runs as we did in the fall. Please sign both sides and send in a cheque (made payable to Churchill Alternative School) for $5 as soon as possible.

Tomorrow at lunch we will be having an extra School of Rock practice with the student band and the ukulele club. Alan Neal from CBC's All In A Day program will be there to record some sound bites. It is an optional practice. I have the names of two students who do not have permission to be interviewed. If you have concerns about this, please let me know. Thank you!

Riddle

The one who makes it sells it.


The one who buys it doesn't use it.

The one who's using it doesn't know he's using it.

What is it?

17

17 days to go!

Today's Daily Problem

Today, we went to the lab to work on our travel brochures for space. Most students have collected all of their research. We spoke about going above and beyond and looking to include more than just the necessary elements.
We will be working on these brochures in class tomorrow and on Thursday. Depending on their progress, I may assign the rest to be completed for homework. Please stay tuned.
Some are completing these by hand but some are using the computer. I taught them how to use text boxes to create a brochure template.

Here are the details of the project again:

Galactic Travel Agent



You have become a Galactic Travel Agent. Your job is to create a travel brochure about a planet of your choice. Your goal is to attract humans to the planet for a vacation.

Your brochure should be scientifically accurate and informative by including qualitative data. For example, “Fun in the Sun” would not make sense for a brochure advertising Pluto because Pluto is so far from the sun (and is no longer considered a planet). You need to include:


Composition of planet (made up of)
Number of moons
Revolution (year)
Rotation (day)
Day/night temperatures
Planet size
Distance from sun
Surface features
And at least three (3) other interesting facts (more if you are aiming high)
Resources used
Use of pictures/graphs/color


Turn these facts into a description of what it would be like to visit this planet (What would the weather be like? What should visitors pack? What special attractions might they see?).


The use of effective writing techniques is important to think about when writing your brochure. Dull, boring sentences copied out of the encyclopedia or off the Internet are not wanted. Sentences come alive using:


• alliterations (three or more words in a row that start with the same letter)


• similes ( a comparison using as or like)


• exaggeration ( say things about your planet that stretch the truth)


• slogans


• rhymes


• short sentences (use the odd sentence that is very short for added impact, i.e. Visit now!)


• adjectives


• sentences with questions


Once you have researched your planet, a rough copy must be made before starting your good copy. I can supply you with an 11” x 14” piece of white paper that you can fold to use for your “good” brochure.


Your final brochure should be neat, colourful and make humans want to visit your planet. You may complete this  by hand or on the computer.

Make sure you have:
All of the necessary facts
A title page that is interesting to look at and has an obvious and interesting title
A resources section that lists the websites and books you used for your research
Colourful pictures
Neat writing (if doing so by hand)
Your name
Interesting sentences that describe the facts of your planet in terms of a travel destination
Other features of a brochure like: subtitles, maps, graphs, lists, etc)

Students also need to collect items and boxes for their conceptual art piece. They should be bringing these items into school as soon as possible.

Today, we had two visitors from the RCMP come in to talk to the students about cybebullying and mass fraud. Each student received a comic book to take home and discuss.

Upcoming Important Dates:
June 5th School of Rock Practice 7:00, Gym
June 8th PD Day
June 12 and 13: Health Curriculum
June 14th: potential field trip, more news to come tomorrow
June 15th: Lunch Time Monitors Thank You
June 18th: Chalk Festival
June 25th: Honouring Ceremony and Park Celebration
June 28th: Last Day of School



Riddle

Twice in a week, once in a year, at the beginning of eternity and the end of time and space. What am I?
If you know the answer, add it to the comments section.

18

I can't believe we only have 18 days left! I'm not quite sure how I feel about that.

In math, we are working on algebra and mental math. Here is the menu that the kids came up with!

Bomb Burger: A large burger. Finish it and it's free!

Fishy Fish Fish Burger: Made out of a fish that ate a fish that ate a fish. May contain chicken.

Squiggly Fries: Really squiggly and really fries

Frivolous Fries: Coated in energy drink powder. Watch out!

Looma Llama Smoothie: An awesome smoothie made of your choice of favourite ingredients. May contain chunks of llama.

Pure Gravy: A refreshing drink made of 100% pure Canadian gravy. Served with an extra large straw.

Mega Chocolate Slam: Chocolate icecream with giant chunks of chocolate served in a brownie bowl.

All in One Special: choice of burger+choice of fries+choice of drink

We tried mentally adding some bills together and then talked about how to solve an equation if an item from the bill was smudged out.

 Ask the kids who this is a picture of.

 Lyne Filion came and did a lesson with us on conceptual art. They have each chosen and written about a theme that they care about. Next, they are supposed to be collecting a small box and various items that may reflect their theme without being too literal. It is our hope to turn these things...

Into something like this...

Please remember that we have a practice for School of Rock in our gym tomorrow night at 7:00 to gear up for our big show this Sunday at 12:30! Check us out in the Kitchisippi Times!