Monday, October 31st

Happy Halloween!!

Hope you all have a wonderful eating out and eat way too much candy. It's not even 5pm and I've had over my fair share and don't plan on stopping!!

Today's notes:

Math - You received your Pythagorean quizzes back. There are a few of you who will be taking a re-test Wednesday at lunch so make sure to review! I am here for help before and after school and at lunch break. We have finished the unit and you will have a unit test next Monday, November 7th. You have unit review questions assigned from pg. 55-57 of the textbook (#4-7, 13, 14, and 18-23) that we will continue working on tomorrow.

Socials - We discussed big/small inquiry questions and created criteria for the project together as a class. You had computer lab time to research what you want to investigate more.

I'll leave you with the famous words of Ms. Frizzle, "Have fun, take chances, and get messy!"

Word of the day reflects the first day of a new month: transition

This Week at a Glance

October 31st-November 4th

• Halloween Monday afternoon we are having a combined Halloween Party with Mrs. Abell's class. Wear your faBOOlous costume! Reminder no masks, full face makeup, or fake/real weapons. Feel free to bring snacks and drinks. 

• Wednesday morning-lunch grade 8 Sooke Firefighters presentation

English - You will be starting your LOTF final project. 

Socials - You will begin your research into your Vikings inquiry question. 

Math - We will begin our unit review on area, square roots, and Pythagorean. There will be a unit test at the end of the week or early next week.

There is a question of the day today: why are the colours orange and black associated with Halloween?

Friday, October 28th

Good morning!

It was so lovely to see you all looking marvellous in your costumes last night at the Halloween dance! Your imagination and creativity at this age is inspiring.

Notes from yesterday's classes:

Div. 4 Math - You all completed your math quizzes on the Pythagorean Theorem and did very well. They will be marked and handed back today.

Div. 4 English - We discussed our essential question for the chapter 11-12 reading in LOTF: "What holds a society together and what tears it apart?" We finished the chapter 11 reading and are on the concluding chapter 12. We have about 15 pages left and hope to finish off the novel today.

Today's plan:

Div. 4 & 3 Socials - You will finish off your Norse mythology worksheet and god summary cards. The final Viking Inquiry Project will be introduced.

Div. 4 & 5 English - The finale of Lord of the Flies. You will complete your plot charts and be introduced to your final project.

Announcements:

* Last chance to buy "Spookagrams" today at lunch. 50 cents and will be delivered to the spook of your choice on Monday.

* On Halloween Monday afternoon Mrs. Abell's class and ours will be having a combined Halloween Party!! Feel free to bring snacks and drinks to share and dress up!

 

Yesterday during the Mantracker outdoor exploratory there was a baby cub spotted up in one of the trees. The students did a wonderful job coming back together quickly at the sound of the three horns. Today's word of the day is alert. 

Wednesday, October 26th

Our Halloween Mural is awesome!! You Division 4's rocked it. I can't wait to see it up at the Halloween dance tomorrow as well as all your fabulous costumes.

Today's notes:

Div. 4 Math - Pythagorean quiz tomorrow. You took notes down on what would be on the quiz. I will be here tomorrow at 8 am if you need to see me for some extra help and clarification before the quiz.

Div. 4 & 3 Social Studies - You continued on with your research into the nine worlds of Norse mythology and your god and goddess summary cards. It's great to see how much you are enjoying this topic!

Div. 5 English - We've almost made it!!! Just SIX PAGES remaining in Chapter 12 to conclude your Lord of the Flies reading. You all completed your essential question writing assignment and your quote posters look amazing.

Don't forget tomorrow at lunch is your last chance to purchase dance and haunted house tickets. Tickets for the dance are $5 and haunted house tickets are an additional $1. 

Spookagrams are on sale at lunch for $1 tomorrow and Friday and will be delivered to your "spooks" on Monday. 

Word(s) of the day: rainbow bridge (what does it connect in the Norse nine worlds?) 

Tuesday, October 25

 

We had so much fun with our little buddies today! I have taught grade 2/3 many times so I know how imaginative and creative they are at that age. It was so lovely to see how you all interacted with them as they showed you how they played with their center activities. When creating the "stain glass pumpkins" by melting crayon shavings on wax paper you all did an awesome job helping out your little buddies with the scissors and shaving of the crayon part. Remember to brainstorm some ideas of activities that we could do with them in 2 weeks time here at Journey. 

At the end of the day today we had a little team meeting outside in front of the big tree. We discussed respect in our classroom as we may have veered off on this trail this past week. We agreed that we need to be kind to one another, treat others the way we want to be treated ourselves, and understand that we are all in this together as a classroom community. I hope that by the end of the week we can feel a positive change in our learning environment. 

Today's academic notes:

Div. 4 Math: We watched two short Khan Academy videos that explained how to use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve word problems. Your practice worksheet on right triangles and Pythagorean Triples was due this class and we went through the questions and answers on the board together. You completed practice questions on the board which was your "ticket out the door."

Div. 5 English: One chapter to go! We finished chapter 11 and continued to discuss our essential question for this reading. You planned out and organized your thoughts and evidence to support your answer. Next class you will complete an in-class writing assignment based on the question. 

Announcements:

*Halloween Dance this Thursday!! Tickets $5, Haunted House (at the dance) tickets are $1. 

*Jack o'Lantern Carving Contest - Bring in a carved pumpkin to school this Thursday to be displayed at the dance. Prizes for best carvings!!

Today's word: society. 

Monday, October 24th

Motivation Monday. As you walked into the class this morning this was written on the board. You were to write something up that you were motivated to do this week. My example was to create an awesome homemade Halloween costume. You grade 8's had a different idea: SLEEP! A VERY common theme (almost all of you) wrote this on the board. So I hope you are all at home now enjoying your sleep :)

Today's classes:

Div. 4 English - We finished chapter 10 of Lord of the Flies and continued onto the beginning of chapter 11. You all did a great job completing your webs on our main idea: Symbolism. We discussed what the symbols in the story represent so far and you were to think of one new symbol on your own to add to our list. 

Div. 4 Math - We reviewed what we already know about the Pythagorean Theorem. Our list included the formula, side names of a triangle (hypotenuse and legs), that it is always true to right triangles (90 degree angles), that Pythagorean triples are sides that equal our formula and are WHOLE numbers, and how to find sides a or b by subtracting, and side c by adding. We did some practice questions on the board reviewing the Pythagorean triples and right triangle rules. You started a practice sheet and we will continue working through it in class tomorrow. 

Div. 3 Social Studies - We watched a short video on Viking Norse Mythology to introduce you to the gods and goddesses. You then started a worksheet which we took into the computer lab to do our own research on the Viking realm and the nine worlds. Next class we will continue working through the worksheet to complete our god and goddesses summary cards. 

Div. 5 English - We began reading chapter 11 and will finish this chapter next class. We had a class discussion and you took notes on the essential question: "What holds a society together and what tears it apart?" You did an excellent job describing the different meanings that can come from the term "society."

Tuesday's word of the day is motivate. Along with the word you will need to tell me something that you are motivated to do this week besides sleeping. Think - make time for..., complete..., etc. 

Week of October 24th-28th

Our last full week of October!! 

English - We will wrap up our Lord of the Flies listen and read's this week and finish the book. Symbolism and themes will continue to be our topics of discussion and you will be introduced to a final project. 

Social Studies - Viking gods, goddesses, myths, and religion will be our focus throughout the week. 

Math - Pythagorean Theorem continued! We will be reviewing Pythagorean triples, what makes a right triangle, and moving into word problems and when we can use the P.T. in real life. 

Announcements for the week:

• Dance and haunted house (at the dance) tickets on sale all week 
• Little buddy visit Tuesday afternoon
• Please bring in your signed interim reports for both Mrs. Abell and Ms. L if you haven't!

Today's word of the day ties into a few things week as we approach the end of Lord of the Flies, the excitement of Halloween, and what the possible big project assignments for Socials and English may be. Here it is: suspense. 

Thursday October 20th

Today is your Friday, Pro-D Day tomorrow!

We had a busy week with the introduction of the Pythagorean Thereom, finishing off your viking ship challenges, and making our way into the final chapters of Lord of the Flies. You grade 8's were all fabulous role models in today's earthquake drill as you set a great example for the younger grades by lining up quickly, staying quiet during attendance, and being prompt and ready for directions.

Div. 4

Today in Math we reviewed yesterday's practice questions and discussed what makes a right triangle and Pythagorean triples. You had a short two question quiz that I have gone over. There are still a few of you out there who may need some extra help and I encourage you to come see me during my tutorial times or lunch next week!

In Lord of the Flies we started chapter ten and read up to page 229, 5:24:49 audio book. We discussed symbolism within the novel and what the underlying meanings are of the beast, conch shell, fire, and Piggy's glasses. Your "Inside a Character's Head" was due today so if you did not hand it in please make sure it is done for Monday.


Announcements for next week: 

* Tuesday we will be visiting and doing a Halloween art activity with our little buddy class at Poirer.

* Thursday, October 27 - Halloween Dance, $5 tickets on sale all week at lunch.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy our beautiful west coast autumn (pretty leaves and fresh wet air!).

- Ms. Lajeunesse

Wednesday, October 19th

Today was a very wonderful Wednesday.

Div. 4

Math - Tomorrow we will go over your practice questions from pg. 34/35 (#3-8). We will learn what a Pythagorean triple is and how we know if a triangle is a right triangle based on given sides.

English - Your "Inside a Character's Head" will be completed and handed in by the end of class tomorrow. We will finish reading chapter nine of Lord of the Flies and begin chapter ten.

Social Studies - Your viking ship creations were fabulous! All teams have now completed the challenge and you all reflected on what changes you could make in your engineering designs in the future. Next week we will continue learning about the mystical myths, stories, and gods of the vikings (norse mythology).

Please remember to bring back your signed interim reports!

Div. 5 English

We read up to chapter 11 today and your hot seat interviews of the characters were very entertaining to watch! We will be finishing up the book next week and a final assignment will be discussed.

Div. 3 Socials

We concluded the viking ship challenges today and excellent efforts were shown by all teams.

Word of the Day: Valhalla

Tuesday, October 18th

Hello Grade 8's!

My blog is now live and I will be updating it each day during the school week to keep you organized with all you need to know :)

And yes, the famous word/phrase/question of the day will be in full effect.

So far this week...

Div. 4:

Math - Pythagorean Theorem!!! We have discussed the famous theorem and know the formula like it's our first name. We know that it can only be applied to right angle (90 degree) triangles and that the "c side" is called the hypotenuse and the "a and b sides" are called legs. We will continue more practice questions tomorrow and will complete an activity with some scissors, glue, and graph paper to help you visually see how the three sides of the triangle all relate.

English - Today we finished reading chapter 8 and began chapter 9 of Lord of the Flies. You started your worksheet assignment "Inside a Character's Head." You will have time to finish your illustrations and coloring next class.

Socials - We did our viking longship challenge today! So far two ships have passed both the float and wind test. Tomorrow we'll test the three remaining groups and reflect on what we could change in our boat  engineering techniques.

Div. 5 English:

Today we finished chapter 9 of Lord of the Flies (few tears were shed). We discussed symbolism in the story so far and filled in the rising action points in our plot chart. Your "Inside a Character's Head" worksheets were due today.

Announcements for the Week:

- Return signed interim reports
- Sushi and hot dogs on sale tomorrow (Wednesday) at lunch
- No school Friday (Pro-D)

The "team name" of the day is dedicated to the great efforts of one of the viking ship building challengers from today: "S.S. Wingin' It"