Monday, October 27, 2014

Last week of October... already!

Hi everyone,

This is going to be a long post, so get comfy!

Last week, we were busy here at FES.  On Friday, we had a couple of visits:

Mr. Shank from BDHS visited during our middle block with some grade 9 students to speak to our grade 8s about their upcoming year in high school. There will be a "Grade 8 Day" at BDHS on November 5th, and on that day students will be visiting the high school and participating in a variety of activities and classes.  They will do a simulated rotary, see some performances, and play some get to know you games with other grade 8 students from our region.  If you have any questions, please let me know!

We also had a visit from Constable Rob Enright and Special Constable Karen Markus to talk to students about responsible technology use.  More information can be found on our Tech page.

Please be aware of the following dates and assignments/events:

Tuesday, October 28 - AM recess - Intermediate Girls Basketball tryouts
                                    - History tests should be signed and returned

Wednesday, October 29 - rough draft of their fairy tale character monologue due for Miss Skelton's students in Drama; Mrs. Davis's students will have theirs due on Monday, November 3.

Thursday, October 30 - Language Assessment - more information to come
                                      - Deadline for all citrus orders - for more information, please contact Miss Skelton or Mrs. Davis

Friday, October 31 - Math Test (angles and angle relationships) - reminder for students to visit Gizmos and complete the Angle Relationships activity (students have their login and password information)
                                  - Dance-a-thon!!  All paperwork and donations are due.  Permission can NOT be given over the phone, and students will not be permitted phone calls.  All forms and money will be accepted throughout the course of the week.

Wednesday, November 5 - BDHS visit - students will be heading to Bradford District High School to participate in a mock-rotary and meet some of their potential grade 9 teachers.

As usual, there will be more added soon!

Hope you enjoyed the weekend,
Miss Skelton

Saturday, October 18, 2014

History & Science October

Hi everyone,

Our students have a few assessments and assignments coming up, as well as some important dates to remember.

On Tuesday, October 21, they will have a History Quiz - they've known about it for several days and should be in the process of studying on a nightly basis.

Girls have their HPV shots this week (Thursday, October23) - please make sure that paperwork is returned, whether or not they're receiving the needles.  We need to have parental indication that students are or are not going to be getting them.

Phys. Ed. presentations begin this week - see The Mid-October post for the schedule.

Students have also been assigned a project for Science - they will be researching a system in the human body. More details about this assignment will be added to the Science page of our blog on Sunday.  A due date is yet to be set. The following students will be doing the following systems:

Circulatory System
Davis - Rohan, Muhammed
Skelton - Andy, Christopher, Shreya, Janabi

Digestive System
Davis - Meadow, Morgan, Taha
Skelton - Mitchell, Sajeetan, Jannany, Jason

Excretory System
Davis - Jewell, Nelie
Skelton -

Immune System
Davis - Ashley, Maks, James
Skelton - Angus, Malcolm, Simon

Muscular System
Davis - Justin, Owen, Chris
Skelton - Yash, Reuben, Julia

Nervous System
Davis - Nat, Kathlyn, Kayla
Skelton - Somaya, Tyrese, Brody

Reproductive System
Davis - Amanda, Kris-Anne, Ryan
Skelton - AJ, Madi, Davis

Respiratory System
Davis - Ethan, Jasjit, Deyshawn
Skelton - Hailey, Mackenzie, Nick

Skeletal System
Davis - Bella, Sandra
Skelton - Morgan, Dhanvin, Liam

Students are invited to BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) on Tuesday and Friday, as they will have time to research in class on those days.  They are also welcome to bring in outside resources, including information they've found online or books they've been able to acquire, whether from personal collections or the library.  Other text resources will be available as well.

Enjoy your weekend,
Miss Skelton :)

Monday, October 13, 2014

Mid-October Update

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a great long weekend!  We are looking forward to students coming back, refreshed and ready for a great month!

The remainder of this month has a few activities that you should be aware of:

Global Dignity Day on Wednesday, October 15
- for more information about Global Dignity Day, please visit  http://www.globaldignity.org/view/global-dignity-day

HPV shots for girls on Thursday, October 23
- paperwork has gone home and must be returned whether or not your child will be receiving these needles.  For more information, please visit http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/ms/hpv/immunize.aspx

Mr. Shank from BDHS visiting on Friday, October 24
- Mr. Shank (our grade 8 liaison from Bradford High) will be visiting students to talk to them about their upcoming visit to BDHS; he will also be bringing some former falcons to talk about their experiences in high school so far.

PA Day on Monday, October 27
- staff will be at Fieldcrest this day, but students are not

Dance-a-thon on Friday, October 31
- two forms will be coming home - one that gives permission for students to attend the dance (which must be returned, whether your child is going or not), and a pledge form on which students can record donations
- all donations go to our school library and go toward updating our library's selection of books for students of all ages.

*students will be presenting their Phys. Ed. games of low organization over the next several weeks.  The schedule is:
Mon. Oct. 20 - Brody, Simon, Jasjit, Taha, Malcolm
Mon. Oct. 20 - Justin, Kathlyn, Sandra, Ashley
Thurs. Oct. 23 - Davis, Mitchell, Yash, Sajeetan
Thurs. Oct. 23 - Dhanvin, Reuben, Rohan, Christopher C
Tues. Oct. 28 - Angus, Tyrese, Andy, Nat
Tues. Oct. 28 - Ethan, Maks, Muhammed, Liam
Fri. Oct. 31 - Somaya, Shreya, Kris-Anne
Fri. Oct. 31 - Owen, Nick, James, Chris L
Tues. Nov. 4 - Kayla, Amanda, Morgan R, Madi
Tues. Nov. 4 - Nelie, Jewell, Bella, Jannany
Fri. Nov. 7 - Meadow, Julia, Hailey, Janabi
Fri. Nov. 7 - Ryan, AJ, Mackenzie, Morgan G, Deyshawn

BDHS Grade 8 Visit on Wednesday, November 5
- students will walk over to BDHS and participate in simulated rotary that will introduce them to what a typical high school day might be like

There are always things to be added, but this sums up the next few weeks nicely!

Have a great evening,
Miss Skelton :)

Friday, October 10, 2014

Studying Tips

Hi everyone,

We've been discussing studying tips in class.  These tips will help students as they prepare for upcoming assessments, and as they prepare for entering grade 9.  This list is by no means exhaustive, and students may come up with their own study strategies that work.  Hopefully this gets them moving on the right track!

Studying Tips from Miss Skelton
Have a great weekend!
Miss Skelton :)

Thursday, October 09, 2014

Picasso Head Art

Hi everyone,

Some of our students have been experimenting on http://picassohead.com! Please check them out at The Gallery on our blog!

How fun!  Please send me your Picassoheads at sskelton@scdsb.on.ca and I'll add them to our growing gallery!

Miss Skelton :)

Friday, October 03, 2014

Writing Checklist

We are currently learning how to write a proper paragraph in language. Below is an editing checklist that we co-constructed in class. Students will be expected to apply this criteria to any written work that they submit.

Mrs. Davis :)

Editing Checklist

We are reviewing our writing to check for:

       Spelling

       Capitalization
ü  Beginning of sentence
ü  Names and proper nouns (Toronto)
ü  Titles

       Punctuation
ü  End of sentence ( . ? !)
ü  Compound sentence joined by a linking word and a comma (FANBOYS)

       Complete Sentences
ü  This piece is free of fragments.
ü  This piece has no run-on sentences

       Grammar
ü  Subject verb agreement

ü  Correct Tenses (present, past, future)

Thursday, October 02, 2014

Math Test - Squares and Square Roots

Hi everyone,

Students received last week's Math test back today - I'm asking that they are signed and returned as soon as possible.

Next Tuesday, we will be having a math assessment on squares and square roots.  Students have a double number line in their notebooks to help them with estimating square roots of numbers that are not perfect squares.
Because Grade 8s will have their picture day on Tuesday, October 7 as well, the test may be postponed until the 8th (but please don't EXPECT this!).

The following will be on the test:
- perfect squares
- finding squares and square roots of perfect squares up to 144
- using the double number line to estimate the square root of a number that is NOT a perfect square
- applying squares and square roots to multi-step problems

Check out what we did in Science today!  Fun fun!  http://grade8falcons.blogspot.ca/p/science.html

Have a great night!
Miss Skelton :)

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

In October...

Hi everyone,

Thank you again to those who attended Meet-the-Teacher night!  What a great way to end September :)

I am continuing to work on getting last week's math tests marked - thank you for your patience!  Typically the turnaround time with assessments will be significantly shorter.

In the upcoming month, we have several things going on (with more to be added to the list as the month progresses!):

Wednesday, October 1 to Friday, October 3 - Book Fair
Thursday, October 2 - We Day - we have several students going!
Tuesday, October 7 - Math assessment - squares and square roots AND French vocabulary quiz
Wednesday, October 8 - Flag Football - we have several students going to this, too!
Thursday, October 9 - Character assembly (9:30-10:30 am for grades 4-8)
Monday, October  13 - Thanksgiving holiday
Thursday, October 23 - HPV immunization needles for our female grade 8 students - there will be two more dates in the new year, as this needle is given three times.  Paperwork will be coming home soon.
Friday, October 24 - Technology Talk with our community officers, Cst Rob Enwright and Spec Cst Karen Markus.  The discussion will be surrounding appropriate and safe use of cellphones, social media, and the Internet.
Monday, October 27 - PA Day - students can sleep in!

We will add more in further blog posts, but this should get us started for this month!

Miss Skelton :)