Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Grad Photos

Hi everyone,

Our Grade 8 students will be venturing over to the highschool later this week and early next to investigate various aspects of computer programming.  We will be using the program "Scratch", which is available at this website:

http://scratch.mit.edu/

Students will be bringing home information about this mini-trip this week.

Also, students will be having their graduation photos on Tuesday, January 27. They are reminded to wear light coloured  clothing, and boys are asked to wear a tie.  We can't wait to see them all fancied up!

Have a great day,
Miss Skelton :)

Friday, January 16, 2015

Career Day Survey

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately, the last link that we had for the survey was not the correct one - that's my fault!  I'm sorry!

The new link is here, and students need to use their login information to access it (this would be the same information that students use to log in to the school network). For best results, this should be accessed through Google Chrome.

https://docs.google.com/a/scdsb.on.ca/forms/d/1w_AW0ljJBV1eZIZiNPc0bFP2A1d2DYdTXrHq0g5ijCo/viewform?c=0&w=1

Career presentations will be filled in on a first come, first serve basis, so students who complete the survey first will get priority over those who wait until the last minute.

Thanks!
Miss Skelton

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Grit & Resilience

Hi everyone,

Yesterday, we watched a few videos and had a discussion about what it means to be resilient.  We talked about what resilience means (the ability to face adversity and bounce back or push through), and we looked at some examples of hardships that famous names have faced and who have persevered.  Here are the videos that we watched:

What Students Really Need to Hear:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O7v4EJjx-g

Famous Failures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLYECIjmnQs

We also watched a couple of videos about the internet's cutest cat, Lil Bub.  She was, as a kitten, diagnosed with osteoporosis, and her owner was told that there was no hope of curing her.  Watch this video to see what courage, motivation, and determination resulted in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5Z6jQrjrLg

These videos sparked some fantastic discussions among students and throughout the period, they were encouraged to talk about challenges that they face, strategies they could use to overcome them, and ways that we can support each other both in the classroom and out.  As this was an introduction, responses were fairly surface-level, and as we progress with focusing on the concept of being resilient, our hopes are that students will internalize some of these strategies and start to live them.

Miss Skelton :)

Monday, January 12, 2015

Course Selection for High School

Hi everyone,

Today, Mr. Shank visited our school to speak to our students about their course selection for Grade 9.  During this presentation, our students were given the following information that relates to them graduating from Grade 12 in 2019:

Compulsory Credits to be completed:
- 4 credits in English (1 credit per grade)
- 3 credits in Math (1 in grade 11 or 12)
- 2 credits in Science
- 1 credit in Canadian History
- 1 credit in Canadian Geography
- 1 credit in the Arts
- 1 credit in Health and Phys. Ed.
- 1 credit in French as a Second Language
- 0.5 credits in Career Studies
- 0.5 credits in Civics

Minimum of 40 Hours of Volunteer Hours
- non-profit organizations
- no payment received
- working for a family business for "free" does not count

OSSLT - Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test
- taken in Grade 10
- can be written as many times as necessary in order for student to pass

Mr. Shank also spoke to our students about the pathways that are available to them (Apprenticeship, College, University), and how their marks help determine whether they go into Academic, Applied, or Locally Developed classes in Grade 9. Students are not required to choose only one of these three choices - they can have a mix of various levels.

More information will be available at the Parent Information Night on Thursday, January 15, 2015 at Bradford District High School. All families are strongly encouraged to attend.

We've been reminding students about how important their learning skills with regards to their decisions for Grade 9.  Students with a good work ethic and typically good learning skills tend to be more successful in Grade 9.  We encourage students who struggle with their learning skills to work on them this year, while they have the support of teachers who know them and can help.  Next year, there will be a lot of change, and trying to revamp work ethic at the same time can be very overwhelming. We want to help our students to be fully prepared for what they face in September!

Have a great day,
Miss Skelton :)

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Welcome to 2015!

Hi everyone,

Welcome back to the rest of the 2014-2015 school year!  We hope that everyone had a great and relaxing break, and is ready to take on the new year!

Before the holidays, we had a lot of fun.  We were busy creating Elf letters, putting together a Holiday Variety Show, and writing short stories.  I will be posting a new page soon with some of the videos and pictures of our December adventures!

Today was a bus cancelation day, and we wanted to thank all families who remembered to call into Safe Arrival (905-778-2011) if their child was staying home.  It makes the jobs of our office staff much easier, and it is very much appreciated!

As of yesterday, students were told they would be having a Math test on Circles (radius, diameter, circumference, area) this coming Friday.  The test will be postponed until Wednesday, January 14.  Immunizations for HPV (girls only) were scheduled for today and have now been rescheduled until February 12.  Also scheduled for today was Mr. Shank's pre-course selection visit. Mr. Shanks is our student transition liaison and guidance counsellor from Bradford High.  He comes over to Fieldcrest periodically to speak to our students about their upcoming transition to high school.  Today's visit has been rescheduled for Friday, January 9, at which time Mr. Shank will be giving students information about their course selection for Grade 9, as well as inviting them to the BDHS grade 8 parents' night on January 15.  Please watch for this information to come home.

Have a great day!

Miss Skelton :)