Week of January 30th-February 3rd

Today is a very exciting day, as we will officially switch over to wireless computer technology here at Gulf Shore! I am looking forward to exploring everything this new system has to offer for my students 🙂

Wednesday, February 1st is a Professional Development Day for teachers and staff. Thus, there will be no classes on Wednesday. Regular classes will resume on Thursday, February 2nd.

Now let us take a look at the learning that will take place over the next few days….

French-As we begin our unit called “L’art de image” over the next few days students will have a opportunity to begin to read several texts that explain how images are created and we will focus our writing, taking inspiration from images we see. We will start with a look at special effects, as we discuss how what we see on the big or small screen isn’t always what it may seem to be. Tying into our foundational outcomes speaking and listening, over the next few weeks we will be reading and listening to different interviews and noting their characteristics. This will help us to form the criteria for what counts in an interview question, as we will soon be conducting interviews of our own.

Work also continues on our oral productions skills. We have been working with Mme Kim to practice certain verb tenses and we will continue this work this week. Over the next few weeks students will have the opportunity to self-assess their oral language skills and to begin to think about goals that they may have for improving on structures that can cause them some difficulty.

Students are also working on creating a video with Mme Sabrina, our French monitor. We’ve been listening to the music of many different francophone artists these past few weeks and now are in the beginning stages of making a music video to one of our favourites “Le sens de ma vie” by Tal.

Finally, with all the new books we had the opportunity to preview on Friday; we will head to the library to pick out a new novel for independent reading.

Social Studies-We will work this week to finish up our study of the Middle Ages through our final project of creating a fief and in preparation for our unit assessment.

Science- Our look into the human reproductive system continues this week with at look at fertilization, pregnancy and the stages of human development. We will answer many questions related to these topics including some fun ones such as why do certain parents have twins? And do all mammals have a belly button?

Grade 9 Science- The focus of our classes this week will be the endocrine system, as we look at how our bodies eliminate waste. Late this week or early next, we will dissect a sheep kidney, as we get to explore some the parts that make up this important system.

Grade 7 Science- This week we will finish up our ecology unit with our animal projects that will demonstrate our understanding of habitat, population, niche and adaptations. Work will also continue on our Science Fair projects, as we form our hypothesis, list of material and start to prepare to collect data.

Have a fantastic week!

Mme MacNevin

Week of January 23rd-27th

Here we are starting the last full week of January! Wow, does time ever fly! This week will be our last full week of school with our old computer technology, as on Monday, January 30th we will be switching over to the new Wifi system. I know everyone is excited to have access to some new machines, which will be sure to enhance our learning 🙂

In order to accommodate the switch over, on Friday January 27th we will be without computer access in this school. While we all see the benefits of technology in our lives, our French Immersion team came together to brainstorm some activities that would celebrate the activities we do each day that don’t require computers. On Friday, FI classes will have an opportunity to visit our “Salon de la promotion des livres.” In the Multipurpose Room we will set up many new books that have recently been added to our library collection here at Gulf Shore.
Students will have the opportunity to browse these new books and test them out as they complete their “Chasse aux tresors des livres (book treasure hunt)”. We are very excited to have many new collections in the library and this will be the first of several opportunities to share them together and celebrate the love of reading.

Here is a look at the other learning activities we will be working on in our classes together this week…

French-Over the next few days students will finish up their post-reading projects for our novel “Le complot.” They will then have a opportunity to share this learning with their classmates and to practice their informal oral presentation skills. Once we’ve completed our presentations, we will continue getting acquainted with our new anthology unit “L’art de l’image” and we will also continue our work to improve our oral language skills, in particular the use of the verb “aller.”

Social Studies-As we begin to wrap up our study of life in the Middle Ages, students will debate whether life was then was really that different from life now. They will also start their final project for this unit, the construction of a medieval fief and will prepare for their final written evaluation on these concepts.

Science- We have begun our look into the human reproductive system. This week students will finish up their study of both the male and female anatomy and we will begin to look at human reproduction and the formation of gametes. Many students in Grade 8 have also chosen to put together a project for our school Science Fair in March. I am always available to help them through this process and I would encourage anyone participating to refer the documents I’ve set up in Google Classroom to help keep their projects on pace.

Grade 9 Science- Our pig heart dissection was a huge success. I was so pleased with the students’ abilities to point out the different parts of the heart that we’ve been studying these past few weeks. It is so much fun to see Science come alive! This week we will finish up the circulatory system and we will begin to look at the endocrine system. Another dissection will accompany this system. More details to follow 🙂

Grade 7 Science- In our ecology unit we will continue to explore population, habitat and ecological niche. To demonstrate their understanding of these concepts students will choose an animal and teach their peers about its name, species, habitat and niche.
We will also continue to work on our projects for the Science Fair. Day 6 has been reserved for our day to work on our projects here at school and students should bring any materials they may need to class with them on those days.

Have a great week!

Mme MacNevin

Week of January 16th-20th

Last week we were able to return to our regular classroom routines and we had a very productive and full learning week. This one will be no different:)

Parents are reminded of the Home and School meeting on Wednesday, January 18th at 7:00pm in the Science Lab.

Let’s take a look at what the next few days will look like here at Gulf Shore…

French-We have now finished reading our novel “Le complot.” With our reading complete, we now shift our focus to our post reading activities. Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the novel, as well as to share their ideas and opinions about the author’s work and their personal connections and observations about the text, through their final project. Students will have the choice to become a book reviewer, a book marketer, a book artist or a book fan, as their present this information to myself and their peers through the medium of their choosing.

We will also spend some time this week getting acquainted with our new anthology unit “L’art de l’image” and we will continue to work on our oral language skills, in particular the use of the verb “aller.”

Social Studies-This week we will continue to compare and contrast European and Muslim cultures during the Middle Ages. We will also return to our current events discussions.

Science- As we work through our biology unit in Science class, we will begin our study of human reproduction. This is a very important component of the curriculum, however it can sometimes be an uncomfortable topic to discuss. While our focus in class will be on the scientific and biological processes involved in human reproduction and pregnancy, I do understand at other questions may arise. I’d encourage you to have discussions around the topics we are covering in class at home. I have reminded students of the sensitive nature of this chapter and the importance of not sharing information with younger students, who may not be ready to receive it and that if they have any questions they are more than welcome to come see me or our guidance staff.

Grade 9 Science- This week we will wrap up our study of the circulatory system and prepare for our assessment of learning and our dissection of a pig heart.

Grade 7 Science- Our study of the living world continues this week as we explore population, habitat and ecological niche. To demonstrate their understanding of these concepts students will choose an animal and teach their peers about its name, species, habitat and niche.
We have also begun our work on our Science Fair projects. Students have been provided a timeline of where they should be with each part of their project to keep at home and one is also posted in our Google Classroom. Our fair will take place on March 15th (storm date: March 16th).

Have a marvelous week!

Mme MacNevin

Weeks of January 4th-6th and January 9th-13th

I hope that everyone had a fantastic holiday season! I’m sure the break and our extra snow day were much appreciated, but at the same time, I know everyone is ready to return to structure and routine, after the business that the month of December can bring 🙂

We will jump right back into our learning and we will also take some time to return to our learning goals and discuss our progress with them thus far 🙂

Here is a look at what we will be doing for the few days of this short week and all next week….

French-Over the next few classes we will finish up our novel “Le complot.” We will then spend some time reflecting and responding to our reading, as students will choose one of several “post reading” activities to demonstrate their understanding and connection to this story. We will also have a short comprehension quiz on the key ideas from the novel. There has been a great deal of interest in this novel and it has made for some excellent class discussions and I’m sure this week will be no different, as we wrap things up 🙂

Once we’ve finish our novel study, we will begin our next anthology unit entitled “L’art de l’image.” In this unit, we will read and hear about many interesting people who are the faces behind images we see. We will also discuss how photographs and pictures can inspire our writing.

Finally, we will have some visits from Mme Kim, who will introduce us to some new learning centres, aimed to improve our oral language skills.

Social Studies-As we near the end of our study of Medieval Europe, this week we will look at neighboring societies during that time period, in particular the Muslim culture and the Viking raids. We will also continue to compare life during during the Middle Ages to our life here in modern-day Canada.

Science-In Science class this week we will finish up our formal study of the cell, as we look at the processes of cellular respiration and photosynthesis is greater detail. We will also prepare for our evaluation on the outcomes covered in Chapter 3, before moving on to our study of human reproduction.

Grade 9 Science- Study will begin this week on our 4th human body system: the circulatory system. We will start by looking at the parts that make up this system and its functions. Our final project for this unit will be the dissection of a pig heart, which I know should be an exciting time for us in the lab 🙂

Grade 7 Science- Before the break we wrapped things up in our chemistry unit and we will now dive into our next unit “L’univers vivant”-“The living world.” This unit begins with some ecology, as we will learn about species and nomenclatures.

Have a fantastic first school week of 2017!

Mme MacNevin