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