As crazy as it may seem, today marks an official end to the month of April. I cannot believe that May is upon us! This year is flying by!

There will be no classes on Friday, May 4th, as teachers and support staff attend their annual union meetings.

Now let us take a look at the learning we will be moving through together this four day week…

French-We are now well into our novel Aller/Retour. This book is creating lots of great discussions and we are learning some new vocabulary too. We had fun on Friday getting familiar with the setting, as Mme Roxanne took us through a virtual tour of the city of Montreal using Google Maps.

Over the next few days we will finish up our calligrammes and we will meet with our Grade 4 book buddies to share both a new book with them, our texte ludique and our poems. It is truly amazing to see how these two groups of students interact with each other and how proud they are to share their learning with each other 🙂

Social Studies-This week we will continue to dive deeper into how the explorers came to the “New World” using both the story “Rencontre” and using our “Journal d’histoire.”

Science-Last week we had great fun with a few instant challenges relating to our technology unit. This week this work will continue along with our study of Chapter 7 on systems. Students will also be introduced this week to their project for this unit, the planning, drawing and construction of a toy windmill capable of creating energy.

Grade 9 Science-Our pig dissection was a huge success!!! I was so impressed with the level of engagement of my students during this activity. Our focus can now fully shift to our chemistry outcomes. This week students will finish out Chapter 6 and write their assessment on these concepts.

Grade 7 Science-With our unit on biology now complete, we will shift our attention to the Earth’s crust. Students spend time this week creating a 3D model of the earth’s layers as we begin to discuss its internal structure. Discussions will also take place around continental drift and tectonic plates.

Have a fabulous week!

Mme MacNevin

The day that the Grade 9 class had been anxiously awaiting all year came today. Students spent this morning working through the dissection of a pig. From hearts, to kidneys and even a few groups who were able to dive into the brain, all of our work on systems and how they work together came to life through this dissection. Our friends in Grade 4-6 even popped in to take a look and ask a few questions. I think they would agree that this day was well worth the wait 🙂 We had a blast!

Today we will be treated to a visit from Brayden White, our 2018 Easter Seals Ambassador. Students have been working hard over the past few months (a special shout-out to the Peters family for their lovely basket :)) fundraising. I can’t wait to find out the total raised here at Gulf Shore, as well as hear his message, when he arrives this afternoon.

Here is a snapshot of the learning that will be happening during this full week together…

French-Today we will begin our new novel study Aller/Retour. This book is one of my favourites! It takes place in Montreal and not only will be explore its themes as we read it together over the next few weeks, but Mme Roxanne, being from Montreal herself, will take us on some virtual tours of that city.

We will also work hard this week to finish up our calligrammes, publishing them (I hope to post pictures later on this week) and reading them to our classmates. As we continue to work to better our oral production, we will spend some time over the next few classes reviewing some common phrases that I’ve been hearing being used incorrectly since we’ve returned from the break, as we work towards preparing for our final oral assessment of the year that will take place next month.

Social Studies-During our time together over the next few days we will complete our look at capitalism and governance during the Renaissance. Using the story “Rencontre” and using our “Journal d’histoire” we will examine the explorations of the “New World” that happened during this time period, discussing if this world was really in fact “new.”

Science-With our unexpected day off last week, we are running a class behind. Today, students will present their oral presentations on a space mission, as we wrap up our unit on Space. We will then begin our unit on technology, beginning with a review of the concepts we worked on this unit last year including forces and movements, before beginning our first chapter on systems, as we discuss how parts of a system work together to complete a specific function.

Grade 9 Science-We are moving along quite rapidly through our chemistry unit. Over the new few days we will complete our study of solubility, concentration and dilution. Following this section, we will look at the final part of Chapter 6, which focuses on the chemical and physical properties of matter. Our pigs have finally arrived! We will spend our double period on Day 6 (Wednesday) dissecting and demonstrating all our knowledge of the body systems we’ved studied this year. (Pictures to follow :))

Grade 7 Science-This week we will finish up and review the concepts studied in Chapter 4. Students should be spending a few minutes each evening studying these concepts, as there are many new vocabulary words and diagrams that have been covered over the past few weeks. Our unit assessment for “L’univers vivant” will be on Day 3 (a week from today.) If time permits, we will also begin to explore the first section of our unit on the Earth’s Crust.

Have a great week!

Mme MacNevin

I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend 🙂 Here are some upcoming events for this week…

There is a Home and School Meeting at 7:00pm on Wednesday in the Science Lab. All are welcome to attend.

On Thursday, April 19th we will have a special guest speaker here at Gulf Shore. He is a police officer who will speak with our Grade 6-9 classes on the topic of bullying.

Weather permitting, Friday will be a “Walk to School” day.

Please continue to check our school’s webpage for other upcoming events, as the last few months of the year can get quite busy.

Now let’s take a look at what will be happening in our classes together….

French-This week we will finally wrap up our anthology unit “L’art de l’image.” We will finish our calligrammes, work on written language accords, as we edit and publish our “texte ludique,” and record our oral language assessment on “ les verbes pronominaux.”

If time permits, we will begin a new class novel study on the book Aller/Retour. This book was written by David Schinkel and Yves Beauchesne, the same authors who wrote Mack le rouge, a novel the students read last year. We will spend some time predicting and observing, as we begin to read together. Similar to the novel Le complot, which we read earlier in the year, this story touches on many controversial issues that should make for many discussions over the next few weeks. We will also have the opportunity to compare Aller/Retour with Mack le rouge and note and analyze these authors’ style of writing.

Social Studies-Today we will have our class debate to decide on the most important humanist of the Renaissance (according to Gulf Shore Gr 8 :)). We will also finish up our look at urbanism, capitalism and governance during the Renaissance. Later on this week or early next, discussions will begin around the explorations of the “New World” that happened during this time period.

Science-This week we hope to complete our unit on Space. Students will put the finishing touches on their duotangs for our learning stations and will present their oral presentations on a space mission to the class.

Our next unit in Science is entitled “The Technological World.” Throughout this unit we will explore concepts related to technology and engineering. Students will have the opportunity to participate in many “instant challenges” that will challenge them to problem solve using the technological method, which we will discuss in further detail in the coming weeks.

Grade 9 Science-Continuing through our new unit on chemistry, this week we will wrap up our review of concepts covered in previous courses and begin outcomes relating to the concepts of solubility, concentration and dilution. We will also continue to discuss the properties of matter and the particle theory. I am still tracking the whereabouts of our pigs and when they arrive, we will take a break from chemistry to complete our dissections.

Grade 7 Science-Over the next few classes students will finish up their look at sexual and asexual reproduction in living organisms. We will then begin preparations for our final assessment of Chapter 4.

Have a fabulous week!

Mme MacNevin

This morning we spent another great class with our Grade 4 Book Buddies. Grade 8 students prepared and presented puppet shows to their younger friends. After that, each student in Mme Larkin’s class shared a story with their partner. Finally, each group found a book to read together. Isn’t reading awesome!

On Wednesday, April 11th students in Grades 4-9 will travel to Bluefield to watch this year’s musical “Camp Rock.” We will depart from the school once everyone arrives and we will return by lunch hour. The cost of this event is $6.00. This price covers admission and transportation. Please send this money into the school as soon as possible. Thanks!

I hope that everyone had a fantastic break and extra-long Easter weekend. Spring has most definitely arrived! I cannot believe that we are in our final term of the school year! The next few months will most likely fly by, but there is still a lot of learning left to take place 🙂

Here is a snapshot into some of that learning, as we navigate through the next few weeks together…

French-Through our unit anthology unit “L’art de image” we have discussed the power of images and words. This week we will work to draft some calligramme poetry, taking advantage of our knowledge of the power of images and the fact that April is poetry month.

Students will also have the chance to revisit their “texte ludique,” taking the time to revise and edit their work and put into practice many of the goals they set out for their writing before the break.

Our work will wrap up on “les verbes pronominaux” with an audio assessment, where students will have the chance to use these verbes in oral discussions to show their understanding of how they are conjugated.

Social Studies-With the storm days, students didn’t have the chance to present their humanist debates before the break. This week we will finish those presentations, preparing for our large debate on who was the greatest humanist of the Renaissance. We will also start our exploration of the rise of urbanization and capitalism during the Renaissance and explore how Italy was governed throughout this time period.

Science- Over the next few days we hope to complete our learning stations for our unit on Space. Once they have visited each centre, students will be given time to review their duotang, revising their work and completing any stations that they didn’t get to finish. We will then prepare for our summative assessment of these outcomes.

Grade 9 Science-If all goes as planned and if we have no more interruptions, we will finally wrap up our biology unit with our dissection of a fetal pig. Once this is completed, we will begin our chemistry unit. A review of the Periodic Table of the Elements will be the starting point of Chapter 6, as we discuss the differences between elements and compounds, review the particle theory, the three states of matter and the differences between homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures.

Grade 7 Science-As we move ahead in our biology unit, this week we will continue to look at sexual and asexual reproduction in living organisms, in particular; the flower.

Have a marvelous last few days of this week and a wonderful start to the next one!

Mme MacNevin