Another month has come and gone, as we enter our last week of April. We have only two months left in our school year and I’m sure that they will speed by. We have a whole lot of learning left to explore and despite the nice and warmer weather, it is important for students to remain focused on the task at end. The finish line is in sight, but there are still a few more lags of this race 🙂

This week, a school spirit week has been organized by a few students in the Grade 8 English class. Please see the website for the full list of theme days and more details.

Let us take a peek into some of that learning now….

French-Our creative juices are flowing as we continue our unit on comic strips. Students will spend the majority of this week finalizing their stories and will begin creating their character’s dialogue. Later on this week, our focus will shift to revising and editing those texts, before beginning the exciting part of designing the art to accompany them.

During our oral language warm up activities, our focus continues to be on verbs and using two verbs in sequence.

Science-Today, we will officially begin the Grade 8 portion of our new unit on technology after our review of those concepts missed during our time at home last spring. We will kick things off looking at systems and their components.

Grade 9 Science-Tomorrow students will write their evaluation on the physiology of the reproductive system. On Thursday, we will begin to look at the second system of the human body we will explore together this year: the digestive system.

Grade 7 Science-Today, students will write their quiz on the first few sections of our unit on the Earth. With their assessment complete, we will shift our focus onto tectonic plates and their movements.

Grade 5-9 Core French-I was very impressed with the final projects my students created for our unit Suivez-moi! It would be incredible if some of their ideas about their ideal schools one day became a reality! Tomorrow we will dive into a new unit on animals. We will begin by describing animals using our knowledge of colours from the fall.

In Grades 7-9, students will consolidate all their learning from the past few months into their final project for this section. Working in teams, they will create a 3D object, hide it somewhere in the classroom and give both a description of the object and directions to the class as to where it can be found. I think this project will be a whole lot of fun!

Have a marvelous Monday and a fantastic week ahead!

Mme MacNevin

After the long holiday weekend and professional learning days, this week will be our first full week of school in a while. It will be very busy as usual and we will capitalize on our time together to move learning forward.

Despite the blanket of white this weekend, the spring weather has thankfully arrived. Although we are grateful to see the snow melting and the sun shining, along with flowers in May, April showers bring about lots of mud. Students are reminded to dress for the weather that this time of year brings and to try their best to keep the mud outside when coming in from enjoying the outdoors at movement break or recess.

This is our last week for yearbook sales. Be sure not to miss out on your copy by visiting the following link ybpay.lifetouch.ca and enter the ID code 14067821 if you wish to purchase a yearbook at the cost of $20. Cash or cheque (payable to Gulf Shore Consolidated) orders can also be sent into the school inside the order form that was sent home with each student. Extra order forms are available so if your child has misplaced theirs, please let me know.

There will be a Home and School meeting at 7:00pm on Wednesday, April 21 in the Multipurpose Room. All are welcome.

Friday, April 23rd will be free milk day here at Gulf Shore. A huge thank you to our sponsors for supporting this favourite day amongst students.

Now here is a look at what lies ahead for the week….

French-We are learning a great deal about the components of a comic strip and about what counts in this type of text. Students will continue to practice writing comics in small groups this week before beginning to brainstorm ideas for their own comic. As always, our warm-up activities are allowing us to work towards our oral language goals. This week our focus will be on using two verbs in sequence.

Science-This week, we will finish up looking at the technology vocabulary missed in Grade 7. These new terms include levers, pulleys, forces and movement. It is hard to study these terms without seeing them in action, so students will have the opportunity to experiment in the lab with movement and force over the next few days 🙂

Grade 9 Science-Today we will wrap up our look at the reproductive system. Students will learn about how eggs and sperm are created and the hormones at work in these processes. We will then practice and prepare for our assessment on Chapter 2. Part of these preparations will include a “kinulation” activity. During this interactive assignment, students will “become” the hormones, glands, cells and organs of the reproductive system and show their understanding of the inner working of this system.

Grade 7 Science- This week we will wrap up our look at the Earth’s spheres as we dive deeper into the hydrosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere. Tomorrow, students will create the “spheres in a bag” as we use small ziploc bags, soil and water to get a hands-on small-scale look at our planet. Next week we will be completing this first section of our unit and thus, students should begin preparing for their assessment on sections 5.1-5.5.

Grade 5-9 Core French-In Grades 5-6, students will finish creating their ideal school as their final project for our unit “Suivez-moi.” Next week, they will present their projects to their peers and showcase their understanding of the new vocabulary they’ve learned these past few months.

In Grades 7-9, students will complete their assessment on place prepositions, in preparation for their final project for this section, which I will explain in further detail next week.

Have a wonderful week!

Mme MacNevin

The middle of April already? Wow! This school year certainly continues to speed along.

If you have not already done so, please remember to send back your child’s report card envelope with your signature to let me know that you have read their second term learning report.

Our yearbooks are now on sale. Please use the following link ybpay.lifetouch.ca and enter the ID code 14067821 if you wish to purchase a yearbook at the cost of $20. Cash or cheque (payable to Gulf Shore Consolidated) orders can also be sent into the school using the order form that was sent home with each student late last week.

There will be no classes for students on Friday, April 16th, as it is a school goals professional learning day for staff.

Now let’s take a look at the week ahead…..

French-We are working steadily through our unit on comic strips. Last week, students learned the different parts of this text form and we read through several together. This week, they will continue to read a few in small groups, and they will write a short quiz on the new vocabulary used in this type of writing. Our work will then move forward with writing some comics of our own, first as a class, then in pairs, and eventually brainstorming some ideas to write one on their own in the coming weeks.

Science-This week, as we move deeper into our unit on technology, students will continue to explore vocabulary missed in Grade 7. These new terms include levers, pulleys, forces and movement. We will then begin to complete some instant challenges together in the lab as we bring our learning into action.

Grade 9 Science-Today, we will take a short break from our biology unit as we will have a special presentation from STEAM PEI. During this interactive presentation, students will engage in the design process and will create a prototype of a simple device to solve an everyday problem. We will then return to our study of the reproductive system later on this week.

Grade 7 Science-What fun we had on Friday creating our model of the layers of the Earth! This week our focus will shift to our planet’s spheres as we begin to explore the hydrosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere in more detail.

Grade 5-9 Core French-In Grades 5-6, students are busy at work planning and creating their ideal school as their final project for our unit “Suivez-moi.” In Grades 7-9, students will finish their study of new vocabulary related to prepositions in French, so they can work to help a friend find a lost object, giving suggestions as to where the object may be.

Have a marvelous Monday and a fantastic week!

Mme MacNevin

I hope that everyone enjoyed the long weekend and that we are all ready for another wonderful week of learning 🙂

If you have not already done so, please remember to send back your child’s report card envelope with your signature to let me know that you have read their second term learning report.

Now here is a snapshot into what will be taking place during our classes together this week….

French-We thoroughly enjoyed the film “Le coq de St-Victor” that we watched together on Thursday. Today students will complete a short review of their opinions and ideas about the film as well as demonstrate their understanding through a series of comprehension questions.

With their interview texts now complete, we will move into our next unit of study: the comic strip. Students will spend the next few classes reading several different types of comics individually and in small groups as they begin to identify the important parts of these types of writing. We will also read a few together as a class and learn some new vocabulary words that are unique to this text form.

Science-With our Earth and Space unit now behind us, we will move into our final theme of the year “Technology.” This is always a favourite, as students will explore the exciting world of engineering and the design process. We will begin looking at some of the key terms related to simple machines and how they work, as these concepts were missed in Grade 7 due to COVID and the abrupt end to our time together last spring.

Grade 9 Science-On Thursday, we began to look at the first of many human body systems we will study in detail over the next few months-the reproductive system. This week we will look at the hormones related to system and at how they work to drive the processes of ovulation, menstruation and the development of gametes.

Grade 7 Science-Now that we have complete our study of the living world, we will move into our theme of Earth and Space. Students will begin this week looking at the layers of the earth. To help facilitate their understanding, they will work on constructing a 3D model of the earth, using material of their choosing.

Grade 5-9 Core French-In Grades 5-6, students will continue working on their final project for our unit “Suivez-moi.” Working in groups, they will create their ideal school, either digitally, using household items, or on paper and they will present their school to the class, giving directions to several rooms in their school and highlighting the new vocabulary they have been working on these past few months.

In Grades 7-9, students will keep moving through their study of prepositions in French, so they can work to help a friend find a lost object, giving suggestions as to where the object may be.

Have a great week!

Mme MacNevin