Happy Halloween!!! Today we will have lots of fun activities and I cannot wait until the students arrive to see their costumes and to reveal our annual staff costume theme. I hope that everyone has a safe evening and remembers to share with their teacher tomorrow 😉

Learning conferences are only a few short weeks away (November 24-25). Stay tuned to my blog and the school website for the link to our sign up page which will be released very soon.

This week will be a very short one of students, as teachers and staff attend their annual conventions on Thursday and Friday (November 3 and 4), there will be no classes for students on those days.

Finally, all are reminded that our picture day had to be rescheduled. The new date is now November 9th.

Let us now take a look at what we will be exploring together during the next three days…

French-This week students will finish drafting their want ad pieces. We will then shift our focus to revising and editing our work; looking in particular at how to avoid direct translations from English, homophones and verb tenses, and continuing to enhance our texts with detail and description to engage our readers and attempt to “sell” our products.

We are also about half-way through our read aloud novel “Mamie Gangster.” Our focus after reading this week will be around expressing our opinions about the novel using examples from the story to fully support our ideas and opinions.

Time will also be spent beginning to reflect on the first two months of learning; taking stock of how far we’ve come and setting attainable goals for the next few months. Some short oral language assessments will happen in class to help guide this process both when it comes to speaking and listening.

Science-As we near the end of our unit on chemistry, we will continue to explore changes in matter. Students will continue creating, and eventually present, an experiment of their choosing; explaining what type of change it represents and why and showing how matter was conserved throughout the transformation. We will also prepare for and write our Chapter 2 test which will take place on Wednesday, November 2nd. Students are encouraged to check out Google Classroom for review games and study tips.

Grade 9 Science-Tomorrow we will move our focus onto diving deeper into the atom; as we explore sub-atomic particles and how our understanding of matter and the model of the atom has changed over the years. These outcomes are not included in the student textbook resource and mabiblio that we typically use in class. Notes and other resources will be provided both in class (paper) and on Google Classroom (virtually).

Grade 7 Science- This week we will finish up our formal study of the properties of matter. Students will then begin to review the concepts we’ve been working on over the past few weeks and will prepare to write their unit assessment on these concepts which will take place on Wednesday. Chapter 1 in their workbooks, the activities in our Google Classroom, and those accessible through their online etext-mabiblio, are all great resources to guide them as they study. As always, I am also available for extra support during lunch hour 🙂

Grade 9 English Science-With our Nature of Science unit complete, this week we will begin our study of chemistry. To begin, students will explore what matter is, it is organized, as well as ways to identify substances using their chemical and physical properties.

Happy Halloween! Have a fantastic week!

Mme MacNevin

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! It’s hard to believe that we are already at the end of our second month of school. Time sure has flown by with all of the events that have happened over the past few months.

Unfortunately, our photographer had some technical issues on Thursday and was not able to take all the pictures. Our new picture day will be November 9th.

On Thursday, Oct 27th, our Jr High students will have their first social of the year. It will take place from 7-9pm. Students are encouraged to come in costume for a night of dodgeball, dancing and treats. The cost is $7.

This will be a full and busy week here at Gulf Shore. Let’s look at what we have planned over the next few days in our classes…

French-The drafting of want ads will continue this week and our mini lessons will focus on adding details and description to our texts as to better engage our reader.

Our Halloween-themed oral language activities will also continue, as will our read aloud novel “Mamie Gangster.” This week students will be assessed on both their oral language comprehension through a short assignment related to our read aloud novel and a written comprehension assessment related to the theme of transformations of matter that we have been studying in Science.

Science-Our fun in the lab continues this week as we continue to explore the differences between chemical and physical changes in matter and discuss the indicators that allow us to know when a chemical reaction has taken place. We will also focus on the law of conservation of matter.

Grade 9 Science-Over our next few classes together, students will finish up their properties of matter lab and write their Chapter 6 assessment.

Grade 7 Science- This week we will begin our look at temperature and pH, through a fitting Halloween experiment. Using our “witch’s brew” of cabbage juice, students will create a liquid that will act as an agent to determine whether a substance is acidic or basic. We will also begin to look at other properties of matter including conductivity.

Grade 9 English Science-Our focus this week will be on the characteristics of a good scientist, as students work to create posters on these important traits. Their posters are due on Wednesday. We will also begin preparations for our “Nature of Science” unit test will be take place on Friday, October 28th.

Have a wonderful week!

Mme MacNevin

What a beautiful day we were gifted with on Friday for our annual Terry Fox Day. A huge thank you to our Home and School for the delicious hot dogs and for all their help. We raised almost $4000.00 in Terry’s name! Way to go Sharks!!!

A reminder that picture day will be on Thursday, October 20th.

There are no classes for students on Friday, October 21st, as teachers and staff will attend professional development sessions on that day.

Here is a look into what will be taking place during our classes together these next few days….

French-During our writer’s workshop this week, students will continue to explore the want ad (adjectives and descriptions). We will work on some shared and paired writing, before beginning to create a want ad of our own. Our read aloud novel discussions and our oral language warm-up activities will also continue.

Science-There will be lots of fun in the lab this week, as we continue to explore physical changes, chemical reactions, and the law of conservation of matter through several experiments (Chapter 2). Students will write a mini-quiz on the differences between chemical and physical reactions on Thursday, October 20th (Day 1)

Grade 9 Science- This week we will wrap up our exploration of the physical and chemical properties of matter; calculating density and spending some time in the lab identifying substances based on their properties and preparing for our assessment on Chapter 6.

Grade 7 Science- As we continue to explore the basics of matter, this week we will conclude our section on mass and weight. We will then shift our focus to further exploring how to calculate volume and begin preparing for our assessment on these concepts which will take place on Thursday, October 20th (Day 1)

Grade 9 English Science-This week we will finish up our look at bias and begin the final section of our current unit on pseudoscience.

Have an amazing week!

Mme MacNevin

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope everyone had a great long weekend and filled up on lots of goodies, as we took the time to be grateful for all of life’s blessings.

Friday, October 14th will be our annual Terry Fox Day. Just a reminder that pledge sheets are due back today. While our route will change a little this year due to Hurricane Fiona’s impacts on our National Park, we will still get out, enjoy the fresh aid and celebrate the legacy of Terry Fox and some yummy hot dogs courtesy of our wonderful Home and School.

Picture day is fast approaching. It will be on Thursday, October 20th.

Now here is a quick snapshot of our learning during this four-day week….

French- This week we will continue focusing on giving good descriptions in French. We will spend some time checking out our new resource #LaClasse where we will get to practice describing people, places and animals. Explorations of “la petite annonce” will also continue as we begin to write some as a class and in small groups. All this will lead up to our first small writing assignment of the year. Students will create their own “want ad” “selling” a sibling or friend. Their goal will be to “sell” their person, highlighting all their special qualities and using the descriptive words we’ve been working on in our language warm ups as well as properly following the structure of this type of text. I can’t wait to see their creativity at work!

I will also start a read aloud novel this week entitled “Mamie Gangster.” This humorous story about a sweet old grandmother with a secret life will provide opportunities for discussions, as practice our reading strategies.

Science-Friday began our chapter on physical and chemical transformations of matter. To start, we will review the many physical changes that we studied last year. Most of this week and next will then be spent in the lab; experimenting as we create chemical reactions and describe how we know that what we are witnessing is a chemical change. We will also explore the law of conservation of mass; learning how the mass of the products of a chemical reaction must equal the mass of the reactants in that reaction.

Grade 9 Science-During our classes together over the next few days, students will continue their exploration of the physical properties of matter. We will finish our look at solubility and begin to discuss density in detail. If time permits, we will move into discussions around chemical properties as well. We are nearing the end of our first chapter in Science, so students are also encouraged to start reviewing the concepts studied to date in preparation for their first test of the year.

Grade 7 Science-Now that everyone has a solid understanding of the three states of matter and the differences between them, we will move into exploring mass, weight, and volume this week. Beginning with mass, students will define, calculate, and explain the differences between these important measurements we often rely on in the lab.

Grade 9 English Science-As we near the end of our first unit on the nature of science, this week we will wrap up our look at the scientific method and the steps that scientists take to make their discoveries. If time permits, we will also begin to look at bias, what it is, how to identify it, and how to reduce it.

Wishing you all a marvelous week!

Mme MacNevin

First, I hope that everyone is doing okay after last week’s events. I know how challenging things have been for so many of our Gulf Shore families. Please let me know if there is anything at all I can do to support you.

Our Orange Shirt Day will now be held on Friday, October 7th. If you haven’t already been made aware, the Dept of Education has canceled the professional development sessions that were originally scheduled for Friday, and instead it will be an instructional day. We will thus, move our Terry Fox Run to next Friday, October 14th. More information on these events can be found on the Gulf Shore School Facebook page.

Now here is a snapshot into what will be happening during our time together as we jump back into some of our normal routines this week….

French- We will continue to participate in activities and games that will get everyone speaking French as much as possible. Our work will also continue discussing some common errors that second language speakers often make because of directly translating from their first language. Finally, as we take the time to recognize Truth and Reconciliation Week, many of our readings and discussions this week will focus on learning more about residential schools and their impact on our indigenous communities.

Science-It is hard to believe, but we have already finished up our learning of the first few outcomes of the year. Thus, our next few classes will be spent preparing for our assessment on Chapter 1 (atoms, molecules, elements and the periodic table) which will take place on Wednesday (Day 3). Students should be sure to check Google Classroom for the specific date, along with some games and resources to help them to study. We will also finish up and share our element projects that we began before the storm.

Grade 9 FI Science-This week we will wrap up discussions on how matter is organized and dive deeper into solutions and their components; identifying solutions that surround us, especially those found in the human body, and taking note of their solvents and solutes. We will also begin discussions around the properties of matter and how they can used to identify substances. This work begins with a review of the properties studies in Grades 7 and 8, before we move into looking at some new properties not previously explored including density and solubility and how to calculate them.

Grade 7 Science- This week we will wrap up our look at changes in states of matter. In the lab we will have the chance to watch these changes in action, as we experiment with changing water between its three states. Later on this week (Wednesday, October 5, Day 3) students will write a quick check-in quiz on section 1.1, before we move into looking at mass and volume.

Grade 9 English Science- Over the next few days we will continue to look deeper at the steps of the scientific method. Students will work in pairs to find an experiment of their own and explain what is happening at each step in regards to the scientific method. Today they will also write a check-in quiz on the words of science we have been studying these past few weeks.

Have an amazing week! We’ve got this 🙂

Mme MacNevin