This week we will flip the calendar to the month of February. The storms last week may have put us just a little behind in our preparations for the science fair, but we are still well on our way. This week students should be finishing up their method and conducting their experiments. All results (meaning the completed experiment) are due on Monday, February 6. We will then begin to work on our backboards. Students should bring their backboard with them to school next week. If they cannot take them on the bus, I would suggest they bring them on an early morning band day or arrange for someone to drop it off to the school for them. I’ve heard that these boards are in popular demand around town, but I did have some success purchasing them at Michael’s if your child is still looking.

Now let’s take a look into our learning over these last few days of January and the first few of February…..

French-Work is moving along nicely in our creation of our travel journals. We will continue to use our online resource #LaClasse to help us in the creation of this project.

We continue reading our novel “Mamie Gangster.” We are nearing its end and will prepare for our final reflection on what we’ve read in the coming days.

Finally, during our daily warm-ups we will work on using verbs in the past tense and some commonly misused expressions.

Science-Over the next few days we will wrap up our study of human reproduction (Chapter 4). On Friday, students will write a quick Google Forms assessment on these concepts. This means that many of our classes this week will be spent reviewing the outcomes of this sections through interactive games and activities.

Grade 9 Science-As we keep moving through chapter 8, this week we will explore waves and the electromagnetic spectrum in greater detail through both some virtual and interactive experiments in the lab.

Grade 7 Science-Our look into ecosystems will end this week as we finish up chapter 3 with a deeper discussion into adaptations and how different species use them to survive, as we create our own animals and showcase their adaptations. We will then begin our review in preparations for our chapter 3 quiz which will take place early next week.

Grade 9 English Science-This week we will prepare for our quiz on chapter 5 (atoms and elements). We will spend our classes together finishing up our look at the periodic table and engaging in many different review games and activities to help us prepare. Students are also encouraged to check out Google Classroom for more review tools and games.

Wishing you all a marvelous week!

Mme MacNevin

Despite the last two storm days, our science fair work is coming along nicely, as students have now formed their hypothesizes and begun to develop their experiments. The next few weeks are when students will conduct their experiments and take note of their results. They are also reminded that now is a great time to purchase their backboard, as I’ve heard that supply is low in many places. If you are having trouble securing a backboard, please let me know as soon as possible and I will do my best to help.

Now here is a snapshot into the learning that will happen over this week…

French- Moving through our unit on travel in #LaClasse, students will take another step towards their final project of a travel journal as this week we discuss vocabulary related to lodging and write some retells of some misadventures we may have had on our travels.
I continue to read “Mamie Gangster” a few times a week, and students are engaging in discussions about this interesting grandmother and all her adventures to steal the crown jewels with her grandson Ben.

Science-This week students will create an informational poster on a method of contraception. Once this is complete, we will begin to discuss the final section of our unit on living things: sexual transmitted infections.

Grade 9 Science-On Day 4 (now Wednesday) students will write their assessment on Chapter 7. With that behind us, we will then begin to look into our last section of our “univers matériel” before we head into our biology section. This last chapter will focus on both pressure and waves.

Grade 7 Science-Our look into ecosystems will end this week or early next week as we finish up chapter 3 with a deeper discussion into adaptations and how different species use them to survive. This section will include some interactive activities where students will be given different “adaptations” to demonstrate their importance.

Grade 9 English Science-Our final few sections on the periodic table and the families and groups that make it up will take place over the next few days. Students will colour their own periodic table, representing these families and then discuss how atoms gain or lose electrons to forms ions and combine.

Have a wonderful week!

Mme MacNevin

We are now halfway through the month of January and working hard towards the Gulf Shore Science Fair. All Science classes are reminded that this week they should be working on completing their hypothesis, purpose and research for their science fair project. Additionally, if students have not yet purchased their backboards, they are reminded to do so.

Here is a peek into what we will be discussing during our classes these next few days….

French- We continue our unit in #LaClasse, working towards our final project of a travel journal. Additionally, we continue to read and discuss our read aloud novel “Mamie Gangster” and engage in interactive warm-ups to practice our oral language skills. Our work will also continue our work on the differences between the passé composé and imparfait verb tenses.

Science-Science-This week we will wrap up our look at the stages of both pregnancy and life and begin our study of different methods of contraception, exploring how they prevent pregnancy.

Grade 9 Science-We have now completed all the new learning for our unit on transformations of matter and energy. This week will be spent reviewing as we work towards our final assessment on these concepts which will take place on Day 4.

Grade 7 Science-As we near the end of our ecology unit, this week we will look at food chains and changes and adaptations different species use to survive.

Grade 9 English Science-Our look at the periodic table will wrap up this week. We will spend some time reviewing the concepts we have seen in Chapter 5 and prepare to write an assessment on these concepts in the coming days.

Wishing you all a great week!

Mme MacNevin

It is always so nice to get back into our routines after the holiday break. As I discussed in last week’s post, the next month or so leading up to our annual Science Fair will be very busy, but most definitely exciting ones here at Gulf Shore.

Please continue to refer to our school website and Facebook page for school events and messages. Additionally, it is important to mention, as the winter weather is upon us, that we are part of the Bluefield family of school in case of weather related cancellations and delays.

Let’s take a look at what will be taking place during our classes this week…

French- As we work through our unit in #LaClasse, students will continue work on their travel journals, we as always, will engage in some fun warm-ups to get us speaking in French and of course, we continue our read aloud novel “Mamie Gangster.”

Science-This week we will wrap up our study of the organs that make up the human reproductive system. With that complete, we will begin to prepare for a quiz on these concepts that will take place later on this week or early next week.

Grade 9 Science-As we work through Chapter 7, over the next few days students will continue their look at physical and chemical transformations of matter and will shift their focus to energy and its transformations. Students when then use their knowledge of these concepts to work on a case study about air bags and the transformations that occur when they are deployed in the event of an accident.

Grade 7 Science-Moving on in our ecology this week, we will look at abiotic and biotic factors as well as how different organisms get their energy (producers and consumers).

Grade 9 English Science-We will continue to examine the trends of the periodic table throughout our discussions these next few days.

Have a fantastic week!

Mme MacNevin

Happy New Year! Welcome back and I am so excited to begin 2023 together! I hope that everyone had a relaxing break. I cannot wait to hear all about the adventures that were had during our warm-up this morning.

Here is a snapshot into what our first school week of the new year has planned….

French- Our oral language warm-up this week will begin together with a pair and share about our holiday break and then continue later on this week practicing expressions that use the verb “avoir”, the passé compose, and also those where two verbs are used together. Proper verb conjugation is a goal for many of my students, so we will spend lots of time focusing on some activities in the coming weeks to help give them some strategies to improve their spoken language. As we work through our unit in #LaClasse, students will also make progress on their travel journals, looking closely at le passé compose and l’imparfait.

We will also return to our read aloud novel “Mamie Gangster” as we continue this story about a boy and his “gangster” Granny.

Science-We will begin the final sections of our unit on living things as we kick off Chapter 4 on human reproduction over the next few days. Together, we will look at the human anatomy, the stages of human development both before and after birth, as well contraception over the next couple of weeks.

With all my classes over the next few days, we will also begin our preparations for the Gulf Shore 2023 Science Fair. I am so excited that this event will make its comeback this year. More details to follow in the coming weeks.

Grade 9 Science-During our classes this week we will return to our textbook to explore chemical and physical changes in matter (Chapter 7). Much of this chapter is a review from Grade 8, but with our added knowledge of how atoms combine from our studies before the break, students will look at these concepts through a different lens than they did last year.

Grade 7 Science-Before the break, we began our unit on biodiversity. This week students will review the concepts we discussed in December including species, and taxonomy, before beginning to look at population, habitat and niche later on in the week.

Grade 9 English Science-As we continue to move through our chemistry unit, this week we will look deeper at the atom, exploring subatomic particles, how to draw Bohr models and at how the periodic table is organized, as we explain why it is called the “periodic” table.

Have a wonderful week! Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions and concerns you may have.

Mme MacNevin