It was wonderful to have the opportunity to meet so many of you on Wednesday evening. If you were unable to attend, please check your child’s homework folder for an important handout I passed along during our Meet the Staff night.

Please also check the homework folder for information on an upcoming field trip that will take place next week. On Thursday, October 5th, students in Grades 7 and 7/8 Immersion will head over to Cavendish Beach to explore the beach/dune ecosystem in the PEI National Park. This outing aligns with many outcomes of the curriculum and is always an exciting event. Please contact me if you have any questions.

We are also well into our fundraising for the annual Terry Fox Run here at Gulf Shore which will take place on Friday, October 6th. The youngest or only child in each family should have brought home pledge sheets and t-shirt order forms late last week. Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 26th is the last day for t-shirt orders. All pledges are due to the office by Thursday, October 5th, so that we can reveal our grand total before the run.

We will take some time this week to reflect, as we mark Truth and Reconciliation Week. All students are encouraged to wear an orange shirt to school on Thursday, September 28th. We will also be having an assembly that day and taking time to think about how we do our part towards reconciliation.

Families are reminded that Friday, September 29th is a professional development day for staff, so there will be no classes for students. There will also be no classes on Monday, October 2nd in observance of the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.

Now here is a brief look at what will be taking place during our four day week…..

Grade 7 Science-Students will write their first quiz of the year on Tuesday, September 26th. This quiz includes vocabulary related to the first chapter of our unit on ecosystems. Students can find practice questions and review games to help them study in their Google Classroom. Following the quiz, we will begin our next section of this unit. In the second part, we will explore the interactions between living and nonliving things as well as the interactions of living things amongst each other as we take a deeper look at population and how it can change as well as food chains and food energy pyramids.

Grade 7 Core French-During our classes this week students will continue working through our first unit on pastimes. They will present themselves using Flip, an interactive tool for creating videos and audio recordings. We will also peek at the past times of some other students as we read and listen to some texts of students across the country explaining how they like to spend their free time.

Grade 7 Immersion Science-As we move through our unit on matter, this week we will learn about mass, volume and weight and explore the differences between them and the units and tools we use to calculate them. This will mark the end of our first section, so students will prepare for and write an assessment on these outcomes before shifting our focus to pH and other characteristic properties of matter.
Grade 8 Immersion Science-Students will write their assessment on the outcomes covered in chapter 1 this morning. Tomorrow, we will turn the page to chapter 2, as we take a look at physical and chemical transformations of matter. Students will begin exploring the 6 changes of state that they studied last year before beginning some learning stations and experiments where they will show proof of physical transformations of matter at work.

Grade 9 Science-We are moving nicely through our unit on the nature of science. This week students will finish up their exploration of the scientific method. To help show their understanding, they will find an experiment of their own and discuss how it follows each step. We will then begin discussions around bias and the influence it can sometimes have on the outcomes of our experiments.

Grade 8 STEM-Our gumball machines will really take shape these next few classes as we work through the design process to create and test them. We will also continue our daily warm-ups and take a look at a really cool story exploring how engineering students helped out a young boy from Lennox Island participate in his culture.

Have a marvelous Monday!

Mme MacNevin

Time really does goes by so quickly! We are already more than halfway through the month of September!

This is an exciting week for me, as on Wednesday, we have our annual Meet the Teacher night and I will get to meet many of you for the first time. Our evening will start in the Multipurpose Room with some general remarks from our admin team and then there will be a chance for parents and guardians to head down to their child’s classroom to see where they spend their time and to get a brief introduction to the routines and expectations for the year. Please let me know if you are unable to attend and I can send home the information package that I will be providing with your child on Thursday instead.

Our Home and School is a very special group of people. They do so much for our school community and help create connections between what happening here in the building and at home. They will be meeting this evening at 7pm in the staff room. New members are always welcome. Please also join the Home and School and Gulf Shore Consolidated Facebook pages for more information on many events throughout the year.

There are only a few, but I am still missing some forms and student fees from my homeroom class. If you have not already sent them in, please do so as soon as possible. If you have any questions or need another form, please contact myself or Donna in the office.

With that, here is a look into all the exciting things we will be working on during our classes together this upcoming week…..

Grade 7 Science-We are moving through our unit on ecosystems. Students spent some time last week learning about biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) factors and their importance. This week we will look closer at these factors in many types of ecosystems here in Atlantic Canada and discuss how ecosystems are organized as we explore new vocabulary such as population, community and niche.

Grade 7 Core French-This week we will dive into our first unit of the year on pastimes. During the next few months students will work to learn vocabulary to allow them to describe their favourite activities. To begin, we will listen to some other students sharing what they like and pick out some “mots amis” and “mots familiers”. These are words that either sound the same in English and French or that are familiar to us.

Grade 7 Immersion Science-Our work on the three states of matter continues. This week, students will learn how matter changes from one state to another and we will conduct our first lab experiment-heating ice. While this is simple taking an ice cube and boiling it until it becomes steam, this experiment will allow students to follow the steps of the scientific method and see the changes in matter over time as temperature increases. We will also plot our results onto a graph and discuss the importance of being precise when “doing” science. Later in the week will test our knowledge of these new concepts with a short quiz and then begin to discuss other properties of matter, starting with mass.

Grade 8 Immersion Science-Our main focus this week will be the periodic table of the elements. Students will get their first real introduction to this tool and how it works. Each student will then spend some time researching an element of their choosing to show their understanding of the important information that can be found on the periodic table, including atomic number, mass number and symbol.

Grade 9 Science-This week we will wrap up our first section of our unit looking at the nature of science, as we continue to discuss important new scientific vocabulary. Students will then prepare for and write their first quiz of the year on these concepts. Google Classroom is a great place for them to find everything they need to study, including review games, study guides and copies of any notes taken during class.

Grade 8 STEM-Our first design challenge is well underway! Students will spend their time this week researching and planning out their gumball machines. They will need to take note of any materials they will need to make their device and sketch out both what their device will look like and how it will work. This process is probably one of the hardest parts of the design process, as despite wanting to jump right in, it helps students to value the importance of organizing our ideas so that we do not miss any steps and that we have all materials we need before we begin the project.

Have a wonderful week! I look forward to seeing many of you on Wednesday evening!

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions/concerns.

Mme MacNevin

Our first full week of school is here! It was so lovely meeting all my new students last week and catching up with those whom I taught in previous years. I have a feeling this year is going to be fantastic 😊

Just a quick couple of housekeeping notes before we take a look at the week ahead:

If your child has not returned their first week permission and information forms please make sure they do that as soon as possible so that the folks in the office can get all that important information entered into our record keeping systems.

Also, if your child has not yet paid their $20 student fee to cover the costs associated with Industrial Arts and Foods, please be sure to send that along this week as well.

Now let us peek into the learning that will be happening during our first full week back….

Grade 7 Science-This week we will officially kick off our science course, as the first few days were spent getting acquainted with our new surroundings and routines. We will look at what a scientist does and the different domains of science before entering into our first unit on ecosystems later on this week, beginning with the differences between living and nonliving things.

Grade 7 Core French-Our first few weeks of Core French will be spent reviewing some terms we worked on in elementary. We will begin with a project entitled “C’est moi” where students will use pictures to describe words and phrases they know how to say en français. Establishing our daily class routines in French will also take place, as we begin each class with the date, the weather and a greeting through our “Message de la semaine”.

Grade 7 Immersion Science-Our first unit is entitled “Univers matériel” In this unit, we will discuss matter. Students will begin by learning about some basic science safety and vocabulary before moving into the three states of matter and how substances are able to change their state of matter with changes in temperature. If time permits, we will even put on a little skit called “La danse des particules” where students will “become” particles to demonstrate their understanding of solids, liquids and gases and how they behave when heated or cooled.

Grade 8 Immersion Science-Students will spend a short time reviewing some of the concepts they saw last year during our first unit on chemistry. We will then take a deeper look at Dalton’s atomic model and begin our study of the elements and the periodic table.

Grade 9 Science-Our first unit on the nature of science is already underway. During our classes together this week students will learn about the work of a scientist and explore the steps of the scientific method, and learn some new vocabulary “words of science” such as theory, model, hypothesis, law and fact, giving examples and counter examples from the world around them.

Grade 8 STEM-This new exploratory course is already proving to be a lot of fun for both my students and me. As we work through getting to know the steps of the engineering design process, students will participate in some daily instant challenges or brain teasers. We will also turn to the technology side, as we begin to practice our typing skills. Finally, if time permits later in the week, we will kick off our first design challenge: building a working gumball machine.

Have a marvelous Monday and a great week ahead!

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions/concerns.

Mme MacNevin

Welcome back! Bienvenue!

This short two day week (Thursday and Friday) will be spent getting to know each other, catching up on summer adventures and beginning to establish our classroom routines and procedures.

Many forms will be sent home on Thursday. Please spend some time reviewing them and making any changes needed. If you would kindly send them back as soon as possible, it would be greatly appreciated.

Be sure to check back each Monday to see what will be taking place around the school and during our classes together.

I’m looking forward to a great year!

Have a wonderful week!

Mme MacNevin

Hello Gulf Shore Grade 7 families! Welcome to the 2023-2024 school year and welcome to junior high!

I am so excited to be back at Gulf Shore again this year and to be taking on a new challenge as your child’s Grade 7 English homeroom teacher. Our homeroom class will be in the Science Lab, so students should make their way there once they arrive on Thursday morning.

Like last year, the basic school supplies your child will need this year are being supplied to them and will be distributed once they arrive. They will however, need to bring the following items: a backpack, a lunch box/bag, a pair of sneakers (to be worn in the gym) and a calculator.

There will be many forms and notices sent home with your child on Thursday. Please take some time to review those and send any that need to be signed back to the school as soon as possible.

I do keep a classroom blog each year. This blog contains a little snapshot into what we will taking place during our classes each week. I usually update it on the first day of the week. I encourage you to check it out at arwalker.edublogs.org

I cannot wait to welcome my new Grade 7 class on Thursday! I have lots of fun things planned to get them settled in their new routines as our newest junior high students.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Enjoy the last few days of summer 🙂

Mme MacNevin