This week should be much quieter, although it will just be a four-day week. As teacher and staff will be attending professional development sessions on Friday, April 19, there will be no classes for students on that day.

Yearbook sales and our annual loonie/toonie drive for Easter Seals are also starting this week. Please see the weekly update from Mrs. Conohan or the Gulf Shore Facebook page for more details.

Here is a look at what we will be learning over these next few days….

Grade 7 Science-During our classes these next few days, we will dive deeper into how heat is transferred between objects. Students will create a comic strip to help solidify their understanding of these concepts.

Grade 7 Core-Our work continues learning about vocabulary related to technology. We will continue to discuss vocabulary related to technology and learn how to post to a blog or social media site and how to write an email in French.

Grade 9 Immersion Science-Today, students will wrap up their Atomix projects and write their assessment on atoms and elements. With this complete, we will shift our focus into physical and chemical transformations of matter. We will begin by reviewing those concepts we covered in Grade 8, before diving deeper into how atoms combine in chemical reactions, and looking at how energy is transferred.

Grade 8 Science-This week we will wrap up our look into how mixtures are separated. This will conclude our unit on mixtures and solutions. Later in the week students will begin to prepare for their unit test on these concepts. Notes, practice questions and games, and study guides can be found in Google Classroom.

Grade 7 STEM-This week students will continue to design their own gum ball machines. The first few steps in this process will be researching the science behind how a gum ball machine works and then sketching out a few possible designs and gathering the necessary materials. This will be our main project over the next few weeks, in addition to our daily warm-ups.

Wishing you all a great week ahead!

Mme MacNevin

This week will most definitely be jam-packed! We have a whole lot of important and exciting events happening around the school over the next few days.

Today, students will be headed home early to allow them to safely take in the solar eclipse. Students will also be taking home glasses to help protect their eyes are they experience this one in a lifetime event. I cannot wait to discuss what we all safely saw tomorrow! Fingers crossed that the weather cooperates, and we have sunny skies this afternoon.

Tomorrow, many of my students will be heading with me to the PEI Provincial Science Fair. This is always such a highlight for our Gulf Shore community. I’m looking forward to watching our sharks put their projects on display at this high level.

Permission forms for our field trip to see the musical “Mean Girls” on Wednesday, April 10 at Bluefield were sent home before the break. The cost of the musical is $15. Please send these back in as soon as possible, so that we can have an idea of the number of students who will be attending. Feel free to reach out if your child needs another form or if we can help out with the cost of this activity. I know that there are a number of former sharks in the musical so it will be fantastic to get the chance to take this in.

Finally, on Thursday, those students in our band program will be heading to Charlottetown for the annual PEI Band Days. I know they will be wonderful representatives for our school.

Yearbook sales and our annual loonie/toonie drive for Easter Seals are also starting this week. Please see the weekly update from Mrs. Conohan or the Gulf Shore Facebook page for more details.

Now let’s take a look into what else will be happening inside our classes during this busy week….

Grade 7 Science-This week we will wrap up our look into how particles are impacted by being heated up or cooled down as we explore expansion and contraction and thermal dilation. Students will learn about some real-life examples of these principles and finish up their boiling water lab reports. If time permits, later on in the week we will shift our focus to the final section of our unit on heat as we begin to discuss how heat is transferred.

Grade 7 Core-This week we continue our new section on technology. We will continue to discuss vocabulary related to technology and learn how to post to a blog or social media site and how to write an email in French.

Grade 9 Immersion Science-The next few days will be spent putting the finishing touches on our project entitled “Atomix” where students will show their understanding of the concepts presented throughout our chemistry unit so far through their creation of an “Elemental Superhero”. We will also spend time preparing for our unit test on atoms and elements which will take place early next week.

Grade 8 Science-Our focus over the next few days will be on solubility. Students will learn how solutions are formed and the factors that impact the rate of solubility. We will have a check in assignment on these concepts later on this week. With that complete, we will move into our last section of our unit on mixtures and solutions, as we begin to explore how mixtures can be separated.

Grade 7 STEM-This week students will have the opportunity to begin the design process, planning out their own gum ball machine design. This will be our main project over the next few weeks, in addition to our daily warm-ups.

Have a wonderful week!

Mme MacNevin

I hope that everyone had a wonderful break and is relaxed and refreshed as we begin the final few months of the school year. It is hard to believe our year is already 2/3 of the way done!

Permission forms for our field trip to see the musical “Mean Girls” on Wednesday, April 10 at Bluefield were sent home before the break. The cost of the musical is $15. Please send these back in as soon as possible, so that we can have an idea of the number of students who will be attending. Feel free to reach out if your child needs another form or if we can help out with the cost of this activity.

Here is a look into what will be taking place over the next four days….

Grade 7 Science-Over the next few days we will dive deeper into how matter moves between states. We will return to our “boiling ice” lab which we began before the break and learn about the specific names for each change in phase. Late this week or early next, students will complete an interactive assignment on these concepts to help them to prepare for their quiz on Chapter 5.

Grade 7 Core-Just before the break, we began our new section on technology. To begin we will start exploring the challenge “Huit jours sans écran.” We will discuss vocabulary related to technology and learn how to post to a blog or social media site and how to write an email in French.

Grade 9 Immersion Science-Today students will continue their exploration of how atoms combine to form molecules, by giving, receiving or sharing electrons. We will learn about ions and how they form. We will also begin a project entitled “Atomix” where students will show their understanding of the concepts presented throughout our chemistry unit so far through their creation of an “Elemental Super Hero”.

Grade 8 Science-As we begin to really explore our unit on solutions and mixtures, over the next few days students will review their understanding of particle theory. After this is complete, we will go deeper into the differences between pure substances and mixtures, eventually exploring homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures later in the week. We may even get the chance to make a few mixtures of our own 😊

Grade 7 STEM-This will be our first week together. We will spend the first few classes getting acquainted with class norms and routines and then dive into the steps of the engineering design process.

Wishing you all a fantastic week ahead!

Mme MacNevin

Once again, I’d like to thank everyone for your flexibility with rescheduling interviews. I think I’ve managed to touch base with everyone now, but if we haven’t had the chance to connect yet, please be sure to reach out sometime this week.

This week is Spirit Week here at Gulf Shore. Here is the full schedule of events:
Monday-Crazy Sock Day/Sock Hop
Tuesday-Jersey Day
Wednesday-School Skate
Thursday-Spring Day/Talent Show

Permission forms for our school skate (Mar 20) and a field trip to see the musical “Mean Girls” at Bluefield were sent home last week. The cost of the skate is $5.00 and the cost of the musical is $15. Please send these back in as soon as possible, so that we can have an idea of the number of students who will be attending. Students are also reminded that they will need a helmet to go skating on Wednesday.

As we begin our March Break, students and their families are reminded that there will be no classes on Friday, March 22nd (in lieu of Good Friday which will happen over the break).

Now here is a look into what else will be taking place these next few days….

Grade 7 Science-Tomorrow students will write their assessment on temperature. We will then move into exploring how matter changes between state in more detail through some labs and interactive activities.

Grade 7 Core- As we wrap up the first section of our unit on clubs, students will record themselves inviting a friend to join their clubs. We will also finish up our study of the words and actions to the song “Français, Français”.

Grade 9 Immersion Science-Today students will finish up their review on the parts of an atom and how to draw models. With this complete, we will write our quiz on these concepts, before wrapping up our last few classes before the break with an exploration of how atoms combine to form molecules, by giving, receiving or sharing electrons.

Grade 8 Science-Today we will review for and tomorrow write, our unit test on ecosystems. With that complete, we will spend the rest of the week kick starting our unit on chemistry. Our first step: learning about particle theory and how particles behave in the three states of matter.

Grade 9 STEM-This is our last week together before students switch to their final exploratory module of the year. We will spend our last few classes wrapping up our Microbit projects, conducting a final test on our electric cars and testing our typing speed in a words per minute challenge.

Wishing you all a fantastic March Break and Easter. I cannot wait to hear all about it when classes resume following the Easter long weekend on Tuesday, April 2nd.

Mme MacNevin

A big thank you to everyone for all their flexibility with the changes in our interviews last week. If you have not yet rescheduled and would like to, please reach out as soon as possible.

Also, if your child has not yet returned their report card envelope, please make sure they so as soon as possible, as we’d like to recycle these for the final term, and this will also serve as proof that the report has been received.

With just one more full week before our break, we will be very busy again, as we return to our normal routines following the excitement of last week’s science fair and interviews.

Permission forms for our school skate (Mar 20) and a field trip to see the musical “Mean Girls” at Bluefield were sent home today. Please send these back in as soon as possible, so that we can have an idea of the number of students who will be attending.

Here is a sneak peek into what we will be working on during our days together….

Grade 7 Science-With the fair now complete, we will shift all of our focus this week back to our unit on heat. This week, students will prepare for and write their chapter 4 assessment. Notes, review questions and games can be found in Google Classroom. Later on this week we will move into our next section of this unit, exploring changes of states of matter.

Grade 7 Core- As students work at learning how to extend an invitation, this week we will record ourselves asking a friend to join our club. We will also continue to learn the words and actions to the song “Français, Français”. I cannot wait to show you all the finished product!

Grade 9 Immersion Science-As we continue to explore the atom, we will look deeper inside it, learning about the subatomic particles that made up everything around us and how to use our periodic table to calculate the number of protons, neutrons and electrons in each element’s atoms to draw diagrams. We will then prepare for our first quiz on this unit which will take place next week. As always, review materials can be found on the Google Classroom.

Grade 8 Science-As we begin the last few weeks of our unit on ecosystems, this week students will work on a research project exploring climate change and its impacts on different ecosystems. Later in the week, we will also begin preparations for our ecosystems unit assessment, which will take place before the break.

Grade 9 STEM-Our work continues this week on our Microbit projects. As always, our daily warm-ups will challenge our communication and collaboration skills as we work to solve challenges together.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Mme MacNevin

The month of March has finally arrived and with it brings a very busy week ahead. The Gulf Shore Science Fair is tomorrow. Students have been working very hard these past few months on their projects and we are very excited to show them to you. Parents, guardian and friends are welcome to the gym tomorrow from 11:00am-12:00pm to check out these fabulous experiments.

Tomorrow, learning reports will also be sent home. Parents should keep their child’s report, but please return the envelope, so that we can recycle these for next term.

Finally, on Thursday evening and all-day Friday, we will have our second set of learning conferences, as well as our annual Scholastic Book Fair. If you haven’t already done so, please be sure to sign up for your child’s conference before Thursday morning. There will be no classes for students on Friday to allow teachers to conduct these conferences.

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

Grade 7 Science-Today, students will practice their presentations and put any final touches on their backboards in preparation for the fair tomorrow. With the fair complete, we will then move back into looking at our unit on heat and temperature.

Grade 7 Core- As students work at learning how to extend an invitation, this week we will explore how to ask a friend to join their club. We will also continue to learn the words and actions to the song “Français, Français”.

Grade 9 Immersion Science-With our first section of chemistry now complete, we will dive deeper into our second unit on atoms and molecules. Students will learn about the history of the atomic model of the atom and create a timeline of the changes in this model over the years. The grade 9 class will also have the opportunity to be judges for the fair. Finally, later in the week we will begin inside the atom, as we learn about the subatomic particles that made up everything around us.

Grade 8 Science-Today students will write their chapter quiz on energy transfer. Later on this week will be begin our final chapter of our unit on ecosystems, as students will learn about succession and how an ecosystem changes over time.

Grade 9 STEM-On work on the microbit continues this week. Inspired by a magic 8 ball, students will create a device that will contained their programmed microbit. As always, our daily STEM warm-ups will bring about discussions and challenge us to problem solve and think outside the box.

Wishing you all a fabulous week! I look forward to seeing many of you later in the week during our learning conferences.

Mme MacNevin

We are just a week away from our Science Fair and our second set of conferences and learning reports. This will most definitely be a very busy week here at Gulf Shore!

If you haven’t already done so, please take a few minutes to sign up for your child’s learning conferences. We will follow the same set up as last time. If you have any questions, please contact either me or someone in the office.

Here is a sneak peek into what this will bring….

Grade 7 Science-While we will spend a little bit of time working through our unit on heat and temperature, the vast majority of our time together these next few days will be spent finishing up our boards for the fair and practicing our oral presentations for the judges. Students will also present to me to be graded on this assignment.

Grade 7 Core- We continue working on how to extend an invitation. This week students will work on how to extend an invitation through text messages, using a virtual template. We will also continue to learn the song “Français, Français”.

Grade 9 Immersion Science-We are finishing up our look at how matter is organized. Today, students will work in the lab to identify substances using their properties. We will then move into reviewing for our chapter quiz on the concepts covered these past few weeks. This will take place on Day 2. Students should refer to Google Classroom for a study guide and some games to help them to prepare for this assessment.

Grade 8 Science-This week we will continue to explore how energy is transferred within an ecosystem. Students will learn about food chains, food webs and energy pyramids. They will even build their own “edible” food chain and if time permits, dissect an owl pellet to discover what it had eaten.

Grade 9 STEM-This week we will finish up our myBlueprint activities in preparation for our visits from Bluefield in a few weeks. We will also have our final race of our electric cars and dive into our next design challenge, as we discover how binary code works and how to use a microbit.

Have a wonderful week!

Mme MacNevin

I hope everyone had a relaxing long weekend and got to spend some time with the ones you love. Despite this being a shorter week, it will be a very busy one here at Gulf Shore, as we inch closer to our annual science fair.

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

Grade 7 Science-We continue to discuss heat and temperature. Students will spend more time learning how to measure temperature and we will continue to discuss the different scales and instruments used to tell temperature around the world.

Our goal this week in preparation for the science fair is to get our reports finished up, revised and printed. If you child has not yet brought their backboard into school, please have them do so as soon as possible.

Grade 7 Core- This week we will continue exploring how to extend invitations in French. We will also continue learning the song “Français, Français”. This song is a bit of an ear warm and we are having fun learning some actions to it as well 😊

Grade 9 Immersion Science-Over the next few days, students will wrap up their exploration of how matter is organized. We will then shift our focus to solutions, exploring how concentration is calculated.

Grade 8 Science-As hard as it is to believe, we are quickly coming to the end of our first chapter for our unit on ecosystems. These next couple of days will bring about a review of those concepts and students will then write their chapter quiz for this section on Day 2 (Wednesday). Once the quiz is complete, we will shift our attention to symbiosis, as we discuss the relationships between organisms within an ecosystem.

Grade 9 STEM-This week we will continue to learn about the options available at Bluefield, as we take a further look high school courses and graduation requirements in preparation for our high school registration in a couple of weeks. Our daily warmups to help us to think outside the box and our dive into coding will also continue.

Wishing you all a fantastic week ahead!

Mme MacNevin

Happy early Valentine’s Day! Hopefully Mother Nature will be our valentine this week and bring us some nice weather and not another storm.

Here is a snapshot into the learning that will take place this week…

Grade 7 Science-As we move through our unit on heat, we will spend most of our time together this week exploring how heat is measured. We will learn about the different scales and instruments used to help us understand how much heat something has.

The science fair is quickly approaching! This week students will work on finishing up their experiments and writing their conclusions. We will also begin to type up our reports, as we prepare to begin putting our boards together next week. If you have not yet brought your backboard into school, please do so as soon as possible. If you need help finding a board, please let me know.

Grade 7 Core- Over our classes this week we will continue to we will use our club advertisements to learn new words about how to invite someone to join our club, exploring vocabulary related to text messaging en français.

Grade 9 Immersion Science-This week we will finish up our review of the chemistry concepts studied in previous years, with a short piece of writing called “La vie d’un atome.” We will then spend some of our time working through a lab experiment that will challenge us to think about how matter is organized and how different mixtures can be separated.

Grade 8 Science-Over the next few days we will continue to explore abiotic and biotic factors. We will then look closer at how ecosystems are organized and how organisms interact with each other within an ecosystem and with their surroundings.

Grade 9 STEM-We will officially wrap up our car design projects this week with a short reflection on our learning from the past few weeks. We will also dive deeper into our high school course selections using myBlueprint. Finally, if time permits, we will begin to discover the microbit, as we work on refreshing our knowledge of the basics of coding, leading us into our second big design project. Over our next few classes together we will improve on our electric car prototypes and conduct our final tests on these devices. As always, our daily warm-up activities will challenge our communication, collaboration and problem solving skills.

Wishing you all a fantastic week ahead and a great Islander Day long weekend!

Mme MacNevin

Wow! What a storm! I hope that everyone has had the chance to dig out. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow.
Our school year is officially halfway done. This week will switch our semester courses and enter our final month of the second term and the countdown to our next set of learning reports and conferences.

Let’s take a look at what will be happening during our next couple days together…

Grade 7 Science-With our test on solutions and mixtures now completed, we will shift our focus to our third unit of the year on heat and temperature. We will begin with some discussions about how temperature is measured and how we know if something is hot or cold.

Our preparations for the science fair also continue. This week, students should be aiming to complete their experiment (this should be done at home). In class, we will work on preparing our procedure and purpose and once we have the results, starting to place our data into graphs and tables. Don’t forget to pick up your poster board if you haven’t already done so.

Grade 7 Core-We have finished up our club advertisements. This week and next we will use those advertisements to learn new words about how to invite someone to join our club, exploring vocabulary related to text messaging en français.

Grade 9 Immersion Science-Once we are all set up in our online textbook and Google Classroom, we will kick off our time together with a review of the chemistry concepts studied in Grades 7 and 8. We will then begin to look deeper at how matter is organized as we learn the differences between elements, compounds and mixtures.

Grade 8 Science-We will begin our time together this week establishing classroom routines and getting set up with our Google Classroom and textbooks. We will then dive into our first unit on ecosystems. Students will explore abiotic and biotic factors and discover how organisms are organized in their environments.

Grade 9 STEM-Over our next few classes together we will improve on our electric car prototypes and conduct our final tests on these devices. We will then jump into discussions about high school registration using myBlueprint. As always, our daily warm-up activities will challenge our communication, collaboration and problem solving skills.

Have a wonderful week!

Mme MacNevin