Thursday, September 30, 2010

Physical Education Class Concerns

Mrs. Jones is the new physical education specialist at Fairhaven School.  She is qualified teacher with a lot of experience teaching phys. ed. in the elementary school setting.  As of right now, she feels that the grade 8 class is not behaving like grade 8s should be.  She has concerns about student attitude, behavior and effort during class.  She has asked me to post this rubric that she uses to assess students.  Please sit down with your child and see where they feel they fit into the three categories.

 
Grade 8   Phys. Ed Rubric  Name:
CATEGORY
1
2
3
4
Participation
Student does not participate in most activities does not listen to instructions
Rarely prepared for class or on time
Student participates in some activities with coaxing, listens to some instructions. Sometimes  prepared for class or on time.
Student participated in most activities, listens to most instructions. Usually prepared for class or on time.
Student participates well in all activities listens to all instructions and is
always prepared for class and on time.
Cooperation
Student does not cooperate well with others.  
Student cooperates and respects others some of the time
Student cooperates and respects others most of the time
Student always respects and cooperates with others.
Physical skills
Student does not display physical skills to proper level
Student sometimes displays physical skills to proper level
Student most of the time displays physical skills to proper level
Student always displays physical skills to proper level

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

See link below for tomorrow's math assignment

Fractions Assignment.  Click on the link if you need some Virtual Fraction Blocks

TERRY FOX

Bring $2.00 for Terry Fox and you can wear your hat all day!!  Also, wear all your blue clothes.....I wonder who has the courage to color their hair blue???!!

Blog Entry #1-Literacy Day in Canada

Making a better life

 Literacy key to newcomers' success
 By Ned Powers, Special to The StarPhoenixSeptember 29, 2010



One adult learner from Laos, one from Sudan and six aboriginal people from Saskatchewan experienced poverty as children and young adults.
Now, as members of a Basic Education 10 class at SIAST, they are sharing their stories with written words, a sign there is still a glimmer of hope in their lives.
Jean Dudley is program head for SIAST's Basic Education 10 and Literacy Centre. Wendy Eddy, who taught students at Radius Community Centre, has been a literacy instructor at SIAST since June 2009.
"Poverty has been a part of the lives of these students and they seldom talked or wrote about the experiences,'' Dudley says. "We wanted to provide an opportunity to move the issue of poverty from the personal level to the social level."
Eddy says instructors, "asked the students to write about anything about poverty that came to their minds. The chance to express themselves has given them a new understanding of life and they all want to improve their lifestyles."
BROKEN-HEARTED, BROKEN HOME
Simone grew up in Laos and came to Canada in 1980.
"My father was a soldier in the French army during 1974-75. When the communist government took over my country, my father had to escape to Thailand and leave the whole family behind. After my father left, my life turned upside down," Simone wrote.
"I became broken-hearted in a broken home. I tried so hard to survive day to day by going out and hunting to find food for my family. I would climb trees for coconuts and thorn trees to get cherries. My mommy found this old broken house that had nothing in it. It was such a scary house but we had no choice.
"I remember lying down on top of some kind of old broken branch with no sheet cover and I was shivering for many months. Most of the time, we had no food or water. Some days we had to eat beetles from the water and grasshoppers from the land. I was always praying that someone would help or save us.
"My family and I escaped to a Thai refugee camp. They ran out of places to stay, so they set up a tent for us for weeks. There was not enough food to eat and no clean water; also not enough blankets for six of us. When it would rain for a few days, the rain would make the ground very muddy. They removed us and sent us to share the space in one big building that had 400-500 people. Everyone used to line up blankets to get their own privacy. We didn't have enough blankets to hook up, so everyone could see us all the time. I wished and prayed to be somewhere warm and safe."
Her family discovered their father had been sponsored by the Mennonite Church to live in Canada. Within a year, the family was also sponsored.
Once in Canada, Simone often worked three jobs in a day, making sure her own children were going to get an education. All of her children have graduated from Grade 12 and one has finished two post-secondary degrees. Now Simone is catching up on her education.
LIVING IN A WAR-TORN COUNTRY
Abraham writes of experiences in Sudan and Ethiopia.
"A personal example with poverty was living in war-torn countries when I lived day to day trying to find safety and food. I lived in a refugee camp in Ethiopia for eight years after fleeing from the war in Sudan. I struggled to survive in the camp because there was never enough food and many people were sick and needed help," he wrote.
"Now I have been in Canada for seven years and still experience poverty. I have been sick for a while and the doctors don't know what is wrong. I feel I can't concentrate in class. I feel weak and tired. There is never enough money to last the whole month or to get proper medical care. There is nothing that will stop poverty on this planet."
GROWING UP WITH AN ALCOHOLIC
Caroline's story was a reflection of a challenging childhood as an aboriginal person in Saskatchewan.
"I think I was nine years old at that time when my mom was an alcoholic. She used to leave us for days, sometimes weeks. At least I wasn't alone because my little brother and sister were with me all the time. I practically raised them on my own when my mom used to leave us. She would tell me not to go to my grandma's place because she would get in trouble by my grandma if we did. One day we had nothing to eat. One morning my little sister and brother were complaining that their tummies were hurting and so was mine," she wrote.
"I kept checking the cupboards and fridge to see if I could find something for us to eat, but all I could find was crumbs, so that's what I fed them. The next day still no mommy. So I got up and got the kids ready. We walked over to my grandma's and right away she knew that my mom wasn't home. She asked if we were hungry. We told her 'No, we're not hungry kokum.' But she would still feed us. My grandma knew what was going on.
"When we were done eating my mom would show up out of nowhere. She would get in trouble by my kokum, then take us home to give us a beating. As years went on and I got older, I left home at 16. I took off with my boyfriend and stayed for about 10 years after having five kids with him. Then I left him. I've pretty much been on my own since then. I always say to myself that my kids are not going to go through what I went through. I love my kids. They are my life; my everything."
NO MAGIC FORMULA
Sam believed he found the magic formula by 12 years of age, but later, he found it wasn't a solution for a real life.
"Growing up as a kid, I watched my father sell drugs, be a drunk, and never be there for me and my brother.
One day a man came over and asked for my dad, but he wasn't home. I knew where my dad kept his stash. I sold my dad's stuff," he wrote.
"I was like a father figure to my younger brother. I used the money for food and clothes for me and my brother. My dad was such a drunk he didn't even know. By the time I was 14, I had a 42-inch flat screen TV and bought a Play Station 3. I was making $2,500 every week. I had three other people helping me sell drugs. I had my own house at the age of 16, my own car, food and brand name clothes.
"I met my girlfriend and she came to my rez and stayed there for a bit. Then one day she told me she was pregnant. I didn't know what to do. I was shocked for weeks. I kept doing my thing selling weed. Then one day my door got kicked in, five guys in black bandanas home-invaded my house. They had a sawed-off shot gun, bats and knives. They took all my money, all my stash. Even that didn't stop me.
"It took me a long time to realize I had a baby coming and I could get killed or thrown in jail for doing this. Then one day, I called it quits. I want to be there for my kids. Don't want them to grow up the way I did. I want to be there for them. Now I'm not selling anything, trying to live a straight life. I am back to school and play with my kids every day."
There were other submissions. Barry told of the experience at four years of age, living in a tent the year-round because the family didn't have a house. Betty told of malnutrition, being hospitalized with tuberculosis, and always having trouble making ends meet. Lorraine also told of the constant struggles of never receiving enough money and running out of food. Evelyn was also a victim of tuberculosis who told of turning to the streets, going to "hell and back" and stealing and going to jail because she needed to survive.
Dudley says SIAST has tried to be a welcoming place for the people to get back on their feet and admits "it really took a lot of courage for them to share their stories."





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Monday, September 27, 2010

Monday, September 20, 2010

Homework

Math
  • tangram assignment due Tuesday
Science
  • Density quiz-Tuesday
  • Ch.7 Test-Thursday

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Homework

Science
  • 10 questions..Finding the density of solids and liquids-due Friday
Math
  • 2 pages-Parts of a Whole FRACTIONS-Friday
LA
  • Quiz tomorrow on The Rise of Hitler

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Homework

  • Most of us have our blogs up and running so now it's up to you to get your blog both functional and visually pleasing.  I would recommend not using a black background since it make it hard to read.  You'll have some more class time to get it looking it's best.

Language Arts
  • Rise of Hitler quiz postponed till Friday since we never got to talk about it today
  • Map of World WWII-due Thursday or 0%
Science
  • Finding the density of regular and irregular shapes lab-due Thursday
Health
  • Body Image ads-due Thursday
Math

Getting our Blogs up and running!!

Now that we have our class finally settled and the class size is down to a comfortable 27 grade 8 students, it's time to get our blogs up and running.  We've had a lot of problems with gmail since they think we are spam.  Hopefully we will get this figured out very soon.  It will be a lot easier now since the numbers are a lot lower.  If you still don't have both a gmail account and a blogger account, follow the directions below when you are at home:
  1. go to gmail using the google search engine and sign up a new account.  To make it easy, when you are picking a username and a URL. Be sure to keep it all the same.  Use your first name and follow it with fairhaven.  An example would be jordanfairhaven and your gmail account would be jordancatton@gmail.com .  This is to keep it easy for both myself and you.  Also be sure to pick a password you won't forget.  I would use the same password for both gmail and the blogger website.
  2. After you have your gmail account, go to http://www.blogspot.com/ and sign up for an account.  Be sure to use the same name for your blogger account as you did for your gmail account.  If you do that it shoud read your first name followed by fairhaven .  An example  would be http://www.jordanfairhaven.blogspot.com/ .
  3. Lastly, go to my blog by typing in the URL http://www.cattonteacher.blogspot.com/ .  When my blog comes up, click the button Follow.
  4. Start making your blog to best suit your academic needs.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Message

The grade 7s will be moving across the hall to the grade 6/7 room tomorrow morning.  It was great having you in my class this year and good luck the rest of the year

Homework

LA
  • map of world WWII-LATE hand in by Thurs. or receive 0%
  • Hitler's rise to power TEST-Thurs.
Social
  • map of Canada-Thurs.
Health
  • body image add-Thurs.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Gmail and Blogspot Problems

If you're having problems with your gmail account, try to get a gmail account at home.  Also try to get onto blogspot and get that going since we seem to have problems setting up gmail and blogspot accounts at school.  It must be something to with the server at school.  Students who have set up accounts at home are not having problems.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Homework

  • Get your gmail account figured out if you have a computer at home (if you haven't done so already).  Also starting working on your blog if you can.  If you make some mistakes, no big deal since you can always fix them
LA
  • Letter to Mr. Catton is due (rough and good copy)--hand in yellow box