Break Time!

I'd like to wish all the families of 8R a safe and happy holiday. Today is Miss Ashat's last day and she will be missed. The students have had a busy week but all the hard work was worth it. The 3D models of plant and animal cells were a huge success and the Grade 8's really enjoyed building them. We will also wrap up our study of the Outsiders today. To incorporate a media representation we will watch the 1980's version of The Outsiders movie.

Congrats to this month's student of the month winners; James, Devin and Stephan for Tolerance.

See you next year !

General Amherst visits

GAHS Open House for parents and students

Jan. 8 2014

6-8 pm

Shadow day for students

Jan. 14 2014

Pics from this week

December

8R would like to welcome Miss Ashat to our classroom. She will be with us until the break. She brings with her great knowledge in the area of biology and is currently teaching the students our Cells unit.

Our Shopping Spree was a great success. However we couldn't have done it without our wonderful volunteers. All the Grade 8 students really did a wonderful job helping to run this event.

We continue to take a look at fractions in Math. We are not only learning how to calculate using fractions but trying to answer why the calculation rules are the way they are.

We have finished reading The Outsiders and are currently learning the particulars of an essay.

The break is fast approaching but we will be working hard until the last bell.

Scentsy due

All Scentsy orders are due today. Please send the packages in whether they were used or not. A special thanks goes out to Mrs. Wingerden for all her time put into this fundraiser.

Sr. Girl's Volleyball

Anderdon cannot make the game on Wed so it's is cancelled. However we can add Nov. 21 to the calendar. That will be the night of our WECCA tournament and it will be at Anderdon.

This week

Reminders

Math Test on Tuesday

Keep selling Scentsy products to earn money for your trip.

Pot luck lunch on Friday.

Student of the Month

Congrats to Hannah Court and Khaymon South who are 8R's students of the month. Good job!

Fundraiser

Reminder to students to share Scentsy Fundraiser information with families. We are excited to be heading to Niagara Falls and to have this opportunity to raise money to help us get there. Thanks to Mrs. Wingerden for all her help!

Read-a-thon

Thanks to everyone who helped support our Read-a-thon challenge. Sadly, we fell to the 8D warriors. However, this class has raised a great deal of money and did a wonderful job. We enjoyed 3 periods of pure reading today. Remember that all students should be reading at home at least 30 min a day!

Miss Rosati's Last Day!

It has been a pleasure for both myself and the students to have Miss Rosati in our class. We wish her the best in her upcoming year at the Faculty.
Good luck Miss :)

Sexual Health Presentation

On Wednesday this week the students had a special presentation from the Health Unit. Ms. Cavanaugh discussed several aspects of anatomy, sexuality, STI's, and contraceptives with the students. All of these topics fall under the Grade 8 Health curriculum. The students represented the class well and were able to learn a great deal through "Sexual Health Jeopardy." The students were asked to discuss this presentation with their families.
Did they? :)

Don't forget!!
The Read-a-thon is fast approaching. Don't forget to send in your pledges.
We are also still collecting Canadian Tire money.
Tomorrow is picture day. (Grad pictures are tentatively booked for March 25)

Volleyball Updates

Parents of Girl's Volleyball,
Please be advised that the players will be bringing home a new calendar as the league has changed some of the game nights.
Changes for this week include: Game at Anderdon on Tues and no game on Wed.

All players were given a paper with details on Monday's tournament. If you can drive please let us know.

Monday's Volleyball (Girls only)

The Anderdon team has informed Ms. Lovell and I that they have a scheduling conflict on Monday so the game has been cancelled. We will reschedule the game at a later date. We will still use the gym for a practice until 4pm.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Math in 3 Acts

Our first attempt at trying some 3 act math.

Read-a-thon!

The students have done a wonderful job welcoming Miss Rosati into the classroom. She will be teaching Language Arts for the next 2 weeks. They have already been a part of a minor debate during one of her lessons.

Parents! 8R needs your help! We have challenged 8D in our Read-a-thon. The deal is, whomever raises the larger amount of money will get to have the other class as personal assistants for the day. Please encourage the students to do all they can to try and collect pledges for the Read-a-thon. As always, we ask students to do this in a safe manner.

We have had our test in Patterning and Algebra and marks will be returned shortly. Our next unit in Math will focus on Measurement and circles.

Reminder to all students that we are less than a month away from Progress Reports. This is a great time to remember that Learning Skills are important too. Responsibility, organization, independent work, collaboration, self-regulation, and initiative are the six areas of focus.

October begins

We have started our quest in Math to build nth term expressions. This is not always an easy task so we are taking our time and participating in lots of practice.

Ask students how they would determine the height of 17 recycle bins if the they knew the height of one.

We will welcome a student from the University of Windsor's Faculty of Education on Monday October 7. Ms. Rosati will be with us for three weeks and we look forward to working with her.

The Terry Fox run was a huge success. 8R was well represented and the students especially enjoyed the fact that Mrs Reaume had cake on her face by the end of the day. We would like to give a special thanks to Ms. Williams and her class for all of their hard work organizing the I event.

Thanks!

Thank you to all the parents who came out to Meet the Teacher night. It's great to meet families. If you couldn't make it please feel free to call me to touch base at any time.

The student's have received their Integer marks and have been asked to bring the test home to be signed. The next unit we are working on is Patterning and Algebra.

We're looking forward to starting some blending learning (computer and on line) in History next week. The virtual classroom has been created and I hope to get started with some of the interactive activities. Confederation never looked so good :)

We will have an assembly on Monday Sept. 30 at 2 pm and I will be congratulating this month's student of the month recipients for Good Start and Good Attitude.
Congrats to
                           Hunter Porter
                           Lizzy Coughlin
                           Dimitri Girard.

However, I'm happy to report everyone has had a GREAT start in 8R.

Math Survey

Please use the following link to complete a math survey.

http://tapintoteenminds.com/myci-presurvey/

Meet the teacher and more.

Don't forget tonight is Meet the Teacher Night.  

5 - 630. Would love to meet lots of parents!

Today in Science we spoke about the evolution of some systems. We had a few good laughs about how "old" telephones used to look and operate. 

We will begin a patterning and algebra unit in Math tomorrow.

We are reading Divergent in Language.  It is an interesting read. Ask your child what is happening daily! Lots of interesting conversation starters.

Reminders

Just a few things to mention.

There will be a Integers test on Friday Sept. 20.

Meet the Teacher night is Monday Sept. 23 (times to be announced)

Just a reminder that students should be reading for 30 minutes every night!

We are still collecting Terry Fox donations.

Subway Day is Wed. Sept 25. Order forms will be sent home today and are due back by Friday.

HPV shots are Tues Sept. 24.

Expectations for Grade 8

Now that we are a few days into the school year I'd like to share with families the expectations I've explained to the Grade 8's.

Grade 8 is a very important year. They are expected to be leaders in the school and role models. Many of the younger students look up to the Grade 8's. Although this year comes with much responsibility it is also a year to celebrate how far they've come as students and many fun events are coming their way.

Homework - Although I do not assign a great deal of homework they will indeed have some from time to time. Work that was not completed in class, such as math questions, science vocabulary review, studying for tests can sometimes be assigned for homework. Beyond these daily tasks I will often suggest websites that the students can find further practice for the concepts being covered in class. One of the best things that students can be doing at home is reading. They are required to have some sort of reading material with them at school everyday (this can be taken from the class or library) and they should be extending the time spent reading at home every night for at least 15- 20 minutes to start. As the year goes on, ideally the students should be up to 30 minutes of independent reading in the evening.
If students are failing to complete homework I will contact parents.

Phys. Ed. - The students are required to have proper footwear for the gymnasium. Flip flops, boots, etc. are not safe for participating. Changing their clothing is optional however they should be equipped with deodorant and clothes appropriate for activity regardless if they choose to change or not. Very strong fragrances that students spray on themselves after Phys. Ed. are not permitted due to allergic reactions. 

Nutrition Breaks - Students are encouraged to use these breaks wisely. If your child has permission to leave they are required to return on time. Special consideration will not be given to those who have gone to McDonalds, etc. and have not had time to eat the food they purchased. Drinks in the class are allowed and encouraged however I ask that they are in a container with a lid to reduce the chances of a spill on their work.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this entry. We have had a great start this year and I look forward to all the time I will spending with the Class of 2014.

Welcome to 8R!

I am very happy to welcome all my new students and parents to my blog. Feel free to check periodically for news and classroom updates. I look forward to all that the 2013-2014 year has to offer.

Mrs. Reaume