Greetings on a gray, gloomy day after a glorious Saturday,

All of the R7A students immunized survived their vaccinations and lived to tell their stories. If you have any questions about the immunizations, please call City of Ottawa Public Health.

Hallowe’en is on Tuesday this week. All students are invited to wear appropriate costumes or to wear orange and black. A committee of enthusiastic artists is decorating our door in anticipation of Tuesday’s Hallowe’en Door contest. Tuesday will be both exciting and exhausting. There will be a Hallowe’en dance on Friday afternoon organized by the Student Council in which some R7A students participate.

In Language Arts this week, we have Vocabulary Assignment #3 which is posted on Google Classroom and due on Friday, November 3rd. Please encourage your children to start the assignment as soon as possible. We are wrapping up our Ideal School unit. Ms Austin, Ms Davies and I have been impressed by the creativity and the way students have been helping each other as they create blueprints and Minecraft models. On Tuesday, we will be starting a small reading comprehension activity focusing on phobias. We will be reading about certain phobias, doing some research and answering some interesting questions.

In Geography, we are learning about climate change. Many of the students are interested in watching the 2008 film “An Inconvenient Truth” and its sequel. We will see. This week, we are definitely starting our igloo inquiry, and we may even have a guest speaker, my son, Liam, who is an avid geographer and loves to talk about maps and human geography.

In VisualArts, we are starting a unit on Canadian artist, Alex Janvier. We will be studying his work, its significance, and then applying what we learn in our own works, focusing on the composition of his famous piece, “Morning Star”.

All of your children’s teachers are working on their progress reports this weekend. If your child is progressing with difficulty in any subject, you will be informed beforehand by the teacher.

Lastly, the WE SCARE HUNGER/YES WE CAN Food Drive continues until November 10th. Please send in non-perishable goods in with your child so we can fortify the Ottawa Food Bank which serves many Ottawa families.

I include a couple of photos of hiking in the Gatineaus this Saturday. It was a beautiful morning for a hike!

Have a very good week and take care of yourselves,

Ms Swail

Hello on this beautiful fall weekend,

This week, the grade sevens are being given three types of vaccines: Human Papillomavirus; Hepatitis B; and, Meningococcal. The immunization clinics will be held on Thursday and Friday of this week. Public Health forms were sent home for your signature and should be returned, please, no later than Wednesday, October 25. If your child does not do well with vaccinations, you will have to make arrangements for the vaccination in a doctor’s office. Please know that the Meningococcal vaccine is mandatory for school attendance.

In Language Arts, vocabulary assignment #2 was due on Friday, October 20th. A number of students were busily working away on the assignment during the recesses of the day it was due. Please support your children in managing their homework so that they are not leaving things to the last minute. In Language Arts, we are also working on our multi-step Ideal School assignment this week with most components to be completed by Friday. Their ideas are very creative, and I am looking forward to the presentations. Ms Austin, Ms Davies and I are closely monitoring their progress and providing support and guidance. After this project, we will focus on reading comprehension with a read-aloud of “Hana’s Suitcase”. We have also decided as a class that we will have green tea on Thursdays during the afternoon read-aloud. All students are asked to bring a cup from home. I will provide the tea for now.

In Visual Arts, our inspirational posters are almost done and I hope to have a photo of them all for you by the next post. Following this, we will be exploring the life and art of Canadian painter, Alex Janvier. Here is the url for his website if you are interested:  http://www.alexjanvier.com/.

Geography continues. This week, we will finish up a reading comprehension piece and look at how our physical environment challenges humans to adapt and be creative in how they live and take care of the environment.

Pizza starts on Thursday, October 26th – always an exciting day!

Please contribute to the VM Leadership Group “We Scare Hunger” Food Drive by sending in some non-perishable, well-before-expiry-dates, items and toiletries. The drive goes until November 10th.

The Canadian fall is proving to be much more temperate – right now. Here are some photos from my morning kayak.

             

Have a very good week,

Ms Swail

 

Good morning R7A Families,

Welcome to the sixth week of grade 7, in the middle of a very warm October. Individual Education Plans will be sent home this week for your review and signature. All teachers are now starting to think about the progress reports that they will be creating for your children that you will be receiving in November. I will be asking the R7A students for their input on their learning and behaviour so far.

In Language Arts this week, we will be working on The Ideal School project (posted on Google Classroom), reading comprehension, a bit of storytelling, the continuing read-aloud of “The Code” and writing. On Friday, we will have our current event reviews. Some students were not prepared for their reviews last Friday. All now know that they must honour their commitments to presenting. All are learning how to balance projects, nightly work and other commitments. Please remind your children to read an average of 30 minutes per day at home. Guided reading will start in two weeks.

In Geography, as we learn about how people adapt to their environments, we will be exploring the northern Canada structure, the igloo, and conducting an inquiry. Most students in the class are now showing they understand latitude and longitude.

In Visual Art, the students are showing their artistic and creative skills in drafting and completing inspirational posters. I will make sure to showcase some of these on subsequent posts. Many of the students are really enjoying this activity, using watercolours, pastels, black ink and pencil crayons. Very inspiring!

Pizza forms are due on Wednesday, October 18th. Pita Pit order sheets are going out tomorrow to support Student Council and to give us all a break on making lunch.

Please ensure your child comes to school with a water bottle to keep hydrated.

Have a very good week. I know I will – I am greatly enjoying my time with your children. A new grade 7 student from Saudi Arabia will be joining us tomorrow, bringing us to 27 students.

Ms Swail

Greetings R7A families,

I hope many of you had a happy, if possible, relaxing, long Thanksgiving weekend. Thanks to those of who donated to the Terry Fox Run and to cancer research. We appreciate your generosity and your children running and walking for Terry last Thursday afternoon.

Another 4-day week with lots to do: On Tuesday, it is PHOTO DAY for individual and class photos. Wednesday: School Council meeting, all welcome, at 6 pm in the Library. On Friday, VM will be hosting a gently-used and new boot sale for our families. You still have time to donate boots that will keep kids’ feet warm through our long winter.

In Language Arts, we will be working in class on the Ideal School project, all of which has been posted on Google Classroom. The students seem to be quite excited about this project and Ms Austin, Ms Davies and I are looking forward to hearing their ideas and helping in the organization and expression. Please ask your child to show you Google Classroom and the project guidelines. We will continue reading from “The Code” and discussing how we can strengthen ourselves and our class community. Our kindergarten reading buddies will be looking forward to seeing us on Friday. Library time is also held on Friday so please help your children remember to bring back their library books. Current event reviews will also be held on Friday. Busy day!

In Geography, we will be consolidating our skills in understanding and using latitude and longitude with a brief quiz. We will then be moving on to an inquiry piece about igloo construction and rationale, and then onto a mini-project where they will be learning about a specific location in the world.

Have a very good week,

Ms S

Welcome to October! That crazy heat wave left us through a sudden, extreme storm on Wednesday and we were much more comfortable on Thursday morning. Thanks to all of you who could come to “Meet the Teacher”, drop by and say hello. It was a pleasure to meet or to see you again.

This is a short week with a PA Day for all students on Friday, October 6th.  Thanksgiving Monday is also a holiday. The Terry Fox Run will take place on Thursday, October 5th and I encourage you to send in a donation with your child or to donate on-line through the Vincent Massey web site.

Please continue to encourage your children to bring water bottles and healthy snacks to school to keep them alert and energetic.

This week in Language Arts we will be starting a new unit, “My Ideal School”, a favourite for many students. In this thematic unit, multi-skill unit, students create and explain their ideas about what makes a great school. They will be researching schools around the world and creating: a philosophy; motto; school icon or image; sample curriculum; physical plan and layout; a promotional poster to convince their school is wonderful. All along, they will be questioned on WHY they are doing what they are doing to encourage critical thinking and learning. The unit will be posted on Google Classroom as well as graphic organizers and project management checklists. I will be posting sample “Ideal School” posters once they are done.

We had our first round of current event review presentations on Friday and the three presenters did a great job!

This week we will also be reviewing assessments of student writing. I have assessed two pieces of writing; my comments and suggestions are right on the students’ work on Google Docs. We will also be talking about their preliminary work on the first vocabulary assignment to ensure everyone is on track. We will continue to read from “The Code” and read independently. Reading comprehension testing, courtesy of Ms Austin and Ms Davies, will wrap up this week and we will soon start guided reading groups. Please do ensure your child reads for about 30  minutes every day, outside of school.

In Visual Arts, we will be starting the creation of inspirational posters. Students will research quotes that inspire and speak to them, and then create posters incorporating the quotes and their own art. We will be focusing on composition and layout.

OUR CURRENT HALLWAY BULLETIN BOARD: HASHTAGS AND BORDER ART

Geography starts this week with basically finding out where we are. We will be learning about latitude and longitude, how to find locations and how to identify them using coordinates. We will also be looking at Google Earth and finding a place in the world we would like to know more about. Students will need a duotang or binder and notebook.

Welcome to Jekyri and Richard who joined our class this week.

Have a wonderful week and long, happy Thanksgiving weekend.

Ms Swail     

Below are some photos from my cottage – from the perspective of the ground and looking over the lake very early in the morning.