Happy Last Week of November 2017, R7A Families,

Thanks to those of you came by to meet with me and your child’s other teachers on Thursday evening and Friday morning. We had some really good discussions and were able to talk about some goals and strategies for the students. One common theme was that the grade 7 students need to reading every night, as much as possible. However difficult it may be at first to pull a pre-teen from their electronic devices, it is very important that your child is reading as much as possible. Their reading will improve and so will their writing and general knowledge. PLEASE, please encourage your children to read every day. They may surprise themselves by enjoying the comfort and new frontiers of different stories and articles.

  The art and sport of persuasion

Here is a link to a Huffington Post article that looks at the strong connection between reading and writing:

http://https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-hanski/read-more_b_5192754.html

HARMONY HOUSE – a message from the VM staff

Harmony House Needs our Help!
We are so appreciative for all we have and would like to share our good fortune with others in need.  Instead of a staff gift at Christmas, please consider purchasing a gift card for Harmony House instead. Harmony House is a second-stage women’s shelter. They provide safe, affordable transitional housing for women and children who are survivors of violence. They are located in Ottawa and are the only second-stage shelter in Ottawa.
They are in need of:
Gift cards for local grocery stores:  Independent/Loblaws/Metro/Food Basics
Gift cards for pharmacy/drug stores:  Pharma Plus/Rexall/Shoppers Drug Mart
Gift cards for Walmart, Canadian Tire
Please note – if you choose to give to Harmony House, please send it as a gift to your child’s teacher, clearly labeled for Harmony House.  We will thank your child as if it was a gift intended for us. We will then pass it on to Harmony House to help someone in need.

We had a great time at the Macskimming Outdoor Education Centre on Monday. Bright skies, energizing temperature and the beauty of the forest and fields. Thank you to Lissa Bowie and Helen Nguyen for coming along. I hope to arrange another trip for the winter for a Fur Trade program. This time we will remember the marshmallows!

In Geography, we will be getting into the first stage of our Natural Disasters project and the students will be creating their own project management checklist, based on a general checklist. In Language Arts, we will be starting the Hana’s Suitcase read-aloud and studying for a vocabulary test. We will be visiting our kindergarten reading buddies on Friday. A number of students still have work to catch up on. It is their responsibility to come in at recess and get the job done! Our morning star projects will be finished in Visual Arts and we will be moving on to a new project next week.

Enjoy your week,

Ms Swail

Good morning R7A Families,

Hope you stayed warm and off the ice this weekend. Looks like winter may be creeping into Ottawa for a while.

Macskimming Field Trip on Monday: Please ensure your children are on time for school and have their permission forms if they have not handed them in. We leave after attendance on Monday morning. Everyone should have boots, snow pants, a warm jacket, hat and mitts/gloves. All students should have an extra pair of socks and bring lots of water and food. We will be back by dismissal. I will try to take lots of photos and share them in the next blog. Thanks to the volunteers coming along and to Ms Prokaska who helped with the permission forms while I was away.

Parent-teacher interviews on Thursday: 4:30 – 7:15 p.m. and Friday: 8:30 – 11:15 a.m. Interviews are held in the large gym so that you have a chance to speak to as many teachers as you need to. Please remember that these interviews are designed to be brief. If you need to speak to a teacher for a longer period of time, I suggest you make an individual appointment. I look forward to meeting you or seeing you again. By all means, bring your R7A student to join in the discussion. THERE IS NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS ON FRIDAY.

In Language Arts, this will be a finish-up week with students presenting Ideal School projects, speaking about current events and working on their 4th vocabulary assignment which is due on Monday, November 27. There will be a review assessment of all 4 assignment words and concepts at the end of next week. If there is time, we will be starting a read-aloud and comprehension activities. As I wrote last week, the book is Hana’s Suitcase. Ms Austin, Ms Davies and I will also be assembling reading groups for some fun activities in December.

          

In Geography this week, we will be starting our big project on environment, adaptation and natural disasters. The project and a checklist to help students stay on task will be posted on Google Classroom by Tuesday. In Visual Arts, we will be completing the students’ adaptations of Morning Star.

Tea and Noses: not two words you often see together, true. Please donate one box of kleenex to the class so that your children are not using rough paper towel on their delicate noses. As well, Thursday is read-aloud and tea day, and everyone should have a mug at school. I bought strong peppermint for this week; I hear it has calming properties…

Hope to see you on Thursday or Friday. Keep warm!

Ms Swail