Ah... Good-bye September

Hmm... It's early Sunday morning and it seems as if it's blog writing time.  And next I have to think about what I would like to write about.  I can't believe September has ended and it's October.  I feel good that I have actually now begun teaching all required subjects.  We had a Professional Day on Monday and I never have time to do all I want to do but I planned out my first unit in French and studying Spanish for the first time has really made me sympathize and think what is important in French for my students to learn.  I was also working on planning field trips, this can be time consuming with phone calls often going back and forth. 

Tuesday the kids were back and we began the day with a fun morning learning a tame version of Australian "footie".  In the afternoon we went to a film festival at Moberly Arts Centre.  I think what my class liked best was the 16 mm film projector, something in this digital age, they don't normally see.  I remember how the film would get stuck and I would have to untangle it-can't say I miss those projectors at all!  We were reunited with the herb garden but our onion crop wasn 't a big success but the garden looked lovely.  Tuesday we had Homework Club with several of my students catching up with lost or undone homework.  And despite a Professional Day I was at school until after 5:30 at least planning etc. 

Wednesday the kids breathed a sigh of relief when I had to rush out for a meeting across town planning a Literacy Day for the January Professional Day so that there wasn't a Homework Club.  Thursday I had a meeting at our school to plan a visual journal project with my former Artist in Residence and a couple of my friends who teach at other schools.  Every day we had meetings all through lunch by the way, Struggling Students, Professional Development, VESTA (our union) and Friday it was time for the Me to We club. 

Teaching highlights this week (I am sure footie was the kids' highlight and Barry sure loved those Australian expressions he learned)... We began the book, Almost Home.  Some of the kids were totally confused but I tell them that good books often are a bit confusing at the beginning.  It's a fun book to read out loud and the chapters are just the right length. 

French was fun as well.  I always like to begin with basic beginning conversations and then somehow that leads to French cartoons.  And I admit it, once and awhile we threw in a bit of Spanish as well-I have to practice regularly with Mayra anyway. 

I even managed some Health and Career Education as we had our class Students' Council elections.  Results were interesting to say the least.



I think I will do another post on The Day I Was Born projects in Social Studies that I finished marking this week.  In Science they have to do a field study-a close study of a square metre of the school grounds or they can use a piece of their yard at home.  Thursday we looked at the assignment, and then Friday I sent them off with magnifying glasses and ipads.  I discovered a neat app called Leafsnap-too fun, with your location you can take a photo of a leaf and identify it. 

That afternoon we did our Terry Fox Run and wouldn't you know it, for the first time in ages, it poured for the beginning of the run but true Vancouverites never let a little rain stop us. 

Yes, there was math... and I had a wonderful writing time on Friday morning.  Choosing an idea from Writing Bingo from Lori Jamieson's and Paul Kropp's The Write Genre, they were off and writing.  Barry couldn't believe how much he wrote.  Ellie's piece with sketches about her imaginary games with her best friend when she lived in Tofino, brought tears to my eyes.  Watch out literary world!

I ended the school day after school, with a little soccer practice with the girls, and couldn't help but think what a good and crazy week it was.