A cold and snowy week brings us through the mid-January stretch.  Here are some highlights from our week:

1. What a great way to end a snowy week!  PJ Day was a big hit!  The MACC classes showed their school spirit by coming dressed in PJs, bathrobes, slippers with their teddy bears and blankies on Friday.
2. Emotions and intensity is running high.  Over the past week, we have noticed the stress level among some of the students is very high.  We are working with students to talk about coping strategies and ways to manage tasks and commitments.  SENG is an excellent organizations that specializes in the Social/Emotional Development of Gifted Students – here are two articles that may be of interest: Tips for Parents of Intense Children and Developing a Feeling Vocabulary. 
3. The Monday & Wednesday HCE class is working through the Friends for Life Program and was exploring the role that positive and negative self-talk has on feelings and behaviour.
4. Grade 6’s had the opportunity to work with Mrs. Moss, District Teacher, on the Incredible 5 Point Scale.  The 5 Point Scale is a strategy that has been used with autistic students with success and is an effective  strategy to help student develop an awareness of their stress level and what helps them to manage their stress.  Grade 6’s all developed their own 5 point scale this week and learned some good activities for brain breaks when they are working.
5. The next tasks for the Empires Project are due early next week.  Students have had 4-6 blocks of work time with access to the library and computers this week.
6. To finish our Classic Literature Circle study, students wrote an in class essay on why the Classics have stood the test of time and why we should remember the Classics.  Students will bring home copies of their writing with the BC Performance Standard Rubric for Writing within the next couple of weeks.  This is the same assessment tool that we have used for all the literature circle responses on Edmodo.
7. Math 7 & 8 students have had more structured lessons on topics related to Geometry over the past three weeks and will continue for one more unit.  Ms. Moody and I have found that these topics are more difficult and new concepts for most students, so we prefer to provide more direct instruction to the class in larger groups.  Students in Math 7 wrote the Circle & Area unit test on Thursday and Friday and Grade 8 Math students will write their unit test on Monday.
8. Several students have completed the requirements for Math 7 over the past week and will move into the Math 8 class on Monday.  Congratulations and keep up the good work habits! 
9. All students wrote the Caribou Math contest on Wednesday.  We write math contests in MACC to provide students with the opportunity for enrichment and extension.  Several of the students have placed very well in the national standings and we recognize their ability to write math contests!  The Caribou Math contest is an opportunity through Brock University and occurs several times throughout the year.  The Caribou Math website offers puzzles of the day and several math games.
10. Reminder that there are several upcoming dates listed on our class calendar please check it for most recent updates and events!