10 Great Things to Talk About

This week seemed exceptionally busy.  We had a couple of community outings and a lot of learning.

1. On Friday, the Yellow Team walked to Charles Best to see 3 one act plays.  Mr. Case’s classes and clubs presented That Achaean Crowd is a retelling of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey in rhyming couplets; All in Disguise is a comic farce in the tradition of Comedia Del Arte which is a fast paced physical comedic style;  Fifteen Minute Hamlet, which really needs no explanation. We were very impressed with the presentations and were thrilled to see former Hillcrest students in the productions.

2. Wednesday evening Ms. Abbot and Ms. Sullivan presented a workshop on the book “Smart but Scattered” by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare.  We were thrilled with the number of people that attended and are looking forward to an ongoing conversation about this topic.

3. Students have had the opportunity to participate in several new lunch time activities.  As the weather has changed, several activities are being offered in specific classrooms and in the gym.  What activities does your son or daughter do at lunch?

4. Our literature circles continue and students completed their second written response.  All student received feedback on edmodo using the writing performance standards.  Please log on with your son or daughter to see their writing.  Students will have another response due next week.

5. Geography projects are marked and students have received their rubrics (or will be on Monday).

6. Our schedule needed to be adjusted and now grade 6/7’s have PE on Monday and Wednesday afternoons and Thursday mornings.  Please help your son or daughter remember this change and make sure they have their gym strip at school on these days.

7. We are continuing our exploration of ancient times and interpretations of artifacts.  Last week, students investigated images from “Motel of Mysteries” and speculated about the artifacts.  Students then had the opportunity to look at modern artifacts and speculate about the circumstance they were in.  Students are now working on presentations comparing two similar monuments from different geographic locations.

8. Science fair prep continues and students are working on putting together a working reference list.  Please review the science outline and expectations for the reference list.  Some students are still completing and revising their feasibility study.  Ms Moody and Ms Abbot are continuing to conference with students about their topics and helping students to focus their investigations.

9. Ms McKay and Mr Buhler are continuing to work with our classes.  They have been teaching math, PE and Socials/Language Arts this week.

10. On Friday afternoon the grade 6/7 classes went down to Planet Ice.  Almost all of our students ventured onto the ice and it was great to see everyone out together.  Some were just learning and spent some time clinging to the edges and other are accomplished skaters who were able to give some pointers and tips. Thank you to all our parent drivers – you make these opportunities possible!

Astronomy Opportunity

Dear Friends of Starry Nights @ SFU:
This month marks the fifth anniversary of Starry Nights @ SFU! That’s right, since November 2007 we’ve been holding star parties, telescope workshops, pizza/movie nights, Halloween parties, community fundraising events, lectures, and other astronomical happenings! And many of these events have been organized entirely by dedicated and hardworking volunteers from the SFU Student Astronomy Club!
So it’s no surprise that the student club has stepped forward yet again, this time to celebrate five years of Starry Nights @ SFU! The event is set for Friday November 23 starting at 6PM, next to Room B9200 of the South Concourse of the Academic Quadrangle (see the Starry Nights @ SFU link below for a campus map with locations). SFU students are putting together an evening filled with astronomical activities, starting off with a $2/slice pizza dinner (juice or pop included!).
Here’s the program:
 * 6:00PM – Get your pizza! Families with young children: an astronomy crafts table for kids will be setup nearby!
* 7:00PM – Family-friendly fun facts about the Apollo missions to the moon, presented using amazing models by Ted Stroman!
* 7:30PM – Family-friendly activity that will help kids of all ages answer three questions about our expanding universe, led by “Mr. Starry Nights @ SFU”!
* 8:30PM – Popcorn and a space-themed movie (title TBA), or an outdoor star party, depending on the weather!
This event is free-of-charge, but if you wish to attend we ask that you register at the following SFU website (so that the student club can prepare accordingly!):
A campus map with pay-parking, bus, and event locations will be posted on the Starry Nights @ SFU website this weekend:
We hope you can join us!
 In the meantime, please:
 “Keep Looking Up!” (**)
———————————
Dr. Howard Trottier, aka “Mr. Starry Nights @ SFU”
Ciara Morgan-Feir, President of the SFU Student Astronomy Club
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3/5 of 10 Great Things to Talk About

This is one of the shortest weeks of the year.  Thursday is our professional development day and Friday is a school closure day.

1. Our school recognized Remembrance Day this morning with a touching assembly.  So many MACC students participated and shared their skills with our school and community.  We want to recognize the musical talents and skills of Roger and Tren, for their piping and trumpet solo; the advanced band and choirs for their presentations and time given to preparation and practice; the many student readers including Winfield, who spoke with confidence and expression; the tech crew who helped with the sound, video and lighting to create an honoring and respectful environment; Maggie, Tara and the many candle lighters who helped focus our remembrance.

2. Students in Ms. Abbot and Ms. Moody’s classes are continuing to work on their written responses for our literature circles.  We are spending more time working through the writing process, so there will be less written responses this term and a greater focus on drafting and editing writing.  Response questions are and will be posted on edmodo in the Literature Circle 2012-13 group.

3. Science Fair timelines were reviewed this week.  Students are currently working on clarifying their topics and completing a Project Feasibility Review.  Timelines will be put on the calendar and will be uploaded to edmodo.  We have encouraged students to focus on innovation and experiments.  We will be working with them next week on refinining questions and beginning background research.

4. Congratulations to all our volleyball players!  The volleyball season has wrapped up and all our teams participated in tournaments.  The next sports seasons will be starting soon.  Listen to announcements for basketball start up and intramurals beginning.

5. So the students all have the day off…. but what are the teachers doing on Pro-D?  Ms. Moody is enroute to Portland for the ALME (Association of Middle Level Educators) Conference.  She will post next week about the highlights of the conference.  She is looking forward to the opportunity to collaborate and learn with middle level teachers from across North America.  Ms. Abbot is participating in a collaboration session with Ms. McKay, Mr. Buhler and other teachers from Coquitlam middle schools on project based learning.  Our school is going to be developing future plans for our school goal on social responsibility and beginning the next steps.  We are all looking forward to the synergy that comes from working and learning with other people passionate about education.

6. Congratulations to Ted! He won the Write a Review and Win a free book draw for October!  Read a book and write a review in November to try and win a free book!  Check out our school library website for more resources and information.

Please remember that Monday is a stat holiday for Remembrance Day. Some information about Remembrance Day in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Belcarra Park Cruise.  We looking forward to seeing everyone back on Tuesday.

10 Great Things to Talk About

This week flew by, so here are some of the highlights:

  1. Ms. Abbot and Ms. Moody introduced our new literature circle books.  We are continuing to explore the theme of conflict and oppression.  The books were selected because of their examples of conflict with self and conflict with others.  Many of the books are set in history and are reflecting the experience of children in conflict.  There are more than 10 titles to choose from.
  2. Students explored modern history through some education raps. Students designed time lines to explore major events between 1900-1995.  We will be re-visiting some of the history of some of the major conflicts over the next week – specifically looking at the World Wars.
  3. Trick or Treat!  Wednesday was a very exciting day with costumes and pumpkins.  See our previous post about Pumpkin Mathand some of our costumes.  Students also had the opportunity to participate in the 1st school dance of the year at lunch on Wednesday.
  4. There has been a Food Drive at Hillcrest to support Share in the Tri-Cities.  Our classes set an ambitious goal of 200 items of food.  We came very close to our goal and collected 171 items!  We can top up our donations early next week, so let’s see if we can meet our goal.
  5. On Friday students had the chance to teach their classmates how to play their geography games from their recent projects.  There were several amazing and innovative games developed.
  6. Student are continuing to work on their Science Fair project topics.  Ms. Moody continued the work with the grade 6/7’s this afternoon.  Coquitlam MACC will be holding a district science fair on March 1st 2013.  Students will be receiving more information about the science fair over the next week.
  7. Next week many of our students will be participating in the Remembrance Day Assembly on Wednesday morning.  Students are participating in the bands and choirs, as candle lighters and as a piper.
  8. Next week (Wednesday – Saturday) Ms Moody is attending the AMLE/NMSA (Middle Level Educators) Conference in Portland.  We look forward to hearing about the what she learns.
  9. Next week is a short week – school is in session Monday to Wednesday.  Thursday is a professional development day and Friday is a school closure day.
  10. The first Explorations term will end next week.  Students are working on completing there assignments and projects for there explorations courses.

Have an excellent weekend and remember to set back your clocks on Saturday evening.

Costumes and Pumpkin Math

Students showed their Halloween spirit and came to school in costumes.  The grade 6/7’s challenged each other in a giant volleyball challenge in costume.  We also explored pumpkins in math.  Students compared the circumference and height with the weight of the pumpkin and the number of seeds.  Students graphed the results and looked for correlations in the results.