Sunday, May 31, 2015

Hi everyone,

It's hard to believe that June is already upon us!

Students have an Algebra assessment tomorrow (Monday) and on Friday, they received a review package. Here are the solutions to those pages:




This Thursday is our Grad Trip - parents are reminded to review safety expectations with their child(ren) with regards to how to act when in busy public areas. We want to reinforce safety on this trip, then fun :)

Also, students have been asked to send in baby photos for a presentation at Graduation.  These WILL be returned to you.  If you wish to send them in a digital format, please email them to sskelton@scdsb.on.ca.

Thank you!  Hope you have a great start to June!
Miss Skelton :)

Wednesday, May 06, 2015

Where did April go?

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since we've posted!  Here's a brief update about what we've been up to:

In Language, students have been completing group Literature Circles with a variety of different novels.  On Friday of this week, we will be having a Gallery in the front foyer of the school to showcase culminating posters that students have been working on for their books - if you're able to attend to see the posters, we would love to have you here!  The Gallery will occur during our middle block (11:30-1:00).

In Math, we completed a unit on volume and surface area of cylinders, and have now moved on to our Algebra unit.  Algebra is a large component of the high school curriculum for Math, so we will be spending quite a bit of time on getting the concepts down.

In our rotary subjects, we are doing Fluids in Science and Population Pyramids and Global Inequalities in Geography.  We've just finished a dance unit on Square Dancing - ask your child how to promenade! In Visual Arts, we are beginning to work on mandalas that relate back to the characters in their literature circle novel, and in Drama, students are creating a play based on a Robert Munsch picture book.

As you know, our grad trip is quickly approaching.  If you haven't paid the full balance for the trip, please do so before May 11th.  Thank you! More information about the trip will be coming in future blog posts.

Some of our students will be writing the Gauss Math contest on Wednesday, May 13th next week.

Jump Rope for Heart will happen next Thursday, May 14th.  Please have students return the pledge envelopes as soon as possible.

Track and Field Day is coming up - May 19th is our scheduled date, with a rain date of May 21st.  Students need to have the forms that were distributed yesterday signed and brought back by the middle of next week.

Have a great week!

Miss Skelton and Mrs. Davis :)


Friday, March 13, 2015

Pi Day Celebrations

Who would have thought that 3.1415... would be such a great cause for celebration? We had a fun day today!  Friday?  No thanks... I'll have a "Pi"day, please!

Happy Pi Day!
Our portable door
To celebrate Pi Day 2015, we had all kinds of Pi and non-Pi related activities going on!  We started the day by staying in our "Pi"jamas (ha ha!), and then we went on a "Pi" scavenger hunt. The students had to find Pecan Pi, Cherry Pi, Blueberry Pi, Apple Pi, Pumpkin Pi, and Lemon Meringue Pi!

Lots of different types of Pi today!
Students used Pi to solve for the circumference and area of various circles, using the values found under the Pi symbols around the school.  The feedback from them was very positive!

Working hard to solve circle problems during our scavenger hunt.
After second nutrition break and recess, we had some "Pi"zza... but before we did that, we had to find out the area of each "Pi"zza "Pi"e, and find out what the area of two slices would be.  Then we figured out how much "Pi"zza we would need for the 21 students in our class, and if we would have enough with 5 "Pi"es.  Turns out we did, and had lots left over, too! Not our neatest solution, but your grade 8 student can probably explain what we did here.

"Pi"zza problems!
We finished the day with a movie (rare occurrence in grade 8!) - Life of Pi would have been ideal, but instead, we went with "Pi"rates of the Caribbean.  My 8s were awesome and seemed to really enjoy the movie (it IS awesome... I mean, it's Johnny Depp!). We're hoping to finish it one day :)

Thanks so much for a really fun day to celebrate Pi, and to kick off the March Break.  I hope that everyone has a safe and relaxing holiday!  See you back on March 23!

Miss Skelton :)


Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Pi Day!

image from http://www.pinkcatstudio.com/
Pi Day is coming up!! On March 13th (the day before Pi Day),  Miss Skelton's class will be celebrating with all kinds of "Pi"-related festivities! It will start with "Pi"zza (pepperoni or cheese), provided by Miss Skelton at 1:55 (the beginning of our afternoon block)!

Pyjamas and Pizza!
What are our students saying about Pi?

Liam says these puns are "pi"larious!
"My hand kills so much from writing, I feel like I'm going to "pi"! - Morgan
Julia's shirt says "pi"nk!

What puns do you have about Pi?


If students wish, they can visit www.piday.org all things pi!

Miss Skelton :)

Monday, March 09, 2015

Class of 2015 Gradwear!

Hi everyone,

We recently had School Tees visit our grade 8s to showcase some of the great products that are available to the graduating class of 2015!

Student order forms may differ (we're not sure why!), but if you would like the most up-to-date form, please click on the following link:
http://www.schooltee.com/orderforms/cn/classof/2015/Classof2015_order%20form.pdf

We did have a question about the baby blue colour of clothing - it IS available, even though it is not listed on the forms.  The reasoning behind this (according to customer service) is that the light blue colour doesn't show the white writing very well.  That being said, if you or your graduate are interested in baby blue, you can certainly get it, as long as you are aware of this minor conflict in colouring.

We have a busy week coming up - students have a History assignment due, they are working on a rough copy for a Visual Arts optical art project, and today they will be receiving a Science assignment that will be due well after March break.

Both Mrs. Davis and I would like to remind students that in order to participate in Friday's afternoon festivities (to be announced!), they must have their History assignment completed.  The Science and Art are continuing after the break.

Have a great day!
Miss Skelton :)

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Talk to Yourself...

Hi everyone,

A couple of weeks ago, our class had an opportunity to do an activity.  We began by watching the following video on facing adversary, and developing resilience skills.


We talked about how the little voice that we hear in our head sometimes puts us down.  We discussed these comments that we sometimes think to ourselves, and worked on finding ways that we could change what that voice says.









Our students came up with a fantastic collection of "rebuttals" for their little voices.  Hopefully we can access these positive approaches more and more frequently and develop that growth mindset that we are trying to foster in our classroom.  With practice, our students can rise above doubt and achieve anything they set their minds to :)

Talk to yourself the way you would talk to someone you love.
Let's enable our students to approach situations with more positivity!

To my students:  you've got this :)

Miss Skelton

Monday, February 09, 2015

Career Day

Hi everyone,

Tomorrow is our second annual Career Day at Fieldcrest!  We are looking forward to hosting a number of professionals from our community, who have generously given up their time to come and visit with our students.  Throughout the day, students will have an opportunity to hear our guests speak about their chosen professions, and toward the end of our sessions, they will have a meet and greet with our visitors.  Information may come home about colleges and universities - please don't fret!  We're not pushing them through THOSE doors yet!  Mrs. Reid has been kind enough to coordinate getting some course catalogues from Ontario colleges and universities that students will have a chance to browse through in the afternoon.  Please have a discussion with your child about the careers they learned about and what careers might interest them in the future!

Invite your grade 8 student to take you through his or her "my blueprint" page:
myblueprint.ca/simcoe

Enjoy the rest of your evening!

Miss Skelton :)

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Grad Photos

Hi everyone,

Our Grade 8 students will be venturing over to the highschool later this week and early next to investigate various aspects of computer programming.  We will be using the program "Scratch", which is available at this website:

http://scratch.mit.edu/

Students will be bringing home information about this mini-trip this week.

Also, students will be having their graduation photos on Tuesday, January 27. They are reminded to wear light coloured  clothing, and boys are asked to wear a tie.  We can't wait to see them all fancied up!

Have a great day,
Miss Skelton :)

Friday, January 16, 2015

Career Day Survey

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately, the last link that we had for the survey was not the correct one - that's my fault!  I'm sorry!

The new link is here, and students need to use their login information to access it (this would be the same information that students use to log in to the school network). For best results, this should be accessed through Google Chrome.

https://docs.google.com/a/scdsb.on.ca/forms/d/1w_AW0ljJBV1eZIZiNPc0bFP2A1d2DYdTXrHq0g5ijCo/viewform?c=0&w=1

Career presentations will be filled in on a first come, first serve basis, so students who complete the survey first will get priority over those who wait until the last minute.

Thanks!
Miss Skelton

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Grit & Resilience

Hi everyone,

Yesterday, we watched a few videos and had a discussion about what it means to be resilient.  We talked about what resilience means (the ability to face adversity and bounce back or push through), and we looked at some examples of hardships that famous names have faced and who have persevered.  Here are the videos that we watched:

What Students Really Need to Hear:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O7v4EJjx-g

Famous Failures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLYECIjmnQs

We also watched a couple of videos about the internet's cutest cat, Lil Bub.  She was, as a kitten, diagnosed with osteoporosis, and her owner was told that there was no hope of curing her.  Watch this video to see what courage, motivation, and determination resulted in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5Z6jQrjrLg

These videos sparked some fantastic discussions among students and throughout the period, they were encouraged to talk about challenges that they face, strategies they could use to overcome them, and ways that we can support each other both in the classroom and out.  As this was an introduction, responses were fairly surface-level, and as we progress with focusing on the concept of being resilient, our hopes are that students will internalize some of these strategies and start to live them.

Miss Skelton :)

Monday, January 12, 2015

Course Selection for High School

Hi everyone,

Today, Mr. Shank visited our school to speak to our students about their course selection for Grade 9.  During this presentation, our students were given the following information that relates to them graduating from Grade 12 in 2019:

Compulsory Credits to be completed:
- 4 credits in English (1 credit per grade)
- 3 credits in Math (1 in grade 11 or 12)
- 2 credits in Science
- 1 credit in Canadian History
- 1 credit in Canadian Geography
- 1 credit in the Arts
- 1 credit in Health and Phys. Ed.
- 1 credit in French as a Second Language
- 0.5 credits in Career Studies
- 0.5 credits in Civics

Minimum of 40 Hours of Volunteer Hours
- non-profit organizations
- no payment received
- working for a family business for "free" does not count

OSSLT - Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test
- taken in Grade 10
- can be written as many times as necessary in order for student to pass

Mr. Shank also spoke to our students about the pathways that are available to them (Apprenticeship, College, University), and how their marks help determine whether they go into Academic, Applied, or Locally Developed classes in Grade 9. Students are not required to choose only one of these three choices - they can have a mix of various levels.

More information will be available at the Parent Information Night on Thursday, January 15, 2015 at Bradford District High School. All families are strongly encouraged to attend.

We've been reminding students about how important their learning skills with regards to their decisions for Grade 9.  Students with a good work ethic and typically good learning skills tend to be more successful in Grade 9.  We encourage students who struggle with their learning skills to work on them this year, while they have the support of teachers who know them and can help.  Next year, there will be a lot of change, and trying to revamp work ethic at the same time can be very overwhelming. We want to help our students to be fully prepared for what they face in September!

Have a great day,
Miss Skelton :)

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Welcome to 2015!

Hi everyone,

Welcome back to the rest of the 2014-2015 school year!  We hope that everyone had a great and relaxing break, and is ready to take on the new year!

Before the holidays, we had a lot of fun.  We were busy creating Elf letters, putting together a Holiday Variety Show, and writing short stories.  I will be posting a new page soon with some of the videos and pictures of our December adventures!

Today was a bus cancelation day, and we wanted to thank all families who remembered to call into Safe Arrival (905-778-2011) if their child was staying home.  It makes the jobs of our office staff much easier, and it is very much appreciated!

As of yesterday, students were told they would be having a Math test on Circles (radius, diameter, circumference, area) this coming Friday.  The test will be postponed until Wednesday, January 14.  Immunizations for HPV (girls only) were scheduled for today and have now been rescheduled until February 12.  Also scheduled for today was Mr. Shank's pre-course selection visit. Mr. Shanks is our student transition liaison and guidance counsellor from Bradford High.  He comes over to Fieldcrest periodically to speak to our students about their upcoming transition to high school.  Today's visit has been rescheduled for Friday, January 9, at which time Mr. Shank will be giving students information about their course selection for Grade 9, as well as inviting them to the BDHS grade 8 parents' night on January 15.  Please watch for this information to come home.

Have a great day!

Miss Skelton :)