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 :)

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 :)

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 :)

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 :)

November

Hi everyone,

It's already the 10th of November!  Grade 8 flies, doesn't it?

Last week, we had a great visit to BDHS - students participated in a mock rotary and visited many of their potential classes for next year.  We were able to see several performances (music, dance, drama) before the day was through.  Students are asked to start thinking about their upcoming grade 9 year!

Progress reports went home on Friday.  Notices are being sent home to remind families about conference dates and times.  If these dates and/or times do not work for you and your family, please let teachers know as soon as possible, as they may be able to fill the spots (vdavis@scdsb.on.ca and sskelton@scdsb.on.ca). If alternate times are possible to coordinate, we will do our best to accommodate you and your family. Students are expected to attend conferences, so please be sure to bring your 8!
Conference Dates:  Thursday, November 13 from 4:00-8:45pm
                                 Friday, November 14 from 8:30-11:30am (PD day for students)

This week, we began Data Management.  Students are asked to make scatter plots based on their class data of the following:

Skelton Data

Davis Data

Scatter plots are due tomorrow (Tuesday, November 11).

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day.  Fieldcrest will be hosting two ceremonies:  Junior/Intermediate from 9:30-10:30 and Primary from 11:45-12:30. Parents and community members are welcome to attend.  Students will be given poppies, and we would appreciate any donations.  These will be forwarded to the local Legion.  A special thank you goes to Mrs. Davis and Mr. Davis for organizing the assemblies.

Have a nice day,
Miss Skelton

Pre-Kandalore Meeting

Hi everyone,

Today we had a pre-Kandalore meeting with our Intermediate students. Lots of information was given, and lots of great questions were asked.  A few key points that you might need to know before the paperwork comes home tomorrow:

- the trip will be an overnight trip from Monday, September 22-Wednesday, September 24. Students will not be able to bring sleeping bags/suitcases/bags on buses, so please make arrangements to drop your child off at the appropriate times.  We will be leaving by 9:30 on Monday, so students can arrive at school at the regular time (any time after 9 am), and we will be returning by 3:35 on Wednesday.

- ANY medication that a student takes must be accompanied by a form that you will receive with your Kandalore paperwork that gives school staff permission to administer medication. This form MUST be signed by a doctor with appropriate medication administration information. Medication includes prescription drugs, over-the-counter products (e.g., allergy medication, advil, etc.), vitamins, etc.  If your child does not have a form signed by a doctor, please do not send him or her with the medication.

- all paperwork will be handed out tomorrow (Friday, September 5)

- students will be strongly encouraged to leave personal devices (including cell phones and iPods, etc.) at home. If devices are brought on the trip, they are the responsibility of the students and neither Fieldcrest nor Kandalore will compensate students if their devices are lost, stolen, or damaged.  Students are aware that cabins do NOT have locked doors, and that another school will be at camp while we are there.

- if finances are an issue for your family, and you still would like your child to attend camp, please contact the office to make arrangements that will suit you and your family.

- please make sure that you and your child sign all areas of the paperwork (students will need to sign at least two of the sheets in the paperwork).

- there will be a Kandalore Information Night at Fieldcrest in our library at 5:30pm on Tuesday, September 9.  The Kandalore director will be attending to answer any questions that you may have.  The meeting will last approximately 30-45 minutes.

We will pass on more information about our trip in the next two weeks.  We hope to have record numbers of students attending this year, as this trip is one of the most rewarding and FUN trips the students will have in their elementary years.

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Davis or me at any time.

Have a great evening,
Miss Skelton

Day 2 Done!

Hi everyone,

I just want to extend a special thank you to our fabulous students - what a great first two days!  Today our focus was on learning skills, and we participated in several learning activities that reviewed this year's expectations.  The students did a great job discussing the concepts of perseverance, organization, responsibility, collaboration, independent work, initiative, and self-regulation.  The following pictures show the result of some of our brainstorming and work today:

"Perseverance" brainstorm

Quotes used for discussion groups

Creating a new perseverance quote

Creating a new perseverance quote

Creating a new perseverance quote

Creating a new perseverance quote

Creating a new perseverance quote

Perseverance quotes - generated by our students

Learning Skills - brainstormed appropriate ways to demonstrate each

Tomorrow, we'll be starting our Math and Language programs, followed by a bit of Art and Drama in the afternoon. We'll also be giving students some information about Kandalore - paperwork will be coming home in the next few days.

Remember to sign up for Remind!
Have a great evening,
Miss Skelton :)

Welcome to the Class of 2015!

Hello everyone,

Thanks for stopping by our blog!  Mrs. Davis and I have a year of exciting things planned for our Grade 8s this year.  We hope that you'll join us on this adventure!

There are a couple of ways to stay up-to-date on things that are happening in our classrooms:
1.  This blog - by subscribing to our blog, you will get e-mail notifications every time the blog is updated.  This is handy for those days when your child "forgets" his or her agenda at school :)

2.  Remind 101 - this is an app that's new to us.  If you click on the link to your right, you'll see that you can enter an e-mail address or a mobile phone number (neither of which will be seen by us), and you will be subscribed to our classroom texts.  We will send these out when there are quick reminders for due dates, important information about theme days or trips, and general inquiry information (for example, our Kandalore Information night is just days away!  On September 9th at 5:30 pm, you're invited to join us for some information about the camp, presented by camp director, Brock... and our camp dates are Sept 22-24).

By using both of these features, you will have a great overall view of what your child will be doing in Grade 8.  We hope to make this year their best one yet!

If you have any questions, please contact us via e-mail at sskelton@scdsb.on.ca or vdavis@scdsb.on.ca.

See you Tuesday!

Miss Skelton :)