The grade 7’s met with two Handsworth Secondary School staff members this afternoon, Mr. Hungle (Vice-Principal) and Stacey Schwegler (grade 8 counsellor).

Our 55 grade 7 students were paying close attention to everything that was shared with them. The last time they stayed so focused was when Saleema Noon came to talk to them about sexual health.

Their grade 8 counsellor reviewed the anatomy of the teenage brain, secondary timetables, and consequences of actions.

Today our grade 7 students will be bringing homework to review with their parents – course selection. The students know the due date, so please make sure all the paper work is brought back to school on time.

Handsworth Secondary has met with grade 7 students in 5 schools, and many of the students start thinking they are now ready for High School. Not quite yet. We still have them for 4 months. Some students look forward to moving on to secondary school, while others are nervous.

There were a lot of questions today, and there may be many more over the days to come. We will try to answer them as best we can, or we can contact Handsworth if we’re not sure of the answer.

I feel the grade 7’s made a good impression. Well done grade 7’s and thank you.

Take care.

What a great group of kids. It is easy to teach when they only leave you 8 kids to have in the class.

Gym class went really well. We made up a volleyball game and the boys played against the girls. Sorry girls, but the 4 boys won. We then played a game of secret agent, which involved a lot of running and dodging. They were quite tired in the end, but no one could catch Leanne.

Back in class, we worked on a word mine. A word mine involves taking a word, and then using some of the letters or rearranging the letters to make other words. We played with the word “Environmentalist” and students found between 70 to 100 words. Some students are still working on it, while others are feeling like it is time to draw. One student has found 150 words.

I’m still playing some jazz. The Entertainer, Linus & Lucy, Green Tea and Yama Yama Man got the best responses from the students. I think they liked Bang!Zoom (by Bobbie McFerrin), but they did look at me funny went it came on.

Pretty soon the day will be over, the students will go home, and I will get back to my office desk and read report cards or emails. Taking a class for a day has been fun.

Thanks Mrs. Korsch and Mrs. Pearson for letting me a guest teacher for a day.

Take care.

The grade 3’s continue to do well. We did some math, and continued to listen to Jazz.

It’s lunch time now. Today is one of the PAC food days – Subway sandwiches. Food days help the school in many ways. They provide funding to help us in classes and with big “wish list” purchases, and they provide a break for some families from making lunches. Students come down to the front hall and get their lunches from the volunteer parents who organized the day’s food. Thanks parent volunteers 🙂

The children are quietly eating now, so I will head out of the class and leave it to our grade 6 lunch monitors to keep an eye on things. Thanks Jan & Cam.

Take care.

The grade 3’s and I have gotten off to a great start. We started with Story Time – Dr. Seuss’ If I Ran A Zoo. Excellent story.

We then followed up with Community Circle. The description they gave was, “We sit in a circle and talk.” So we talked. Tell me something interesting about yourself. What is your favourite food? What is your favourite animal? What is your favourite word? These kids can talk. Oral language activities are very important in school. We teachers sometimes spend too much of the class time talking, and we need to provide time for children to talk and share their ideas or stories.

Now the students are all quietly working on their Social Studies – “Your Circle of Support.” As they are working we are listening to some jazz. I like some music when I work, so today they will hear some Bobby McFerrin, Wynton Marsalis, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Bud Powel and Duke Ellington.

If time permits, I will write some more during the day. For now, I am going to go chat with the kids.

Take care.