Monday November 21, 2011

Science:  Today the students had a second block to use the computers to research information for their ecosystem project.  Each student/group will have to research a topic, and either hand in a written report on it, or create a project/model/community resource to help teach or deal with the issue.

Science Project Information:  On the link to the right is a preliminary criteria sheet for the project. I will be presenting this sheet to the class tomorrow to see if they want anything added or changed.

English:  Today the class worked in a group to provide a list of Pros or Cons for a young offender to be sent to custody (Jail, Youth detention) or Banishment (being sent to the woods to live by themselves for a long period of time and then return to the community)  We also discussed the Supreme Court of Canada's reasons why a person can be sent to custody as a last resort.  We discussed how Canada has not always considered custody as a last resort, and the Supreme Court of Canada has noted that "Canada is a world leader in putting people in prison."  We will be writing a paragraph later this week on "Did banishment fail Cole, or did Cole fail himself?" in relation to our novel "Touching Spirit Bear"

Socials:  Today we continued our look at the change from Hunter Gatherer to Farming.  We looked at Youtube (see address below), and the key ideas are listed below.

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7bqi70B3tE

·         Neolithic (The New Stone Age)

·         First Wheat farming

·         First female archeologist

·         Fertile Cresent

·         12,000 – 10,000  years ago

·         8000 - 5500 years ago first cities

·         Farming tool – sickle

A rememinder the parent permission forms for Friday's performance of Alice in Wonderland are over due.  Please return them asap, so that we can finalize our numbers.