Christmas Holiday's

Spirit Week Festivities Continued...

What creativity, planning and collaboration displayed during 2 particular days this past week. For our classes Christmas stocking decorating day, we transformed the stocking into Santa's face. For going over and beyond the expectation our class won the most creative stocking. Similarly, during the Gingerbread House Competition, the grade 8s displayed enthusiasm when constructing Santa's tree house. Although the tree house was not edible, it certainly used a lot of natural resources to showcase a different take on the traditional gingerbread house. Congratulations are in order for Mrs. D. Del Zotto's grade 7/8 class for winning this competition. What spirit the intermediate division has!

Spirit Week Festivities

As we all count down the days until our Christmas Break begins, here at SJE there is no slowing down. Thanks to our Leadership Team, we will ensure that this week is filled with many festive and joyous activities. The newest activity that will take place all week long is Christmas Picture BINGO!!! Please check the week long schedule posted throughout the school to know what is going on and when.

Math Chapter 4 Patterns and Relationships

This month the students have been learning about a variety of concepts pertaining to Patterns and Relationships. These concepts include the Fibonacci Sequence, creating pattern rules from models, writing the general term of a sequence, solving problems by examining simpler problems and relating number sequences to graphs. The students will be having their unit 4 test prior to the Christmas holidays.
Some key terms they should know are: term, variable, algebraic expression, ordered pair and coordinates.
Here are some sample problems we worked through in small groups and then as an entire class.

Science Culminating Activity

To conclude the extensive unit on Cells, the students were provided with a choice of 1 out of 5 culminating activities. The activities ranged from constructing a 3-D cell model, to composing a rap, and from creating a travel brochure to writing a children's picture book with either an animal cell or a plant cell as their primary focus. The students did an amazing job with these projects, and one could tell that a lot of time and energy, knowledge and creativity were showcased.

 

Crayon Art Projects

For the month of December, the students were working diligently in completing their Crayon Art Projects. The students learned and had to apply concepts of rhythm and movement to their art piece. In addition, the students studied the various effect(s) that certain colours evoke, in terms of an emotional response (i.e red creates an angered/agitated feeling vs. blue which creates a relaxed/calm effect). Thus, the students had to be very selective in their colour choice. The students had free choice in terms of the subject matter and their interests really were highlighted from such subjects as Pikacho to a garden of flowers and from an elephant holding an umbrella to a howling wolf, just to name a few.

Advent Season

As we continue along in the Advent Season, we must keep in mind "the reason for the season". The intermediate classes took a trip to St. Michael's Cathedral on Tuesday December 9th. The intermediates travelled via TTC to the Cathedral to celebrate noon mass. Although the Cathedral is still in the restoration process and appearance wise, does not look aesthetically appealing, the students were able to remember that they were in the presence of the Lord and actively participated during mass. We acknowledge and are thankful to all the students who participated in this excursion and appreciate their terrific behaviour.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent's, this is a gentle reminder that parent teacher interviews will take place on the evening of Thursday November 13th, 2014 and the morning of Friday November 14th, 2014. A form was sent home and needs to be returned to the school by Tuesday November 11th, 2014 for you to secure a timeslot.

All are welcomed to come to St. John the Evangelist to see and experience several items:
- Get a more detailed look, via your child's teacher, into how your child is progressing academically
- Temple and Temple will be here to highlight the fun and educational events of the Ottawa trip for the grade 8's
- Student Led Learning Walk (displays around the school showcasing what the school has been working towards regarding the subjects of art and math)
- Me-To-We will be selling items that will go towards their initiative
- CSAC will be present for fundraising and concessions

Art - The Vitruvian Man

Students have learned about Leonardo Da Vinci and the art he created during the Renaissance time period. Specifically we studied how Da Vinci drew the theory proposed by Marcus Vitruvius regarding the proportions of an adult male's body. Students had to prove or disprove whether Vitruvius' theory could be applied to the proportions of their own teenage bodies.

Melanie's Art Work of herself inspired by Da Vinci

Nathaniel's Art work of himself inspired by Da Vinci

Writing In Role: The Mystery of the Blackwood House

We have been working on a drama infused unit called The Mystery of the Blackwood House. Students have been creating the storyline to the mystery. They have been improving their role playing and improvisation skills through mini activities. Students have been given several opportunities to write in role. Here are 2 samples of students taking on the role of a newspaper journalist and a blogger, respectively for the purpose of summarizing the story at the midway point of the unit.

Stacey's Newspaper Article - Writing in role as a journalist

Zachary's Blog - Writing in role as a blogger

Halloween Class Pumpkin Decorating Challenge

A Halloween challenge was set for room 210!!! Each of the 5 groups of 6 students were challenged to a pumpkin decorating contest. The students used their imagination, creativity, use of technology, collaboration skills and communication skills to complete their pumpkins. The final products were posted on social media for all to vote on....the pumpkin with the most "Likes" was the Green, Three- Eyed Monster. See all the final products below.

Geography: Population Characteristics

In Geography, we have recently studied various population characteristics and factors to be able to compare and contrast quality of life, in a variety of developed and developing countries. Such indicating factors included: life expectancy, literacy rate, birth rate, death rate, per capita income and gross domestic product (GDP). Students selected a country of their choice to compare and contrast with characteristics pertaining to Canada. Some countries that the students were interested in and researched about included: Jamaica, Hungary, Australia, Nigeria, Netherlands, Britain and Brazil. Students learned how to create, explain and interpret population pyramids and scatter graphs, as well as researching information and data from primary sources such as https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/.

Math Chapter 2 - Anchor Charts

This week we will be having our Chapter 2 math test. Please review your notes and study for the upcoming test.
Here are some class anchor charts created to assist you while studying.

Language - Unit 1 Culminating Essay - What Makes a Hero?

In Language, we were focusing on the topic of what makes a hero. After reading several non-fictional articles and stories, the students perceptions and definitions of what a hero shifted. They then watched a short film by Ray Bradbury. It could be debated whether or not the main character in this film is a hero. The students had to write a 5 paragraph, formal essay regarding this topic. The essays had to contain a clear thesis, engaging topic sentences, succinct concluding sentences and relevant proof throughout. Here are 2 top examples:

 

 

Student #1's formal essay

 





Student #1's formal essay continued













Student #2's formal essay

Student #2's formal essay continued

Virtue of the Month - Gratitude

This month we have been focusing on the virtue of the month, gratitude. In Psalm 118:24, we are reminded that "This is the day, the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad". The students had an opportunity to listen to a few Church hymns with gratitude being the central theme. Afterwards, the students reflected upon those elements in their lives in which they are thankful for.

Parent Night Series 1: Paul Davis - Internet Safety

A big thank you to all those parents who came to Curriculum Night on Thursday October 2nd, 2014. This year St. John the Evangelist will have a variety of Parent Night Series. The first series will focus on Internet Safety and will be presented by Paul Davis. See details below and if interested please contact me or the school.

Date: Thursday November 20, 2014
Place: St. John the Evangelist Gymnasium
Time: 6:30 p.m. (light dinner); 7:00 p.m. (presentation)
Topics to be Discussed: Cyberbullying, Facebook Safety, iPhones & Blackberry use, Legal Matters, other emerging trends.

The evening will also include i) complimentary dinner
                                                ii) door prizes
                                                iii) child care

Graffiti Art Project

This month in Visual Arts, we focused on one of the elements of art - lines, and one of the principles of design - unity. The students applied these concepts to a debatable topic in today's - should graffiti be considered art or vandalism? Each student had to be selective in their word choice and then create a "Graffiti" inspired piece of work.

SECONDARY SCHOOL OPEN HOUSES 2014

There have been many changes to several open house dates. See the link here

Earlscourt Park

This week we took a neighbourhood walk to a local park to meet some Geography curriculum expectations. While here the students were responsible for mapping out the facilities offered at the park. This activity was a way for the students to become cartographers and design thematic maps.

Heroic Adventures Unit

Over the past three weeks, in Language, your child has been learning about themes such as The Quest, Heroes and Heroism, Overcoming Obstacles and Journey's End. Through reading profiles, articles, news reports, and poetry the students have been building their schema as to what traits and/or qualities constitute a hero.
Here are two student reports on specific athletes that could be considered heroes.

Number Relationships

Over the past three weeks, your child has been exploring and learning about number relationships such as multiples, factors, scientific notation, powers of numbers, and square roots. 

 

You may want to visit the Nelson Web site www.mathK8.nelson.com for more suggestions to help your child learn mathematics and develop a positive attitude toward learning mathematics.