#HClass22 Blog - "Push me like you hate me" - September 12, 2022

 

Classroom Quote of the week:

"Push me like you hate me" - heard from Mariam on the swing-set

Quote/Theme for the week

Introduction ~

Hello, welcome back to the H Class Blog. This is the third year a blog has been running for Mr. Hodgkinson's Grade 7 class at Sir Arthur Currie Public School. I am Mr. Hodgkinson, and I will be the writer for the first few weeks. This week, I will write the blog and, over the next few weeks, we will compose it as a class. By early October, individual students will take over to share their perspective on our journey through the 2022/2023 school year. As with previous years, we will use the Rose, Bud and Thorn Check-in approach.

The Rose ~

It was a short week (only three days long) but we packed so much into it. We got to know each other better through community circle games and conversations. We learned more about the routines and, fingers-crossed, we all felt like this might be a normal year. This class has not had a "regular school year" since (pre-pandemic) Grade 3 -- Can you imagine? And yet, they are happy, mighty resilient and ready for a terrific Grade 7 year.

First day Community Circle
Nothing on the walls, we'll build that together.

The Thorn ~

No Thorn this week -- even the weather was cooperative.

The Bud ~

We are looking forward to our first full week of school and a chance to begin learning and creating. We already have our Chromebooks -- so many more than before because most students who were learning virtually have returned. We should have some terrific things to share in the next few posts.

Mathematical Mentions ~ Data Management & Probability

It was a soft start into mathematics. We began looking at probability and discussed how additional information can inform prediction. The annual Football Pool kicked off and we used the available data to try and predict who would win the games this weekend. We will use our results to learn measures of central tendency and how to use the spreadsheet program Google Sheets for charting and graphing data.

Literacy Leanings ~ Common Nouns & Read Aloud

Our first book is the short, funny Hank Zipzer: Niagara Falls, or does it? We will read many books with heavier issues and more mature themes as the year progresses, but for now we just want to enjoy the story of "The World's Greatest Underachiever" and laugh a little.

We also had a conversation about the "collective nouns" we would like to use to address the class. I used to use the word "guys" to get the attention of the class -- but that can be exclusionary language. We want to use gender neutral terms that we mutually agree are appropriate...and fun. As a class, this is the list we chose.

Dance

We are fortunate to have Ms. Frassinelli as our French teacher. She is also helping us with dance. A great way to learn a new language is to connect it to real life experiences and physical movement. Consequently, we are learning French while preparing a dance performance. In class, we looked at the history & cultural significance of the handshake. We made the connection between a handshake routine and the 5 Key Elements of Dance. We remember them by the mnemonic BEST-R. Body, Energy, Space, Time & Relationships.

Practicing our dance

Thanks for reading

#HClass22