Weekly update:

Just to keep everyone in the loop!

Grade 5:

In Language Arts this week......

On Monday we used the time to complete spelling words and start reading Coraline as we missed last Friday. 
Tuesdays literacy lesson had a number of different elements, we looked at the short story, 'The Snack Shack Mystery' and colour coded the key factors of a mystery.  the grade 5's then used their deduction skills to solve the case of 'The Sneak Thief's Sneakers'. As a reward for continued hard work we watched the 'Eerie Indiana' episode 'Forever-Ware'
Our communication skills lesson involved developing last weeks 'Catogarization' lesson to ALPHABETICAL ORDER. We worked through the uses and reasons for this method and began using up to three letter ordering. 
We finished the week by turning our attention back to 'Coraline' and looked in greater detail how Neil Gaimen and other authors 'grab' and hold our attention by using clues in their stories. 


Grade 6:

On Monday we completed our spelling words and to make up for last Friday read further in to 'Mr Frisby and the Rats of NIMH' 
In literacy the group handed in their 'HOMOPHONES' worksheet and I am very pleased to say everyone completed their task. We continued to explore the style of CAUSE and EFFECT writing. This will be developed in to an individual writing task this week.
On Friday the class completed group questions on the first chapters of our novel study and also drew the Frisby home. We then read further. 


Grade 7:

The class started the week reading 'The Dairy of Anne Frank' On Tuesday we began to explore the concept of 'MENTAL SCHEMA' and how our experiences and viewpoints alter how we 'read' information. The grade 7 responded amazingly, we looked at images, text and even discussed sounds and how each of us reacts differently. This was then extended to examining how mass media has begun to use this; we looked specifically at a de-constructed Volvo advert and the imagery it used. 
On Thursday our objective was to explore COMPOSITIONS , how to build one in our writing and ensure it 'flows' 
We finished the week looking at some vocabulary and comprehension questions from Anne Franks Diary.


Grade 8:

We have had some fun with MADLIBS this week! all I can say is that I would not take advice of how to survive a bear attack from anyone in this class!

Our biggest focus this week involved PARABLES, the feature, and hidden 'lessons' contained within. 
During communication skills our focus turned to LEVELS OF LANGUAGE, how we have formal, informal and non-standard and must understand audience and purpose before choosing the correct form.
On Friday we used the P.E.E method to discuss first impressions of the characters we have met in our novel study.