The Boomshakalakian Peacockians

All progress reports from our student’s morning classes (ELA, math, social studies) have been sent home.  Mr. Lys handed his out on Friday.  Ms. Rowe and Mr. Young handed theirs out today.

We are now in the final four weeks of school for the grade nine year.  All students are being reminded to keep up with their work, ask questions for clarification, and get extra help if needed.

Ms. Rowe is providing math help on Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon up till the final exam.  To get maximum help, students are encouraged to come in with their materials and their questions for Ms. Rowe prepared.

Have a great day!

There are a few reminders for some upcoming things in our morning classes:

 Mr. Lys’ Social Studies 90 classes are finishing up Greece and moving into Rome.  Following that they will begin on the middle ages and slide into the renaissance until the end of the semester.  A reminder to keep on your homework and daily assignments.

In Mr. Young’s ELA 90 class, we have just finished our study of Killing Mr. Griffin.  We will be heading into the computer labs next week to work on a character assignment based on that novel.  After that, some of the students have asked if we could start working on a simple resume.  It seems some of our grade nines are beginning to think of summer employment.  I’m sure some parents are rejoicing at that news.  After that we will be taking up a short unit on the basic elements of poetry, and then ending the semester off with our public speaking unit.  I will be asking the students to think of something that they are really good at doing in the next couple of days that they can spend five to eight minutes teaching the class.  It’s always a fun unit and it’s a good way to wind down the year.

In Ms. Rowe’s Math 90,  review presentations are starting tomorrow, lasting until June 14th.  There will be two groups presenting from now until then.  As well, we are continuing with our Math 90 course.  We will be finishing off the year with coordinate geometry and data management.  There will be a major assignment with the data management.

As we get closer to the end of the year, students are reminded to keep up-to-date on their daily assignments and homework.

With the end of the year approaching, students are starting to get geared up for their final exams.  A tentive schedule has been sent out by the school and the exams for the grade nines morning classes are as follows:

English Language Arts 90 Final will be on Thursday, June 21st, 2007 at 1:00 pm in the gym

Math 90 Final will be on Friday, June 22nd, 2007 at 1:00 pm in the gym

Social Studies 90 will be Monday, June 25th, 2007 at 1:00 pm in the gym

For ELA 90, Mr. Young will be accessible at noons and after school the week prior to his examination for students that want some extra help.  However, they can also come see him now as his open door policy for noons and after school stands all the time (unless the students are told otherwise).

For Math, Ms. Rowe is available Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon up until her examination.  Students may also set up a time other than those tutorials if Ms. Rowe is available.  If you need help, please come in and ask.

For Social Studies, Mr. Lys is available anytime at noon and after school for tutorials if the students come and check with him in advance.  Again, he asks that all students that need some extra help come in and ask him for it.

Some of the time you may find all three of your morning teachers in the same room at the same time.  Please come in and ask us for help all at once, if you need it.  Remember, we are here to help you succeed.  You are the one that needs to ask for it.

Have a great day!

First of all, my apologies for not having updated in a few weeks.  The week following our Easter break, I was unable to post to the blog.  I would try to, however the blog would not let me go to actually allowing you to see it.  Now, you can actually see what I am typing.

Some of the students have been reminding me (thanks to the countdown on my board) that there is 34 school days left in the year.  For me that is hard to believe as we still have many more things planned for the grade nines in the upcoming weeks.

The one thing that we have been stressing to the grade nines since we have been back from Easter break, and leading into the last few days of the school year, is the skill of taking responsibility for their actions and school work.  It seems that the closer you get to the end of the year, the easier it is to shut down.  We have been trying to tell the grade nines that “the year is not over” and that there is many things they need to accomplish to end their grade nine year with success.  This includes:

1.  Getting your homework done
2.  Being respectful of others and their property
3.  Making sure to hand in all of their assignments
4.  Making sure to get caught up on work that has been missed if you are away due to illness or a school activity

Most of the grade nines have learned that these are some of the things they need to do to be successful not just in grade nine, but in the rest of their high school career and beyond.  The ones that do it well, always do it well.  Those that don’t are finding it hard to survive in their classes.

A big reminder to parents that your child’s midterm report card from the school will be coming home on Friday of this week.  All students will receive a report card to bring home.

In our classess:

Mr. Young’s ELA class is working through the novel Killing Mr. Griffin.  Students are reminded to keep up with their vocabulary assignment for this novel and keep their study questions caught up.  There will be a quiz on Thursday of this week for chapter’s 1 to 10.

Mr. Lys’ social studies class has just finished up a unit on The Egyptians and will be starting a new unit tomorrow.  Students are reminded to keep up with their flag assignment as their will be a quiz in the near future.

Ms. Rowe’s math class has just started working on a unit devoted to shapes and finding the perimeter and area of different objects.  They have just begun working on finding the volume of different kinds of objects.

Have a great day!

On behalf of Ms. Rowe, Mr. Lys, and Mr. Young we would like to wish all of the Boomers and Boomer parents an awesome Easter break!!  The kids have been working really hard over the past few weeks and definitely deserve their week off. 

School will resume on Monday, April 16th, 2007.

Have a safe and happy Easter break!

The three of us would like to thank all of the parents that were able to come in for our student-lead interviews for this term.  It was a pleasuer seeing all of you again and we hope that you were able to get a better glimpse into what your kids have been up to for past  few months.

It really is hard to believe that in three months we will be saying goodbye to the grade nines and welcoming them into grade ten.  However, with those three months, we still have alot to do.  Also,  as most of you saw, their classes for next year have been selected and will now start going through the process of getting a schedule created for the fall semester.

Ms. Rowe, Mr. Lys, and Mr. Young would like to invite any parents that were not able to come in for interviews to give us a call at the school (693-4626) or send us an email (rowe.tana@mail.mjsd1.ca, lys.stephen@mail.mjsd1.ca, young.brett@mail.mjsd1.ca)  so we can set up an interview. 

The Boomers will be busy the next for days as they work on their “City” assignment for Mr. Lys’ social class, their “House Development” assignment for Ms. Rowe in math, and their “Romeo and Juliet” presentations for Mr. Young in ELA.  Then, after the four days are up, they will begin their well deserved Easter break.

Have a great weekend!

On Thursday, all of the Boomers received their report cards to bring home to their parents/guardians.  Also attached to the report card was a letter containing information about our process for interviews next week.  There will be another post that highlights the interview process for this term on Monday.

Please make sure read the letter and send it back with your child as to when you would like to schedule your interview.

We hope you have an awesome weekend!  It’s hard to believe that spring is here and there is only three months left in the school year.

Yesterday we had the privilege to go and attend the CSI (Come See and Investigate) tour at SIAST Palliser Campus.  The students were exposed to many of the programs that they have there and they had an awesome time.  The whole experience was very “hands on” and the Boomers were taken in groups to different areas of SIAST and exposed to what the students there actually take in their programs.  The instructors were very complimentry of the grade nines.  They were very well behaved and seemed to be having alot of fun during their morning sessions.

Our hope was to expose the grade nines to some of the many opportunities that wait for them when they leave high school.  Even though they many not be thinking about it right now, they will eventually (four years goes by in a blink of an eye) graduate from high school and may decide on an area that interests them to build their career around. 

Tomorrow, the grade nines will be assembling in the auditorium for their grade ten “Subject Exploration” time.  Here, the grade nines will be meeting with the grade ten teachers and be presented with the courses that will be offered to them in their grade ten year.

All of these opportunities will be leading up to a few weeks from now when the grade nines will be registering for their grade ten classes.  They have some choices in their class selections and their three Family teachers are here to help them out in their decisions.

Have a great day!

We hope you had a relaxful week off and are ready to get back into the swing of things because it’s about to start getting really busy.

Next week Mr. Young, Mr. Lys, and Ms. Rowe are designating it as “Career Week.”  As you probably know, in the next couple of weeks, the grade nines will begin choosing their classes for next semester.  To help them in their decisions for next years courses we put together some presentations to assist them in their choices.

Next Wednesday, March 7th, 2007, we will be taking a tour of SIAST to find out about some of the programs that they offer.  You child should have brought home a permission letter home yesterday for you to sign.  As soon as the forms are brought back the student will be allowed to pick one of the areas listed in the letter to specifically go and check out.  The programs are:

-Electronics Engineering Technology
-Civil, Water and Environmental Engineering Technology
-Welding (students must wear long sleeve shirts and runners or boots)
-Computer Engineering Technology
-Automotive Service Technology
-Geometrics (Surveying) and Computer Aided Design and Drafting
-Cooking
-Business

Students have been told that if they would like to know more about a specific area to come and talk to one of their three family teachers and we would be able to help them out in their decision on which session to attend.  The spaces for each of the areas are limited so the sooner the forms come back, the more choices they will have.

Next week we also have a part of the morning where the grade nines will be heading to the auditorium to listen to presentations from the different areas within Peacock to help them in choosing their classes for next year.  Many of the grade ten teachers we will be there to explain their programs to the grade nines so that the grade nines can make an informed decision when they go to choose their classes.

To conclude “Career Week” we also have a presenter coming in to talk about what opportunities there are for students after they graduate from high school.  The presenter will talk about post-secondary education, speciffically focusing on the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina.

It is definitely going to be a busy week but we also think that it is going to be week that will be very beneficial to the grade nines in focusing in on what they may want to look at when they have graduated high school.  Believe me, it goes by faster than you think….as some of you already know.

Have a great day!

On behalf of Mr. Lys, Ms. Rowe, and Mr. Young, we would like to wish all the Boomshakalakian Peacockian’s a fun and safe winter break.  They have been working very hard these past few weeks since midterms.  The have started a new social studies course with Mr. Lys.  They have been working very hard on type 2 and 3 equations with Ms. Rowe, and they have been steadily working their way through Romeo and Juliet with Mr. Young in English Language Arts…..it’s time for a break!

Remember that you will have a Romeo and Juliet quiz on Act 2 the Tuesday you get back to class (February 27th….Mr. Young’s birthday!)

We hope all of you have a great long weekend!

A big congratulations to Ciarra Spratt for capturing the GeoChallenge contest among the Boomers today.  All of the grade nines in Mr. Lys’ social studies class (all of the boomers) were eligible to become the grand chapmpion based an a serious of small quizes that tested their knowledge of places all over the world.  For example, please name the city that will host the 2008 Olympics?  It can be alot harder than it sounds.  Ciarra, and nine others, competed today for the championship.  Here, they answered more questions based on geography around the world.  Also, a big congratulations to Selena Edminston for placing second, and Shayla Cake for placing third.

A few reminders for next week:

Mr. Young’s Romeo and Juliet presentations will begin on Monday.  All students must come prepared for their presentation.

Ms. Rowe will be having a test next week in math on Type 3 equations.  She will be available next week for tutorials and students are encouraged to come prepared to ask their questions.

Have a great weekend!