Sept 29-Oct 3rd

Hi All,

So here this week we have our first field trip, which is geocaching.  We NEED parent volunteers.  Please contact me at kyle.dumont@rbe.sk.ca or at the school 791-8585 to let me know if you are interested.  We will need you to get a Criminal Record Check done (at the Police Department on Osler St.).  It doesn't cost anything for parent volunteers and only takes about 15-20 minutes.
Also about the field trip please make sure you have paid, either on-line or with cash (on-line is preferred).

Our boys A and boys and girls B volleyball teams are ordering long sleeve T-Shirts.  The students have taken notes home as of Monday to be signed and money to start collecting asap.  We have a sizing kit at the school and will try to get all the students sized this week.

October 2nd is Jack MacKenzie's birthday.  Unfortunately we will be on our field trip, but if you as parents have other children in the school there will be an assembly this Thursday before the first recess.

That's about it for the important things this week.  Check the homework board for up to date information about what your child is working on.

Week of Sept 22-26

Track and Field was an awesome day today!  Look for pictures to be uploaded later tonight.

Assignments that will be due this week are:
Science
Group lab work completed by the end of Friday's class.

Math 8
Review sheets for sections 1.3 and 1.4 due for Thursday's class.

Language Arts
Vocabulary from "Beneath the Crags of Malpelo Island" Due Thursday

B Volleyball games start up this week.  The girls play @ Glen Elm on Tuesday and the boys play Glen Elm @ home on Thursday.

#rspeggdrop

Operation Egg Drop has begun!

#rpseggdrop is off to a GREAT start.  We have a fun first day in class.  The students seem very eggcited to be working on this project.  My classroom will be open from 8-8:53, lunch hour, and 3:37-4:30 Wednesday, Thursday and Friday until the Egg Drops occur.  We have had some great conversations about what we can and cannot do with our materials, how things will work, what are the best options for design, and many more.  Students are reminded to check out the twitter feed and join in the conversation.

Sept 15-19

This is going to be a busy week.  We have our assignments that are coming fast and furiously, volleyball teams set (A and B teams), cross country, and a presentation all this week.

For science this week we have a fun inquiry based learning experience for the students.  We are going to do an egg drop experiment and connect via Twitter with other schools this week.   You can follow the feed #rpseggdrop to see what other schools and classrooms are doing with this experiment.

The supplies the students will be using for this experiment will be:

egg

straws (10)

masking Tape 3 metres

1 grocery bag

egg carton (2-egg section)

1 balloon

popsicle sticks (10)

elastic bands (10)

Each group will have one science class period to begin building their contraption (egg basket).  After that we do not have a switch day until Friday which will be our drop day.  The students are more than welcome to come before school (8:00 a.m.), over lunch hour, or after school (until 4:30) with their group to finish building their egg basket.  

For more information on RPS Egg Drop Click Here

Pythagorean Theorem Activities

Here are a couple of online activities you can try out to work on your Pythagorean theorem mathematics work.

Jeopardy 

Square Roots and Perfect Squares

Tic Tac Toe

Notes To Be Returned

This is a little reminder about some notes that have been sent home and need to come back ASAP.
1 - Media Release (Green Form)
2 - Lunch Room Program (Pink Form)
3 - Track & Field (Blue Form)
4 - Lifetouch Pictures (Lifetouch)
5 - Homeroom Parent Form (White Form)
6 - Milk Program (Blue Form)

Reminder about the meet the teacher night tomorrow starting with a BBQ hosted by our SCC at 5:30.

2nd Week

I hope everyone had a great weekend after our first week back at school.  Now that we are all in our groove again here are a few things to keep in  mind.  Students will start having homework on almost a daily basis.  They will have time in classes to get their assignments started if not finished if they use their time wisely, but at the same time we want to cover a large amount of material and we never seem to have enough time so they will have to do some at home.  Parents please check the blog often to keep on top of what the students are supposed to be completing each week.  This week we will be focusing on our pre assessments for the year.  Our RAD's, DNA's, and other Value Added Assessments.  This will be a big week for these.  Try not to miss any time as we only have allotted this week to accomplish all of these assessments.  Also remember these are the PRE assessments so they are to tell us where our baselines are and how we can help your children improve.

Some important dates to remember
Math 8 - Lesson 1.1 ?'s - 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 16, 18 Due Tuesday Morning
Science Textbook Walk Due At The End Of Class Tuesday
Positive Negative Graph Due Wednesday Sept 10.
Meet The Teacher Night/BBQ Sept 11
Writing Folders Due Friday Sept 12


If you have any questions please email me at kyle.dumont@rbe.sk.ca

September 4th

Here are a few important items for parents.

Some other important things to know about.  Our SLC applications are due Friday, September 5th.  If your child is interested they are to write a 2 paragraph persuasive essay expressing why they would be a valuable member of our SLC.  They are to be handed in first thing to Mrs. Little.   

Friday @ 8:15 am is our first Cross Country Running practice.  

Thursday September 11th is our Meet the Teacher night, hosted by our Parent council with a BBQ prior to the event.  I look forward to meeting all of you this evening.  Please come up and introduce yourselves to me.  

Our class schedule

Jack MacKenzie School

Mr. Kyle DuMont Grade 7/8

Student Schedule

Just a note for *Tidy Friday.  Every Friday all students will return to their home room class and be given 17 minutes to organize their personal spaces and the classroom.  With our busy schedule and variety of extra curricular activities that go on before school, over the lunch hour and after school we understand that things can be hectic and want to give the students a little time each week to help keep themselves organized.

Time	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
8:53 – 9:37	Math 8	E.L.A.	Math 8	E.L.A.	Social Studies (Reoch)
9:37 – 10:15	Math 8	E.L.A.	Math 8	E.L.A.	Health (Scott)

Recess

10:30 – 11:07	Health (Scott)	Visual  Arts	Fitness	Health (Scott)	Science (DuMont)
11:07- 11:45	Social Studies (Reoch)	Fitness	Visual  Arts	Social Studies (Reoch)	Fitness (Yeske)

Noon

12:45 – 1:22	E.L.A. (Reading Strategies)	Arts Ed (Mrs. Hinz)	French (Mme. Cross)	Phys. Ed. (Yeske)	French (Mme. Cross)
1:22 – 2:00	Library	French (Mme. Cross)	Arts Ed (Mrs. Hinz)	Science (DuMont)	Arts Ed (Mrs. Hinz)

Recess

2:15 – 2:52	Phys. Ed. (Yeske)	Math 8	E.L.A.	Math 8	Math 8
2:52 – 3:30	Science (DuMont)	Math 8	E.L.A.	Math 8	Math 8
		Band sectionals all day		Full Band pm	3:20 – 3:37 *Tidy Friday-Organizational Period!

Sept 2nd - First Day Back

Today was a busy day; meeting all the new faces, introductions, class schedule, expectations, etc.  We worked together today to get a plethora of important work done.  It was a pleasure meeting all the new faces.  I would like to welcome all the new families to the school and let them know to come to me if they have any questions.  Remember I am new as well and may not have the answer but I will be able to find out quickly.

Tomorrow is our first fitness class and the students will need to bring their change of clothes along with appropriate footwear. Also we will be starting a couple of visual art projects, one is a self portrait and the other is our writing folders.  For these we will be using magazines.  IF you have any magazines floating around at home that you are ready to put into the recycling please send them to school with the students.

As a class we went through a variety of contracts and information sheets that are being sent home for parental signatures and conversations.  Please be on the look out for the following
1- Laptop/Ipad Contract
2- Facebook
3- Back to school BBQ

Other important things to note.
Boys and Girls Volleyball try outs are this week.  The sign up sheet is on the bulletin board outside the Sr. Pod classrooms.
Cross Country Running will have its first practice on Friday morning at 8:15 am.