September 7, 2018

For the past two weeks students have been working on the following:

Transformation Poems: After reading a transformation poem in class, students created their own poems in which they imagined themselves transforming into an animal of their choice during a familiar situation. The animal and its characteristics symbolized the students own personal feelings or attitudes in that situation. Transformation Poems were due last week. All late work will still be accepted for marks.

Weekend Updates: Students watched CNN10 (global news stories condensed into 10 minutes of viewing) and completed a news report on one news story of their choice. Included in the news report were the "five w's and how" of the story (who, what, where, when, why and how) as well as their personal opinion on the central issue of the story. 2 weekend updates have been assigned in class and are now past due.

Gun Control Essays / Debates: Students spent two weeks learning about and researching the current gun control laws in Canada as well as different perspectives on whether or not we need more regulations on firearms. Students then wrote a persuasive essay either defending or opposing calls for stricter gun regulations in the country. Some students elected to prepare a class debate instead of writing an essay. All debates were conducted in class this past week and all essays are now due. Research for both the essays and debates needed to be handed in as well.

Reading / Writing Assessments: Students were administered standardized reading and writing assessments this past week. 2 reading assessments were taken, 1 narrative and 1 informative. 2 writing assessments were conducted, 1 narrative and 1 functional. Students who have not completed the assessments will be asked to complete them next week.

Powerschool: All Transformation Poems and Weekend Updates that were handed in on-time have been assessed and recorded on Powerschool. Marks for Essays and late submissions of work will be coming shortly. Reading and Writing Assessment results will be released once all students have completed the tasks.