May 31

In case you missed it, the month of May has passed us by very quickly! Now we are getting into "crunch time", the month of June, and all of the studying and review, and writing of exams that goes with it.

Today we did another Technology Journal entry (#5), and had a short discussion on this topic. Next, we worked on starting to answer some of the review questions from the "Putting It All Together" booklet. Finally, we wrapped up by watching another 30 minute video from the Canadian history series, this time it was "Optimism and Uncertainty: Canada (1955-1964)". While you were watching this video you were supposed to be taking notes on the video.

As I stated in the previous post, you need to working on your Writer's Workshop EVERY day. You also need to be studying for your Canada Unit Final!!

Upcoming important dates:

• Writer's Workshop is due on June 6th
• Canada Unit Final is on June 8th

May 30

Today we did three different things: Technology Journal #4, Key Terms Pop Quiz #2, and I handed out the review booklet called "Putting It All Together". It is EXPECTED that you are doing homework for me every night! You MUST be working on your Writer's Workshop projects, and you MUST be studying for your Canada Unit Final!

Here are some upcoming important dates:

• Writer's Workshop (6 projects) is due Monday, June 6th
• Canada Unit Final is on Wednesday, June 8th

May 27

Both classes had their last class time to work on Writer's Workshop material. You will not have any more class time to work on these projects. Please remember that all six (6) projects are due on Monday June 6th. For the rest of the day, you were able to enjoy the fantastic weather and the Sports Day activities.

May 26

Today, we did Technology Journal #3 and a discussion about the topic posed in the question. I also gave you some Writer's Workshop time. Finally, we watched a 30 minute video entitled "Canada: Land of Promise (1945-1954)". You were required to take notes on the video while you watched it, and then we talked about some of the key economic developments, technological developments, issues in society, and developments in society that occurred during this time period. Tomorrow will be Sports Day if the weather is nice, but I will still see both 9A and 9B.

May 25

Today I gave you another technology journal topic, and we discussed the topic as a class. I then gave you some time to work on Writer's Workshop projects. I think that you should be working on a Writer's Workshop project tonight for homework. I think that you should have at least 3 projects finished by now. Please remember to review your key terms from the Canada unit, it will be useful.

May 24

Today we started something new: a technology journal prompt. We then discussed the technology journal topic. I also gave you time to work on your Writer's Workshop projects.

May 19

The "big day" finally arrived. You wrote your LA Part "A" exam today. These exams will be marked by Grade 9 teachers in the school and then they will be sent off to Edmonton to marked once again by different teachers. You were very lucky to have option classes in the afternoon. I hope that you all did well on the exam.

Please have a fun long weekend. Get some rest! Please don't forget to review for your other Provincial exams, which you will be writing next month!

May 18

I'm way too tired to blog tonight....
If you were in class today, you know what happened, if you weren't then please remember that LA Part "A" takes place tomorrow. You must check in to your TA at 9:30 tomorrow morning. Sleep well tonight, you're going to need your brains to be well-rested for tomorrow.

May 17

We did a fair bit of review today, we looked back on the basic economic questions, and the advantages and disadvantages of the command, market and mixed economies. For some of you, it was VERY apparent that you have forgotten a lot of this material, so I would like to recommend you review these topics from the Social Studies Web:

• Basic Economic Questions
• Advantages and Disadvantages of the Economic Systems

As some of you may have read in the school newsletter that was sent home today your Provincial Achievement Tests are fast approaching. It is recommended that ALL grade nine students should be reviewing for 60-90 minutes per night for these exams starting NOW! There was a mistake in the newsletter that I'd like to highlight, these final exams are worth 15% of your final grade, NOT 10%. It is REALLY important that you come to school on the day of the exams confident and prepared. Coming into these exams confident is achievable, if you know the material you'll be more confident. You will have 8 weeks off this summer before you enter grade 10, please don't start your summer vacation in May, save the "mental vacation" for after you've written your last final exam.

We also had about 35 minutes for Writer's Workshop today.

May 16

If you missed class today, you'll have to get some the notes you missed on the mixed economy. I also reviewed economic values while I was talking about the mixed economy. If you would like to read more about the mixed economy, and economic values or possibly take a quiz on this subject, please check out the hyperlinks below:

• Mixed Economy
• Economic Values

I also gave you some class time to work on Writer's Workshop. Please remember that ALL six pieces for Writer's Workshop are due on Monday June 6th!!

How are you preparing for LA Part "A"?

May 13

Since we had our short Friday schedule in effect today, I gave you both periods to work on Writer's Workshop. Please remember that ALL Writer's Workshop assignments are due (published form) by Monday June 6th. Please check the previous post for hyperlinks to previous LA Part "A" exams. Have a great weekend!

May 12

I gave you some time to work on your Writer's Workshop projects today. I also set a deadline to have your six pieces completed in Writer's Workshop for Monday June 6th.
You also had a pop quiz on the key terms from the Canada unit today. For 9B, this was a surprise, for 9A, it seemed as if you had some inside knowledge of the quiz. How strange.....

May 11

Today, most of the class time was spent writing a sample essay/narrative question from a past Provincial Achievement Test. I gave you 80 minutes to write your narrative or essay. If you missed class today (or even if you were in class), you can go to the Alberta Education website to look over some past Provincial Achievement Test questions. Please check out some of these hyperlinks:

• LA Part "A" (1998)
• LA Part "A" (1999)
• LA Part "A" (2000)
• LA Part "A" (2001)

May 10

We did a little practice today for the LA Part "A" exam, specifically the functional writing section (the business letter). This practice was designed to help you realize how much time will be necessary to write a business letter under pressure. You need to study your notes on how to write a business letter because it will help you with the Provincial Achievement Test. Tomorrow we will do a practice run through writing a narrative or essay for the achievement test.

May 9

Today we did a lot of review of the format of the business letter. There were a lot of people away today because of the Track meet. If you missed class today then you need to get the notes from someone.

May 5

Today was the field trip to Mount Royal College for "The Economics of Staying in School", so there was no homework today.

May 4

Today you had your last class period to work on your glossary of key terms for the Canada unit. Many of you have finished this glossary, and had some extra time to work on Writer's Workshop. The mini-lesson for Writer's Workshop centered around a handout called "Ways to Develop a Character". If you missed class today, then you need to get this handout, there are extras in the classroom.
Tomorrow we'll be going to Mount Royal College to participate in the Junior Achievement program "The Economics of Staying in School".

May 3

We continued working with the Anticipation Guide today. You were still working on creating your glossary of key terms for this unit.
During Writer's Workshop we looked at "Considerations in Creating a Character". This is a good supplement for creating a character sketch. If you missed class today you missed this mini-lesson and some notes.

May 2

Today I gave you the Anticipation Guide for our next unit: Canada. The anticipation guide is a list of 82 key terms (all of which are "fair game" on any test in this unit). I asked you to mark next to the key terms with a checkmark if you knew the key term, an * (asterisk) if you knew something about the key term, and a ? (question mark) if you didn't know anything about the key term. If you were being honest, realistically you should have had about 40 question marks. You were then responsible for alphabetizing your list of key terms and you started creating a glossary of key terms.
Next, in Writer's Workshop we looked at "The Really Bad Words". No, no, it's not those really bad words. The really bad words are words that students use in their writing everyday that detract for their writing. For example, if you were describing someone that is beautiful, why would you write, "She was really beautiful"? Why not write, "She was exquisite"? Or if you were writing that someone was "very funny", why not write "hilarious" or "hysterical". Do you get the idea? I also had you copy down a "really bad paragraph", and then asked you to edit and polish it.