DIV 8-5

Friday, Sept 11th: Today we were with Ms. Cottier in block 1 and in block 2 we were with Mr. Menzies. Continuing with introductions, orientations, and beginning of the year activities, today we reviewed some details for the year and then did some collaborative and community building activities. Mr. Menzies also explained ROMS Athletics and what is on offer this year. Students then worked in groups to brainstorm and develop a list of Rights and Responsibilities that will help guide and support our class community and help it thrive this year. Mr. Menzies discussed what "Rights" and "Responsibilities" are and how they apply to our classroom setting and the individuals in it. He also explained how society does the same thing with laws and guidelines to support, honor, and protect people in a community. After this, each group worked together to create what they thought were rights and responsibility for students in the classroom. We just had time to get this started and we will revisit this activities again next week. Eventually, Mr. Menzies will look over these and consolidate them into a poster we can review, edit, or add to as the year progresses, and we will use this to help establish and maintain a respectful and nurturing classroom environment through the year. Later in the day, we had our first block of PHE and we combined with three other PHE classes to get the year started. Mr. Menzies and the other teachers went over the ROMS PHE Course Outline and discussed expectations, routines, competencies, and strategies and behaviors for success in PHE this year. After this, we played a big group game of capture the rugby ball. Thus concludes the first week of Grade 8! We are up and running and next week we will begin with a grade wide start up assembly with Mrs. McEwan and also get Math and Science up and running! Homework and Reminders:  Note: due to a printing issue in the office, the school start up form package will be handed out next week to take home. This will include the PHE course outline. As we begin academics next week, please make sure you have all of your school supplies collected and ready to go, and also have begun reestablishing home routines such as bedtime and homework. It was great to meet and begin to get to know Division 8-5 this week and I look forward to the year ahead! Have an amazing first weekend of the school year!

Thursday, Sept 10th: Today we had our first French block with Mr. Henderson. In block 2, we had our first block with Mr. Menzies and were introduced to his classroom and learned about him and the year ahead. He showed us an orientation slideshow so we know his classroom, some details for the coming year, and some advice he has for our journey through grade 8. We also did some icebreaker/ community-building activities to get to know each other. We then got to learn more about Mr. Menzies, his interests, hobbies etc... and then we did a creative activity to express our interests and identity by creating our own personalized surfboard designs. Tomorrow, we will have another block in Mr. Menzies' class and we will begin some team-building challenges and intro activities, and continue getting familiarized and settled as we wrap up the first week of school. Next week we will officially get the ball rolling with Math and Science. Finally, Mr. Menzies handed out an introductory notice to parents: Welcome to 8-5 Introductory Notice (Click Here) for us to take home and deliver to our parents. Homework and Reminders: A reminder to continue collecting school supplies and bringing them to school as we will begin academics next week. Please get school forms completed and returned to Ms. Cottier ASAP (to be handed out Friday).  Also, it will be the first day of PE tomorrow so please wear/bring athletic shoes. It was wonderful to officially meet 8-5 today!