This month has been busy in junior high!  In language arts, we finished reading our novel, “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton and to celebrate our learning we had a “Greasers Day.”  Many of the students came dressed as their favourite character from the novel, including one of the boys who actually came dressed as one of the girls!  We also enjoyed some of the foods the boys in the novel enjoy each day for breakfast, chocolate cake and chocolate milk.    Everyone liked seeing the movie but, in comparison to the novel, we all agreed that the book is so much better!

During “Genius Hour” on November 9^th, we listened to most of the junior highs as they delivered their “Elevator Pitches” about the projects they are working on.  Unfortunately, we ran out of time and some of the girls had to finish their presentations during one of our language arts classes.    Many of the projects will be finished shortly after the break and we look forward to hearing the students’ Ted Talks they will present once the projects are complete sometime in January.  Families are most welcome to attend the Ted Talks and will be notified once a date has been determined.

Parent teacher conferences were held this month and were well attended by our junior high parents.  If you were unable to schedule an appointment, please do not hesitate to call as I am more than happy to meet with you anytime throughout the year.

On November 20^th, we welcomed Mr. R. Forbister, a final year education student, to our classroom.  Mr. Forbister will be with us for both language arts and social studies until we break for the holidays.  He will rejoin us again in April for the last block of his practicum before he graduates in May.

We have just begun our book clubs and are reading a variety of the books that have been nominated for the Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award.   Each of the book club groups is made up of 3 or 4 students who read together and then hold weekly discussions about their book.  The students have also begun work on the Notice and Note reading strategies program and, so far, each of the groups is making good progress in learning how to analyze their texts at a deeper level.  The book club groups are all working hard and at the rate they are reading and working with their novels they may have enough time to read a second one prior to the break!   Keep up the great work junior highs!