December 16th - 19th

MATH: 
This week we will continue our unit on Symmetry and Surface Area. We begin surface area today and continue to practice this concept all week. Happy holidays to all.

LA:
Monday we all got caught up on some Language Power work. We are watching "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" this week. It is always great to see how text is portrayed on the screen. Ben Stiller plays a wonderful Walter!
When we come back in January, we will be working on novel studies (Book Talks) in small groups. This will allow students to choose a novel of their choice, out of a collection of novels which I have chosen for them.
Enjoy your time with family and friends! See you on January 7th, 2020.

December 9th - 13th

Math: Students wrote their test on Polynomials on Monday. All grades are up on Power School and we looked at the test together. I encourage students who received a not meeting (1) to come in at lunch to practice and understand their mistakes. We started a new chapter this week on Symmetry and Surface Area (Chapter 1).

Science:

Students are working on developing their science literacy skills by summarizing a variety of science articles and news items. They then make annotations and notes to eventually create a precis (60 or slightly fewer word summary). Students were given a choice of 5 articles to create a precis from. Topics are related to the science curriculum. Students have also been learning about biodiversity and furthering their understanding of how it develops and changes over time.

LA:
Students are preparing their Visual Projects to present this week (Visual, Textual & Digital). All 3 versions need to be shared with hmfeke@cbe.ab.ca before 12PM on Friday. This allows Mr.Lopez time to confirm that all projects are done before he leaves us for 2019! There is no Language Power due this week, but up to Lesson 20 will be due before we leave for the winter break.
Assignment & Rubric


Social: Students are working on their Google Slide Presentation on one of the historical events and relating it to the Charter of Rights. Please see pgs 100-103 for these events and answer the following questions:
What happened?- explain the history of this event.
What were the consequences on the rights of the people due to the government of Canada?
Quote and explain what parts of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms would protect these people from this event happening today.
Charter of Rights and Freedoms Graffiti Art assignment is Due Wed. Dec 18th

December 2nd - 6th

9 Science

Students should have handed in their written explanation of speciation. This assignment uses a number of scientific terms to explain how new species are created and adapt to their environments.

Video we continued watching on history of planet Earth and history of life:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN7VQas4OgQ

Students discussed how the video illustrated and gave examples of isolated populations, reproductive isolation, environmental pressure, niche – broad vs specialized, extinction, adaptations, common ancestor and so on.

LA:
Students have begun their Visual Analysis Projects. There are 3 ways in which students can demonstrate their knowledge:
1. Creative Responses - due Friday Dec. 13
2. Textual Responses - due Wednesday Dec. 11
3. Digital Responses - due Thursday Dec. 12
Assignment & Rubric

Since we will be working on this for the next 2 weeks, we will not have any Language Power due until the week of December 16th - 19th.

Social: Charter of Rights and Freedoms Unit

Chapter 3 work booklet is due Wednesday Dec 4th
Chapter 3 package

Students have begun our Graffiti Art Project on Rights and Freedoms. They will work on this when they have extra time in class. The due date is Dec 16th.

November 25th - 29th

Math: We are continuing our chapter on Polynomials. Monday we played a game in the gym to practice the distributive properties of polynomials. Students should review polynomials at home every night to practice (chapter 7)

IMPORTANT : This is a link to the online textbook as well as practice tests to help students study.

http://prjh-krae.weebly.com/mathlinks-9-textbook.html


LA:
Our essays are done so we are starting a new unit on Visual Literacy. Mr. Lopez introduced the work of Salvador Dali today & students are beginning to use words like, juxtaposition, setting & mood. Language Power 15 & 16 are due on Friday.
LP 15
LP 16

Social: We will write our Unit Final on Thursday, Nov 28th Morning. Please review chapter 2 notes from today and textbook.

9 Science:

Reminder: student marks for the major space research project are available online. In many cases the student feedback comments are also available. This week students have worked on an explanation of how new species come about. The focus is on using scientific terms such as natural selection, mutation, inheritance, adaptation and so on. Students will also be reading an assortment of science news articles and improving their scientific literary by creating a 60 word summary of the key points of these articles.

Videos on how evolution works – helpful for the writing assignment

:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyiZaHIRM6w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOfRN0KihOU

History of Planet Earth – Full Documentary HD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN7VQas4OgQ

November 18th - 22nd

Math: 
We have a short week with only 3 days of classes. Students will continue practicing concepts related to polynomials. This week we will divide and multiply polynomials. I strongly encourage students to practice at home. Math drills is a great website to find questions related to what we are doing in class.

Science:

LA: 
Use the Essay Checklist to keep your work on track for Lamb to the Slaughter essay. Due Wednesday November 20th. You need to hand in the checklist and your graphic organizer Graphic Organizer on Wednesday as well.
Up to Language Power 16 should be done by Monday 25th. LP 15 and LP 16

Social: 
YCJA Unit Final will be on Thursday, Nov 28th. Please use the online Textbook to assist with studying as well as  www.ycja.ca website.

YCJA Assignment: You were given a topic to research about the YCJA and put it into your own words.
Please add your slides to the following presentation or begin here:

CLASS SLIDE PRESENTATION

November 11th - 15th

Math:

Science:

LA: 
Our classes are lucky to have a student teacher join our world, Mr.Anton Lopez. He will be with us for about 6 weeks this year and 8 weeks in 2020.
We have been writing our essays about Lamb to the Slaughter this week. Students need to share their GoogleDoc with me (hmfeke@cbe.ab.ca) by Wednesday 20th. Next week's classes will provide instruction and time to finish as most students are just finishing up their body paragraphs. I've given students a checklist and a graphic organizer which also need to be handed in on Wednesday.

Social: 
We are now moving to Jury and Jury Duty in Social, We will complete a mock trial to reinforce the concepts learned this week. Our 'Jury' will have to determine if the defendant would be found guilty.  Please use the following link to better understand the trial process.

Trial PPT

9 Science

All students should have completed and handed in their space project last week (November 7^th was the due date. (To check if your child has handed in the assignment see Power School Marks under space major research project. If it says missing then they have not handed it in. If it’s simply blank then the student handed it in but the mark for this particular assignment is not yet recorded.) The project should have included rough notes, bibliography/references and their final product. Please ask your child if they’ve handed in their project, what they learned and how they feel they did on their overall product that demonstrates their learning.

This week, students have started learning about biological diversity, how it developed and continues to develop.

Human Evolution video students started to watch Friday, November 15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJybfmbrOCE

November 4th - 8th

Math:

Science:

Tuesday, November 5^th will be the 10^th and final day of in class time to work on their space research projects. At this time, students should have at least 4 pages of rough notes they created something from as well as 8 good resources properly recorded. Rough notes are to be handed in with the completed assignments. Wednesday and Thursday (if students were at school) were bonus time to work on student projects or catch up on any unfinished assignments.

LA:
Complete Language Power 13 & 14 for Friday 8th. LP 12 - 15
Essays on Lamb to the Slaughter will be due Monday 18th. They need to be shared on a GoogleDoc with me: hmfeke@cbe.ab.ca; Font size 12, format justified. 5 paragraphs will include PATHOS, LOGOS & ETHOS as the body paragraphs. We will be writing the opening paragraph and conclusion paragraph next week. Don't worry about getting the work done this week as you will have lots of class time next week.
Graphic Organizer: LTTS Organizer
Copy of story: Lamb to the Slaughter
Alfred Hitchcock film: Film

Social: 
Students have been analyzing Political Cartoons and their assignment is to have 2 Canadian Political cartoon printed off and complete the worksheet that was handed out in class.  This is now for homework. Please check Power School for any missing assignments and hand them into the basket  for marking.

October 28th - November 1st

Math: 
Grade 9 students have their test on powers and exponents on Tuesday. We will start out new chapter Wednesday on polynomials. I will be away next week for a teacher conference.

Science:

LA:
Complete Language Power 11 & 12. After reading Lamb to the Slaughter, students need to decide if Mary Maloney was temporarily insane or did she commit 1st degree murder. A graphic organizer will help students organize quotes & arguments for why they chose insanity over 1st degree murder. All of this planning will help to write persuasive paragraphs next week. These will be written under the lens of Pathos, Logos and Ethos.

Language Power 12 - 15

Social- Fedchun - Use the following videos and page 74 in your textbook to analyze cartoon

Analyzing a  Political Cartoon I

Analyzing a Political- Cartoon II

YCJA- Here is a great link to help you understand more about the YCJA... A GREAT STUDY TOOL

YCJA and Youth

October 21st - 25th

Math:
Students this week will be reviewing for their test on powers and exponents. The test will be next week. Students should spend time at home practicing and reviewing the exponent laws.

Science:

Students completed a test on topics #1 to 4. The test has been marked but a few students had to write the test Friday so the class will get back their test marks Monday.

Reminder that students have now finished day #7 of 10 on their research projects. Each day they should have completed approximately half a page of point form notes and found one good website or book resources they used to gather more information. Students who are behind on this are encouraged to come for help on Thursdays the second half of lunch in the computer lab.

LA:
Review & UsingWhatYou'veLearned due Friday 25th
We are reading Lamb to the Slaughter this week. We will be writing a persuasive essay based on the story & the techniques for arguing, found in this article: How To Teach A Child to Argue

Social:

This week we completed the Unit Final on Government and we are moving to the Youth Criminal Justice Act Unit. Students can access the online textbook for Chapter 2 in the original blog.

Intro Video to the YCJA

October 15th - 18th

Math: 
We continue our work on exponent laws. Students are playing a bingo this week on Wednesday to practice these laws. We also have a Quiz on exponents on Thursday.

Science:

**Science test on Tuesday October 21.

Students have now had 6 out of 10 full class periods to work on their space research projects. Please ask your child how their research is going on the project. They should have completed approximately ½ a page of point form notes and one good reference each day they’ve had to work on their project. They have also been studying how the analysis of light from stars (spectral analysis) helps scientists study the elemental makeup of stars.

LA: 
This week we are writing a short story based off of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". The story should be about 1 page long & may be typed. Walter Mitty assignment
Language Power 1-10 should be complete by Friday 18th.

SOCIAL- FEDCHUN  jlthorpefed@cbe.ab.ca

Friday Oct 18th is Student Vote. The results will be available after the Federal Election results are determined.... stay tuned..

See what you already know about the Government of Canada using the link below to study from.

Government Unit Review

Our Government Unit final Exam is Tuesday, Oct 22nd. Please use the online text book and the above link to assist with your studies.

October 7th - 11th

Math:
This week we looked at the test on Rational Numbers together and reviewed the questions that were more difficult for students. I encourage students to come in at lunch if they still have difficulties. For the rest of the week, we will continue our chapter on exponents and students have a  We will play an exponent bingo on Thursday to review exponents before the quiz which will take place next week


Science:

Students have now had 4 of 10 days to work on their space research projects. They have some very interesting questions they are exploring. They are also learning about telescopes, spectroscopy and the history of ideas about space.

Textbooks or math workbooks
If your child requires a new (or used) math workbook or textbook of some kind, the following company is a great place to look for a replacement:

https://www.westerncampus.ca/

LA:
Language Power 9
This week we read "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and next week we will be writing our own dream sequence short story. Students wrote amazing poetry based off of Kipling's "If". The work was insightful!


SOCIAL- FEDCHUN- This week we continued to look at and discuss the Federal Election. We watched the 2019 Federal Debate, which you can find on the link below. We filled in a graphic organizer to get a better understanding of the candidates political platforms and their perspectives on current issues. We ran out of time, so students are strongly encouraged to finish watching the debate. Next week we will finish our unit on Federal Government and have a Unit Test on Tuesday, Oct 22, 2019.

Homework: Federal Election Scrapbook is due Oct 15th.

Student Vote will take place on Oct 18th.

Federal Debate 2019

September 30th - October 4th

Math :
Students need to hand in their assignment on order of operation this week.
The Math Test for this chapter (rational numbers) is Thursday October 3rd.
We will start a new chapter on exponent laws next week.

Science:

Students have now spent 3 days doing a project proposal and 2 full class periods to research and work on their space projects. They should have at least one good reference and half a page of point form notes on average per full work period. They will have 10 periods in total until their projects are due. The questions that students have chosen to answer for their projects are very interesting and proving to be very eye opening for students.

LA:

Language Power 1-8 should be completed by Friday 4th. Students should also be planning & writing their own poem, based on the one we read in class:

If By Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can ll the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son.

Social: Students are to continue to work on their election scrapbook, Scrapbook is due Oct 15th. The assignment can be found in an earlier blog. Continue to have discussions with your child around the election process and political platforms. Use the following links to assist you with How a Bill becomes a Law flowchart.

How a Bill becomes a Law

Bill on the Hill

September 23rd - 27th

Math :
We are continuing our chapter on Rational Numbers this week. We will review square roots and perfect squares and continue our practice on order of operation.
If students need to review grade 8 concepts, they can log on to a really fun game that helps practice math at the same time. Please log on to prodigygame.com and use the code 1BB44B when logging on.
Have a great week.

Language Arts:
We had a spelling test, Morrison & McCall, on Friday. The words start easy & get more difficult as we get to 50. Grade nines should be getting 43+ correct to demonstrate an "at grade level" for spelling. We will be doing this test about 3 times per year.
We have been creating BookFlix for our favorite books this week. Working on Language Power and talking about the poem by Rudyard Kipling "If". Poetry needs to be discussed and annotated so that we can understand it on a deeper level. Students will also be brainstorming some of their own ideas about advice to the future them! It should also include advice about what they wished they had known. All this planning, talking and brainstorming will help them greatly, when we write our own "If" poems next week.

Science:
Students should have completed a research project proposal and had it approved/signed by Mr. Davis. They will have approximately 10 full class periods to work on their projects (2 days each week). This is a significant amount of time and the results of their research need to reflect the time invested in the research. Each student has an extensive outline of the project expectations (example: references, rubrics, plagiarism) as well as ideas of how to show their learning. In addition to the project work, students have been continuing to learn about recent advances in space science and technology.


Social:
Political Parties Assignment was due today, and can be handed into the bin. Students are strongly encouraged to work on their Political Scrapbook on a nightly basis, and is now due on Oct 15.
Please see last's week blog for the scrapbook assignment details. See the links below for assistance.

Mclean's   Federal Political Parties Platforms

Vote Compass - A tool to determine your views and where you stand on the political spectrum

CBC Political Platforms  Oct 1st Polls

September 16th - 20th

Math:

Students in grade 9 had their first Quiz this week. Results should soon be posted on Power School to view. Some important changes are coming to the Math STEMS. More information on this soon!
We continued to work on our chapter about rational numbers this week.

Students all need to practice order of operation. I strongly suggest using this amazing site to find worksheets with the answers! I did not assign homework this week end so this is a great thing to do if you're bored...

https://www.math-drills.com/orderofoperations.php

Language Arts:

BookFlix Project & Rubric

Next week we will have Language Power 5 & 6 to do. The final copy of the BookFlix Project will be due on Monday 23rd.

Science:

In science this week students have continued to learn about our universe and have just been introduced to an independent project on space. This will give students an opportunity to learn material from the curriculum but give them more choice to learn about something they are interested in. Please ask your child about the project they are proposing doing.

Social:
We have started to learn more about the federal government and the election process. Students will been given an assignment to create a scrapbook about the election. Please see the link for a copy of the assignment which is due October 11th:

Election Scrapbook Assignment

We have been having some great conversations  about the federal government and I am impressed with the knowledge students have about the election. A testament to the great conversations that families are having.

Have a great week,
Jennifer Thorpe Fedchun
jlthorpefed@cbe.ab.ca

September 9th - 13th

Math:

This week we continued our work on our first chapter of the year (rational numbers, Chapter 2). We played a game on Friday to practice mental math skills. Students have been very focused and worked well in the classroom. Homework is assigned almost daily and students should have completed several homework this week. I will post an update on homework completed on Power School at the end of this chapter.

There will be a quiz on what we learned so far on Tuesday of next week

Have a great week end!

M. Tetreault

LA:

This week in LA, we have been writing paragraphs about our puzzle piece. This project allowed students to represent themselves symbolically. It was great to learn more about each student this way. We also got back to working on Language Power - lesson 1 & 2 - grammar for everyone! 

Next week we will be working on LP lessons 2 & 3. We will also be writing our BOOKFLIX reviews to share with the whole school. This mean that all the students need to have a book, which they have read, in mind for the project. 

SOCIAL:

Where does the time go... Already two weeks in and we are settled in nicely. Students are aware that most of my assignments will be given out on the Monday with the expectation that they are due on the Friday. This way they will not have homework on the weekend and I will be.... marking.

What a great opportunity for our Grade 9 students to develop a better understanding of the Federal Election process, when it actual occurs (October 21^st). Please continue to have conversations about the election with your child. We will be participating in Student Vote this year, and will begin with the Federal Government Unit (the election process and the structure of the federal political system in Canada). We started to look at developing their own  political values and views by comparing the zoo vs  jungle.

Have a great week!

Jennifer Thorpe Fedchun

jlthorpefed@cbe.ab.ca

Science:

Students are working on the space unit and currently building a basic understanding on things in space.

For more information or concerns please contact Mr. Davis    cvdavis@cbe.ab.ca

Power-Up:

Students need to create a 1-pager, about useful study techniques. The 1-pager will be colorful and detailed, in order to be useful when studying.

Welcome Back Grade 9

Math:

Hello parents and students. Welcome back to school! For the first week of school we have played a few math games, talked about expectations and started reviewing last year’s math concepts. I also handed the textbooks to students. Students are responsible for their textbook and should cover it to protect it this year.

Please find the course outline below

Regular program : 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Vej8yZUaRZOCtDJ8BFN9t6LTuyFcWngLAmzOdJs7En4/edit?usp=sharing

LA:

Ready to start reading and writing every day? Please bring a book (novel) & a coiled notebook for Monday 9th. I've included the course outline here for you to read over at your leisure. 

Course Outline 9

Social:

Welcome to Social 9 and I am looking forward to a fantastic year ahead. In Social Studies we will begin with the Quality of Life Unit. We will be comparing Q of L with Standard of Living through a variety of assignments. The federal election will take place in October, so please read articles and listen to news to gain a better insight about the election process and to begin developing your own political views.

If you need to contact me, I can be reached at the following email:

Jennifer Thorpe Fedchun

jlthorpefed@cbe.ab.ca