Last Day 32

In class today we covered the following topics:

English 10
-Finished our Mr.Shakespear Posters- we had the whole class to work and finish them

Leadership 8
- Team Building Activities
1. Toxic Waste Jump 2. Timed Ball 3. Lost At Sea 4. Riddle Madness

English 9
Finished our plot diagrams for "The Most Dangerous Game" and compared the story to The Simpsons version,

Thanks again for all the hard work and good luck with the rest of the semester!

Mr.Tobacca

Day 31

Hello parents and students.  Welcome back.  Mr. Stevens will be returning on Wednesday.  I would just like to thank everyone for a wonderful 6 weeks of teaching.

In class today we covered the following concepts:

English 9
-Read "The Most Dangerous Game"
-Created a plot diagram for the story

*Tomorrow we will compare and contrast The Simpsons parody of the story.

English 10
Introduction to William Shakespear and why we study his work.

-Created an educational poster about Mr.Shakespear

IMPORTANT REMINDER- bring in your food items and $2 for the food hamper- B Block Class

Leadership 8
Team Building Activities


Have a wonderful evening.

Mr.Tobacca

Day 30 X Block Day

Hello parents and students.  Happy Friday!

Classes were shortened today.  Today we covered the following topics:

English 9
Persuasive writing
Riddles

English 10
Louder Than a Bomb


Leadership 8
Team Building Activities
Finished the Birthday Board

B Block English 10 Food Hamper

Please bring in your items for the food hamper!  You also need to bring in $1 or $2.

Thank you!

Day 29

Hello parents and students.  Another wet day out there today.  When is this rain going to stop?  In class today we covered the following topics.

Leadership 8
Finished up the Birthday Board

English 10
C Block-
Handed in Narrative Essays
Completed a creative write- persuasive paragraph
Started Louder Than A Bomb

B Block-
Edited Narrative Essays
Writing time provided to finish final copy for hand in tomorrow.

English 9
Compare and contrast essay practice- block and point by point model
Read the short story "The Most Dangerous Game"

Tomorrow is an AG/X block day.  Please have all overdue assignments handed in by tomorrow.

Thanks

Day 28

Hello parents and students.  In class today we covered the following concepts:

English 10
C- block we completed an editing conference and wrote our final copy of our narrative essays- NARRATIVE ESSAYS are due tomorrow- Final copy, all nicely polished.
Homework: finish final copy of Narrative Essay for hand in tomorrow

B Block- most students were at the party program- you need to come to class with your rough copy of your narrative essay because we are editing them.
Homework: rough copy of essay completed and ready for our editing conference tomorrow

English 9
We continued to revise our essays.  They are due tomorrow- final copy- typed or written neatly
Mini lessons on: run-on sentences, sentence fragments and capital letters.

Homework: make corrections to Essay 1B and hand in Essay 1C (final copy) tomorrow.

Leadership 8
Birthday Board

Thank you and have a wonderful evening!

Mr.Tobacca

Day 27

Hello parents and students.  Today was a work day and everyone had on their tool belt.  Thanks for the hard work today.

These are the following activities covered:

English 10
*(Writing Time)Rough Draft of Narrative Essay- please have it completed for our next class together because we will be revising them.
Handouts' and narrative essays were handed out to support your writing- please use them as a model to help you write your narrative essay!

English 9
Reflected on the format of our essays- Think/Pair/Share
Revised our essays looking for wordiness and abused words
Introduced to Run-On sentences and how to correct them
Homework: For those students who still have not completed their rough copy of their essay it is mandatory that you have it in class tomorrow!

Leadership
Finished our Shackleton video- tomorrow we will respond to the video and start the birthday board.

Thanks for a great day!

Mr. Tobacca

Day 26

Hello parents and students.  Welcome back.  I hope you all enjoyed your weekend.  It looks like this will be my last week with you.  Mr.Steven plans to return on Monday next week.  Just a reminder that all overdue work will be due this Friday Nov 30.  Mr.Stevens will not be marking any of the missing work that I did with you.  You have had lot's of time to turn it in, so please get it in this week preferably before Friday.  Thanks!

In class today we covered the following concepts:

English 9
Revised our essay 1 A- compared it to another student paper and made changes
Editing conference happens tomorrow- please bring your good copy of your essay
Homework- good copy of Essay 1 B- revisions made from last hand in and today's lesson

English 10
-Reviewed narrative essay writing- anecdote, reflection, bait
-B block brainstormed their narrative essay ideas.
-Read a narrative essay called "The Dare" by Roger Hoffman
-Writing time provided
*Homework-C Block- come to class with a rough copy of your essay for editing tomorrow

Leadership 8
-Worked on an idea chain
-Stall street journal
-We will be starting the birthday board on Wednesday

Friday Day 25

Hello parents and students.  Sorry for the late post.  I was travelling to Victoria to visit family and was late on posting today's blog.  Anyway here it is.

On Friday we did the following activities in class.

English 10-
C  Block- discussed narrative essay writing- anecdote, reflection, bait
-Read a narrative essay "The Chase"- identified the anecdote, bait and reflection
-Brainstormed ideas for our own narrative(working with the writing process- pre-writing stage)
Homework- have your brainstorm done for Monday's class- thank you

B Block- compare and contrast writing time- please have your compare and contrast complete for Monday's class for hand in.  Please and thank you

English 9
-Handed in Essay 1 A- I will be checking only the format of the essay, providing feedback and sending it back for editing and corrections
-We looked at compare and contrast writing- discussed 3 models 1. block model 2. similarities to differences model 3. point by point model
-Reviewed how to develop a thesis= topic + your opinion
-Watched "All I Need" by Radio Head and contrasted the lives of the two boys shown in the video
-Practiced a response to the video
Homework: please have your paragraph completed for Monday

Leadership 8
-Viewed "Shackleton"
-We will continue with our word chain on Monday
-Birthday board on Wednesday

Thanks for reading today and have a wonderful weekend!

Mr.Tobacca

Day 24

NO CLASSES- PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWS

Day 23

Hello parents and students.

In class today we covered the following topics:

English 10
Compare and Contrast Rough Draft
Editing Conference
Homework: Final Essay for C block class due on Friday

English 9
How to write a conclusion
Homework: Rough draft of essay due on Friday

Leadership 8
Worked on data collected from the assembly
Shackleton Video

Thanks for a great day and I look forward to meeting with parents tomorrow!

Day 22

Hello parents and students.

Today in class we covered the following topics

English 10
Review on Intergrating Quotes
Compare and Contrast Outline
Rough Draft

English 9
Supporting Paragraphs- transitions, intergrating quotes
How to write an introduction

Leadership 8
Good vs Bad Leaders

Day 21

Hello parents and students of Vanier.  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and that everyone is all rested up for another week of learning.  Term 2 is underway and I have started to crack down on those students who are already falling behind.  If you are not doing your work in class or your homework you will now be working in our study support program at lunch.

Today we covered the following topics:

English 9
Essay Writing- paragraph vs essay
-Student essay examples
-How to write a supporting paragraph
-Research

Poetry projects were due on Friday please hand in your project ASAP

English 10
-I ROBOT

HW- starting thinking about how you are going to put your notes into a supporting paragraph

Leadership 8
Made banners and prepped for our up-coming assembly

Tomorrow we will discuss good vs bad leaders

Day 20 X Block Day

Hello parents and students.  Today was a short day, but we still managed to fit everything in.

English 10
-Continued to watch I-Robot and compared it to the short story "ATTOTW"

English 9
-Research Time- time provided for get notes to support thesis
-Introduced to our writing process rubric

Homework: come to class on Monday with at least two pages of notes (quotes, examples) to support your thesis statement.  Make sure that you cite your sources so you are able to create a Bibliography/Work Cited at the end of our unit.

Leadership 8
Finished Ice Breakers
Prepared/Brain Stormed Ideas for upcoming Assembly

Have an awesome weekend!

Mr. Tobacca

Day 19

Hello parents and students.  In class today we covered the following topics,

English 10
Reviewed compare and contrast writing methods.
-Read the short story "Stains"
-Discussed integrating quotes
-Practiced our quote formula- lead in,"direct quote" (pg#) Explanation
-Discussed "All The Troubles Of The World"
Started viewing I-Robot- we are going to write a compare and contrast essay for ATTOTW and I-Robot

English 9
Reviewed integrating quotes- lead in "quote" (pg#) explanation
Poetry Cafe- shared poems and wrapped up our poetry unit by sharing poems and songs

Leadership 8
Ice Breakers- the students planned and led their own ice breakers
Discussed our approach to an upcomign assembly.
Thanks for another great day!

Mr.Tobacca

Day 18

Hello parents and students.  In class today we covered the following topics:

English 10
-Viewed the music video "All I Need" by Radiohead
-Created a T-Chart
-Discussed Block and Point by Point Compare and Contrast Writing Models (handout given and learning support link on our blog)
-Wrote supporting contrast paragraphs for both writing models.

English 9
Read the short story "Stains"
Discussed integrating quotes
Practiced our quote formula- lead in,"direct quote" (pg#) Explanation
Work time to prepare for our Poetry Cafe tomorrow

Homework- every student must come prepared with one poem to share with the group.  Poetry projects are due on Friday.

Leadership 8
Students lead their ice-breakers
Peer/Self Evaluation

Thanks for a great day!

Mr.Tobacca

Day 17

Hello parents and students.  I hope everyone had a nice extended weekend.  Welcome back!  I look forward to a hard working group of students in term 2.

We are currently just finishing up our units of study in English 9 and 10.  We will now be working towards essay and grammar skills over the next 2-3 weeks.  It is important that students stay committed to completing work outside of class.  I encourage parents to support their child's learning by checking our blog and making sure that they are up to date on their work.

In today's classes we covered the following topics:

English 9
Final Poetry Presentations- last chance for anyone who has not presented
Finished our slam poetry documentary

Tomorrow we will be starting an essay writing unit.

English 10
Ended our CIDN Novel study
Watched our Movie Trailers
Finished reading "All The Troubles of The World"

Tomorrow we will discuss how to integrate quotes into our writing and we will be working towards a compare and contrast essay over the next week.  Come prepared to concentrate and work.

Leadership 8
All About Me
School Culture
Ice Breaker Research

Homework- please be prepared to present your ice break to the class tomorrow.

Thanks and have a great evening!
Mr.Tobacca

Day 16

Happy Friday!  I hope that everyone had a wonderful week of learning at Vanier.  Today was an X-Block day so the classes were shortened, but we did still cover some important concepts.

Leadership 8
- Introduction- who is Mr.Tobacca, class expectations
-School Culture

English 10
-CIDN Unit Test
-Read the short story "All The Troubles of The World"

English 9
-Slam Poetry- "Louder Than A Bomb"

Homework: have a poem ready to share for our Poetry Cafe on Thursday- work on your poetry assignment which is due next Friday.

Have a wonderful weekend!  See you all on Tuesday!

Day 15

It was another great day of learning in room 801.  Thanks for a great set of classes.

In class today we covered the following topics:

English 10
Editing our movie trailers in the library- please drop your finished project in my folder in the U Drive.

Homework: study for your CIDN unit test tomorrow!

English 9
Today focus was on Remembrance Day and why we remember
1. Finished SIFTing The Cremation of Sam MaGee
2. SIFTed Why Wear A Poppy by Don Crawford
3. Analyzed- In Flanders Fields

Homework: start putting together your poetry assignment and thinking about a poem or song that you would like to share for our Poetry Cafe.

Leadership 8
-Finished out team building activities- hoola hoop challenge, toxic waste cross, WW3
-Discussed critical thinking and personal leadership
-Met our new teacher for term 2 Mr.Tancon

Day 13

Hello parents and students.  Today we had a busy day of learning.

In class today we covered the following:

English 10- continued to work on filming and editing our CIDN movie trailers in the library- tomorrow is our last day to work on our movie trailers

English 9
We continued to focus on FORM
Poetry Term Presentations x3
Limericks
Ballads- The Creation of Sam Magee
Went over the expectations for our final poetry project.

Leadership 8
Team Building Activities
-lava walk, speed ball, duct tape challenge
-team building debrief

Day 12

Hello

In class today we covered the following topics:

English 10
1. Filming our movie trailer for CIDN
2. Setting up a drop box and using Movie Maker

Leadership 8
Team Building Activities
1. Flag Raising Ceremony
2. Tower Building
3. Riddle Challenge

English 9
1. SIFTed a poem
2. Presentations
3. Poetry Quiz
4. Haiku vs Tanka

Thanks for a great day!

Mr.Tobacca

Day 11

Hello parents and students.  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Welcome to another week of learning.  I'm super pumped to be sharing a number of fun activities with you this week.

In today's classes we covered the following concepts:

English 9
-Continued to work on our poetry vocabulary with a poetry crossword
-Poetry Terms Quiz #1- moved to Tuesday PLEASE STUDY!!!
-Reviewed what was taught last week 1.Rhythm (metric pattern) 2. Melody (Rhyme, Alliteration, -Assonance, Onomatopoeia) 3. Imagery-(Simile, Metaphor, Hyperbole, Personification)
-Continued to discuss Form
-SIFTed Starry Starry Night

Important Note: Poetry Final Assignment Handout went out today.
Homework: start thinking about your final assignment.

English 10
-Silent Reading- you must finish your novel by Friday this week
-Storyboarding Video
-Storyboarding

Tomorrow we will be in the Library working on our CIDN movie trailers.  All members must be finished their storyboard before you can start filming.

Homework: Finish your storyboard and catch up on your novel readings.

Leadership 8
Started our team building unit!
Debriefed team work skills demonstrated at the Volleyball tournament
Made teams, team flags, team names and team contract
Team Challenge #1 Stranded In The Desert

Thanks for a great day!

Mr.T

Day 10 X Block Day

Hello parents and students.  Thank you for another great week.  I would also like to thank everyone for their hard work this week.  Today in class we covered the following:

English 10
Silent Reading CIDN
Handed in Compare/Contrast Writing- was due today
Finished our Socio-Gram- due on Monday please finish

Homework: read to chapter 179 for Monday and complete Socio-Gram for hand in.

English 9
IA-Poetry Crossword- poetry terms review (Quiz on poetry terms on Monday please study)
3 poetry term presentations- great job on the presentations!
-Discussed Form- reviewed 1.Rhythm 2.Melody and 3.Imagery
-Think outlouds for "Starry Starry Night"- identified couplets, rhyme scheme.
-Listened to the song by Don Mclean- made a connection to Tupac
-Monday we will SIFT the poem

Homework- finish Poetry Crossword, study poetry terms for quiz on Monday- simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopiea, alliterations, cosnance, assonance

Leadership 8
Reflected on the leadership qualities of Shackleton- written response
Observed team work skills at the Sr. Boys Volley Ball tournament to connect to our team building skills unit we will start on Monday.

Have a wonderful weekend.  See you all on Monday!

Day 9

Hello parents and students. Happy November, this month has flown by.  Term 1 is almost over and I encourage you to get all your work in before its too late.

Leadership 8
Finsihed our Shackleton video and reflected on his leadership qualties.
Graffiti Board- what were Shackleton's leadership qualities?
English 10
IA: Compare and Contrast writing (due tomorrow)
Quiz #2
Started Socio-Gram
Homework: Please read up to Chapter 155 for tomorrow.
English 9
IA- poetry presentations x 3
Imagery- reviewed simile and metaphor
 Introduced to hyperbole and SIFTing a poem

Thanks for a wonderful day!

Mr.Tobacca

Day 8

Happy Halloween!  Make sure that if you are heading out tonight that you are safe.  In today's class we covered the following:

English 10
IA- finished the video
-Wrote our compare and contrast response
-Quiz #2- tomorrow
-Sociogram- tomorrow-Christopher's name surrounded by 4 character traits (+illustrations), supported by 4 quotes(pg# included), 4connections to 4 other characters in the novel (connected by a relationship word) + illustrations to beef it up
Homework: yes you do have homework if you didn't finish your compare and contrast response in class.

English 9
IA- Diamante Poems
-3 poetry term presentations
-Explored Imagery- Metaphors and Similes
-The Road Not Taken

Leadership 8
-Finished the Birthday Board
-Continued Shackleton

See you tomorrow!

Mr.T

Day 7

Hello parents and students.  In class today we covered the following topics:

English 10
-Finished watching Rain Man
-Started a compare and contrast response to the movie and the CIDN
Quiz #2 tomorrow- scan your chapters, look at the study guide on our blog



English 9
IA- rhythm and rhyme review activity
-Three poetry term presentations
-Discussed Melody- (alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia)
-Constructed Acrostic poems using onomatopoeia

Leadership 8
 Birthday Board

Great job today!  See you tomorrow.

Mr.Tobacca

Day 6

Hello parents and students.  I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.  I look forward to another awesome week at Vanier!  This is what we covered today:

English 9-
IA- two word poems and poetry term presentations
-Discussed Rhythm- the beat of poetry (syllable structure,- heavy vs light accents)
-Explored Melody- the sound of poetry (rhyme- single, double, end, imperfect)
-How to explode a poem and SIFT a poem

Homework: prepare for your poetry term presentation if you are presenting this week.  Your cue card must include- poetry term in bold letters, definition, connection, illustrations, colour.

English 10
IA- silent reading- be at chapter 113
-Compare and Contrast Raymond vs Christopher
-Analyzed the movie Rainman
Homework- fill out your note taking sheet (it will be marked at the end of the movie)

Leadership 8
Birthday Board

Thank you have a great evening!

Mr.Tobacca

Day 5

Hello parents and students.  What a wonderful week.  Thank you for all of your hard work this week.  I look forward to working with all of you next week.  Today was a short day due to the X Block and AG.  These are the following things that we covered:

English 10
-Read Aspergia Story
-Discussed/brainstormed our own Utopia
-Creative write- write a story about your Utopia (a place where you would go if things get to stressful) Due on Monday (Duo-tang)
Homework: read to chapter 101 for Monday, finish your Utopia story if you didn't finish it in class.
Poetry Assignments were due today

Leadership 8
-Shackleton Video
-Birthday Board starts on Monday
Homework- nothing!

English 9
-Watched the Highwayman animated poem
-Discussed the poems: tone/mood, rhythm, history, form, imagery
-Wrote about the meaning of poetry and completed a pair/group share
Homework: Twisty Tale if you have not handed it in yet!
Zack- Diction, Tara Rhythm, Dallion Rhyme Scheme- Poetry Term presentations on Monday

Thanks and have a great weekend.

Mr.Tobacca

Day 4

Hello parents and students.  Today was a day full of activities that encouraged critical thinking skills.  These are the concepts covered:

Leadership 8
1. Qualities of good and bad leaders- what leadership qualities do you have
2. Good vs bad leader drawing- if you didn't finish today you must complete it for HW tonight
3. Analysis of a good leader- Enerest Shackleton Video Analysis

English 10
1. Silent Reading CIDN- please be at 89 for tomorrow
2. Putting ourselves in Christopher's shoes- Simile and Metaphor activities
3. Signs activity
4. Group Share

English 9
1. Instant Activity- video Shane Koyczan "We are more"
2. Poetry terms scramble
3. What is poetry? What does it consist of?- 1. Rhythm 2. Melody 3. Imagery 4. Form
4.  How to explode a poem
5. Poetry term presentation draw
(Twisty Tales were due today- -1 mark for each day they are late)

Thanks for an awesome day.  Keep up to date on your homework and I will see all of you tomorrow.

~Mr.Tobacca

Day 3

Hello parent's and student's.  I would just want to thank all my new students for a wonderful day yesterday.  It has been a very nice transitions and I appreciate the hard work that every student is putting into our lessons.

Topics covered today:

English 10
Instant Activity: Paragraph writing- prove that Christopher is not dumb, provide at least 4 examples from the novel.
-Quiz #1
-Facial Expression Game
-Video
-Work Time

Homework- read up to chapter 79 for tomorrow.  Review the difference between a simile and a metaphor.

English 9
Instant Activity: Riddles
-Editing Conference- please make changes to errors in your twist tale and write/type a good copy for hand in tomorrow.
-Writing time- final copy

Homework- complete final copy of twisty tale for hand in tomorrow (there will be no more time to work on our twisty tale because we will be starting our Poetry Unit)

Leadership 8
-Qualities of a good vs a good leader (T-Chart)
-Qualities of a good vs bad leader (T-Chart)
-Video on leadership quotes
-Good vs bad leader drawing

No Homework- man you guy's are pretty lucky!!

Day 2

Hello parents and students.  Today was another jam packed day that was full of a variety of learning activities.  Thank you for another awesome day at Vanier!

English 10
These are the following things that we covered:
1. Stop, drop everything and read- please be at chpt 61 for Wednesday- remember the chapters are in prime numbers!
2. Autism Jigsaw

Poetry assignments need to be handed in by no later than Friday Oct 26.
Homework: Study for quiz tomorrow!

Leadership 8
These are the following things that we covered today:
1. What are 5 effective ways to lead a group?
2. Ice Breaks- led by students
3. Peer Evaluation/Reflection

English 9
These are the following things that we covered:
2.) Discussed what makes an effective twisted tale
3.) Discussed the marking criteria for the twist tale assignment
4.)Wrote our twisty tales- due this Thursday
Homework: finish rough copy for editing conference tomorrow

Day 1

English 10
Hello parents and students.  In class today we covered the following:
1. Introduction to Mr.Tobacca (class expectations, class blog, daily overview)
2. Discussed our new Novel Unit- The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-Time
3. Character Profiles

Homework: Prepare poetry assignment for hand in (evaluation hand out provided)

English 9
Hello parents and students.  In class today we covered the following:
1.  Introduction to Mr.Tobacca (class expectations, class blog, daily overview)
2. Tales With A Twist Continued
3. Video (movie with a twist)

Homework: Brainstorm ideas for your tale with a twist assignment

Leadership 8
Hello parents and students.  In class today we covered the following:
1. Introduction
2. Ice Breakers

Homework: be prepared for your icebreaker for tomorrows class

Thank you for a wonderful day.  See everyone tomorrow!

Mr.Tobacca

Secret message: Halloween is coming

Welcome

Hello student's and parents. 

Welcome to our learning support blog.  My name is Mr.Tobacca and I will be filling in for Mr.Stevens until he returns in early December.  I look forward to establishing an open communication network with all of you.

 Please bookmark www.tobaccavanier.blogspot.com in your favourites section on your computer.  This will make it easier for you to develop a habit of checking our blog daily.  Our classroom blog is important because it will work as a means of communication to help support learning.  It is intended to keep parents and students up to date on what is happening in our classroom.  On the left side of the blog you will see a section for important reminders about due dates of assignments and upcoming dates for tests/quizzes.  Below that are learning support links to further help support the concepts we cover in class.  Thank you for taking the time to become familiar with our new blog.  I look forward to keeping everyone up to date so we can work together to improve learning.

Thank you,

Mr.Tobacca