Science Centre visit, Study Sheets returned, Snapshot casting for Photo Club members

Here are some photos from the Grade 7 visit to the Ontario Science Centre.  They are images of students from 7C.

The Study Sheets for the Resource Math Integer test on the adding and subtracting of integers were returned to all of the students who completed one.  It will form a small portion of your mark on the test and may be used during the test.

The idea was to use the homework questions and handouts to come up with a review sheet to use during the final evaluation.  I am pleased to see some people put in a solid effort to review their work.

The final test is tomorrow and will happen after I do a review in class.

The Photo Club has not connected in quite some time.  Michelle Ormsby, one of our Office Administrators, brought this website and CBC program to my attention.  It is called Snapshots and they have a contest that I thought members of the club might explore.   Here is the site:  http://www.snapshotstv.com/

I thought we might take a look at it and see what the group thinks.  Also, there are some possibilities for exhibiting at The Gladstone Hotel in the future.  According to Ms. Verhagen, it may be possible to showcase some of our work at The Drake.  Pretty cool.


I feel as though the Book Talks have been put on hold too long.  I have a book that I am currently reading and will use this to model what the Book Talk should look and sound like.  I will use this book by Andre Alexis called 15 Dogs.  It won the 2015 Giller Book Prize.

It will not be a polished performance, but it will give the students a sense of what and how it should sound like.

International Beaver Day, 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, Journal Response, Inference work in action, homework

After we move ahead in History, this news story will be an important item for understanding our Big Idea for this year.  I don't want to spoil the secret quite yet, but this fella plays an important role.

http://www.thestar.com/life/2015/04/07/april-7-is-official-day-for-pretty-much-everything.html

http://www.beaversww.org/about-us/international-beaver-day/

This is one of our new reads for this portion of the year:

Here is a list of the habits, along with an image from the book:

copied from http://fremdeng.ning.com/profiles/blogs/7-habits-of-highly-effective-teens

This book works well with a second part of a journal exercise we are working on from yesterday.  Here are our completed observations of the handout, along with a response I did for the class:

This response is now for homework and due tomorrow.

I took some shots of 7B working on an inferencing exercise.  It is the same one that 7A worked on, earlier in the week.

Image up on the screen

Sheet separating observations from inferences

Avery pointing at....

...the image, behind Cameron.

homework
- Diorama + cue card with sentences describing the scene
- Journal from "Some important thoughts to ensure success"

A post Coding classroom, returning to resilience, generating questions, tonight's homework

As soon as the results of the Coding (EdApp Hack) competition are in, I will let you know if one of our two teams is moving forward.

During a lot of our Language periods over the past few weeks, we had been putting a lot of our energy into preparing for our presentations.  With the quarter finals of the competition being done, we are now able to return to some of the work he were on pause from.

Before Friday, I will be sending a memo home for students who have a number of homework items not completed.  The memo will look like this and have a space to list off the items which need to be completed.

One of the items we were discussing concerned the idea of resilience, or the ability to bounce back from a difficult situation or moment.  I received this handout, I am not sure from where, but it will be used in a journal response.  I was going to do it today, but found there was value in listening to what the students understood from each bit of wisdom.  Rather than rush to complete a task, it is more important that the students connect with it and then attempt to write about it.

I know it is not entirely clear, but each student has this handout.  The prompts on the side are intended to help them start the writing process.  Once we go through all of the ideas, I will show them a sample piece of writing, which I will model.  The quotes beside some of the quotes come from the students.

In History, both classes participated in generating questions relating to a subsequent viewing of the animate film, E.

We will sort the questions into the 4 categories (beginner, detective, judge, inventor), in a subsequent class.

homework
- Diorama project due on Friday, April

EdAppHack images from Parkview Banquet Hall

The tables of this morning's presenters were set up in th Parkview Banquet Hall.  We were at tables 1 & 2.  Here are some images with the two groups presenting to the judges.  I was so proud of the group of 6 who showed up, early to school, to be part of this exciting, collaborative project.

A toast, before the competition begins!

The only two representatives for this group, Tony and Nat, talking with the First Round judge.

Reid, explaining to the first round judge.

Avery, talking with the second round judge.

Tony, with the second round judge.

According to my daughter, pictured below and also at  the competition, the results of this preliminary round will be out this coming Monday.  Stay tuned.

Tony, with a glass stuck on his mouth.  Kidding.

Lights, camera, action: History Presentations Begin and a visit from Roseneath Theatre & Integer games and preparing a Study Sheet

We had another great visit from Roseneath Theatre who shared another production of The Incredible Speed of Jamie Cavanaugh with the Grade 4 to 8s today.  

This was one of the few shots I took of the production today.  I was not allowed to take photos!

Speaking of acting, the Grade 7s began their presentations in History today.  Here is a screen shot from the Promethean Board that I had up in the room.  It was a reminder for the presenting groups on what we focused on:

It is comprised of the evaluation form -- there is a peer evaluation component -- a look at the concepts, and the elements of Drama.  In between the presentations, we will be using the History textbook to guide some of our work.

The students in the Math Resource class will be working and playing tomorrow (Tuesday).  They will be working on developing a Study Sheet to assist them in remembering strategies for adding and subtracting integers, along with playing some games, which I will list below.

This is for a Math Jeopardy game.  Focus only on the addition and subtraction, not the multiplication and division:
http://www.math-play.com/Integers-Jeopardy/Integers-Jeopardy.html

screenshot from Sheppard Software integer game

Sheppard Software has come up with a fun, creative way to review, as well.  It was about this time, last year, that the 7s were doing Integer adding and subtracting and I posted the following links.

This is for the subtraction part:  http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/integers/FS_Integer_subtraction.htm

This is for the addition part:
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/integers/FS_Integer_addition.htm

In addition to playing, the students will also be responsible for developing a Study Sheet.  This may be used during the test.  I am going to post some samples of Study Sheets and briefly comment on them.  Think of them as a way to study by reviewing what you have learned from your homework or from playing these online games.

None of these examples relates to the concept we are looking at now, but I think you will get the idea.

On all sheets submitted, I will provide you with some descriptive feedback to give you a sense of what you may need to spend some more time reviewing.

Notice that this student has written out the definitions to assist her with remembering the key ideas.  This may or may not work for you, but it did for this student, who often did very well on her tests.

This one was done by me, as an example for the class.  I made a point of balancing some problem solving questions and made note of some important formulas.  I have a lot of visuals, because I am a visual learner.  If you need to draw pictures of number lines for your sheet, please do it!

All study sheets must be handed in to Mr. Proudfoot by Wednesday morning.  Remember, it is only a review sheet for the adding and subtracting of Integers!

History Class: Setting up some discussions on Canadian History (for Monday)

One of the important techniques in studying History is the ability to ask questions and grapple with ideas.
We will be returning to some familiar ground and engage in a question posing exercise for the film, E https://www.nfb.ca/film/e_en.

Watch this film again and, with the Post-It note provided, think of one question you would like to ask about the film.  Think of the prompts of who, why, what, how, & where. 

Once you are done, you will have to place your question on a chart paper into the categories outlined on this chart.  Determine if your question are in the category of Beginner, Detective, Judge, or Inventor.

 

Before we get into some history behind this powerful image, let us first look at it, and then work in small groups to decipher what might be going on:

http://www.uppercanadahistory.ca/finna/que1p8a.jpg

Using the following paper as a guide, please fill in each section.  Place the names of your group members at the top of this paper.  This page comes from The Critical Thinking Consortium.  Information on this group may be found at https://tc2.ca/.
 
This image is an artist's rendering of the moment when Jacques Cartier, under the direction of the King of France in 1534,  arrived on the Gaspe Peninsula and erected this cross as France's claim to this new land.  Chief Donnacona, pictured somewhere in the photo, apparently, weren't down with this; this is Colonialism, in case you weren't sure what to call it.

As a group, please read the short section on p. H6 in the textbook on Jacques Cartier.  Only read to the end of the paragraph at the top of p. H7.

This colonial encounter should be explained with a definition.  Here is a screenshot from dictionary.com:

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/colonialism

Here is a short YouTube video, not intended to be 100% accurate in its analysis, but nonetheless, a useful perspective on Colonialism in Canada:

In 2009, at a G20 summit (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-20_major_economies) in Pittsburg, PA, former Prime Minister Harper mentioned this:

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/derrick/2009/09/harper-denial-g20-canada-has-no-history-colonialism

In between the presentations for the Historical Concepts exercise, we will be using the textbook as a guide and paying more attention of the forum and function of the colonial rule in early Canada.  One of our initial assignments will involve looking at the role of the Fur Trade in early Canada.

App competiton, memo home on IEPs & lunch hour, comma test, Resource Math homework

On Tuesday, students from 7C will be taking part in a regional competition for app development at the Parkview Manor banquet hall.  There are 3 teams from our class and each group has spent a lot of time preparing for this.  The departure time for this trip will be at 8:00 on Tuesday morning.  I had the permission forms ready to go home yesterday, but I forgot to send them home!  They will be going home, today.

 The following memo was sent home on Wednesday and made reference to the Term 2 IEPs and the lunch permission form.  Even though lunch permission forms were handed out in the Fall for the lunch procedures, I wanted to make sure students knew they had the option for going out or staying at AMG.  The decision still rests with the parents and the form should be returned to Mr. Proudfoot as soon as possible.

 

A copy of the IEP is for you to keep, I only need to have page 5 returned, with a signature, so I am aware that you have seen the IEP.

Once the app project fair is completed on Tuesday, we will be re-focusing our energies in Language and returning to our Book Talks, the Hedonic ad project, and our paragraphing work around the themes of resilience.  

homework

Resource Math:  p. 215, #15 textbook

Multiple Choice Comma test:  Wed., April 6

Second, and final deposit, for camp due on April 18th for $61.70

Grade 7s practicing for Pink Day step performance