Have a restful break

A few shots from the past week

There will be no homework over the break, except for the Media assignment that a number of student did not complete (it was due this past Friday).  When there are TDSB holidays, no homework, according to the Homework Policy, is assigned. 

 (http://www.tdsb.on.ca/AboutUs/Policies,ProceduresForms/Detail.aspx?docId=199)

http://www.jamsptsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Happy-Holidays.jpg

Guide to check Ideal Society Media project, Girl Rising, and winding down for the holidays

 

The Media project is due this Friday.  This illustration/note was another attempt to help guide the students through the process for this project.  This is my way of being explicit about the project.  A few students have come forward with rough drafts to share with me so I may provide them feedback before the assignment is marked.  I have been very generous with class time for the students to complete this project

A lot of students may want to rush to complete the assignment without paying attention to the demands of the project.  Pay attention and put in the extra effort to make sure you are on the right track.

Yesterday, Room 52 played host to a screening of Girl Rising, which is a part of the Hot Docs in school education program.  Hot Docs is an international film festival that takes place in Toronto every Spring.  During the year, they are busy screening documentaries at the Bloor Cinema and developing educational outreach programs for schools.  I feel very fortunate to be a part of this outreach for the third straight year.

Grade 7 viewing Girl Rising

Here is a trailer of the film we viewed yesterday:

This film is a part of the movement you can check out at http://girlrising.com/ 

Here is the link to the main characters of the film:  http://girlrising.com/about-the-film/

Other homework:

- completion of map of Asia

- IPRC letters from Alyssa, Cassandra, and AJ

- last Math test of 2014 scheduled for Thursday or Friday (depends on rehearsal times for Holiday concert)

Past link for SBR survey, sample Grade 7&8 Study Sheet, sample Ideal Society poster

Here is the link for the SBR surveys.

http://rumblingsfrom52.blogspot.ca/2014/11/log-in-link-for-strength-based.html

Here is also a sample of a Grade Study Sheet I did on Circumference.

Here is a quick sample of a Study Sheet for the upcoming Grade 7 test.

I put together a sample Ideal Society/Community poster based on the Success Criteria chart.  I did this to help the students.

The day before the snow, Success Criteria, and Math notes

The Grade 7s were given a note today on calculating the perimeter of a rectangle.  It was meant as a visual reminder for them to understand the formula better.  I strongly encourage the students to do a daily review of any notes or work we do in class to help them with their understanding.  Any questions can then be brought in the next day to class for discussion.

A couple of formulas used by the Grade 8s and 7s.

I finally completed the Success Criteria for the Ideal Society/Community project.  I wanted it to be not too cluttered or confusing for the students.  

The students have all of the information they need for the project.  We have been spending some time looking at different examples of persuasive techniques used by advertisers to sell their products.  As part of this project, the students will have be persuasive in selling the societies they have created.

I am back!

After 2 days of IPRC meetings for the Grade 8s moving onto Grade 9, I am pleased to be back with the students of Room 52.

This entry will be short for now, but I will outline what is for homework:

The Grade 7s and 8s each had one Math question from their Measurement unit.

There was also a series of questions to go with an article we read today about the protests in Hong Kong.

Agendas have been signed.  Some students, however, leave their signed agendas at school and even forget to bring home the assigned work!

To be continued.

Checks before short quiz, copy of the SBR letter, the SBR survey, Mr. P's IPRC meetings next week, and the trip to the Bata Shoe Museum

Grade 8s reviewing

Grade 7s reviewing

Due to a busy Thursday afternoon, it seems that some of the Grade 8s and  7s completed the Math test and some did not.  I am happy to see that some of the students took the time to prepare for the test and made use of the homework written on the board to check to see if they are on the correct path.  The photos taken show them reviewing some of the homework, which served as the basis for the test.

Attached is a copy of the letter I sent home on Wednesday providing some details on the upcoming Strength Based Resilency program.

Unfortunately, I cannot provide the login information for the SBR survey.  It is crucial that all students complete the survey.  For those who haven't, I am hoping that you will be able to do it before the end of next week.  If we could begin the program before the last week of school, that would be a real positive.

If you do know your password and username and have started the survey, please complete it.

I will be helping to organize and lead the discussions for the IPRC Review meetings for the Grade 8 students who are moving onto high school.  Unfortunately, I will be in the school, but out of Room 52 on Monday and Tuesday.  The students will be spending this time with their other teachers.

Field Trip on Monday and Tuesday

I was very busy last week and made the epic mistake of forgetting to hand out trip forms to the Grade 8s who were to be visiting the Bata Shoe Museum on either Monday or Tuesday.  I a few of  the students have forms, and I do have some verbal confirmations from a parent saying they have permission to attend.  

I will send home forms for the students who will be attending on Tuesday on Monday, but if you wish to grant permission for the students to attend on Monday, please get in touch with me using my tdsb email, which many of you should have.  I apologize for this inconvenience.

HOMEWORK

Due to my participation in the School Support Team meeting on Thursday afternoon, no formal homework was assigned for the weekend.

There was homework assigned on Wednesday night in relation to the Media/Ideal Society project.  I received it from a handful of students on Thursday.  I did not provide them with any feedback due to the SST meetings I was preparing for.  

Once I am back in class on Wednesday of this coming week, we will return to this project and begin to look at the Success Criteria  (currently being developed) for this project.

Have a great weekend.

Math and Media

In stretching our Mathematical Minds, there was a lot of work that happened today.

The homework done a couple of nights ago was taken up and corrected today.

I check homework for completion but then take it up for the whole group to see and then correct.

Second Pool:  slightly shorter and wider,
but with the same perimeter, but different area.

I could see that some of the students were having some challenges with the Geoboards last week, so we did some review.  Thanks to Heather for creating a couple of shapes that we could talk about:

First Pool

I am trying to use the formula with the students.  You will notice I only counted the lengths and widths (with the marks) and then multiplied by 2.  These samples illustrate how a rectangle may have a different area, but have the same perimeter.

Two examples of work the Grade 8s are doing.  There are 4 samples of student questions on the board.  I wanted to have all of the students do a question, but a number of them did not do the work, which I find frustrating.

It is homework and not graded.  Students are encouraged to ask questions and copy down the correct answers.

A number of students are having difficulty understanding where to begin when answering this type of question.

I have encouraged the students, both in Grade 7 and 8 to review their work on a daily basis.  This review would also include the notes taken in class.



Although not from a lesson directly, knowing the parts of the circle is a big plus:

 I was going to give the students some more challenging work, but I think I will hold off until we are more confident with the basic questions relating to calculating the circumference.

In terms of our Media project, I feel more comfortable in breaking it down into some more manageable steps for the students.  I am trying to model the project by doing one of my own.  The students recently received a Triangle for understanding and creating a media project.

This is an old copy of a triangle for producing a media text, but you will get the idea of what I am talking about:

Using the idea of creating an Ideal Society for students who drop out of high school, I came up with this.  It may look a little crowded with information, but it is something your son or daughter has seen before.

I will go over this again in class.  I attempted to answer some of the questions I had checked off on all sides of the triangle.  Since I will be creating only a rough draft of my initial ideas, there will always be room for improvement.

There is no homework tonight, but t he students are encouraged to review their notes and begin thinking about the Ideal Society Media project.



Have a pleasant evening.

Clarence, by Shel Silverstein, narrated by the Stanley family, updates on the SBR program

This video was to be used with a Media lesson this afternoon but we were busy working on the online surveys for the upcoming Strength Based Resilience (SBR) program.  I am still smoothing out and trying to simplify a letter home to you about the program.  Sorry about this.  In the meantime, you may check out the program at http://strengthbasedresilience.com/

A number of students did not complete the Math homework from the weekend.  It will be taken up tomorrow and a short quiz will be assigned before the end of the week on what we have learned so far on the perimeter of a rectangle and circumference of a circle.

A couple of introductory Math games for Cicumference and using Geoboards to calculate Area and Perimeter

Geoboard perimeter exercise:  http://www.mathplayground.com/geoboard.html

To supplement this exercise, we did some work with "old school" Geoboards.  The challenges, and they went from easy to being a little more complex, are captured in some of the photos:

Reproducing work from the Geoboard onto the paper and then working on calculating the perimeter of the shape.

Most of the students were not aware that the formula for calculating the perimeter of a rectangle.  This is something we will use in this unit of Math.  It is: P = 2(l+w).

Here is a screenshot of a calculation we did as a class from the mathplayground game:

Using the formula to calculate the area

I did some scaffolding with the more complex portion of the work.  This involved creating different shapes with the same perimeter.

 Introductory review of the Circumference of a circle:  http://www.factmonster.com/math/knowledgebox/player.html?movie=sfw41551

To support this Grade 8 investigation, we were looking at the relationship between the circumference of a circle and the diameter of a circle.  Here are some photos of our investigations:

LOG IN LINK FOR Strength Based Resilience project, background information on the program, and access to TDSB student accounts

The following link will be used to enter the website for the Strength Based Resiliency project.  Information on this program will be coming home today.

http://www.strengthbasedresilience.com/user/study

The recent Problem of the Day/Journal question I posed to the students about a Growth and Fixed Mindset was based on some of the research from the manual that we will use in the program.  I participated in this project three years ago and would like to think that it provided the students with coping skills and an understanding of how their minds and thoughts work.

Here is a link to the authors of this project:  http://strengthbasedresilience.com/page/about


ALL WORK COMPLETED BY THE STUDENTS IS ANONYMOUS

Email accounts used by the students will be set up using the TDSB student email account system.  This service was made available on October 16 of this year.  The link to set up this account is aw.tdsb.on.ca

From the TDSB Academic Workspace (AW):

"Students will access their TDSB email through Academic (AW) Workspace aw.tdsb.on.ca by selecting the “Mail” tab. Access to AW is available 24/7 from anywhere in the world on any device with an internet connection."

Growth versus Fixed Mindset

The Growth Mindset: http://youtu.be/wh0OS4MrN3E

Square Footage (sorry, it is not metric)

For Grade 7 Math, I thought I would continue our introduction to Area and Perimeter by doing a fun activity.

Here are some measurements for a condo development on St. Clair.  The area is measured in square feet. 

http://thenestcondos.com/

A square foot is the standard unit of measure for developing a floor plan.

For this building, the floor plan I will use as an example if 444square feet.  Here is what the plan looks like:

To begin our journey on matters relating to area, you will be designing a floor plan for your own condo!  You will be using 1 cm grid paper (metric measurement).  You will be planning out your living space with the necessary items that you believe are important.  Afterwards, you will calculate the total area (in centimetres squared) of your space.

Here is a rushed example, done by Mr. Proudfoot to help illustrate what you will do.  Your finished floor plan may be coloured to personalize your space. 

Happy

Character Trait assembly, November 25, 2014

Corrected location of comma, visit to Central Tech, classroom Advertising Tour

 

While reviewing this example of the Sentence Collage for the students, I noticed that I misplaced the location of the comma. I corrected it.  It is supposed to be located before the conjunction.

The Grade 8s went on a trip to Central Tech today. I did not take photos during the visit, even though there was so much to see.  There is an information session, for families, on Wednesday, December 6.  Here is the flyer:

Flyer sent home today.  Family members 5-8 may attend!

Outside the front doors of the fabled Central Technical School

 

I have always believed that this school offers a HUGE variety of options and programs for students who are interested in many pathways (Culinary, Electrical, Academic, Applied...to name a few).

Yesterday, we got a head start on the Media Literacy project by doing a walking tour of the print advertisements in the classroom.  Here are some photos from the exercise:

Applying some of the lessons learned from this exercise to the next stage of the Media project on creating an Ideal Society will be our next objective.

Both the grades are embarking on new units in Math.  The 7s will be looking at the Area, Volume, and Surface Area of Rectangles and Rectangular Prisms (look at that, I capitalized all of them... such great respect).  The 8s will be looking at the area and perimeter of a circle.  Both concepts are Grade appropriate, albeit with reduced expectations.  I am pleased to say that most of the students, with the required accommodations, have been able to tackle the work we have been doing in class which has been at Grade level!

To those students who have been experiencing difficulty, I will be modifying the final evaluation from them and shifting the Grade level on the IEP (Individual Education Plan).

Have a good evening.