Learning Skills and Work Habits journal, Math, Health/Media Literacy

Learning Skills and Work Habits

This reflective bit of writing is intended to get the students thinking about how they learn and what they may need to do to improve or set the bar higher for themselves.

As usual, I model this exercise with a short example:

The assignment is posted on Google Classroom.

Over the last few years, I have come to see these skills as being just as, if not more, important than the grades students will receive on their report cards this term.  A number of years ago, I listened to author Paul Tough talk about "non-cognitive" skills that we often see in this Learning Skills section:

Mathematics:

A review of Prime and Composite numbers will accompany an upcoming test on the Order of Operations.

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/288652657344942753/

There are a few games I came across while doing some research, that we will try out to review before the test.

Media Literacy & Health:

All of the students had some opportunities to look through some wrappers and packaging of food and snack items that have been collected over the past couple of months.  While it is not a well-balanced collection of food items, our aim was to check out some of the nutrition labels; the long-term purpose of this exercise involves developing an awareness of what we put in our bodies.

We will continue to dissect these labels some more, but here are a few shots of the worksheets (I was out of the classroom at the time).

This was my initial sample for the class to mirror.

Not the best photo (lighting sucks), but each student became more familiar with some of the content on the nutrition labels.  On the Google Classroom site for this assignment, I posted a couple of Youtube videos providing some details on the labels.

It is not even Halloween yet, and I took my serving portion of these tasty snacks.  Not a lot of nutrition happening in these cookies.  Perhaps I will need to pay closer attention to the topic of the magazine in this photo if I keep snacking on these items!

 In our Media Literacy class, we will take a look at the CBC Marketplace program on food labels and how they can be misleading.  There will be a short, in-class set of questions to accompany this viewing.

A few snapshots and the move towards Google Classroom

Hopefully, most of this blog's audience will have taken a look at the Classroom sections on Google Classroom.  In posting some assignments, links, and information there, I have not been as active in this space.  Still, I will post from time to time.

Fall is always a busy time in school.  With almost 8 weeks under our belts (we're knocking on 2/10, 1/5, or 20%), we are approaching the Progress Report season.  Parent-Teacher interviews will be happening on the evening of November 16 and the morning of November 17.

Here are a few shots:

As we near the end of our look at Order of Operations (using the rule of BEDMAS), we played a version of BINGO involving the computation of Mathematical expressions.  I may use this as a review strategy for when we evaluate this unit.  I also have another game, relating to factoring, that we may do before the next test.  

UPDATE:  As I was contemplating adding another photo, I accidentally deleted the entire post, which is quite frustrating. So, it may not be an engaging as it was about 5 minutes ago.

The homework that is being put up on the board is now posted on Google Classroom.  Every student is responsible for checking to make sure that they are understanding the homework.  It is also being tracked for completion.  I do not grade homework, but it is something which should be completed and a part of developing a greater sense of responsibility.

For one of the questions on the Grade 8 Math, it involved a word problem about joining a Gym.  I often want to find connections between what happens in the real world and the items we study and learn about in school.  So, I found some information about the membership rates of the Planet Fitness gym at Galleria Mall:  http://www.planetfitness.ca/offers/1053

There were a few shots, I took with my phone, from our visit to Stratford a couple of weeks ago.  Here are a few shots of our class members on stage during the Prologue workshop:

Goodnight

NYT for Thursday, History Inquiry Project thinking, Toronto's "The Ward" neighbourhood, helpful Order of Operation image

New York Times inferencing exercise 

History:

Over the next few periods, the specific details of the History Inquiry/Project will be shared with you.  For now, we will be thinking a little bit about the topics that may interest us and where we should look for some of that information.

I will be posting a list of tentative topics here and on Google Classroom for you to think about.  

The older textbooks in the class might be a place to begin browsing, but the Virtual Library is a solid place to begin.  I am going to post the link for it here and in the links section.  http://www.tdsb.on.ca/library/HOME/schoolno/5218

There is an extensive list of possible topics to explore.  I am going to post them here and on Google Classroom.

As I said before, I will be explaining what some of these items relate to so you have a better understanding of what you are researching.  For the first stage of the research, you are asking questions and poking around to see what you may be interested in researching.

Item 1 is where we will be spending some time for now.

You can ask Ms. Ling, or myself, questions, and you may want to think of visiting the Gladstone Branch of the Toronto Public Library.

I did not post any of the information from our class discussion, a couple of days ago, on The Ward.

taken from http://www.blogto.com/city/2012/06/a_brief_history_of_the_ward_torontos_notorious_slum/

from  http://www.wardmuseum.ca/thewardourlivinghistory/

Bound by College Street to the north, Queen Street to the south, University Avenue to the west and Yonge Street to the east, the Ward was where many newcomers to Toronto from the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century first settled. It was a densely populated neighbourhood and at various points home to African-Canadians, refugees from the Irish Potato Famine, African-Americans who escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad, Russian and Eastern European Jews, Italian and Chinese immigrants, and many more. Prior to this, the area was a site of human activity for at least 15,000 years, with the land most recently being the territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit River (Ontario First Nations Maps, 2016). Amid protest, residents of the Ward were eventually pushed out of the neighbourhood. Businesses, churches, synagogues, theatres, and shops closed as residents were moved out of the area. Buildings were demolished to make way for hospitals, government buildings, department stores, a bus terminal, new City Hall and Nathan Phillip Square.

The amount of information is wonderful and says so much about our city.  To see some of the of the early community members of The War, stories, please check out:  http://www.wardmuseum.ca/picturingtheward/theward/

From my reading, a lot of the stories about the neighbourhood have been pejorative.  In this context, that word refers to something being insulting.  Often, this community was referred to as an "immigrant slum", but this bustling community was a vibrant home to so many people, who were often poor yet working hard to create something new.

This video captures some images from some of the earliest immigrants in Toronto, who often had cause to leave where they were originally from (Jews in Russia, Irish fleeing famine, African-Americans coming to Canada via the Underground Railway) and, consequentially, developed the early blueprint of multiracial/multicultural Toronto.

Mathematics:

A helpful slide which demonstrates how to take one step at a time in a BEDMAS/Order of Operations type question:

It seems like there are a lot of goodies from this site:  https://www.tes.com/lessons/RdcBdPBBMrYnwQ/pedmas

   

Math test prep and next steps, Halloween talks, Myth Writing & future lessons

Mathematics:

It has been a very busy week and I have not had the opportunity to do some writing and reflecting.

The items in the photo are a collection of items from our prep for our upcoming Math test.  

I am using Google Classroom a lot more now to communicate with the students and have detailed some notes on what is needed to be ready for the upcoming test.  During the game playing (fraction based games posted on GS), I was able to work with some students and help review some concepts relating to the LCM (finding a common multiple for adding or subtracting with the same denominator) or the GCF (for reducing fractions to the lowest term).

There seem to be so many topics and possibilities for study in the Number Sense Strand.  All of it is significant to understanding the other work we will do in the other strands.  After this fraction unit, we will move into some short work on Order of Operations, into the realm of positive and negative numbers (Integers), and a review of decimals, percentages, and ratio.  I will do my best to thread a connection among all of the things we do in Math to demonstrate how Math is indeed beautiful and has a purpose.

This video was requested by Jiya and Saya...maybe Hannah, as well:

Media Literacy:

Ms. Kramer proposed a possible question we could ask the class about Halloween costumes, in light of the current issues around what is and isn't appropriate to wear.  I thought we would look at the idea of costumes  being a form of media which can communicate messages.

We checked out a couple of examples of issues in the news and will continue to look at the items as we approach Halloween:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/halloween-2017-costumes-1.4351695

 As I searched the Internet for this story, I came across this bizarre form of costume:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41651066

Writing:  Myth

You may not be aware of this, but the writing assignment we are currently engaged in is around Myths.  At this point, we are in the pre-writing stage and working on brainstorming ideas.  Last week, I assigned some initial jot notes for this assignment.

For our purposes, the myth the students will create will explain some aspect of the world and connect it with a fictional story.  For example, giraffes got their long necks from stretching to get food from trees.  I will post the handout given out today (Wednesday) on Google Classroom.  

Further lessons will help explain the process of using transition words and quotations in writing. 

https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/teaching-with-a-mountain-view-4931299/teaching-quotation-marks-dialogue-4795449457

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/530932243543711643/?lp=true

To be continued.  If you check out the Pinterest site, I warn you that you may be sucked into a Black Hole of information!!

All 4 Historical Concepts in one news item

Local Indigenous leader 'optimistic' after Walmart pulls 'native princess,' 'chief' costumes from site http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/walmart-native-costumes-1.4354726 Shared via the CBC News Android App

Bank of Canada process for selecting Viola Desmond

On the most recent History test, there is a question about Viola Desmond.  She will be featured on the new $10 in 2018.  The Bank of Canada, who are in charge of making decisions about our currency, explain the steps of the historically significant process here:  http://www.bankofcanada.ca/banknotes/banknoteable/

In Math, for 7/8B, we will be using another approach to preparing for next week's test.  Instead of a Study Sheet, we will be playing some online Math games and using an Internet Learning chart to document our understandings.  More details are posted on Google Classroom.

Show and Tell, reviewing for the upcoming test

Language:  Show and Tell/Show and not Tell

This is an Oral Communication exercise that all students of the class are responsible for completing.  This assignment was posted on September 14 on Google Classroom and I modeled how to do it on a couple of occasions.

Mathematics:  Review for Fractions Test Part 1

We began our review for our upcoming test today.  A number of items will be posted on Google Classroom with some attached notes.  I will post the general note we went through today:

100s chart:  used to find common multiples (when circles overlap on a digit)

Multiplication Charts can assist you in discovering the GCF of a number.  In the above example, the GCF for 4 and 6 is 2.  Why?  They both are circled under the column with the heading of 2.

I still have to post the answer to the most recent set of Homework that was assigned.  I am glad to see that more students are working harder to complete their work!

We will continue our look at these ideas on Friday, in class.  Tomorrow, we are off to Stratford!!

Brain matters: Research on ADHD and notes on Neuroscience, notes on upcoming Math test and a couple of fractions games

Matters of the Brain

Let them fidget: Children with ADHD seem to learn better when they're moving http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/adhd-brain-1.4344754 Shared via the CBC News Android App

Thea, and those of you who were wondering about Part 1 from the Class Dojo series on Growth Mindset.  Now that I see it, I think I may have shared this before.  This one introduces the idea of Neuroplasticity and the ability of the brain being able to learn and stretch with some work.

The ability of the brain to grow is looked at a little more in this Class Dojo video on neurons in the brain:  

Here is a little more in-depth material on your neurons.  

In the Links section, I added a great Youtube link on methods for studying; check it out!

Mathematics: preparing for a test

I will be posting a couple of images on Google Classroom relating to some review items for Math (Improper and Equivalent Fractions).  This is a video, which I did two weeks ago and posted on Google Classroom but it summarizes the idea of Equivalent Fractions and the concept of reducing to the Lowest Terms.

This will probably be our last week and a half of working through the Number Sense Unit on matters relating to fractions.  I will then move into another strand which uses fractions, decimals, and percents.

It was either in a post from last week or on Google Classroom, but I posted a link to a game involving the addition and subtraction of fractions.  Here is a review site for Mixed Numbers to Improper Fractions and, I hope, Improper Fractions to Mixed Numbers:

http://www.mathplayground.com/fractions_mixed.html

Here is a game, for you Football fans, for reducing fractions:

http://www.math-play.com/simplifying-fractions-game/simplifying-fractions-game.html

Corrected Math HW and the new Math HW has been added to the Math section of Google Classroom.

Use your agenda & Grit, work and learning from mistakes, Sugar and your brain

Learning Skills and Work Habits:

Yes, this is a very large image for an important reminder about the importance of using the agenda.  Every month, I want to check the agendas to ensure that they are being used and that all students are on top of the work they are expected and required to complete.

In order to grow and develop your skills as a student, you need to make mistakes.  In order to make mistakes, you have to try.  I know so many of you do and am very proud of that.  Work is hard...

...and sometimes you may not, yet, understand the ideas right away.  That's okay.  With some grit and hard, help from your teacher(s) and supportive friends, it is possible.  That is the power of YET.

Health/Language

I will be using an article on the brain and sugar in teens to assist you in understanding how to complete a Reading Response.  To activate some prior knowledge for the article I will share with you, here is a short video.  We will come back to it again because it is full of a lot of information:

Reviewing with Math Games: Factorization and Adding & Subtracting fractions

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image from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7YK5aKZXAg2GQrOTGFGP0haruDEA5HyYeeXNZbaK5HJmaP15VxVGl3y7aYXacYN9x0h2rziWNKb-UfBWCc1BMTT2zOItK9aZ7qItpij6LibgM8MksdsoUKrG1VRRmZTsh7IGqS6YSNehp/s1600/3303736906_4b1c3e0af6_z.jpg

Mathematics

I used to use Math games a fair bit when I would review and teach concepts in Math.  It was another mode for offering another way of learning for a number of our learners.  I will aim to return to this method this year.

https://www.mangahigh.com/en-us/games/sigmaprime















There is another game, worthy of review and playing, but it requires an explanation and teaching of Improper & Mixed Fractions (sometimes known as Mixed Numbers).

http://www.math-play.com/adding-and-subtracting-fractions-game.html

https://www.slideshare.net/martagrovello/converting-mixed-numbers-and-improper-fractions

Jiya's pal: