What We Learned Today...February 28th

Today was Friday, and that means we had our weekly today's meet chat with students from St. Francis and St. Gabriel. The students discussed Dystopian characteristics and connected it to Russia and the Olympics in Sochi.   Once again, I was very pleased with how well the students in our class represented our school.  In Grade 8 Math the students took a quick quiz on "socrative" about the lesson from last night before working on an assignment from Pg. 273.

After lunch the students had Phys. Ed and they took a break from Badminton and worked on some Circuit Training today.  At 1:23 we had Science and we continued to work on the research portion of the Science Fair Projects.  I would highly recommend doing some research this weekend because we need to have all projects completed before our fair date on March 27th.  During the last hour of the day we headed to the gym for our Month End Assembly, which also doubled as the "Battle of the Classes" kick-off.  This means that over the next month our class will be competing with Ms. Csada's and Ms. Zenuk's classes to see who can achieve the most AR points per student! Let's keep the trophy in the Bresciani Dome for a second consecutive year!

Here's another picture from our Today's Meet chat this morning:

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

ELA:

Be sure to post in Edmodo if you havent yet.  

Science:

Research portion of Science Project needs to be completed by March 10th

Science Fair is on March 27th

Math:

7.3 handout due Monday, March 3rd

Quiz on Monday, March 3rd

Unit Exam on Thursday, March 6th

Pg. 273 (Due Wednesday)

a) 3b - 9, 11
b) 3b, 8, 11-14, 17
c) 3b, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 18, 20

What We Learned Today...February 27th

Working hard on their Science Fair Projects!

We kicked off our morning with the usual half hour period of AR before beginning ELA.  In ELA students continued to work through Section #3 of our Dystopian Book Club and worked on their Blog Posts and Comments as well as a brief Edmodo post.  *Don't forget that both Blog Post #3 and Comment #2 are due by 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.  In Grade 8 Math we continued to learn using "Flipped Classroom" method.  Since students had watched the video lesson last night, they each took a short quiz about the lesson.  The purpose of the quiz is not to obtain marks, but rather to assess the students comprehension of the material covered in the lesson.  The program/app that we use for the quizzes is called "Socrative" and the students are able to take the quiz right on their device and once it is completed it automatically sends all the data straight to me via email.  For the duration of the class we worked on the textbook assignment as well as handout 7.3.

After lunch the students had Arts. Ed with Ms. Postma and they continued to paint their social issue posters. At 1: 38 we had Science and students began the research portion of their Science Fair Projects.  Don't forget, we have our school Science Fair on Thursday, March 27th so we've got a lot of work to do in a short amount of time!  During the last hour of the day Mr. Fuchs stopped by to take the students for Phys. Ed and they worked on different badminton skills.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

ELA:

Blog Post and Comment #3 due Friday

Be sure to post in Edmodo by Friday!

Science:

Research portion of Science Project needs to be completed by March 10th

Science Fair is on March 27th

What We Learned Today...February 26th

Unfortunately I was away this morning at a BYOT meeting, however the students were very fortunate to have Mr. Bird as their sub.  Today the students started out their morning with a half hour period of AR before moving on to ELA. In ELA the students were given the entire hour to work on their Blog Post #3, Comment #2 and their Edmodo response.  Just in case you forgot, a list of all these assignments as well as their due dates can be found in the Dystopian Book Club Package located here or at the top of the page under the ELA tab.  For Grade 8 Math, since we are now learning through the "flipped" method, students viewed the lesson last night and worked on their assignment in class with the aid of Mr. Bird.  

After lunch the students had Phys. Ed and they worked on some badminton skills.  At 1:23 we had Science and officially began working on Science Fair projects.  For this assignment, students have the option of doing a research based project or a experiment based project.  The overview of these assignments can be found in the Science Fair Package that is located under the Science tab.  Please note that our fair will be on Thursday, March 27th at Deshaye.  During the last hour of the day Ms. Zenuk stopped by for Health and were given a work period to catch up on homework due to our technology issues today.  

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

ELA:

Blog Post and Comment #3 due Friday

Be sure to post in Edmodo by Friday!

Science:

Research portion of Science Project needs to be completed by March 10th

Science Fair is on March 27th

Religion:

Pope Francis assignment due Tomorrow

What We Learned Today...February 25th

We kicked off our morning today with a brief period of silent reading before Mr. Meyers stopped by for his monthly presentation. He spent time with us today teaching us about the importance of Ash Wednesday and the history behind why we receive ashes on our foreheads. Mr. Meyers also taught us more about Lent and about the three major concepts associated with it: Fast, Pray and Give. As per his usual visits, the students were quizzed throughout his presentation and were treated to different sweets for each answer they gave! I know I speak for the entire class when I say we really appreciate whenever Mr. Meyers visits because we learn so much and have a great time doing it! (If you want to check out the really cool Lent Calendar Mr. Meyers showed us, you can check it out at Busted Halo)
In ELA, the students who were not at full band were given the entire hour to work on their Dystopian Book Club Blog Posts as well as their small assignment in their Edmodo group.

After lunch Ms. Postma stopped by for Arts. Ed and the students continued to work on their Social Justice Posters as well as a new painting assignment.  During the last hour of the day the students had Health with Ms. Zenuk and they learned more about body image and "photoshopping".

*Parents: Don't forget there is a meeting tonight at Deshaye at 7:00 for Grade 8 Farewell.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

ELA:

Section #3 reading due tomorrow

Blog Post and Comment #3 due Friday

Be sure to post in Edmodo by Friday!

Science:

Project Idea and Testable question due tomorrow

Science Fair is on March 27th

Religion:

Pope Francis assignment due Thursday

What We Learned Today...February 24th

This morning we started off our week with a school wide assembly in the gym before heading back to the classroom for ELA.  In ELA the students got into their Dystopian Book Club groups and began reading and working on the Section #3 assignment.  *All reading for Section #3 needs to be completed by Wednesday and Blog Post #3 is due on Friday.  At 10:53 we had Math and the students were introduced to a new approach we will be trying out in Math over the next month.  This new approach is called a "Flipped Classroom" and it involves teaching in a way that sees the students learn new content online through the use of educational videos prepared by their teacher. This is usually completed at home and what used to be homework is now accomplished during class time with the teacher. This approach allows for more personalized interactions with the students during class time instead of lecturing.  More information about this can be found on the Math tab located at the top of this blog.

After lunch we had Science and the students began brainstorming a topic for their Science Fair Project.  I have placed some information about the Science Fair on the Science Tab and I will be sending home a note tomorrow regarding the official date and time of the fair.  During the last hour of the day the students had Social Studies with Mr. Csada.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

ELA:

Section #3 reading due Wednesday

Blog Post #3 due Friday

Science:

Project Idea and Testable question due tomorrow

What We Learned Today...February 14th

Focused during our Today's Meet conversations.

We started out our morning with French and the students took turns presenting their Olympic assignments.  At 9:40 we watched the Dystopian clip that can be in the post found below and then chatted with students from St. Francis and St. Gabriel about it and our novels.  Once again, I was incredibly impressed with how mature and responsible our students were in their conversations today.  The students carried on great conversations and had very thought provoking conversations with our class and students from the other schools.  Well done everyone!  In Math, the Grade 8's spent the hour working on assignment 7.2 while cheering on Team Canada during the hockey game.

After lunch the students were unable to have Phys. Ed due to the dance in the gym so we spent the hour watching the Disney movie "Cool Runnings" as a reward for all their work this week. At 2:08 we headed to the gym for some fun at the Senior Dance.
I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe family week.  See you all after the break!

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

ELA:

Get caught up on all work and reading over the break,

Science:

Brainstorm a Science Fair experiment that you can begin working on after the break

Live Chat! Second Today's Meet Meeting

Today we're back for our second today's meet chat with students from St. Francis and St. Gabriel. 

We will watch the following clip and in a few minutes we will discuss it together using today's meet.

The Greatest Dystopian Society

 

Now that we've finished the video it's time to chat!  Below I have posted the today's meet addresses for you as well as QR codes.  To use the QR codes just scan the image beside your novel using your scan app and it will take you right to the chat room.  Enjoy!




 Divergent: https://todaysmeet.com/divergentmeet















City of Ember: https://todaysmeet.com/Ember














Hunger Games: https://todaysmeet.com/HungerGamesGroup

 
Maze Runner: https://todaysmeet.com/Maze_Runner











 

Eleventh Plague: https://todaysmeet.com/eleventhplaguechat

What We Learned Today...February 13th

Social Justice poster in progress.

This morning we started out our day with a half hour period of silent reading from 9:08 to 9:38.  In ELA, the students were given the entire hour to work on the Section #2 blog posts as well as their fakebook assignment.  The blog post assignment is due tomorrow so unfortunately that means it will be homework tonight if it was not finished in class today.  At 10:38 we had Math and the Grade 8's spent the hour working on the 7.2 assignment in their textbooks.

After lunch Ms. Rogo (in for Ms. Postma) stopped by for Arts. Ed and the students worked on their Social Issue Poster assignments.  At 1:38 we had French and the students continued to work on their Olympic Research assignments.  These assignments need to be completed by tomorrow because students will be giving a brief 30 second presentation on their country.  During the last hour of the day the students had Phys. Ed and they participated in different types of basketball games.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Math:
7.1 is due on tomorrow, February 14th

French

All Olympic assignments are due on tomorrow, February, 14th

ELA

Blog Post #2 and Comment #1 is due on tomorrow, February, 14th

Section 2 reading is due tomorrow, February 14th

Reminders:
-It's Red, Pink and White day tomorrow so be sure to show your school spirit!

What We Learned Today...February 10th

Working hard on their French assignments!

We kicked off our week this morning with a school wide assembly in the gym before heading back to class for a brief AR period.  In ELA the students got into their Dystopian Book Club groups and we spent some time looking at the "fakebook" assignment that the students will be working on in addition to their weekly blog posts.  Essentially, "fakebook" is a fake facebook page that students can create for one of the characters in their book.  They can update all the characters information and make regular status updates from the perspective of their character about key events that are happening in the novel. If you would like to see an excellent example, check out Ms. Stewart-Mitchell's Haymitch Abernathy fakebook page: http://www.classtools.net/fb/11/iUZ5Gh.

At 10:38 we had Math and the Grade 8's were given back their Unit 5 Exams from last week.  It was evident that the students studied hard for this exam as the class average was 80%. Well done everyone!  Today we also investigated how to find the volume of a right rectangular and triangular prism.


After lunch we had French and continued to work through our mini Winter Olympics unit.  Students worked on a short reading comprehension assignment before beginning a research assignment on the country of their choice.  During the last hour of the day Mr. Csada stopped by for Social Studies and the students continued to work on their assignments from last week.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Math:
7.1 is due on Friday, February 14th

French

All Olympic assignments are due on Friday, February, 14th

ELA

Blog Post #2 and Comment #1 is due on Friday, February, 14th

Section 2 reading is due Friday, February 14th

Health:

Career Assignments are now overdue

Reminders:
-Girls basketball game at Deshaye tomorrow

-Leboldus spend a day is on February 12th.

Dystopian Book Club Digital Meeting # 1

Pic from our Today's Meet

The day has finally come! Today we are going to be chatting about our Dystopian Theme as well as your Dystopian Books with students from St. Francis and St. Gabriel.

Live Chat! Today’s Meet Discussion Questions

Big Question: Is Our World Becoming Dystopian?

The video clip you watched is from the movie, “WALL-E”.  Although it is an animated movie, we  can still focus on the essential question, “Is our world becoming dystopian?”, and explore similarities between the movie and the current world we live in.  

9:45 - Watch the link to the video: “Human Dystopia” (3 min)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1BQPV-iCkU&noredirect=1

Is our world becoming dystopian?  Let’s compare the similarities between the clip and our world…

Questions you will explore in the Today’s Meet Chat…

10:00 - 10:15 Wall-e and Dystopia

• How do people communicate with each other in Wall-e?
• Is there a similarity to our world? What does this similarity say about us?
• Are we on our way to total “Screen dependence”?
• In the video, when people finally “detached” themselves from the screen, what was their reaction? (such as when Wall-e introduced himself to them).
• How comfortable were they with face-to-face communication?
• How is this compare to us?
• What similarities do you see between this clip and on-line bullying in our society? Do screens allow us to be detached from the rest of the world?
• Are we heading the wrong direction with technology?
• How do we keep if from making us  de-humanized in the way we communicate with each other?
• How could our dependence on technology affect us in other ways? Any hints from Wall-e?

Below I have posted the Today's Meet links according to the book you are reading.  Please copy and paste the link into a new window. Your teacher leader, who is in charge of your novel group, will introduce themselves.   The first thing you need to do is type your first name only (no nicknames) and introduce yourself and share what school you are from. ex. Mr. Bresciani - "Hi everyone, I'm from Deshaye Catholic."
Your teacher leader will present the first question, you will respond to only to that first question.
Note, you can keep it short, as you only have 140 characters to respond.  Then after you've had some time to talk about the video clip you will talk to your group about your novel so far, exploring some of these questions...

• What if your job (as an adult) was decided for you at the age of thirteen?
• What if there is was no more water in the world?
• What if one city ruled the entire world?
• What if where you lived determined your job and lifestyle?
• What if you had no memories or history to learn from?
• What if the government chose who you married?
• What if you were forced to look a certain way?
• What if there were no adults?
• What if one label decided your entire life?
• What if the law stated that each family was only allowed to have two children?
• What if most of the world’s population was wiped out by disease or war?
• What if there was an opportunity to preserve humanity and way of life by going underground? Would you do it?
• What if you knew someone in power was not working in the favour of the citizens, but instead their own interests? What would you do?
• What if you lived in a world where you had to turn your back on your whole way of life, if it meant doing the right thing?

Today's Meet Links:

Divergent:  https://todaysmeet.com/Divergentchat

City of Ember: https://todaysmeet.com/ember

Hunger Games: https://todaysmeet.com/HungerGamesGroup

Eleventh Plague: https://todaysmeet.com/eleventhplaguechat

Maze Runner: https://todaysmeet.com/Maze_Runner

What We Learned Today...February 6th

Working hard on their Social Justice Poster

This morning we started off our day with the usual AR period from 9:08 to 9:38. I'm happy to say that after one full month of school, our class achieved the goal of 10 AR points per student.  Well done everyone!  In ELA the students had one final period to finish up their Blog Post Responses as well as section one in their novels.  All blog posts need to be published by 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, so please be sure to finish them  tonight if they weren't completed in class.  In Grade 8 Math the students wrote their Unit 5 Exam which they were all thrilled about!

After lunch Ms. Postma stopped by for Arts. Ed and they began working on a Social Issue poster assignment.  At 1:38 we had Science and continued to look at Solutes and Solvents as well as how to separate mixtures.  During the last hour of the day the students had Phys.Ed with Mr. Fuchs and they spent the period playing basketball.

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

ELA

Section One of Dystopian Book and Blog Post #1 are due Friday, February 7th.

Reminders:

-Leboldus spend a day is now on February 12th.

-The girls basketball team play at Deshaye next Tuesday, February 11th as well as Thursday, February 13th

What We Learned Today...February 5th

Working hard on their Blog Posts!

 This morning we started off our day a little differently than usual.  As part of our PAA/Religion assignment, students are required to find a Motivational or Inspirational video and present it to the class on their assigned day.  They are also required to write a blog post on our kidblog site that explains the message within the video as well as why they chose the video.  Below I've posted the video that was presented today:

If you would like to view a list of all the videos as they are submitted, visit and bookmark our Motivational Monday Google Doc and check in each week for an updated list.  

The 3 c's and 1 Q!

During ELA the students once again got into their Dystopian Book Club groups and worked on their Blog Post Response #1.  Today we also took some time to discuss how to write a quality comment on our peers blog posts.  Remember the three C's and one Q: Compliment, Comment, Connect and Question! In Grade 8 Math we started Unit 7, which continues to deal with Surface Area but also Volume.   

After lunch the students had Phys. Ed with Mr. Fuchs and they used all the basketball skills they learned over the past month and participated in a scrimmage against one another.  At 1:23 we had French and continued to look at the different Olympic Sports and the accompanying vocabulary.  We also learned how to conjugate the verb "faire" and "jouer" as well as write simple sentences using the verb "aimer".  During the last hour of the day Ms. Zenuk stopped by for Health and the students participated in a Mimio Vote activity about Body Image.  

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Math:
Unit Exam is on tomorrow, February 6th.

ELA

Section One of Dystopian Book and Blog Post #1 are due Friday, February 7th.

Arts. Ed:

Paragraph response for Garage Band activity is due tomorrow

Sketchbook assignments are due tomorrow

Reminders:
-The girls basketball game on Thursday has been cancelled.

-Leboldus spend a day is on February 10th.

What We Learned Today...February 4th

Working hard on their Dystopian Blog Posts!

This morning we started out our day with a half hour period of silent reading from 9:08 to 9:38.  In ELA students got together in their Dystopian book clubs and continued to work on the Blog Response #1 assignment.  These blog posts can be found on our kidblog site, however due to privacy settings, the students will have to log in in order for parents to view the posts.  At 10:38 we had Religion and the students continued to work on their Pope Francis research assignments.

After lunch the students had Arts. Ed with Ms. Postma and they listened to the Garage Band songs that were created over the past few weeks.  In French we are taking a brief hiatus from our "Voyager" unit as I would like to teach a mini Winter Olympics unit during this time.  Over the next few weeks we will be primarily focusing French vocabulary of winter sports, the verbs, "Jouer" and "Faire" as well as working some simple sentence structure.  During the last hour of the day Ms. Zenuk stopped by for Health and the students...

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Math:
5.4 is due tomorrow, February 5th

Unit Exam is on Thursday, February 6th.

ELA

Section One of Dystopian Book and Blog Post #1 are due Friday, February 7th.

Health:

Career Assignments are now overdue

Reminders:
-The girls basketball game on Thursday has been cancelled.

-Leboldus spend a day is on February 10th.

What We Learned Today...February 2nd

The winning bet! One student was happy that he bet on the Seahawks to win...the other not so much.

We started out our week with a school wide assembly in the gym before heading back to the classroom for a half-hour period of AR.  At 9:38 the Grade 8's gathered together in the Library for the Leboldus High School orientation.  Since this was only for the Grade 8's, the Grade 7's stuck around the classroom and worked on their Social Studies assignment as well as the Motivational Monday video and Blog Response assignment.  To view the entire schedule as well as students videos please visit out Google Doc.
In Grade 8 Math the students were given the hour to work on their practice test from the textbook as well as study for their Unit 5 Exam on Thursday.

After lunch we had Religion and we continued to explore Pope Francis' first year in Papacy.  Students began working on assignment that tasked them with researching Pope Francis' life both before and after he became our Pope.  The assignment is posted in a google doc as well as the Religion tab at the top of this blog.  At 1:38 the students got into their Dystopian Book Club groups and continued to read Section One and work on the blogging response assignment.  *Students, remember you need to be finished section one of your book by Friday as well as your blogging response #1.  During the last hour of the day the students had Social Studies and they worked on their geography assignments.

*Congratulations to girls basketball team on their big win last Thursday.  Great job girls!

Upcoming Due Dates & Homework

Math:
5.4 is due on Wednesday, February 5th

Unit Exam is on Thursday, February 6th.

Health:

Career Assignments are due tomorrow

Reminders:
-Girls basketball game tomorrow at St. Timothy.
-Leboldus spend a day is February 10th.