8C @ W Erskine Johnston PS

Good morning!

It is time to revisit our learning skills and set some goals for term 3.  Before you continue working on your history research, please take a few minutes to complete the Learning Skills Self Evaluation.  Make sure that you set a realistic and achievable goal for our final term!

Once you are finished the survey, please take the lab time to continue your history research.

image:  “Arrow found the Target“  cc by  melilab  on flickr

Good morning!

Today we are using our Computer Lab time to begin a history research project.  You will work in groups (see the group list below) to research several topics related the the development of the Canadian west.  Please open the The_Development_of_Western_Canada_Assignment and save it to your own documents.  Each group may print 1 copy of the assignment.  Here are some additional guidelines to help with your research:

• We will have 3 periods / week to work on the assignment.  Monday and Tuesday we will have computer lab time.  On Thursday we will have our library / mini lab time.
• There are four topics.  You may do them in any order, but you must complete one topic / week. 
• There will be a weekly check in during the library period to ensure that your group is on track.
• You will hand in your final scrapbook on Thursday, March 25th.
• You will use your diigo social bookmarking accounts to share your notes with your group members.  Open the diigolet on the toolbar of your browser and then sign in. 

Groups:

Maddie, Holly, Mike

Laurence, Behar, Jazmin

Bayan, Mina, Giana

Dan G, Tristan, Bhavjot

Aiden, Lukas, James, Hamza

Tim, Ryan, Edwin

Andy, Jeffrey, Ivan

Lena, Patricia, Kiera

Calvin, Dan M, Nathanael

photo:  The Great Canadian Railway “cc” by Tjflex2

Twitter is a social networking tool used by millions of folks all over the world.  People use twitter for a variety of reasons – keeping in touch with friends, following celebrities, finding information and connecting with people across the globe.  Something very interesting about twitter is that it has the ability to mobilize people behind a cause.  It also has the potential to spread information – true or not true – very quickly.

Recently, Mashable: The Social Networking Guide reported on the power of a single tweet.  The story, found here, revolves around the response that a single tweet — a twitpic (picture uploaded to twitter) of a napping transit worker in Toronto — garnered.

Please read the story and respond to it on your blog.  Your response should link to the original story, include a link to discussion of the same story covered by another news source (online).  Provide a summary of the issue.  Consider the following questions:  Did the twitpic of the napping transit worker infringe on his privacy?  Was the twitter user http://twitter.com/OGLE_Toronto acting responsibly when he posted the twitpic?

Good Morning!

During our lab time today you must complete two activities:

1.  An online activity on the “Causes and Effects of the Red River Resistance”.   You will find this activity in the Ontario Educational Resource Bank.  You must log in to use the resources.  Once you have logged in, perform a search for “Causes and Effects of the Red River Resistance”.  You will need to use headphones if you want to access the sound.  If you would prefer, you may simply read the text as you go through the activity.

2.  Once you are finished the activity above, you may begin to submit suggestions for music for the upcoming dance.  To do so, visit the blog post below and open up the Google Form.

image “Louis Riel Statue near the Manitoba Legislature”  cc by terrico via flickr

Hello!  Grade 8 students in 8C and 7/8 are responsible for organizing the upcoming Valentine’s Dance.  Our DJ has asked for a list of song requests.  You may request up to 20 songs.  Use the form found here to make your requests!  Have fun, but keep in mind that the DJ screens all music requests and only those appropriate for students in Grades 6, 7 and 8 will be considered.  Also, it may not be possible for him to find all requests.

image “Lumpy Hearts” cc by Paysimaginaire on Flickr.com

Good morning!  I hope that you all enjoyed a fun and restful holiday!  Today during lab time we will be exploring Canada’s population Density.  All of your instructions will be found on the google form. 

Population density is a measure of how many people occupy an area of land.

Population density is calculated by dividing the population of a location by the area (km squared) of the location

Areas with more than 100 persons per km² are considered to have a high population density. 

Areas with between 25 and 50 persons per km² are considered to have moderate population density.

Areas with fewer than 5 people per km² are considered to have low population density.

Please submit this form before the end of class. 

Good luck!  I will be available if you have questions.

image: Meadowlands Drive 1978 cc by Gamma-Ray Productions

Hey!  Guess what?  Only 5 more sleeps ’til the holidays!  Woohoo!

For today’s lab time, you will be given an opportunity to post at least 1 rapid write to your blog.  For those who have posted rapid writes to your blog, please log in and approve the comments I left.  Those comments have your targets for this week’s rapid writes.

Rapid Write Topics

Remember that you can always create your own writing prompt.  If you don’t want to create your own prompt, try one of these:

1.  My New Year’s Resolution for 2010.  Write about a resolution you intend to make and how you will accomplish it over the next year.

2.  The Olympics will be held in Vancouver this winter.  What winter activity do you think should be added to the Olympics?  Why?

3. A list.  25 Random Things about me (Thank you to Maddie for the idea for this one – you can read her 25 Random Things here).  Last February, I posted a 25 Things list on my own blog – if you are curious, you can read that here.

4. If you could create your own 2 week vacation, what would you do, where would you go, who would you see and why?

Have fun!

image “snowflakes!”  cc by nutmeg66

Good Morning!

Well, today is report card day.  I thought that since all the students in 8C are getting report cards today, it would only be fair to ask them to provide some feedback “a report card” for Mrs. Smith.  As your first task in the lab today, please complete the Report Card For Mrs. Smith.  Don’t worry – it is anonymous.  Please be honest.  Your feedback will be taken seriously if it is given seriously.

Surf’s Up, Dude!

Ok.  That is pretty cheesy, but seriously, I think that we have enough invites for everyone to begin to use Google Wave.  gwave is a real-time collaboration tool that we will be trying out and using for a couple of upcoming projects.  I would like everyone to check their email to see if they have the invite.  It would be from “wave-noreply”.  If you have it, please click the link to activate your account.  If you don’t have it, send an email to 8cwejps@gmail.com to let me know.  If you don’t have email, no sweat – I have a couple of extra invites that we can use.

When you log in, you will have to download google chrome.  Please pause at this step and Mrs. Smith will demonstrate.  In the meantime, you may continue working on your:

- podcast

- bitstrips

- blog

- research for your expository text

Terms of Service and Privacy

When you are in gwave, please find the terms of service – called “Terms” in the upper right hand corner.  Read through the “Privacy” information.  Whenever you use a service on the internet, it is crucial to read and understand the terms of service.

image “Making the Grade” cc by jakevol2

Good Morning!

I am out all day today, so please have fun with Mr. Rose-Radunsky. I know that you all have loads of fun with him, so you will probably be a bit sad to hear that he has accepted a full time teaching position at another school. Please make sure you have a great day today and congratulate him on his good news. Take a moment to let him know what you really enjoyed about the days that he spent with you this year.

For lab this morning, a few of you are finishing off your podcasts and a few of you are finishing your bitstrips. When you are done both, they need to be uploaded onto your blog please. Below are instructions for doing so.

Uploading a podcast to your blog:

1. Export your audacity file as an MP3. Not all computers can do this, so you may have to take turns using the teacher computer. Ryan – please don’t worry about this step as I have your podcast and will get that to you tomorrow.

2. Once you have saved your file as an MP3, you can insert it into your blog by following the steps in this short video:

Insert a Bitstrip Comic Into your Blog:

To insert your bitstrip comic, log in to bitstripsforschools.com and find your comic.  You can either right click and save the picture or do a print screen and then crop the image in photoshop.  Save the comic as a jpeg file on your server space and then upload it to your blog by following these instructions:

1.  Select the “Add an image” button from the top left of the new post beside “Add media”.  Just like you did for your podcast, you will have to find your comic jpeg file on your computer and upload it to your media library.  Make sure that it has been assigned a file url.  Then insert the comic into your post.  Save your draft and publish when you are ready.

As term 1 draws to a close, it is time to reflect on our learning skills and to set some goals for term 2. Please take 10 minutes to complete the following form:

Learning Skills Self-Evaluation

Please complete this by Tuesday, November 17th.  Mrs. Smith will be conferencing with you next week to review your self-evaluation and help set goals for next term.

image: ”Magnifying Glass” cc by Auntie P