January 31, 2012

What we did today

Today, we had some silent reading time so we could at least start on chapter 3 for There Will Be Wolves while Ms. Lees ate her lunch. We read There Will Be wolves for about 10 to 20 minutes. Then after that we fixed some problems on the blog. For example Ms. Lees had problems trying to get on a few blogs that were renamed and Ms. Lees had to find some blog links that were missing on her blog. We talked about changing people’s online names because Ms. Lees didn’t know who was who. Also Ms. Lees wanted to know how many people were following their friend’s blogs. Then we had an interruption by the fruits and vegetable program to give us pears to eat. After that we were planning to present our group webs but Ms. Lees didn’t think we would have enough time to get through the presentations for all seven groups so Ms. Lees decided to split the whole class into threes and we discussed our answer for the questions that we had for homework which was chapter 1 and 2 questions. For discussing our answers, we used 3 poker chips or coins and for each answer or comment the person had to put a poker chip in the middle so each person will take turns answering questions.

Why we did it

We got some time to read our books because we needed to read at least up to chapter 3 so we could work on our questions tomorrow. We had to fix the problems for the blogs because some people and Ms. Lees can’t look at other people’s group blogs and Ms. Lees didn’t know which person had different names for their online name because some people had different names for their account. We did the chapter question discussion because we wanted to know different opinions and answers for each of the novel question. We also used poker chips for the group discussion because Ms. Lees wanted everyone to cooperate and share ideas and answer questions.

Connections/ Reflections

It was really nice to have some time to silent read because I needed to concentrate on my book for a while so I can get through it. It was really useful to know what problems there were on the blog and it will be useful for the future to check over things that aren’t right. The chapter question discussions were also useful because they will help us develop our communication skills for the future for business and other classes.

Homework and Tips

For homework we don’t have anything except reading for the novel which is There Will Be Wolves. Also don’t forget to post!!!! For tips I suggest looking at the criteria for posting and reading your novel.

30/01/2012

What we did Today...

Today, we went to the library to re-evaluate our blog posts. Some of us (yes, US) weren't following the criteria, you need to write :

1. What did we do?
2. Why did we do it? (learning intentions)
3. Connections beyond Humanities / reflections (personal)
4. Homework tips and reminders - what is due and when.

You need to write specific details (so that even someone who was not in class can understand what we did), use clear language with good word choices, and use proper forms and conventions (spelling, grammar, punctuation...)

We checked if we were following our three goals from the beginning of January, and sadly, we were only following one of them... and that was only some of us. LETS PICK IT UP GUYS! We weren't posting on our blog consistently, and we weren't helping each other with constructive comments. Errr.... not good. At least most of us were following criteria right? :) Well anyway, we'd better start reminding each other at school, and on the blog. And also check on our blog more often. And maybe write down your dates in your binders or agendas. Maybe exchange phone numbers as well to call each other if we can't post.

So guys, our goals for February are the same as last month's! Post consistently, comment, and follow the criteria. I reminded you guys what to do to do those things, so lets do it!

Why did we do it?

We reviewed this because not a lot of us were actually NOT following the criteria, or posting consistently, OR giving commenting to give people feedback and help! And we need to. It'll increase our writing skills, our conventions, our responsibility skills... it'll help us a lot. It'll also help us with our

Connections Beyond Hum:

We need to be responsible for ourselves (does that make any sense?) everywhere. Other classes, or when you're grown up. You need to be responsible enough to do your homework, you have to help your group, you have to pay taxes, etc. RESPONSIBILITY! Also, you're going to need writing skills in future grades, jobs... writing is everywhere! Best learn it now :)\

Reflection:

To tell the truth, I really think that we aren't doing well at all in our group. We're missing lots of posts, there's barely any comments...We'd better start really posting and helping each other out guys! Huphuphup! Lets do this!

Homework Tips:

Do your "There Will be Wolves" chapters one and two questions if they aren't done yet. Finish all your group plans & checklists. If you need assistance, visit flex. Thursday at lunch. Merci pour votre attention.

January 10, 2012

What we did today

Today, we did our geography challenge quiz. If you don’t know what a geography challenge is, it is a test or a quiz for geography of places around the world including foods. The test had 90 questions in total. Some were easy and most of them were hard but it was a good thing that it did not count for marks. I think that in all of the grade 8 humanities classes no one scored more than 60 out of 100.

Why we did this

We did this because we needed to get into the school’s geography challenge. If someone got into the school’s geography challenge that person has a chance to win out of around 25 to 30 people out of the whole school.

Connections

This skill might help for future work or assignments for humanities class or other classes. This could also help for possible future business if the person likes geography.

Homework tips and reminders

For today we didn’t have homework but on the double block day, (which is tomorrow) we have to make a web for our novel studies. If anyone has a question you can go to flex on Thursday. Also remember to post.

January 9th, 2012

What we did today:
Today, we did some geography challenges. Also, we reviewed the expectations and criteria for our group webs for our novels. In our webs, we can use graphic organizers such as Venn Diagrams, charts, etc. We must remember to draw the web about the time periods, NOT the plot of the story, or fictional characters in the story. So if Bob was going on an adventure, we'd write about what he was wearing, his methods of transportation, what he ate, etc. NOT about who Bob is and why he's going where he's going.

Three key things to remember are:
1.) Organization (colour, fonts, neatness, etc.)
2.) Information
3.) Co-operation (sharing work equally, listening to other people's opinions, TEAMWORK!)

Also, we talked a bit about how to proofread other people's work.
We reviewed things such as:
1.) No casual/conversational tones
2.) .... darn, i don't have my binder here, people who weren't here today can go to flex on Thursday to find out.

Why we did it:

We did the geography challenge because we're going to have the challenge tomorrow and we needed more reviewing. Tomorrow's challenge is not going to count for marks, but it's important to take it seriously because it's good enrichment for geography skills.
We did the review for the webs because we're going to have to start them soon and we're going to need to know what to do for them or else we might do badly.
We did the proofreading reviews to review, or learn how to proofread and peer-edit other people's works. We need to learn this to... proofread people's works and improve each other.

Connections:

Some people may be interested in using geography in careers, for being maybe a meteorologist.
We need to learn how to work with graphic organizers because they can all be used in other classes, university, and future work. Maybe when you're presenting something.

Homework tips & reminders:

No homework, but if you have incomplete work, be sure to go to flex on Thursday at lunch, or see Ms. Lees for another time.

On Friday we went to the library and finished off critiquing our blogs in groups of 2, we also got into our book groups and started to read these webs and wrote down the positives and negatives of the webs.

Homework: there was no homework besides finishing off your book if you haven't already.