Critical Consumers of Digital Content

Announcements:

• Congratulations to those students who participated in Badminton Divisionals!!!
• Jersey Day on Thursday, May 9th, 2019
• Remember to be mindful of the PATs being written in the GR. 6 & 9 hallways
• There is Choral Practice Friday for the spring concert on May 16th

Math:

We are learning to interpret and draw circle graphs. Through this process we are also reviewing how to convert fractions to percents and how to convert percents to degrees for drawing our circles. 

Today we drew graphs about favorite sports and favorite cup cakes. Students practiced drawing circle graphs using protractors.

We also learned about measures of central tendency including mean (average - add numbers together and divide by the number of numbers), median (put the numbers in order from least to greatest and find the middle number) and mode (the number that occurs most in the data set). Students practiced determining mean, median and mode for a variety of sets of numbers.

Khan Academy is a good place for extra practice. 

Science:

Yesterday we continued exploring how to be effective consumers of online information with Ms. Baillargeon.

Some of the Online Research Skills we acquired:

• Tips and Considerations for Online Research
• Analyzing Websites (fake vs. real)

Google a Day is a fun way for students to practice their researching skills.

How do we evaluate websites and online sources?

• who can edit?
• who wrote the website? (reputable source?)
• compare several sources to find similar information (check multiple sources)
• security (not secure? may be suspect?)
• a lot of banner adds (trying to sell things rather than educate)

Students visited six websites and determined whether they were true or fake sources of information.

1. https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/articles/z6btng8
2. http://www.thedogisland.com/
3. https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
4. https://www.britannica.com/place/Moon
5. https://www.allaboutexplorers.com/
6. http://www.dhmo.org/
   The poster below gives some hints of how to effectively evaluate websites.

Critical Thinking and Evaluating Online Sources

Announcements:

• Ramadan Mubarak to all participating students
• Tomorrow is grade 7 Badminton Divisionals - Good luck to all those participating!
• The Sustainability Challenge runs from today until May 31st. Students are encouraged to pick a behavior change that will challenge them but will also be something they can achieve. 

Science:

Today Ms. Baillargeon was a guest in our class teaching about Online Research. This will be an ongoing series of classes to help students improve their research skills as well as their ability to put information into their own words and cite sources properly.

For those who missed class or anyone who wants to revisit Ms. Baillargeon's suggestions, visit her presentation.

"Google a Day" was a particularly fun challenge! The three questions Google asks each day are complex, so this is a good way to breakdown key ideas / concepts and use search terms and key words effectively.

We also practiced note taking from relevant sources.

Math: 

We started a new unit today: Data Analysis

We began by collecting data about what students are willing to do for their Sustainability Challenge to reduce waste, energy consumption, etc.

We then combined their pledges into categories including no plastic/paper, decreased use of technology, decreased food waste, decreased use of water, and decreased use of motorized vehicles. We created a tally chart with this class data and then drew a circle graph to show the fractions / percentages of the class that chose each category in the Sustainability Challenge.

Journey 2050, Sustainability Challenge, Matching Graphs to Equations

Announcements:

• Sustainability Challenge starts Monday and runs until May 31st. Pick your pledge (what you're willing to do to make a difference / decrease energy consumption and make less waste) by tomorrow!!!

Math:

We have been working on connecting concepts in the Linear Relations (patterns and equations) unit. Students have finished the unit assessment and this week has been about doing scavenger hunts and matching activities to ensure a deeper understanding.

An equation, table and graph are all representations of the same thing.

Science:

It's been a great week that started with a trip to the Stampede Grounds for the Journey 2050 Field Trip. Students seemed to really enjoy the style of teaching used in this program! Two similar games can be downloaded from the App Store for free (journey 2050 and farmers 2050).

Since the trip we have had several discussions about what we learned and how to make the world more sustainable. How do we make things last over time and what is the interconnection between the economy, the environment and social needs? We have decided to come up with one thing we are willing to do to reduce our energy consumption or waste. Students are making a pledge tomorrow and we are trying to follow through on this challenge from Monday until May 31st. Everyone who participates in this challenge will be entered in a draw.

Maybe this song may inspire kids will help motivate us try this challenge to reduce our garbage creation and energy usage.

We also did our second building challenge this week. The challenge involved making the strongest structure using nothing but spaghetti and mini marshmallows. Students came up with very creative designs, that were also very sturdy. Well Done!!!

Announcements:

• Field Trip (Journey 2050) on Monday, April 29th ****Make sure to return your permission forms!!!
• Math Assessment Tomorrow (Part 1 - Solving Equations)
• Math Assessment Thursday (Part 2 - Linear Patterns / Tables, Graphs ...)

Science:

Students who missed today's class would benefit from watching the 9 11 The Fall of the World Trade Centre Video. 

 This is a very sad time in human history. The reason we are watching this video is that the detailed description of what structural design elements may have contributed to the structural failure of the buildings. Students are encouraged to take jot notes about what may have contributed to the fall of the world trade centre buildings. Tomorrow they will write about three of these elements in detail. 

Solving Equations and Building Challenges

Math:

This past week students have learned to solve and model 1- and 2-step equations. This coming week they will continue practicing these skills as well as solving related word problems.

Unit Assessment this week:
Part 1 Wednesday (solving and modeling 1- & 2-step linear equations)

Part 2 Friday after reviewing chapter 10 (linear patterns) including interpreting patterns and generating tables, equations and graphs.

We also had a special guest in to teach measurement through card making last week. Students made cards that infinitely rotated and flipped. They were a lot of fun and helped develop practical math skills.



Question of the week: 

Which of the following graphs represents a linear relation?
How do you know?

Science:

We began the Structures and Forces Unit last week. Each student was assigned a vocabulary word to research and will create a poster for the word wall. We learned about the types of structures (solid, frame, shell, and combination) and students classified structures and justified why they categorized each structure this way.

We also did our first building challenge. These will be regular occurrences in this unit, as they teach many design principles. See the attached slide show about Tall Towers and the Newspaper Challenge.

Students built some excellent towers with good consideration of the base of support needed for a tower to stand tall. As we progress we will learn how to reinforce structures so that can withstand many forces and large loads.

Students had the opportunity to self-evaluate their projects as well as assessing peer projects. This is the rubric they are learning to use effectively. Again they are being encouraged to justify their thinking (in this case why did you give yourself or your peer that mark?).

Solving One-Step Equations and Energy Pros / Cons

Announcements:

• No School Friday, April 19th or Monday, April 22nd
• Exciting Science News this week: First Image of a Black Hole!

Math:

We have been learning how to model and draw one-step equations using algebra tiles. 

We have also worked on solving one-step equations using the following method:

• Goal: isolate the variable (get x by itself)
• use opposite operation
• whatever you do to one side you do to the other

For extra practice learning to solve one-step equation go to Khan Academy and watch a video and do practice problems.

If you have missed quite a few of these classes it may be helpful to take a look at the Textbook:
Chapter 11 - Solving Equations 

Science:

Students have worked on their Energy Note Taking Booklets for the past few days. They have learned the definition of energy, world energy usage (mostly natural gas, oil, and coal, and less nuclear and renewable types), types of energy (renewable, non-renewable, kinetic, potential, etc.) and many sources of energy.

Much of their notes focus on the pros and cons of various sources of energy.

They had the opportunity to debate whether non-renewable or renewable sources of energy are better choices. They were encouraged to use the pros and cons they learned to make and refute arguments.

Students also wrote a quiz about everything they learned in this booklet. They had to pick a favorite type of energy and frame three arguments to defend their choice.

*** Students who missed one or more energy lectures should go to the presentation and read about pros and cons of each energy source so that they could make up work on this topic.

Cups Challenge and Self- & Peer-Assessment

Announcements:

• Welcome Back!!!! It was a great first day back. Hope you all had a wonderful Spring Break!
• Journey 2050 Field Trip to the Agrium Building at Stampede Park to explore how to make agriculture more sustainable with a growing population is Monday, April 29th, 2019
• No School Good Friday and Easter Monday (April 19 & 22)

Math:

Today we explored a real world application of linear relations in the Stacking Cups Challenge. Students were asked to determine how many cups they would have to stack to get to Ms. Bowen's height (175cm). They were only given three cups. They were allowed to use rulers and calculators and they could also ask clarifying questions. 

Many students were able to see that the body of the cup was only part of the height once. 

They could also see that with each additional cup another rim of a cup was added. 

Some students were experimenting with repeatedly adding the rim height with one body.

The reason for coming up with an equation is that some heights are far too large to repeatedly add the rim height and then one body height. The equation allows this problem to be extended to large heights.

In the equation the body height ends up being the constant and the rim height ends up being the coefficient. 

Students were given some prompts to determine what variables were involved in this problem [number of cups (c) and height (h)] and to try to create a table of values of number of cups compared to height. They were reminded of how to interpret the input/output table to create an equation (what is the rule?). 

Although this is a difficult problem, it proved to be a good introduction to the equation solving portion of this unit. Most students were engaged in the challenge, as they could enter the task at different levels, and students could see why we solve equations for one variable or another.

Challenge Problem: "The Cup is the Y-Intercept"
After watching the video make a table, draw a graph, and determine the equation. 

Science:

Students had the opportunity to self-evaluate and peer-evaluate their Ice Box Challenge Projects. We are working on developing our ability to assess our work accurately and give and receive constructive feedback. Openness to how we can make a project better will deepen their learning. 

Throughout the next Unit, Structures and Forces, students will continue to practice self-assessment and peer-assessment of weekly building challenges in order to improve their ability to meet project guidelines and problem solve while designing projects.