Journey 2050 Field Trip Tuesday

What will the world be like in the year 2050?

• How many people will be on Earth?
• Will we be able to feed everyone?
• What will we have to think about to do this?

These questions will be explored by 7-3 & 7-4 students on the Journey 2050 Field Trip this Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019.

Things to bring:

• lunch (there are no microwaves!!!)
• water bottle
• snacks
• sweater
• weather appropriate clothes
• medications

Arrive at school on time so you don't miss the bus!!!

Note: Students who did not complete Field Trip forms will be assigned to classes to do similar work from school.

Homework: 
Watch the introduction video and discuss some of these ideas with your friends and family over the long weekend.

Have a great long weekend!!!

August 28

Announcements:

• Please bring back field trip forms tomorrow!!!! If a student forgets, I will have extras at Meet the Teacher Night (Tomorrow - Thursday, August 29th, from 6-8pm
• Journey 2050 Field Trip this coming Tuesday, September 3rd (bring a lunch that does not have to be heated, water, and appropriate clothes)
• Have a great long weekend!!! (no school Thursday afternoon, Friday, or Monday)

Math:

Yesterday we practiced drawing perpendicular lines, parallel lines, perpendicular bisectors and angle bisectors. Today we put some of our skills to the test drawing optical illusions.

Students who would like to try these at home can access the following YouTube Videos:
3D Hole 

Staircase

Science:

Students learned about the Scientific Method by designing a Bubble Gum Lab. Today they tested which kind of gum would blow the biggest bubbles. Much fun was had and hopefully some of the parts of the method became more meaningful.

Tomorrow we will look at the Journey 2050 pre-trip activities. Students who are away are encouraged to watch the introductory video, read some of the terms that will be used on Tuesday, and do the world population growth activity. 

Questions to consider:

What will the world be like in 2050? How many people will be on the planet? Can we sustain agriculture and feed everybody?

August 26

Announcements:

• Meet the Teacher Night is this Thursday, August 29th, 2019 from 6-8pm
• Thursday is a half day to allow for IPP meetings and Meet the Teacher
• Friday is a PD Day (no school) and Monday is Labour Day (no school) *** Have a great 4 day weekend!!!

Math:

We introduced Monday Math Talks today. 

View guidelines for Math Talks here.

Students are encouraged to approach each problem with an open mind. The focus is NOT on right/wrong answers. The goal is for students to learn to communicate what they are thinking effectively. 

Here is today's problem:

Science:

We introduced the Scientific Method using Mythbusters. We watched a short video about the Bubble Boy experiments and we discussed the problem (question), hypothesis, observations, variables, results, and conclusion. We also talked about whether the study was believable (did the scientists test things fairly?). 

This week we will continue to explore parts of the Scientific Method using our own experiment. Should be fun!

August 21, 2019

Math:

The Week of Inspirational Math continues. Today we did the Visual Patterns lesson (Day 2: Visualizing Numbers Made of Dots). Students looked a the visual representations of numbers in great detail. They numbered each picture and then found similarities and differences between different number representations.

I really enjoyed the creative ways students identified patterns and shared their diverse ideas with the class!!!

Homework: 
What would the 36th and 37th dot pattern look like?

 

Science: 

The early part of the year is focussed on reviewing and learning new Science skills.

We began by defining Observations (Quantitative & Qualitative) and Inferences and we practiced making observations and inferences.  See the attached presentation for more information.

Tomorrow we will continue observing the "Mystery Footprints" pictures (in the attached presentation) and making inferences. We will also try Plickers, a fun quiz game, to review the terms and concepts and there will be an assessment of how well students understood these concepts.


Homework:
- Review the four terms in orange above
- Practice making observations (I see ..., I hear ..., I taste ..., I smell ..., I feel ... ***Have to be true / a facts) and inferences (educated guess based on your observations - has to make sense, but can be creative)

August 20, 2019

Announcements:

• Please Return Forms ASAP
• We are looking for parent / guardian volunteers for our field trip to Journey 2050 on September 3rd. If you are interested please contact me at lebowen@cbe.ab.ca
• Meet the Teacher Night August 29th, 2019 6-8 pm
• IPP meetings can be scheduled with me on August 29th, 1-5pm 

Math: 

This week we are doing activities from the Week of Inspirational Math at YouCubed, designed by Jo Boaler, a British Math Education expert at Stanford University.

These tasks aim to give every student an opportunity to think mathematically at their own level. Jo Boaler believes that everyone has the ability to do math! Students also get the opportunity through these challenges to work with peers to expand their mathematical thinking as well as their group communication skills. 

Today we did Four 4's. Both classes found this challenging, but worked hard to find new solutions.

In the past students have described this challenge as follows:
This was a challenging problem, because "it's almost impossible to get some numbers"
They enjoyed that "each answer had different strategies"
"You can be a genius in math, you just need the right mindset"


Homework:
Try to find at least one more equation for four 4's

Science: 

We are learning about the difference between Observations (facts made using 5 senses) and Inferences (educated guesses based on observations)

Students defined these terms and practiced making observations and inferences.

7-3 & 7-4 Math/Science Welcome Message

Welcome to Grade 7 at Ernest Morrow School!!!

It was wonderful getting to know many students this past Thursday and Friday and I am looking forward to meeting the rest of you very soon.

This year I will teach Math and Science, otherwise known as Smath for the purposes of this blog, for 7-3 (Mr. Hillier's RG/homeroom) and 7-4 (my RG). You will find me in Room 19 in the grade 7 hallway at the far end of the school.


This blog will contain important dates and notices as well as daily information about each course in case you miss class, want to connect from home to something we were doing in class or are looking for homework links.

Important Upcoming August Dates:
August 29th, 2019 - Open House and Parent Information Night
September 3rd, 2019 - Journey 2050 Field Trip (*** If you are interested in volunteering please contact me at lebowen@cbe.ab.ca)

Ernest Morrow School Calendar

Please bring yellow consent forms back by Monday if possible.

See you Monday and have a fantastic weekend!