Learning Blog: Wednesday, December 17th

What We Did?

During the first block of Humanities yesterday, we wrote down 5 pros and cons about the novel we read. [Everyone in our class is in a group with 4 (more or less) people, and each group has a book that they read]. Not only did we list the pros and cons of the novel we read, but also we rated the novel out of 10, and explained what the ‘best-selling points’ of the book  were (if you were to try and sell it to someone).  We had to write down a short summarization of the main plot of the book as well.

Why We Did It?

I believe that the reason we wrote what we did about our novels was to check our understanding of the novel and to make sure that we actually read it and comprehended it. It also helps Ms. Lees, our teacher to know that we fully understand the book we read. We also did what we did, because it helps understand how to identify the pros and cons in things, whatever they be. It also helps us in the sense that we learn how to expand on our thoughts, develop our writing skills and learn how to give evidence as to what we think or write about.

Another reason as to why we reviewed the book and such, was because later on in our second block of Humanities yesterday, we filmed (or at least tried to) commercials on our novels trying to ‘sell’ them. For example giving some info about the book, or saying which audience the book would appeal to.

Reflections and Connections:

Being able to comprehend and understand pieces of writing or in this case, a novel, is a skill that is extremely useful. It is a skill that you will you use many times now, and in the future. Also, learning to see the good and the bad in things is also useful. These two skills can be applied to many of the things you might in the future. Where you may be in university or at your workplace, these two skills could help you. For example, in order to understand English literature or such, you have to have a strong literary understanding and know how to comprehend pieces of writing. Also, if you were at your workplace and needed to review a project or something along those lines, you must be able to see the pros and cons of the project.

 

Homework Reminders:

We have our four paragraphs assignments from our paragraph booklet due tomorrow. Don’t forget that we have to write our brainstorming list, topic outline, and double-spaced draft for every one of our paragraphs.

Learning Blog December 17

What did we do?
In class we had to plan a commercial and film it in our book groups. 

Why did we do it?
I am guessing we did it because we had our pros and cons, and we had to "sell" the book, in kind of a commercial way. 

Reflections and connections
This commercial thing was relevant to our homework, and I do find it fun to film this. This can be useful for public speaking because your on camera, and you know the people in your blog will see this

Learning Blog Dec.12, 2014

     Today in Hum8 we did our Lit Circles Group Discussions. There were 3 or 4 groups, each had two different books. My book was The Hunchback Assignments and we were partners with Half Brother.
I think the learning intention was to practice our participation, discussion, and listening skills.

Today's homework was finish your 3 Words and complete the Discussion paper thingy.

lets just call this the three word challenge

For my three words i chose
PERSEVERE, BRAVE, and CREATIVE

i chose persevere because i tend to give up allot. I try but then i don't succeed and i need to now give up as easily, because if i keep trying it could turn into something great. For example when i do some of my drawings, i cant get a certain area of it right correct and i kind of just give up.

i chose brave because i get scared of allot of things (mostly because of my anxiety) and i really need to face some of my fears. For example the other day in my metal work class i was really scared to try welding, but then i tried it and it was actually really fun!

the reason i chose the word creative is because some times in my work im scared to be more creative because i don't want to get a bad mark. but i think that i should take some more risks and try some new things out :)

yesh so that is all :3

Alex :D

"Three Word Challenge"

My name is Hema, and am one of the students in Ms. Lee’s Humanities 8 class.

The three words that I chose for the “Three Word Challenge” are:

The first word being ‘indefatigable’. Not that I’m lazy or anything, because I do try hard and do my best, but I tend to be a bit laid back sometimes. I am hardworking, to a certain degree, but I would like to change for the better and be more hardworking. Persist more, and not give up so easily.

The second word I chose is ‘optimistic’. I tend to see the bad in things before the good. Thinking of what is wrong or could go wrong instead of what’s good and working. In some instances, it’s handy to think in such a way, so you could improve whatever it is you’re thinking about, but I would like to be more optimistic. Thinking of the good in things.

The third word I chose is ‘organized’. I am one of the most disorganized people I know. Disorganized in the sense that I have messy binders and such. Keeping everything neat and tidy all the time is a task I find to be tedious. I do tell myself every now and then that ‘I will be organized and stay organized’, but unfortunately I never seem to keep my resolutions. I will try my best to be organized and stay organized, and hopefully all will go well.

Learning Blog: December 10th

What We Did?

In Humanities today, we marked our previously done short story re-tests (some of us chose to do re-tests if we weren’t happy with our mark on the original short story test). We went over the re-tests, marked them and answered any questions we still had about the short story unit. The short story test/re-test consisting of first, reading the given story, identifying the characters (in the story) and classifying them based on their traits, identifying the main conflict, conclusion, point of view, and so on.

Why We Did It?

We marked the short story re-tests in order to save our teacher the time from having to do it herself and also because we reviewed everything we learned in the short story unit.  If we had any questions or still did not understand some parts of the short story unit, our teacher answered our questions.

Reflections and Connections:

The skills that we have developed in learning how to further understand stories and comprehend them, will help us now and in the near future. Being able to understand stories to a completely different level is a useful skill and one that we could use later on in high school or in university (depending on what you’re studying).

Homework Reminders:

Charles is writing the learning blog on Friday. Also our “Three Word Challenge” is due on Friday.

If you don’t remember what we’re supposed to do for the “Three Word Challenge”, we’re supposed to write three words that you think describe yourself and the reasons for that.

 

Three word challenge

My name is  Bill, and I am in grade 8.

My three words are active, communicative  and self-assured.

I picked active because I lately have not been doing a lot of exercise, sort of slacking off. 

Communicative : I chose out-going because I am a very shy person, not that talkative and I rarely open up. I so seldom start talking to someone first, so that is why I chose Out-going. 

Self-assured: When it comes to being self-assured, that is where I lack. I want to be more confident, have a strong belief and have more vision towards success.

My Three Word Challenge

My name is Laura, and I’m a Grade 8 student in Ms. Lees’ class.
For my three words, I chose Diligent, Organized, and Outgoing.

I chose the word diligent because, as I’m sure a lot of others know, I tend to get distracted fairly easily. Especially if I’m working on a long and tedious assignment. I also have a tendency to procrastinate, and I would really like to change that. I think I need to stay focused, and work hard at my assignments.

I picked the word organized because I tend to get a little on the unorganized side, especially as the year goes on and the New Year Resolutions wear off. I’m not terribly messy or anything, but things tend to pile up. So I would like to try and be more organized. Even if it’s just as simple as keeping my room neat, I would like to stay organized.

And for my last word, I chose outgoing. I’m a fairly shy person overall, and I really think that I should “get out of my shell” and try to be more sociable. I’m also more of an introvert, so this may be more of a struggle than it sounds!

Learning Blog (2nd block): December 10

What did we do?
We watched some videos that Ms. Lees showed us about Innovation Fair and "sentences" video. We worked on three words that describe us and we had to explain why we chose them.

Why did we do it?
We watched videos because Ms. Lees wanted to show us how to do the "three words assignment. We watched some videos on Innovation Fair so that we could have more knowledge about it.

Reflections and connections
Today's  lesson was really something we do often, so I did find it enjoyable. I think that Innovation Fair is a great way to expand creativity, and that can be very useful on in the future.

Homework
Three words that describe yourself, and explain why.

My 3 Words

Hi my name is Charles and I'm in grade 8.

My 3 Words Are:
      1. Open- I want to be more open around other people, more friendly.
      2. Open-minded- I want to be more able to accept other ideas instead of saying no.
      3. Willing-  I want to be more willing to do my homework, instead of putting it off until the last               moment.

Learning Blog- Tuesday, December 9

What did we do?
Today in class, we made sure that Ms. Lees had the assignments that she needed to do our report cards. We also worked on our paragraph writing booklets. We highlighted descriptive words and transition words and phrases in the descriptive paragraph section, and started to work on the exercise on the left side of the page.

Why did we do it?
We did this to make sure that Ms. Lees had all of the paperwork that she needed, and to also let our peers know if they hadn't handed an assignment in.
Working through the paragraph writing booklet will help to build our paragraph writing skills. This will show us what a proper paragraph should look like. We will learn about formatting and content, and be able to pick out descriptive words and transition words and phrases in a paragraph. This in turn will help us when we are writing our own paragraphs, because we will have had examples and ample opportunity to improve our skills.

Reflections and Connections
Paragraph writing is not a skill limited to Humanities 8. Whether it’s writing a report for science, or an essay in the later grades, paragraphs can be used anywhere. Learning about the topic sentence will be useful for expanding upon ideas. Knowing how to create a paragraph outline can also help you to study for tests because you can break a chunk of text down and look at it from a new perspective.

Homework Reminders
For people in my blog group: Hema is going to be doing the Learning Blog for the first block of tomorrow. Bill will be doing the second block. Charles will be doing his on Friday.
The descriptive paragraphs page is due tomorrow, including the exercise on the left side of the page. We have to brainstorm, create an outline, and write a double spaced draft about an event of incident that you have experienced or witnessed.
We also have to have posted two comments on the blogs by tomorrow.
Ask a study buddy for help if you need it!

learning blog, Dec 8

learning blog Dec.8

What did we do?
In class yesterday we did our dialectical journals for our books that our groups are reading in. 

,Why (learning intentions) did we do it?
We do our dialectical journals to share a quote and relate to it in some way. whether it be to the world or to yourself, while we all shared our quotes another group watched us and observed us then marked us. Then we had to ask three to five questions to prompt our discussion.

  Reflections and connections-how was/is today's class skills or subject matter relevant (important) beyond Hum 8? Where might it be useful and how?
This could be useful to us in the future because this could help us relate to other peoples stories better or it could help us have better conversations or help us answer questions better,

Homework reminders- what is due and when,
We have to finish our group[ response for tomorrow, remember to have two goals and two stars for yourself and your group.


For extra help look at the planning sheet Ms.Lees handed to us :)

by: Alex :3

Learning Blog: Dec.5, 2014

          Today in Hum8, we talked about paragraph writing and supporting sentences and details. We also practised how to do paragraph outlines, which was kind of like dissecting a paragraph.The learning intention was to learn what makes a good paragraph, and how to show your ideas in the paragraph. If anyone wants to be a writer, it would be important to know this because it'll help you express your ideas, but this can be helpful anytime you write paragraphs.

           Today's Homework:
                    1. Paragraph Outlines due next Tuesday
                    2. Dialectical Journal due next Monday
                    3. Innovation Fair Proposal due next Tuesday

Learning Blogs: December 3rd

What We Did:

In class today, during our first block of double-block humanities, we discussed and learned how to write a proper ‘Learning Blog’. A learning blog, being an online record of what work and things we learned in class.  We learned how to improve our blogging skills, and learned how to improve our overall writing. Also, how to properly reflect on what we’ve done in class and expand on our thoughts. Along with learning about how to blog, Ms. Lees, our teacher, helped us learn how to navigate through the blog, because many a person had problems in doing so. As for learning how to navigate through the blog, we learned how to troubleshoot some of the problems we had with working with the blog, and our teacher answered some of the questions we had, about the blog. Furthermore, we learned how to customize our blogs. By customize, I mean how to change font colour, the background, add gadgets, and such. In conclusion, we learned how to refine our blogging skills, how to navigate through our blogs, and reflect/think about what work we have done in class.

Why We Did It:

The learning intention behind reviewing our blog and learning what we did, is so that we will have close to no problems with using and navigating through the blog. Instead, we will use the blog with ease. Also be more confident in posting, and writing. Overall, we will be able to learn much more and get a better understanding of how to blog and write in a formal tone, as the blog is open for the public to read.

Reflections and Connections:

Skill #1) It is just as important to be digitally literate as it is to be literate. Due to technology continuously advancing and becoming more complex as time goes on, technology has become a big part of everyday life. So learning how to blog and be able to use technology to your advantage is a skill that will help you for as long as you live. Perhaps in the near future, you might need to use a program or something along those lines, which you are unfamiliar with, and you need to adapt to it quickly. Using this particular skill that we learned today, you’ll be able to quickly adapt and learn how to use the program, slowly becoming more comfortable with using it. Since technology surrounds us, and is everywhere we go, it is likely that you will use this skill in the future, whether it be during your time at university or at your workplace.

Skill #2) Another skill that we learned is how to speak and write in a formal tone. Not writing with slang, text lingo, or conversational tone. Writing in a formal tone, with proper punctuation and grammar. The way you would write an essay or such. It is likely that you will use this skill quite often as you grow older and become an adult. Whether it be, when you are writing formal writing pieces such as dissertations or a thesis, in university, or writing a speech for winning an award.

Homework Reminders:

As for what homework is due, we have our self-assessment booklet due on Friday. I’d also just like to remind everyone that we have a Humanities re-test during flex time, tomorrow. Don’t forget that we have our ‘Innovation Fair’ proposals due on December 9^th.

Learning Blog for December 3, 2014

Hey guys!

1. What did we do?
This block was full of revision on the blog. We were not assigned anything, nor did we do any work. We spent the entire block basically looking at the blog,going over the criteria for the Learning Blog, and just overall refreshing our minds on how to use the blog.

2. Why (learning intention) did we do it?
A lot of people were quite confused on navigation around the blog,and we had a lot of questions about the blog in general. Looking at who was listed as an "Author" on the class blog, there where actually some missing people on the list (including myself). I am quite glad we went over that because if we haven't, me and some other people still would not be able to post,also still clueless that we are not with the blog.

3. Reflections and connections
I think that what we did today was a great day and we defiantly learned tons about the blog. We can use the information we were taught today on the blog,and maybe even beyond Humanities.

4. Homework reminder
Self assessment are due Dec. 4, also retest tomorrow at flex. Come in if you want to retest!

Learning Blogs- December 2

What did we do?

We spent basically the whole block doing our Literature Circle Group Discussions. During this time, one novel group sits down and shares ideas, asks questions, and just talks about their book. Another novel group stands at the side observing the discussion, and offers feedback through an observation sheet.

Why did we do it?

I think that the purpose of our Literature Circle Discussions is so that we get better at group work, and are able to produce ideas and contribute to the group. We also work on our listening skills when we are observing the other group, as we learn to pay attention to others. By filling out this observation sheet, we also know what others look for during group discussions, like asking questions and connecting to ourselves.

Lit Circle Discussions can even help us during group work. We can learn how to encourage other members of our group to contribute and share their ideas. At the same time, we learn how to keep ideas flowing, and how to keep the conversation alive and moving.

Reflections and Connections

In my opinion, I think that the skills that we learned today can be applied almost anywhere. From group work in school, to job related meetings. We are learning lifelong skills. Being able to encourage others to contribute and share will make group projects a fun experience, and being able to voice our opinions and turn our thoughts into ideas will certainly help with brainstorming and offering feedback. We can even use these skills to make our presentations interesting and engaging.

Homework Reminders

Just reminding people in my blog group that we all need to do “Learning Blogs.” For tomorrow, Hema is writing about the first block and Bill is writing about the second. Charles will do his Learning Blog on Friday.

We need to write a summary of our group discussion as well as two Goals and two Stars for ourselves, and two Goals and two Stars for our novel groups.

Retests will be at Flex at 11:15 in Ms. Lees’ room.

learning blog :3

So i guess this is my post for the day........yeah LETS DO THIS
today in class we talked about what problems we were having, like with our home work and asking questions.
I really enjoyed today's lesson because it gave us a chance to be open with our hmm how do i say this.. our difficulties in class. I think we did this so that we could connect or relate the same problems and try to solve them all together as a class. Like i said that i had a problem and mine was that i was too scared to ask for help because i was worried that i would feel dumb. But then Ronald said "who agrees with Alex that sometimes we all feel a little dumb to ask questions" and like half the class  put their hands up! this made me feel allot better about my problem and we came up with some solutions
the first one is to call up a study buddy! So if we have problems we and call a friend and they can help us explain it in a different way so we maybe understand it more :) or another one was to ask Ms.Lees in flex on your one so you can kind-of get a one on one interaction. This could be very important later in our lives because we all have times where we are afraid to ask questions whether it be to your boss or your best friend or to your mom (XD idk who) but with this new advice we can get better at these things and not be so afraid all the time, because it is ok to ask questions thats what teachers and friends are for :3
HOME WORK REMINDER: dialectical journals are due tomorrow be prepared with 3-5 questions to prompt discussion.

LEO Club

Guys I am so sorry about this being a few weeks late, my apologies :( When this was assigned, I have not joined any clubs.



The LEO club,(Leadership, Experience, Opportunity) is a club that takes place every Tuesday at 11:15 AM in room 217. The LEO club is jam packed with students and its a fairly popular club. To graduate high school, you need at least thirty hours of volunteering, (freely offering to take part of an enterprise). So what LEO club allows you to do is to make use of your time in grade eight and get you to volunteer at places so you don't have to waste much time in the later grades trying to complete your thirty hours. I find this club overall a very useful and you should join immediately if you are interested. :)

Quote by William Pollard

"Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable."

By: William Pollard 

I think this quote really means something. It stood out to me tremendously and I really like how the author thought of changing the inevitable. It can really make you think about how  you as a person can evolve and how creativity, innovation or improvement is useless with out change.  

Kid President: Creativity

I chose this video because it's funny and it tells you to just do what you want. It says everyone can do something to change the world!

“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not. ”

“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not. ” -Pablo Picasso

For some reason, this quote really spoke to me. I thought it was really inspirational, and quite interesting, especially considering who this quote is coming from. I can see this rule reflected in quite a few of Picasso’s pieces!
However, I don’t think that this quote applies solely to art. I think that this quote could actually be applied in quite a few places.

It is a fairly simple quote, but the meaning behind it is powerful. Take risks. Look past the surface, think outside the box. Let your imagination run wild.
If people didn’t follow Picasso’s advice, our world would definitely not be where it is today. People might not have been brave enough to try and invent a lot of the technology that we use today. And I think that we should try to apply this mentality to our everyday life. Stop dismissing your ideas, and waving them off. It’s not as obvious to others as it is to you!

Don’t be afraid to speak up and share your opinions with the world! Take that first step towards innovation and creativity.

"BELIEVE"

 “Believe you can, and you’re already half way there.” – Theodore Roosevelt

It might not be the most inspirational quote about creativity and innovation, but the meaning behind the words is clear. Let your mind and your thoughts wander, with no boundaries, no limits. With no idea being too wild or outrageous. Whatever goal you want to achieve, it’s just within arm’s reach. You just have to believe in yourself. Not to mention, actually work towards accomplishing your goal. Firstly though, you must realize that you have the ability to do anything you set your mind to do. Whether it be to create the world’s first flying car or to find the cure for cancer.

I suppose that the main reason I found this quote to be inspirational was because, after reading it, I realized that no matter what the task or hardship, all I had to do was take the first step in believing I could accomplish it, and I’d already be ‘half-way’ done.

In conclusion, the key to creativity and innovation is to think outside the box, venturing further than anyone ever has, because no idea is too inane. Take a risk, and the end result will be all the more worthwhile. Another important key to success is believing in yourself, along with working hard, as nothing comes easy in life.

AWESOME (just like the winter soldier) :)

Well hello there Canada! my name is Alex and im reporting from surrey BC. The breaking news today is that i went to a club! (i know surprising right) It was called the environmental club and it was VERY interesting! We Talked about many different thing. For instance we talked about having a week where all the stores in the area that sell food would let students bring in their own containers instead of giving them Styrofoam ones. (which are REALLY bad for the environment) So they asked some of us to volunteer to talk to the owners of some of the restaurant, but i was too scared so i didn't volunteer. They also talked about this pipeline running from Alberta to Barnaby i think....... ANYHOO they said that it transports oils that are very dangerous to the planter and now the government wants to build ANOTHER one beside it?!?!?!?!? (really guys like really how dumb is that) but its really bad for the environment so if there is an oil spill it could be DOUBLE the trouble for the planet. They also would have to rip out alot of foest which also destroys habitat for all the animals that live there which is VERY VERY SAD
so yes Canada that was my amazing experience at the environmental club :)
peace out for now
Alex :)
(they had food too, it was very yummy)

"Club" Assignment

The club I chose to attend was the Environmental Club. The main goal of the club is to help the environment by donating their time and effort towards good causes, and to try and raise awareness for a lot of the issues that people might not know so much about.

At the meeting I attended, the organizers talked about what the Environmental Club does, and went into brief detail about some of the projects they run here at Fraser Heights.

I decided to attend this club because I thought it sounded interesting, and I wanted to join a club of some sort, so this seemed to be a good place to start. The club meets on Mondays in room 211, though activities may take place at lunch or after school.

There are quite a few benefits of joining this club. For starters, it’s an excellent chance to earn volunteer hours, especially since you need a certain number of hours in order to graduate. Might as well get started, right? It’s also a lot of fun! It’s a great place to get to know people, and you’re also helping out your community and environment.

However if you do sign up for a project, you are expected to show up and pull your own weight just like everyone else. These projects usually take place after school, and include activities such as removing invasive species in order to let the native plants flourish, picking up garbage (it’s a lot more fun than it sounds) or even creating posters and just helping out in the community.

But they’re not limited to just after school or extracurricular activities... Some of their projects may just be as simple as not using plastic or Styrofoam containers, and using reusable ones instead. This is a great club for all who care about the environment, or even those who just think that picking up garbage around the school grounds sounds like a fun thing to do with their friends!

The Environmental Club

(Option #2 - Alien)

The Environmental Club

Before I launch into my explanation of how the club is and what it is about, I would like to mention that the club I chose to attend the meeting of, is the Environmental Club. What I have learned, from some very kind earthlings, are that the club revolves around the idea of helping the environment and protecting it from harm. Cutting down non-native plants that surround the school area in order to help the native plants thrive. Discussing eco-friendly alternatives to everyday things we do. For example, an ongoing objective of the Environmental Club right now is to stop people from using plastic utensils and Styrofoam/paper plates when they go to buy food (outside of school and even in the cafeteria). Instead, they encourage you to bring your own containers from home to store the food in. As doing so will help prevent further damage to our fragile ecosystem. The club also does fun projects on specific topics about the environment to try and help raise awareness about what’s going on with our precious world. I believe that the club is also going to take part in the BC Green Games, which is quite exciting. (What happens in the BC Green Games are that several, different teams each research an environmental problem that they would like to solve and find a possible solution to it. The Green Games help people come together and realize all the many, possible solutions to the environmental problems we have at hand. There is also a cash prize for the winning projects). The Environmental Club is a great club to be a part of if you love the environment, such as I, since Earth is a wonderful place. (Much better than Venus, where the greenhouse gases may just be getting to me). So much has been explained regarding what the Environment Club is about, but I have yet to explain the actual atmosphere of the club. Youth of all grades are members of the club, and they are some of the nicest people I have met. Everyone is friendly and if there is ever anything that you need to ask them, they are willing to help you. It’s a great place to meet new people and make new friends. In conclusion, the Environmental Club is a marvelous club to join if you love the environment, or just want to meet new people.

The Homework Club

For my club, I chose the Homework Club, as I didn't have time to check out others. No, it's not a club for people who love homework, it's a club where you can go to at lunch to work on homework or get academic help. When I went in, I worked on my math homework, which was quite easy, so I didn't need help. This isn't to say that there's nobody to help you, because there is. There were a few teachers, and some older kids working, so if you had the guts, you could (probably) ask them. The Homework Club is in the ELL room every lunch. You don't really join, as it's more of a drop-in sort of club. Overall, I feel that it's an excellent club to join (or drop in) if you need help with school.