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. :)