Genius Hour

This term we are trying something exciting and new. We have launched something called "Genius Hour". To see the handout that students received, check out this link here. 

Genius Hour is simple. Students are asked to find something that they are passionate about, or interested in, and learn about it. There are three rules:

1. All projects must be approved by me. 
2. All projects must include research, with proper citation. 
3. All projects must include a presentation of what you have learned. 

I have added (and will be continuing to add) a whole bunch of information on Genius Hour to the tab at the top of the page. You can also click this link here. 

Students are currently brainstorming for ideas. Please take a few minutes to ask them about what they're interested in pursuing for this project. 

A BIG part of Genius Hour is trying to connect students with specialists in a variety of areas. Students are looking into a whole variety of information. I'm hoping that our parent family, and your connections will be able to help us to connect students with "Geniuses" in various fields. I put together a quick survey for parents and would love it if you could spare 3 minutes to fill it out. I've embedded it below. (You'll have to scroll through to access all of it.) 

If the embed code doesn't work, you can also access it here. 

Updates December 8-13

Social Quiz
We will be finishing up the first two topics of our Power & Authority unit in social this week, and will be having an exam to wrap things up before we go to the holiday break. Students will go over what to review in class tomorrow.  Our quiz will take place on Wednesday, December 11th. 

ELA Exam
Our ELA Elements of a Short Story exam will take place on Thursday, December 12. For information on what is on the test, check out the previous blog post.

ELA Independent Reading Project
A reminder that the Independent Reading project that was assigned in September is due next week on Wednesday December 18th. Students who are leaving early are expected to hand it in before they leave. Some students are still scrambling to complete this project. The assignment outline and the rubric are both on the "Handouts" Page, but I will insert them below for simplicity:

IRP Project Outline

IRP Rubric

Kindness Project
In December, we are celebrating the virtue of Kindness. 7-56 students have elected to participate in a Kindness Project. Stay tuned for more information on what will be coming. 

ELA Theatre Trip
On the afternoon of Thursday, December 19th, we will be going over to Vic Juba Theatre to watch a play by the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company. It's called Mekiwin: The Gift. Check out the poster for the event here. There is no cost to students, but they are taking donations for The Olive Tree, so if you would like to send donations, it would be appreciated!

Grade 7 Movie AM
As Ryan has already sent out, on Tuesday, December 17th in the morning, all grade 7s will be going to the May Theatre for our annual movie morning. The cost is $3 plus whatever students would like to spend on snacks. 

Talent Show
On the last day of school, Friday December 20th, we will be hosting the annual Bishop Lloyd Talent Show. Students and staff will be auditioning this week (Monday and Tuesday after school) to showcase their talents in a morning assembly. Parents are, of course, invited to join in the fun and excitement. I will update later with the exact start time, though it is estimated that it will be 9 am.

ELA Elements of a Short Story Review

It's review time! We have our ELA Mysteries PART ONE quiz this week. The quiz will cover the Elements of a Short Story. Check out below the Flocabulary "Five Things" video, the presentation slides, and the outline for the quiz. Enjoy!

Quiz Outline

Knowledge
Be able to explain:

• Plot
• Exposition
• Initial Incident
• Rising Action
• Climax
• Falling Action
• Resolution
• Fill in a plot diagram
• Character
• Protagonist
• Antagonist
• Static
• Dynamic
• Conflict
• Character versus self
• Character versus character
• Character versus nature
• Character versus society
• Theme
• Setting
• Mood

In addition to being able to explain them, students should have an understanding of the stories that we have read in class, and have an idea of a few examples of different types of characters, or settings, based on the stories that we have read.

Application
Read a new short story, and use the plot diagram template to identify the different parts of the story.
Click here to see the plot diagram template. 

Flocabulary: Five Things

Elements of a Short Story Slides

Take care,
- Mr. Hyland

Updates November 19-22

Hello again all!

A few updates today:

Performing Arts: Students are working on scenes for presentation. All scenes are to be memorized. Students are working in pairs on this performance. TOMORROW (Wed. Nov. 20) is our dress rehearsal. All students should be ready to go, with all props, costumes, etc. for our scene dress rehearsals. The final presentations will be on Monday, November 25th.

PA/Band: On Tuesday, November 26th, students will be engaged in an Arts AM. PA students will head over to LCHS to tour their drama area, to watch some performances from their students, and to participate in a master class on improv with them.

Band students will get a full band rehearsal in preparation for the December 3rd concert at Vic Juba! This will be a great day for students to work on their instruments, and rehearse in sectionals and with the whole band together.

ELA: All students should have handed in their first drafts of their Fractured Fairy tales. Today we went through reviews, and tomorrow will be the final peer-editing session. ALL FINAL versions of their stories are due on Friday, November 22nd.

Discovery Day: On Thursday, November 28th in the afternoon, students will be able to sign up for a selection of choices of discovery day activities. Ballots have been cast with their choices, and students will be grouped into activities based on those choices. The afternoon will be alternate, with students heading off to various locations to participate in their chosen activities. There may be a cost for some choices, and students will need to have those fees in ASAP after they learn about what activity they are in. 

Winter Dance: I encourage all students to come out to our winter dance. It is on Thursday November 21, from 6:30 - 10:00 pm. It's always a good time. In addition, there will be a green screen set up at the dance, and students are encouraged to have their photos taken in the green screen, and have them put into a wintery background. Cost is $2 a photo, with additional prints costing $1 extra. If you're interested in chaperoning for the dance, send an email to jaquie.pollard@lpsd.ca for more information. You're more than welcome, despite what your student might say.

ABC Rafiki Friend Chain Sales: Our WE Team is selling "ABC Rafiki Education Friend Chains" to help raise money to help students attend school in Ecuador. It's part of our year-long initiative to help bring education to students around the world. They're $10 each, and make great meaningful gifts. (Can you tell I'm helping to sell them?)  For more information, check out our info page here! 
You could also see the video below. If you'd like to order one or many, send your child with your request and the money, or request directly to me via email and just send the funds with your student.



Have a great week!

ELA: Fractured Fairy Tale Updates

We have been working hard on our Fractured Fairy Tales. First drafts are due tomorrow! We will be going through a few rounds of self and peer editing, but first we will be spending some time looking at how to do good peer (and self) editing. I've embedded the slideshow below, and you can download the "Presentation Companion Sheet" here. 

If you want to see the rest of the process, you can, as before, find it all on the website for the project:

http://bit.ly/ela7fairytales

Stay tuned for the final copies later this week!

- Mr. Hyland

Fractured Fairy Tale Project & Edmodo

I hope this weekend has been enjoyable for everyone! Today I have updates on our new ELA project, and Edmodo, which we will be using along side of it.

The Epic ELA Fracture Fairy Tales Project

We have begun our Epic ELA Fractured Fairy Tales Project. We will be working through evaluating fairy tales for their story elements, examining examples of ways that they have been altered to create new versions, and then creating our own. As we go through this project, we will be doing a significant amount of writing (each student will create a 500-700 word written piece). We will also be evaluating our own writing and the writing of others, as we work towards creating a polished version of our writing.

All classroom materials, and a complete outline of the project is available here: http://bit.ly/ela7fairytales. I encourage you to check it out, and discuss your child's writing with them.

Edmodo

We also will be using Edmodo for communicating throughout this project, and to hand in versions of this project.  Edmodo is a free and secure learning network for teachers, students, and schools.  It provides a safe way for teachers and students to connect, share content, access homework, participate in discussions, manage due dates, and receive class information.

Edmodo is accessible online and through any mobile device with Internet capabilities – including free apps for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android devices.  Students can access their account from any mobile device or computer, and set up notifications within Edmodo to receive alerts/reminders via text or e-mail.

Edmodo will not be used as a social network like Facebook or Twitter.  This tool will be used strictly for educational purposes using the following guidelines:

• Students will be required to use appropriate grammar instead of texting language.
• Edmodo does not allow private student-to-student messaging - the site will be used to discuss school-related content only, and the teacher will monitor all Edmodo activity.
• No put-downs or sarcasm toward another’s ideas. All expectations as outlined for our blogging & commenting apply to Edmodo. 

Students who violate the guidelines above may face disciplinary action and/or face losing the privilege of using Edmodo.

I look forward to a great year as we continue to incorporate the use of technology into our classroom curriculum.  If you have any questions, please contact me.

Edmodo can be accessed online here: https://blms.edmodo.com/ 

Edmodo can be downloaded through iTunes for any iOS device from this link here! 

Edmodo can be downloaded for Android here! 

Updates for October 21-25

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who came to interviews on Thursday! I look forward to seeing everyone else tomorrow, or on alternate dates as needed. It's a great opportunity for us all to connect on how the year is going so far, and what goals we are setting for the next term. If you didn't have an interview and still want to set one up, please email me: derek.hyland@lpsd.ca. A quick reminder that feedback from the interviews is due on Tuesday October 22nd.

Marks will be available on Tuesday from our first big ELA test of the year. We will be rolling out our new writing project on Tuesday as well, so stay tuned!

In Social Studies, we are concluding our research into mapping for the Humanity Re-Settlement project. We will be working on our presentations this week, and will be in final rehearsals by Friday so that we can start presentations next week!

Library Week is continuing and students are encouraged to bring in gently used books to the library, for which they will receive a ticket to come on Monday to exchange for a different book of their choosing. This will be running on Monday night at interviews as well, so parents are encouraged to participate.

All this week and next week until Halloween, we're running a food bank drive called "WE Scare Hunger". The goal of the drive is to collect as much non-perishable food items as possible. All students are participating in a challenge to see which class can bring in the MOST food items. We hope that the 7-56 team will be in the lead!  It is being organized by our WE Team, and is in connection with Free The Children. If students are interested in joining the WE Team for our food drive in the community on the evening of Wednesday October 30th, they should join us at the school from 4:45 pm to 8:00 pm. I've put up a quick info video below:


Thanks!
- Mr. Hyland

ELA Test!

We will have our first ELA test on Thursday October 17th. I'm posting both the review topics as well as the slides that we've covered recently in class!

Part One: Parts of Speech

Be able to identify, use in a sentence, and define each of the following:

• Noun
• Verb
• Adverb
• Pronoun
• Adjective
• Conjunction
• Interjection
• Preposition

Part Two: Sentences

Be able to identify, use in a sentence, and define each of the following:

• Independent Clauses
• Dependent Clauses
• 3 Types of Sentences
• Simple
• Compound
• Complex

Part Three: Reading Comprehension

Students will get a passage to read, and need to answer some comprehension questions on it. 

Click this link to get access to a PDF of the presentations on Sentences! 

Happy studying! Have a happy and restful long weekend! 

:) Mr. Hyland

Blogging!

This week we are getting started on blogs. We've been examining what goes into making a blog, how to stay safe, and talked about our expectations for ourselves and for others as we work through our class blogs.

I drafted a document called The 7-56 Blogging Expectations and Agreement which includes the expectations that we think we should follow. All students need to sign to say that they agree, as well as bring home to their families to share with their parents, and have their parents agree. If you see it come home, please go through it together, and sign off on the bottom and return it to me by the end of this week.

I am very excited to get started with our writing, and to be able to share it with everyone! Stay tuned for more soon.

- Mr. Hyland