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! 

Social Studies Presentation Tips

Today we have gone through some tips and tricks for presenting in class. We used a modified version of a blog post by Seth Godin to look at how to be convincing, tie into people's emotions, and create effective slideshow presentations.

We will be working this week on putting together our presentations for the Humanity Re-Settlement project, with the goal of being ready to do presentation rehearsals to small groups on Friday in class. We are looking to begin formal, marked presentations on Monday, October 28th. 

For more info on the project, you can check out the Google Site: bit.ly/ss7survival

For the presentation tips, check I've attached it as a Google doc.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzb2NpYWw3c3Vydml2YWx8Z3g6NTI2MDVjOGM3Mjc2YzQwNg

- Mr. Hyland

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

Accelerated Reader: The App

Good morning all,

Just a note that Accelerated Reader is accessible via an app on Iphones.  

Have students visit the itunes store / App store and download it.

 It is free. 

After installation they will need to enter our Renaissance Place ID: BLS-44UP.

This will only need to be done once. After that all the regular rules apply (Monitor password, only at school and only during school hours.)

If you need some help, let me know! 

- Mr. Hyland

Student Led Conferences (formerly Parent Teacher Interviews)

Hello all!

Coming up soon we will have our Student Led Conferences! This year all classrooms are running Student Led Conferences. Each student will have 15 minutes to come in with their families and talk about how they are doing so far. The goal is for students to lead the conversation between themselves and their parents, and for them to articulate their goals, successes, and struggles. Since the student is running the conference, the student MUST be in attendance.

Mr. Sklapsky and I are using VolunteerSpot this year to have parents choose a time when they would like to sign up, in order to make the process a little easier for all of us. Our interviews will take place on either Thursday October 17, or Monday October 21. Both days have interviews at 15 minute intervals from 3:30 to about 8:00. If neither of those days work for you, please contact Mr. Sklapsky or myself to set up a date and time that works better for you.

To access the conference sign up, please check out the directions below, or click on the big button.

1. Click this link to go to our invitation page on VolunteerSpot: http://vols.pt/ue4yko
2. Choose the class that your student is in.
 3. Sign up! It’s Easy — you will NOT need to register an account or keep a password on VolunteerSpot.

Note: VolunteerSpot does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact me and I can sign you up manually.



Want a little more help? Check out the video below:

Social 7: Post-Apocalypse Humanity Re-Settlement Project

Today we will be putting our mapping skills to the test in our first project of the year in Social Studies., through the lens of a topic that I have been interested in for a while, and one that has hit pop culture in a big way: zombies.

For this project, students will be working on the assumption that they are in a world very different than the one that they are in now, and need to create a plan, using maps to find a location suitable to handle the re-settlement of the human race.

Note: This is meant to be a hook, something to get students interested. We will not be studying zombies, but merely using them as a way to jump start our interest into the world of using maps for something useful.

This will culminate in a presentation to the class in which each group will present two possible locations that they believe would be good locations for a new settlement of humans.

It should prove to be interesting. Stay tuned along the way. If you want to check out the project page, you can find it here: http://bit.ly/ss7survival. I've embedded the intro video below, just for kicks.

- Mr. Hyland