What's+Up?

=Monday June 13=

__//**ELA**//__ - You should be working to complete your research and your Global Impact Project. **A reminder that it is DUE ON FRIDAY JUNE 17**. See the calendar for other due dates! If you are missing the project outline, evaluation checkbric, jot notes page check find it on the Project Outlines & Criteria page.

= = =Wednesday June 8=
 * //__Social__//** - After completing the Distribution of wealth please go to my discussion post by clicking here and answer the questions. Make sure to use proper grammar, spelling, capitalization, etc.

Your objective today is to work on your research on the issue you have chosen for your Global Impact Project. While you are researching, you should put your information that you find into the jot-note template (on the back of the project outline). If you have lost your project outline and jot-note template, you can find both on the Project Outlines and Criteria page. If you want, you can download the file, add in your research into the word document and then re-save it into your own "My Documents" folder on your computer. **Remember to write down your references (where you got your information) on the bottom of the jot notes template page.**

Some ideas of questions that you might ask while researching are: What is the issue? What can people do to make it better? What are the problems caused by the issue you're researching Who does the issue affect? Who can do things to make a change? Why is this a problem? Why should people care about changing their lifestyles? Where are places in the world where this issue is a big problem? When has this been a problem? Is it a problem now? How can we change our lives to help this issue? How are we affected by this issue? How are other things in our world affected by this issue?

If you think of other good questions to guide your research, add it to the Discussion page "Research Guiding Question Ideas" by clicking here.

//**By the end of this class, you should have a good start on your research, and be ready to "pitch" your idea to me on Thursday.**//

=Monday June 6=

Last class we brainstormed a list of different global environmental issues. I have posted that list under the discussion page "Global Impact Issues". You can check out the list by clicking here. If you have come up with some ideas that ARE NOT on that page, please make sure that you add them to the discussion.

The second part of our pre-project research is finding out about different techniques that you can use to present your data (information) to others in the most convincing way. Your job today is to research as many possible advertising techniques as you can and post them to this discussion page called "Advertising Techniques for Global Impact Project. If you find a good example of an image online or a website, copy the link and paste it into your post. The more information we can gather, the better prepared you will be to convince the people of our community of your cause.

By the end of the period you should have made a significant addition to the collaborative research of the class. What does that mean? By taking the things that you find out and adding them to the discussion page, we have a much bigger collection of research to help us than we would if you were looking only by yourself.

As a side note, I have added the Global Impact Project Checkbric and the Jot Notes Checklist to the @Project Outlines & Criteria page.

If you have any questions, make sure you as me! Good luck! = = =Monday May 30th - ELA=

Today we're looking at our Human Footprint. That is, the mark that we are leaving on the earth as we live our lives. In class we'll be watching National Geographic's documentary //Human Footprint//. Before we watch the video, check out the interactive part of the National Geographic website by clicking on this link. Once you're there, click on the "Explore Interactive" link. Now explore. Check out the Human Footprint Maps Here.

As you work through the website, consider the impact that YOU are making on the earth, and things that you might be able to do to make less of a dent. If you're interested in checking out a few more resources, see the National Geographic Human Footprint Info pdf here, and the Wildlife Conservation Society website here.

1. **One thing that you already knew** about what was discussed, or what you interacted with today. 2. **One thing new that you learned** through your discussions and interactions today. 3. **One thing** that you learned through your discussions and interactions today **that really surprised you.** = = =Tuesday May 24=

First off, thank you to all students and parents for their patience and support through all that has been going on lately. A reminder that there will be no scheduled classes on Wednesday or Thursday. We will be back in regular scheduled classes on Friday.

There is a May Scholastic book order that is circulating around right now. These are due back on Friday of this week (Monday at the latest).

In Social Studies we are working on our Resources unit and will be integrating that with the Global Simulation project.

In English we are working on our "Doing our Part for Planet Earth" Unit, and any students that haven't completed the "During Reading" or "After Reading" questions on the article about pesticides and frogs should have it completed for FRIDAY.

Students in PA are working hard to bring their self-written scripts to life. All filming should be completed by WEDNESDAY of next week, and the due date for the editing is JUNE 10. We will be looking at hosting a screening for parents hopefully some time between the 15th and the 22nd, although this has not yet been finalized. Stay tuned for more information.

I hope that you take some time over these next two days to do some studying, some organizing of your binders so that you will be able to begin your reviewing for final exams. Also take some time to get outside and do something active and enjoy the outdoors. That's all until next week. = = =Thursday May 12= This has been a busy week, and next week will be the same. Check out the calendar page on the wiki for a look at the specifics.

We're just finishing our final project for our Courage Literature Circle unit, where students are creating a board game study guide. These are due on Friday May 13 (yikes!) in class. We will play them as a group on Monday. Students should check out the (a checklist-rubric hybrid) to make sure that they have included all the important information. You can check it out on the Project Pages page of the Wiki, or by clicking the link above.

In social we are just finishing up our Government Pitch Projects where students have researched the system of Canadian government as well as another system, and are presenting to the class about why the Canadian government should switch to the system that they've researched. They have been pretty interesting so far, and we're looking forward to the rest.

We'll be finishing up our Power & Government unit with an exam on Tuesday May 17th. All students should have a copy of the review, as it went out on Tuesday, however if it has gone missing, you can find it on the Project Pages page of the Wiki for your downloading convenience.

In Performing Arts, we have moved on to our Final Project of the year. As we will not write a final exam, we will be combining all of our learning this year into one final video project. Students are writing their own scripts, filming, editing, and presenting their final videos in a Film Screening Event on a date to be announced. As always, if you want to check out the project outline, see the Project Pages page.

That's it for now! Enjoy your weekend!