Assignment #10: Buddy Videos

Good Moring, Bloggers!
I hope everyone is off to a wonderful start with the Grade 8 Literature circles. I know that many of our Hillsdale Grade 8s are well on their way to being finished the first reading section, if they aren't finished already. Some are even starting to bug their wonderful teacher about when they are allowed to start reading Section 2 (*cough* MAX *cough*).

The purpose of THIS assignment, however, has nothing to do with the Literature Circles. Our Grade 8 buddies in Ottawa have been working very hard on creating interesting and creative presentations. They presented the finished product last week, and video taped everything! Now, they've uploaded the videos and posted them on their own blogs for us to view.

So, your assignment this time is simply to head on over to your Ottawa partner's blog and view their wonderful video, and then leave a comment once you've finished. They covered some really interesting topics such as Plagarism, Facebook Privacy, Digital Footprints, Cyber Bullying, and more! Once you've viewed the video and left your comment, be sure to come back here and comment on THIS post to let me know you've completed your task.

Here's the catch: The videos often don't work on our school computers becuase of the DDSB web filtering programs. If you can't watch from school, please watch from home.

P.S. Feel free to view and comment on more than one video! Watch and comment on as many as you wish!

Assignment # 9: Due January 14, 2011

Good Afternoon, and welcome back!

I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday. I certainly did! Once again, I was spoiled by my family and friends (including Santa) and I did a little spoiling of my own. But now that the holidays are over and we're back to school, I thought it would be a good idea to take a little time to think about other people. As many of you know, there are thousands and thousands of people in the world who are not nearly as fortunate as we are here in Canada. There are thousands of children who didn't receive a Christmas present, thousands of parents who couldn't afford to provide their families with delicious turkey dinners, and millions of people who didn't get to spend their mornings sleeping in in a warm, cushy bed. For these people, life is a lot more difficult, and I think it's important to remember them, especially at this time of year.


We've all heard the song "If I had 1,000,000 Dollars" by the Barenaked Ladies, but I'll include it below for your entertainment.

In this song, the Barenaked Ladies talk about all the different things they'd do with a million dollars. They could buy a house and furniture to put in it. They would by a fur coat, an exotic pet, a green dress, and a monkey. They'd even take a limousine to get to the store. In our society, a million dollars can go a really long way.


On the other hand, in some countries, it doesn't take a million dollars to make a difference. In some countries, even one hundred dollars can go a really long way.

Step 1:  For this assignment, you will be researching the following organizations:


Oxfam


The Salvation Army


Plan Canada


World Vision


You will need to learn a little bit about each organization. What do they stand for? What do they do with donations? What kinds of donations are available?

Step Two: You will also learn about Ethical Gifts. What are they? How does Ethical Gift giving work? What ethical gift options are available from each organization? You will need to fill out your Ethical Gift Tracking form that you will receive in class. You must record the number of gift options available at each organization, as well as the least and most expensive items. Once you've done this, you will use the remaining space to record the potential gifts that you're interested in, their cost, and their purpose. This form must be completed and handed in to Ms. Crosbie by January 14.

Step Three: Once you've done your research and learned all about these organizations and the gifts they offer, you will have to make a decision. You've been given $100 to spend on ethical gifts. You must decide which organization you will purchase your gifts from, and what gifts you will purchase.

Step 4: You will then create a new blog post under the heading "Assignment #9: If I had $100." In this blog post, you will :

a) Identify which organization(s) you've chosen for your purchase (don't forget to explain why you chose that specific organization)
b) Which gifts you will purchase (don't forget to explain the purpose of these gifts and why you chose them)
c) How you will distribute your funds (i.e. will you spend $100 buying a whole whack of mosquito nets? Or, will you spend $20 on mosquito nets, $50 on a goat, and $30 on medical supplies?)

Step 5: After you've published your post, don't forget to come back to THIS post and leave a comment to let me know you've finished! I can't wait to see what some of you choose to do with your money!

Note: As discussed in class today (January 4), you may combine your funds with those of another person if you both wish to purchase an item that is over $100. You may also spend your money at more than one organization.

Assignment # 4: Instrument Study

It's getting to be that time again. Time to get our instruments out of their cases and start squeaking and squacking and huffing and puffing and playing! But, before we really get into the nitty gritty, I think it's important for us to know a little more about the instruments that we play with every day! To do this, I've come up with an assignment. It's an assignment that I've done before, but I've never done it online, so this is going to be an experiment for all of us. Read on to discover the parameters:

Using the questions below, you will work (either individually or in partners) to learn more about the instruments we use in class. Some of you may also be assigned an instrument that we do not have at school, but it is still important for us to be aware of the different instruments used in concert bands and orchestras.

You will have three half-hour classes to work on this project. By the end of the school day on October 29th, you must create a blog post discussing your instrument. You must cover all of the points included below, a picture or diagram with all of the parts labeled, and must also include a demonstration, a poster, or a sound recording. We will learn how to post these types of multimedia in class this week.

If you find information that is not required as part of the questions, but information that you find interesting or important, please include the information in your post. Remember, it MUST be in your own words!

You will be given research sheets in class this week which must be completed. These sheets will have all of the questions on them, as well as space for notes, diagrams, etc. They must be handed in to Ms. Crosbie, as these will give evidence of your research. You must also provide a list of resources from which you obtained your information (this includes any website from which you borrowed pictures, video, etc.). A rubric will also be provided to you to further show the expectations for this assignment.

 Questions to answer:

1) Instrument name:

2) Type of instrument (instrument family):

3) Number and names of ALL parts of this instrument:

4) Which clef does this instrument play in?

5) When was this instrument invented?

6) Who invented this instrument (and where are they from)?

7) Does this instrument make sounds of a high pitch or a low pitch?

8) How do you make a sound with this instrument?

9) How do you assemble this instrument?

10) How do you sterilize the mouthpiece of this instrument (percussionists, you will have an alternate question as this doesn't apply to you)?

11) How do you maintain this instrument before and after playing?

Some Helpful Websites:

Flute History.com

About Music.org

Music Science at UNSW 

DSO Kids 

BBC Guide to the Orchestra 

 National Arts Centre Instrument Lab

Sound Junction

Think Quest Instrument History

Violin History

Alison Vardy Harp and Lyre History

Instrument Encyclopedia

Making Music

Classicol Instrument History

This assignment is due by the end of the school day, OCTOBER 29, 2010!

Assignment #3: Behind My Name

Good morning, bloggers.

Because you have all been so inpired and engaged with our new blogging experiment, I wanted to make sure that you didn't go home this weekend empty handed. Once again, I'm borrowing from Miss Pollock and using an assignment that her class has already completed. I know a few of you have already checked out the posts her students have done for this assignment, so you probably have a good idea of what I'm looking for already.

I would like you to do some research about your name and write a post telling us what you learned. As well, you are going to include a hyperlink within this post.

First, go to the website, Behind the Name. Open it in a new tab in your browser so you can still have my blog and your blog open. Search for your name. You can type in your name to the search bar or search alphabetically.

Another site that has lots of interesting information about names is Baby Names. Once you have found your name, you can click on "more info" and see a chart demonstrating how popular your name has been in different years. At the bottom of the "more info" page, you can fill out a survey about your name to help the administrators of the website enhance their information. You may do this when you are done writing your post.
Tip: Search your full first name, not a shortened part. For example, if you are Isabella, but everyone calls you "Bella", search "Isabella" to get the most information.

Find out the meaning or the root of your name. My first name is Gillian and when I searched for it, I got what I needed on the first try (I guess there aren't many derivitives of Gillian). However, for some names, you may be directed to other names (For example: Ms. Pollock's first name is Shauna, and she was directed by a link to "Shaun", then "Sean", then "John" before she got information about the root meaning of her name.You may have to follow a similar path to find out the roots of your name.)
Start a new post. In this post, you will answer several questions in full sentences. You may need to copy my text and fill in the blanks.

Start off your post by linking back to this assignment.

Behind My Name: ________ (fill in your name)

Before I started this assignment, I thought my name was ______, because _________.
I think my parents chose this name for me because __________________________.

After searching on Behind the Name (create a link here), I learned that my name means ____________ (use your own words here).

Some other interesting things I learned are _______________________ (maybe there was extra information, you learned the root of your name or where it comes from or who are some famous people with the same name, maybe you looked up your middle or last name).
I think my name does/does not (select one) suit me because ___________________.

If I could give myself a new name, it would be ______________, because _________________.

You may add any extra comments or reflections about your name at the end of the post.

For a bonus, look up the name of a character in a book, movie or TV show that you like and write about why that name does/does not suit that character's personality.
For a sample of how you can do a great job on this assignment, check out Miss Pollock's

 or Hannah's.

Please leave a comment at the bottom of this post when you have completed this assignment. Make sure you are logged in so I can easily access your blog.

This assignment will be due on WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20.

Bonus: Jackpot!

Good afternoon, bloggers!

The duedate for Assignment #2 is approaching quickly (it's due TOMORROW)! Please remember to comment on my Assignment #2 post to let me know that you have completed it. Also, a few quick reminders:


1) Make sure you've clicked on "Follow" to follow our class blog


2) Make sure your blog is included in my link list to the right. If it's not, please comment on this post and include the link to your blog so that I can add it to my list.


3) Please make sure you've turned the 'word verification' for your comments off.




Now, this assignment isn't a mandatory one, but I think it's one that many of you might be interested in. I discovered a very interesting article today. I won't tell you what it's about...I'd rather you discover that for yourself. Read through the article, and for a bonus, create a posting on your blog entitled "Stolen Jackpot." In this posting, I simply want to know what you think about this article and the topic it discusses. What are your reactions? How would you feel if you were in that situation? Tell me your thoughts, feelings, and/or opinions!

Assignment # 2: Discrimination and Tolerance

Good morning, bloggers!

I know we've only just started putting our blogs together and some of us are having a bit of trouble getting our accounts set up, but hopefully we can have all of these little glitches resolved by the end of the day.


As you all know, most of our Grade 6-8 students will be going to see a performance of Wicked on November 24th as part of a unit focusing on tolerance. You also know that I'm very excited about this trip, and I've been working hard since last June to get everything ready for this very important unit.


As our grade 6/7 class begins to wrap up our Suspense unit, and our grade 8 class begins to wrap up their Humour unit, I thought it might be a good idea to begin looking towards our next focus. For this assignment, you are to write a post of at least 10 lines in length about the meaning of tolerance and discrimination. You're welcome to include a definition from one of our classroom dictionaries, but this will not count towards your 10 lines. I'm looking for your ideas and thoughts about tolerance and discrimination, so please use your own words and write as creatively as possible. You can write in any form or style you like, which could possibly include a rap, a song or poem, a journal entry, a creative story or a reflection. Please be creative and use lots of detail in your writing


This assignment will be due Thursday, October 14.

Assignment #1

Your first assignment will be a two-part assignment. 

Part ONE

Your first posting will be a Welcome post. You will welcome new readers to your blog, introduce yourself and try to grasp the reader's attention, attracting them to come back to your blog often.

Once you are logged in, click on "New Post" in the upper right hand side of your page. You can then compose a message (don't bother with the Edit Html tab). The message composition works much the same way as a word processor like Microsoft Word does.
In your welcome message, I would like you to:
1. introduce yourself (first name ONLY)
2. tell your readers you're happy they're here
3. tell your reader a little bit about yourself. You will include 3-5 juicy sentences describing yourself with evidence (for example: "I am a little shy at school but I love watching "Glee" because I can imagine how amazing it would be to be able to be brave and sing in front of others.")
4. encourage your readers to leave comments or questions
5. thank your reader and encourage him or her to come back and visit often

Before you "Publish post", make sure to SPEAL CHEECK your work. (There's a little ABC checkmark icon in your menu bar, spellchecker will highlight the words it does not recognize).

Once you have written your welcome post. please leave a comment on this post on my blog. I will then link to your blog (you will see the links beginning to appear on the right hand side of my blog).

Part TWO

We will have a buddy class who are located in Ottawa, Ontario (our nation's capital)! They have already begun working on their blogs and are a couple of assignments ahead of us, but I know they will be patient as we get caught up. They are very lucky students to have a teacher named Miss Pollock who is a blogging expert, and we all (students and teacher alike) will have an oportunity to learn from each other. 

For the second part of your assignment, you will

1. Venture over to Miss Pollock's Blog and explore.
2. Once you get there, you will need to take a look at some of the student blogs that have already been created. They are located under the heading R8A Blogs which is on the right hand side of the page.
3. Choose one of these blogs to comment and question. What this means is that you must both comment on something the student has mentioned and leave a question for them to respond to. For example: If they said they love scary movies, you might ask if they are excited to see the 4th "Scream" movie that is coming out next year. Some students only have one posting while others have two or three. You can comment on any of their postings, provided that you are making sure to give positive feedback!
4. Once you have posted, just come back here and leave a comment on this post letting me know who and what you commented on (Example: You might say, "Hi Ms. C, I commented on Noah's Welcome post").

Happy blogging!