Lit Circle Discussion # 2

Hello Bloggers,

It's time for our 2nd round of Lit Circle discussions. Ms. Pollock's students have been busy formulating interesting questions to share with us, and have begun to post them for us to respond to.
So far, the Sketches discussion has begun on Melissa's Blog, the We All Fall Down discussion topic is posted on Will's Blog, and the Shaken discussion is posted on Tara's Blog. The rest of the discussion posts will be up shortly, and I will link to them as soon as they are available!

Reminder: As group members, you have some specific criteria to fulfill when participating in the discussions

•  be sure that you've finished reading the assigned section before posting your response (and if you've read ahead, double check what is included in the reading for this discussion so that you don't give away any details that your other group members haven't reached yet)
• prepare your response carefully (100-500 words EDITED and PROOFREAD) ***HINT: It's a really good idea to use a word processor such as WordPerfect or Talking Word Processor to draft, edit, and revise your responses before you post them.
• post your response to the comment section of the host's blog
• read the other postings and respond to these at least twice 

UPDATE: The Wounded discussion post is now up and ready for your input on Reshad's Blog.

UPDATE # 2: The Wave discussion post is up and running on Connor's Blog. The Black and White discussion is post is ready on Noah's Blog, and I believe the Branded post is good to go on Qavi's Blog.

Grade 6/7 Glog Presentations

Good morning, bloggers!

Lately, it seems like most of the blogging activity is being done by the Grade 8s. They've got their Digital Literature Circles happening, so that's been a bit of a focus. However, the Grade 6/7 class have been doing some really great work as well. Recently, they were assigned a project which required them to research either an early Canadian explorer (John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain, or Henry Hudson) or a Canadian First Nations group. After they did all of their research, they were asked to create a Glog that presented all of the information they found in an interesting way. Well, have they ever delivered! The Glogs look fantastic, and I think it would be a complete shame if I didn't share them with you.

To view our Grade 6/7 class Glogs, simply click on a link below!

Dayna's Glog

Brandon R's Glog

Alicia's Glog

Casey's Glog

Zach's Glog

Courtney's Glog

Rob's Glog

Caitlin's Glog

Brandon W's Glog

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!

Literature Circles

Digital literature circles have begun! Many of the Grade 8 students at Hillsdale and Fielding are well into the first section of their books by now, and are preparing to post and respond to their first set of discussion questions. Students from Hillsdale will be hosting the questions for week one. Take a look at the list below to find out which blogs you need to visit this week!

If you're reading Sketches, Andrianna will be hosting your discussion. (I know, this is a change from the info you've got. Unfortunately, Karran has been sick this week, so he and Andrianna have traded discussion weeks.)

If you're reading Black and White, Sam will be hosting your discussion.

If you're reading Branded, Hannah will be hosting your discussion.

If you're reading Shaken, Max will be hosting your discussion.

If you're reading Wave, Breah will be hosting your discussion.

If you're reading We All Fall Down, Kelly will be hosting your discussion.

If you're reading Wounded, Michelle will be hosting your discussion.

On Friday, discussion questions will be posted. All group members will have until next Friday (Feb.  11) to respond to the question.

Please note: You are welcome and encouraged to comment more than once. If a groupmate makes a statement that you find interesting, you are encouraged to respond to what they've said, even if you've already posted your initial response. Be as active in the discussion as you want!

Eric Walters Bio Cube

Hello again bloggers,

This post is intended for Mr. F's Grade 8 class (6/7s, you will have another blog assignment coming up shortly). In class you got the Bio-Cube planning sheet. However, you also need to know where to get all the information you will need to complete it. PLUS, you will also need the link to the actual Bio-Cube creation tool. Luckily for you, your teacher is super awesome and is providing all of these important links for you!

Eric Walters Info

Eric Walters Official Home Page

University of Manitoba Author Profile

Quill and Quire Article about Eric Walters

WEIR Author Profile

Penguin Publishing Author Profile

Authors Unleashed Interview with Eric Walters 

Bio-Cube Tool

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.

One More Sleep

Hello Bloggers!

Well, this is it....the holidays are almost over. Only one more sleep until school starts again.

I hope you all had  wonderful holidays and that you had lots of time to relax and enjoy the company of family and friends. Now, tomorrow, it's back to the grind. See you bright and early at 8:40!