Minor Details - November 23

November 23 - 27, 2020

Character Study "12 Angry Men"

We have been exploring character traits in order to create studies of the characters in what we're reading (Will Wilder: The Relic of Perilous Falls) and what we're watching. Today we watched a classic movie from 1957 called "12 Angry Men". It's a black and white movie that is shot with 12 actors and 1 set. Despite the bare-bones production, the movie keeps you on your toes from the first scene.

Effective Study Strategies

One of the most challenging skills for students is to develop effective study skills. It is one of the skills that we expect students to somehow know how to do, but we rarely explicitly teach.

Today we spent some time reviewing 14 different recommendations and strategies that are based in brain research. Here is a brief summary:

Approach test “stress” with a positive, optimistic attitude
There is no point studying things you don’t understand.
Make sure your Cornell notes are organized and complete.
Use a green/yellow/red index card strategy to create colour-coded review notes that identify the concepts you clearly understand and those that you don't.
Use graphic organizers and visuals.
Teach what you know to someone else.
Cramming does NOT work. Neither does just reading over your notes.

Most importantly, when you believe in yourself, you are more likely to persevere. That means you will ask more questions and spend more time, even when it’s difficult. Remember that the things we struggle with are exactly the things we need to work on.

You can read the whole effective study strategies document in our Google classroom here

Pattern Block Art

We have been using an app from the mathies.ca website that allows us to create geometric art using pattern blocks. (There are a lot of other really cool math tools on mathies.ca that we will be using in the future, but you can check them out any time by clicking here).

Here are some examples of art by William M, Abbie, Avalon and Brianna.

The 3 Secrets of Resilient People

We know that highly successful people often share this characteristic: resilience. In the words of basketball star Michael Jordan, "fall down 7 times and get up 8". The ability to bounce back after setbacks and failure is so important.

We watched a TED talk by researcher Lucy Hone on 3 strategies we can all use to build resilience. The strategies are:

Know that tough times will happen to everyone
Focus on what’s “good” and what we CAN change
Ask “Is what I’m doing helping or harming me?”

You can watch the TED talk here.

Angle Relationship Problems

Today we learned how to use 6 different angle relationships to solve problems like the one pictured here. There are a couple of effective strategies:

write the icons for each relationship beside the problem as a reminder of the 6 possible relationships
turn the problem around so you can see it from different perspectives

Of course the way to master this is to PRACTISE! Everyone should be doing about 30 minutes of practice problems tonight at home. Check the Google classroom for tons of practice problems to try.

Sum of the Angles in a Triangle

We did a neat investigation today to determine the sums of the angles in a triangle.

First, we each drew our own triangle and labeled the angles A, B & C.

Then, we ripped the triangle so that each angle was its own separate piece. Then we reassembled the pieces so that angles A, B & C were right next to each other. We discovered that they all line up on a straight line! That was how we discovered that the sum of the angles in a triangle is 180 degrees (because a straight line is 180 degrees).

Now we can use this relationship to help solve angle relationship problems.

Class Appreciation - From Stephanie

I caught a cold last week and to be absolutely certain it was JUST a cold and nothing else, I was off for a few days waiting for the results of a coronavirus test. While I was off, two different occasional teachers wrote me notes about how their days went. Here's some of what they wrote:

"I really enjoyed being in your classroom today. You have a wonderful group of students and they all made me feel very welcome."

"Your class was an absolute delight. They worked independently and in their small groups beautifully."

"Again, it was an absolute pleasure, and I hope the students enjoyed their day as much as I enjoyed mine."

I know our class is an amazing, kind and thoughtful group. Ms Quaranta knows this too because she sees them every day. But it made me burst with pride to have two other teachers tell me how wonderful it was to spend the day in our class.

Every single one of us has the choice to treat others with kindness and respect. I am so proud that even when I'm not here watching, this wonderful group of students makes the choice to be, well, wonderful.

I am so grateful to be able to spend each day with them. And so happy to be back in class!

Ecosystem in a Bottle Project

Over the next few weeks, we will be building an ecosystem in a bottle. This project will test our knowledge and understanding of the interactions between abiotic and biotic elements in an ecosystem.

What every student needs is a clear, empty (and clean) 2-liter pop bottle. The rest of the supplies will be provided in class.

You can check out how to build an ecosystem in a bottle here

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