February 28 - March 4, 2022
February 28 - March 4, 2022
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Plant Organ Systems
Plant Organ Systems
We are excited that in the next few weeks we will be receiving a hydroponics system and a seed starter kit! Together with the grow light and a humidifier, we will have state-of-the-art equipment to design and carry out our own experiments to determine factors that maximize plant growth.
Today we learned about the parts and organ systems in plants.
This short YouTube video (click here) has some really interesting "hacks" that might prompt some experiment ideas.
Understanding 1D, 2D & 3D Conversions
Understanding 1D, 2D & 3D Conversions
Most of us are very confident converting 1-dimension measurements. We know that there are 100 centimeters in 1 meter and so it is a simple matter of either dividing by 100 (when converting cm to m) or multiplying by 100 (when converting m to cm).
How do you convert 2-dimensional measurements like area? Or 3-dimensional measurements like volume? This is an exciting new idea! Take time to talk about it at home. These images might be helpful.
St John's Field Trip
St John's Field Trip
What a fantastic day we had at St John's Outdoor Education Centre! The weather was beautiful, we hiked, learned geocaching, had some toboggan time and students made me very proud to be their teacher. It was wonderful to be outside the classroom together having fun. The extra bonus was that Mr. Acaster spent the day with us as well.
We hope that we will be able to get out for more outdoor adventures as Covid restrictions ease and the weather improves.
Disease Presentations
Disease Presentations
Wow! Did we ever learn a LOT about diseases today!
Aside from the fact that nearly everyone improved in their media and oral presentation skills, we learned:
tapeworms can be up to 25m long (thanks Macy)
leprosy left untreated can lead to gangrene (thanks Bryden)
the effects of polio can lead to people having to spend their entire lives in iron lungs (thanks Logan)
mad cow disease is caused by prions (thanks Jersey)
you can get pink eye if you blow your nose too hard (thanks Will)
necrotizing fasciitis can lead to sepsis and organ failure (thanks Soren)
the virus that causes chicken pox also causes shingles (thanks Chloe)
SARS is caused by a virus similar to Covid 19 (thanks Matthew)
... and so much more! Here is Emma doing her presentation on gonorrhea.
We realized how important it was to understand the function of cells and organ systems in order to understand these diseases.
Feeling Anxious vs Anxiety
Feeling Anxious vs Anxiety
Learning new things often puts us in uncomfortable positions because we haven't mastered those skills yet.
Public speaking is an incredibly important skill that all of us will use throughout our lives. It takes practice to master the skills necessary to feel at ease with public speaking. Which is exactly why we do oral presentations in grade 7 and 8.
I reached out to our School Social Worker, Mrs. Leigh-Anne Ralston (MSW, RSW) for some insight into the difference between feeling anxious and anxiety. Here is what she explained:
"Feeling worried or anxious is normal and healthy and should happen before a test or presentation. It’s our brain’s response to perceived danger, but also is the opportunity for our brain to see that we are safe and able to manage feeling uncomfortable (using our coping strategies) because worry will always be a part of our life, and so will uncomfortable experiences.
"Feeling anxious is different than having anxiety. Anxiety is diagnosed by a medical professional following a number of questions and criteria including that your worry has increased in frequency and intensity and interferes with your ability to perform daily activities (generalized) and there are physical symptoms."
Hopefully this gives us all some context the next time we are feeling the natural "uncomfortable" feelings of doing something new. This is when our brains grow the most!
Grow Light Installation
Grow Light Installation
Thank you to Mr. Acaster who installed brackets for our new LED grow light! This device will allow us to experiment with the effects of different colours, intensities and amount of light on plant growth.
In the next few weeks we will be continuing our investigation of cells, but the focus will be on understanding plants so we can design our own experiments with plant growth.
We will also need to learn the scientific method, the criteria for a fair test, and independent, dependent and controlled variables to design our experiments.
Black History Month Quilts
Black History Month Quilts
Today we discussed the original criteria for the Black History Month quilt project. Because this is a media literacy assignment, the focus was on using visual elements (colour, shape, layout, design, space etc.) to best communicate the achievements of Black Canadians. We universally agreed that Macy's quilt demonstrated good use of these elements of design.
Students admitted that they often don't read or review criteria for assignments and that this leads to mistakes. It is important to continually review criteria to make sure we meet expectations.
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