Minor Details - January 24

January 24 - 28, 2022

William Ellwood Performance & Album Cover

As a follow-up to the live presentation by classical guitarist William Ellwood, students were asked to complete 2 assignments.

One was to write a blog post highlighting what they learned.

The second was to design an album cover suitable for Mr. Ellwood's upcoming "Chasing Saturn" album release.

Here are the remarkable covers designed by Will and Macy. Neither of them had any idea that they were creating almost identical art work!

Political Cartoon - The Social Dilemma

We are still reflecting on The Social Dilemma documentary that we watched a month ago.

We have been analyzing the messages in political cartoons about social media and are creating our own.

Here are 3 examples from Chloe, Will and Bannon. Please take time to discuss the symbolism in the political cartoon designed by your child (and support them to complete this assignment if it is not yet finished).

Perimeter & Area

Today we investigated perimeter and area. We asked ourselves if perimeter stays the same, can the area inside the perimeter change?

To investigate this, we used a rope to create a perimeter that didn't change, and then we changed the shapes we made to see how many students would fit in the shape.

You can see an example of how Soren recorded the results of our investigation.

We discovered something very interesting! In real life, this discovery could help us solve problems like how to make the largest dog run enclosure with a limited amount of fencing.

Properties of Circles

Although the ancient Babylonians were accurately calculating the area of circles 2000 years ago, Archimedes is credited with the "discovery" of the relationship between diameter and circumference.

We have learned about radius, diameter and circumference and will be investigating the relationship between those properties next week.

History - Do John A. Macdonald & George Brown Deserve Statues?

Today we did a character study on two of the main political leaders at the time of Confederation: John A. Macdonald and George Brown.

We know that there are statues and institutions named after both these men and we started research into who these men really were and whether they are "deserving" of this kind of recognition.

In the coming weeks, we will learn the structure of debates and this question will be one we debate in class.

Skills Ontario Presentation

On Wednesday, students participated in a presentation on skilled trades as potential careers.

One of the key ideas was that there are about 140 different skilled trades that are well-paying, rewarding and in-demand. DSBN has amazing opportunities through the OYAP and SHSM programs in secondary school that support students interested in pursuing a career in the skilled trades.

Grade 7 and 8 students are on the cusp of making important decisions about courses and volunteer opportunities that will help them decide whether a skilled trade is the career for them.

Effective Study Strategies

One of Albert Einstein's most famous quotes is that insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

Today, in preparation for the quiz on cell organelles on Thursday, we discussed what does and does not work when it comes to studying for tests.

What students have proven over and over does NOT work is simply reading over notes. The reason for this is that when we read something, our brains get tricked into thinking we know it when in fact we don't. The way you can prove this to yourself is by simplying looking at a 10-digit number like a phone number. Simply looking at it is a very ineffective way of remembering it. Most of us recognize that we have to say it out loud several times, separate it into 3-digit chunks and write it down to actually remember it.

We discussed 2 very effective strategies for making sure we understand and remember information.

The first strategy uses the graphic design of a Cornell note. By covering up the main "answer" area of a Cornell note with a blank piece of paper, students can use the question to prompt them to write out the answer. Uncovering the original note means they can check the accuracy and completeness of what they wrote.

The second strategy involves teaching someone else. When we can actually teach someone something, we know we understand.

Combining these 2 strategies is a guaranteed success strategy for studying.

The Chrysalids Novel Study

We have just begun reading The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. This novel, first published in 1955, was one of the earliest examples of science fiction writing.

We will be exploring the complex, sometimes dystopian themes in the novel, as well as analyzing word choice and narrative voice in order to improve our own writing.

History - Canada Before Confederation

We are continuing to explore what Canada was like before Confederation.

Last week, we researched what life was like in each of the British Colonies before Confederation.

This week, we are examining the reasons why the colonies either embraced or resisted joining Confederation.

Strategies to Improve our Decision-Making

How do you make big decisions? Do you avoid them because they are so complex? Get overwhelmed and emotional? Make a snap decision? Write a pros and cons list? Follow peer pressure? Trust your "gut instinct"? Many of us haven't thought about whether the strategies we use to make decisions work well for us.

Today we are listening to a 30-minute interview with Steven Johnson who wrote the book Farsighted: How we Make the Decisions that Matter the Most. You can listen to the interview here.

When Capt Mark Eldridge joined us last month to help us get started with The Big Project (our schoolyard revitalization project), he introduced us to a strategy called "weighted analysis". Among other strategies, this is one that Steven Johnson discusses in his interview.

We are reflecting on how we make decisions now and the potential effects of our decisions. When we use Steven Johnson's "pre-mortem" strategy, we can see that even a decision as simple as not completing an assignment can have long term effects.

Using information from Steven's interview, we will set goals for ourselves and track our progress over the next 3 months.

Understanding Organelles

Over the past few days, we have been investigating the function of organelles in cells. Understanding how our cells work is the foundation for understanding our organ systems and eventually how diseases work.

Today, we discussed the mitochondria, chloroplasts, endoplasmic reticulum, lysosomes, ribosomes and cell wall. It was really interesting to discuss the relationship between the cell wall in bacteria and antibiotics! Special thanks to Will who came up with the analogy of a "frame" for the function of the cell wall.

Hopefully this will be a discussion topic at home as students prepare for a test on the functions of organelles on Thursday.

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