Minor Details - November 29 - December 3, 2021

November 29 - December 3, 2021

Advent Calendar Winners

Logan and Jessica were the winners in the leadership and responsibility advent calendar draws on December 2 and 3

Geometry Art

We used our measurement and geometry skills to create origami-style paper stars. Part of this task was to correctly interpret and follow instructions.

We also experimented with changing measurements and angles to see how that affected the star design.

Developing Editing Skills

Today we are reading each other's short stories and developing our editing skills. We are learning that you need to read through at least 3 times in order to edit accurately (see picture).

Finally, after reading at least 3 different short stories, we realized that the most interesting short stories have:

an introductory sentence that catches our interest
great characters that we want to know more about
interesting and descriptive language
a well-developed plot that progresses to a "climax"
a satisfying conclusion

Leadership & Responsibility

We believe that when we all take responsibility for our learning and actions and become leaders for good, there are no limits to what we can achieve together.

For the next 4 weeks, everyone who demonstrates responsibility and leadership will have their name added to our Advent calendar draw. This will be a fun way of recognizing positive habits.

Today, December 1, Jillian's name was drawn!

More Book Cover Art

Thank you to Chloe, Matthew, Will, Sage, Trinity, Sheyanne and Kylie for help re-creating the book cover art for Roald Dahl's book, "The Witches". Here you can see the original cover and our re-creation.

Port Colborne Library sent an email confirming that they have received book cover art submissions from Amber, Kylie, Emma, Jersey, Soren, Jillian, Trinity, Bannon, Chloe, Will & Mackenzie. We will find out before Christmas break who the prize-winners in the book cover contest are.

Multi-Concept Math Tests

Today we have our first multi-concept math test of the year.

There are several reasons for having multi-concept tests. Most of the reasons are based on the research explained in a fantastic book called Make it Stick. You can read the article I wrote on this book and how I apply the research in the classroom here.

First, we want to honour the learning process. We know that learning any new concept takes time to "stick". If students only have one chance at demonstrating their understanding on a "unit test", then that does not honour the reality that many students need more time to deeply understand concepts. Multi-concept tests give students opportunities to solve problems on specific concepts many times throughout the year.

In the "old days" before smart phones, we had to memorize phone numbers. The only way I remembered phone numbers was to use them frequently. This is the principle that the authors of Make it Stick use to explain why our brains need to retrieve information frequently for us to remember it. Multi-concept tests give students the opportunity to continue to use their understanding of math concepts throughout the year.

Finally, we know that muscles need to be exercised differently in order to continuously improve. This is the foundation of exercise programs like Crossfit. I like to think of multi-concept math challenges like "math Crossfit". On a conventional unit test, students' brains are wired to expect only a certain type of question (say, percent). On a multi-concept test, students need to use their problem-solving skills to identify each problem and the relevant skills to solve it (e.g., What kind of math problem is this? What strategy will work best to solve it? What tools do I need?).

Because these are new skills for grade 7/8 students, they may use their Reflection Journals during multi-concept tests as a support. This is why it is so important that students write thoughtful reflections and communicate their thinking clearly. You can read the article I wrote on the importance of reflection here. You can also find all the reflection questions students have answered in the Google classroom.

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