Month: October 2020

Hello Everyone!

In class, we have started working on a project related to social studies, applied design, science, and language arts curriculum content and competencies.

Each student is inventing their own world to show an understanding of the concept of STRUCTURE as it relates to how our own world is organized to support human life.

We are working in partner groups, and the creative thinking is going well!

As you create your own world, here are the things you need to think about to show a complete understanding of STRUCTURE as it relates to how we organize ourselves:

• Where is your world situated in the universe? What universe? What star/sun is supporting life with its radiant energy? Are there other planets around it?
• What is the name of your world?
• What is the topography like on your world? What kind of land features, continents, bodies of water, etc. will your world have?
• How does the world support human life? (It can have other life on there, but the world must support humanoids.)
• Focus on one city on one continent. What is its name?
• Who lives in the city? Why do they live in that location?
• How is the city organized? (Government, Police, Services, etc.)
• How do people get the resources they need?
• How does the city make money to create things and live? Do the people make something specific and sell it? Do they sell resources?
• Does the city have a specific currency or trade system?
• How do people communicate? What is their language?
• Is there anything else about culture you can tell us about to show the STRUCTURE of how people live?

Once you have thought of all these things, then you need to present the information to us. First, you will need writing to address everything in the list above. How and where you write it will depend on the format you use for showing us your world. Here are the options:

• Create a poster of your world with pictures and writing. The writing can be done by hand or on the computer.
• Create a 2D large map of your world. Then do some writing to explain it. Do the writing in your journal as a draft, and then publish it on your e-port with a picture of your model.
• Use the Book Creator app to put both pictures and writing together to show us your world. Ms. D will be showing you the class code so you can access Book Creator for free, and you can work on it in school or at home. We are using this for our Form and Function project, so you may want to try something different.
• Create a 3D model of your world, and then use writing and other items to explain and show features of your world. The writing would be done as a draft in your journal, and then published on your e-port along with a picture of your model.

Lots of choices, but the important thing is to talk about the bullet points at the beginning of this post, which we will review in class. Steps to getting this done are:

1. Brainstorm with a partner details of the world.
2. Decide who is going to write on what features. Split up the work so each person has three things of their own to write about. That way each of you has a role.
3. Decide what format you will use for showing information. Gather any materials you will need and talk to the teacher about materials available in class.
4. Share the writing job and divide up which part each of you wants to write about. Do some writing independently and then come together to talk about what you have written. Edit the writing and add any details. Make final drafts after editing. Both of your writing can be put on your eports, so you share the work.
5. Decide who will build which features, so the work is split up. Then come together with your features to make the main project.
6. If you need help sorting out roles, please talk to Ms. D
7. Keep checking the lists above to ensure you are on track and have addressed all the important questions about your world somewhere, either in the model/pictures you are creating or the writing.

Have fun! We will be using lots of core competencies during this project, such as communication and personal awareness skills as you work with a partner and balance your work, creative thinking skills to create the world, and critical thinking skills as you make thoughtful decisions about where to place your world.

Ms. D

Hello Students!

Today I will be checking in with you about your research. Many of you have done a great job answering the questions from my last post, and I look forward to seeing your notes in your journals!

I can see we are doing a lot of learning as we go about:

• How to feed Google the right words for effective searches,
• How to ask for help when you need it,
• How to choose topics, so you are not spending too much time researching something that is too difficult,
• How to manage your time, keeping to 30-40 minutes a night if needed for extra research at home, and using your class time well by not talking to others, and
• How to document your notes by following specific instructions about which questions to answer and what details to put down for the sources you used.

Remember, this is only our first project! This is why I gave you the questions to answer for this one!

Now, we need to do a presentation, so there are some choices to make:

1. Use the Book Creator app to put pictures and text together into a short, 6 page book about your topic. It is fun, colourful, and you can do it on the iPad. You can access it at school. You would need to answer all the questions in your book and provide some illustrations, which you can import from the internet. Save the pictures in your photo gallery on your iPad, then get started making your book. We will talk about it in class.
2. Write a speech and present it aloud to the class. The speech can be handwritten or typed out using the iPad. As you speak, you can have pictures to show. Find the pictures you need and put them in your photo gallery on your iPad. You can use Haiku Deck to show the pictures, or just slide through the pictures from within the gallery. We can hook up your iPad to the projector. The speech would be no more than 2 minutes. One paragraph for each question.

Laptops are not currently available for this project, so we won’t be able to have you work on Book Creator at home, and we can’t do PowerPoint yet. Don’t worry, we will get to do that soon! Maybe the next project!

I will post a rubric for you in MS Teams later this week, along with the assignment description. That way, we can practice turning in an assignment.

Look forward to seeing your research!

Ms. D

Hello Everyone!

Now that we have had many discussions about the concept of STRUCTURE, we are going to do further inquiry about how FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION.

We will continue having conversations about FORM and FUNCTION, but so far, we have had discussions about:

• How our human skeleton is designed to provide us with protection and flexibility,
• How objects we use every day, such as sports balls and chairs, are designed with a specific function in mind,
• How designers need certain materials to build with, based on the function or purpose of what they are building,
• How scientists think about the form and scientific properties of matter as they create and help designers choose materials to make things that serve a specific purpose,
• How humans create structured systems of specific forms, such as government at a federal, provincial, and municipal level in Canada, to organize themselves so we have order instead of chaos,
• How mathematicians use the structure of conjectures, counterexamples, and asking questions through noticing and wondering, or being a skeptic and convincer, to serve the function of finding new patterns and knowledge in mathematics, and
• How humans have created language and specific formats of writing for the purpose or function of communicating ideas.

Don’t worry, we are not done discussing these things and experimenting further. But now, it is time for you to start doing some independent research of choice.

I would like you to choose one animal, building, or object you are interested in researching further. You will look at why your animal, building, or object has a specific form to serve a specific function.

1. First step is to do some research and note taking. Create 4 pages in your journal for FORM AND FUNCTION PROJECT – NOTES.
2. Choose your research topic (animal, building, object). Suggestions could be based on what we have done in class: human skeleton, a specific piece of architecture, an animal with a very different structure than ours, a human body system, a specific roller coaster or amusement ride, a community system like government, a specific kind of map or navigation tool, or an entertainment/recreation toy like a yo-yo, skateboard, or specific type of bicycle.
3. Make sure your topic allows you to do deeper research, are related to our unit, and are appropriate. Things to avoid (because Ms. D has experience with this!) are topics like a chair, a basketball, weapons, a video game, or a book.
4. Start your research using the guiding questions. Answering the questions below is required, so you need to write the question in your journal, then find answers to the question and write them under the question. Give yourself 4 pages in your journal for notes.
5. Use quality websites. If you are doing human anatomy, please Google Kids Health, as there are lots of age-appropriate resources and articles there. If you are doing animals, consider websites like National Geographic, PBS, or websites that end with EDU. If you are doing roller coasters and amusement rides, consider watching a YouTube video on the ride, and then Google the name of the ride and engineering design. We will talk more about this in class. Feel free to use my Articles of Interest Page with websites for a starting point.
6. Record the website where you find information, and the date. So, for example, if I use Kids Health, I will put the name of the website next to my notes and the most recent date I can find on the web page I am using. We will start there for documenting our sources!

Here are the questions:

1. What is the form of the animal, object, or building? Sketch a picture and label it. Take notes about its parts. What is it made of? How was it designed? Who designed it? When and why? Watch a video about it and write down key features.
2. Where would I find the animal, object, or building? Habitat, location in the body, environment, city/town, where is it bought or sold, etc.
3. What is the function of the animal, object, or building? Why did the building get built? Who uses it and why? What does the animal do? What does the animal eat? How does it get its food? Is it part of an ecosystem and does it have a purpose, like being a predator and eating other animals, or being food for other predators? Why was the object invented? Who uses it? What problem was the object trying to solve?
4. What is special about your animal, object, or building? What special feature or adaptation does the thing have that makes it special and allows it to do its job? How does its form allow it to serve a purpose or function?
5. Interesting Facts and Your Questions: Record 5 of your own questions not listed here about the animal, object, or building, and then try to answer them. Record down random facts that you find interesting about this item, so we understand why you are passionate about it and wanted to research it!

Okay, this is the START. Next time, I will tell you how we will present the information and share it with our classmates. There will be two choices. For now, gather up some great information! Research will be due by October 26th, Monday, then the presentation will be due a week after that on November 2nd. Our deadlines are flexible, so it will depend on how everyone does with the projects in class.