MS. DETERRA'S MAKER STUDIO

We will be reading the novel Skeleton Tree which is an exciting tale of adventure, survival, and interacting with nature!

As we read, we will be thinking of deeper questions that help us with greater reading comprehension. To do this, we will use QAR – Question Answer Response. There are four types of questions you can ask:

1.  Right There Questions: These are questions you can find right away in the text, such as, “What is the name of the main character?” These questions help us know the basics of what is going on in the story.
2.  Think and Search Questions: These are questions you need to look in two separate places in the text to answer, so they are more complicated to think about. For example, “Why did Johnny decide it was a good idea to ask for help from his neighbour?” In one part of the text, we may see the part where Johnny made the decision, but in another section, the author may explain why the neighbour would be able to help.
3.  Author and You Questions: These are questions that involve you thinking about previous knowledge and combining it with what the author says. For example, “Why would the main character want to have a dog come with her on the trail for safety?” The author may have said the character felt safer having a dog with her, and then you can add to it by saying dogs are protective animals that people often take with them on trails in case they encounter other animals or want to walk by themselves.
4. On My Own: You can answer these questions on your own without reading the text, but the question is related to your reading. It is just you won’t find the answer in the text. You have to use your previous knowledge and own critical-thinking skills. For example, “Do people need to be able to survive in the wilderness? Should wilderness survival skills be mandatory learning for everyone?”

As we read, you will keep a REMARK to mark your place in the book. We will make one quickly in class before we start reading. It is a bookmark with pages, so you can write down:

1.  QAR Questions and Answers
2.  New vocabulary and their meanings
3.  Random thoughts that occur to you while reading

When we are doing with our reading of this book, I will be asking you to do a mini book report in your e-portfolio, which will be due no later than June 11th. I will post criteria for it as we get closer to that point, so you know what to do and what to include.

We will talk more about this in class. I think you will enjoy the book!

Ms. D

 

 

Independent Project Update!

Your notes were due April 30th. If anyone wants to upgrade, they need to show me their notes during a silent reading period.

Many of you are still working on your primary research, which is due by Monday, May 31st. I have talked with each one of you about what kind of research you are doing.

If you are doing an interview, you need to provide me with a copy of the questions you are asking, even if it is an interview you are doing at home. This way, I can help you expand on the questions if need be. All questions need to be sent to me ASAP in email. Thank you to those of you who have already done this! Think about how you will use this interview in your presentation in a creative way. Document your interview and turn it in with your project.

If you are doing an experiment, you need to document your experiment with a lab report using the scientific method. Please take pictures of what you do, so you can include them in your presentation. We would like to see parts of your process, not just the final product!

If you are doing a model or creating something, you need to take pictures along the way. Document your process as well as the final product, so you can include it in the presentation.

If you are doing a survey, you need to send Ms. D a copy of your survey first, and then I will help you send out the survey to our community. Think about how you will report on these survey results in a graph or chart in your presentation.

If you are doing an observation or visit to a location,  you need to document it with notes and an explanation of what you chose to do. Please include pictures and any other information you found from the observation/visit.

Next, we will be talking about your presentation and bibliography. The Presentation and Bibliography are due Tuesday, June 15th.

We will do presentations for Cohort B in class on Wednesday, June 16th as a group.

Here is how it will work:

We can’t have the presentations to the greater community in person due to COVID, but we can present to our own cohort in our classroom.

1.  You are presenting to a group, and you need something engaging they can see or interact with. Each person will do this differently, so please don’t feel like you need to do exactly what everyone else is doing. You just need something engaging for your audience to look at while you talk. So, you can decide, do you want them to look at a poster, a trifold, your experiment, a series of photos, charts, graphs, a model, a handout of information, a cartoon, etc. Just looking at a computer screen isn’t enough. No one will have time to read all of your PowerPoint on presentation day, unfortunately.
2.  If you create something electronic, then that will allow you to share with the entire community who can’t be there on presentation day. For example, I can post links on the blog to any Book Creator books, PowerPoint slideshows, Microsoft Word documents with paragraphs of writing, or photos that you may have. While people won’t read all of your PowerPoint on the presentation day, PowerPoints can still provide a great slideshow for them to see, and then others can read your PowerPoint on the blog.
3.  During the presentation day, you can use: a computer, an iPad, one individual desk worth of space, chair, and wall space for putting up posters.
4.  You will want to think about the key points you want to share and have them ready. When someone comes up to you on presentation day, you want a short and sweet version of the key information you found out. I suggest writing it on an index card, which I can provide to you.
5.   Your bibliography can be in your PowerPoint, Book Creator book, or in an MS Word document. You don’t need a paper handout of the bibliography, but I will need to be able to see it in one of these formats.
6.   Somewhere in your multiple presentation pieces you need to answer these questions or have these parts:
   1.  What is your topic?
   2.  Why were you interested in this topic?
   3.  What were the questions you had when you started?
   4.  What are your key findings?
   5.  What kind of primary research did you do?
   6.   What new questions do you have?
   7.  Bibliography

We will go over all of this in class. We decided as a whole class group to not do ZOOM or another complicated presentation method, as we have 24 students who need to present, and more students were interested in doing a group share on the same day. Thank you to the students for helping with discussion and decision making about our projects.

We will have computers available daily, but some work will need to be done at home over the next month and a half, so please keep some time after school each day reserved for project work.

Ask questions if you need help along the way!

Ms. D

Hello Everyone,

As we continue our unit on the Nature Connection, here is a summary of what we are doing for Language Arts, which is intertwined into all of our activities:

• Latin Words: To better understand our discussions around taxonomy and the classification of animals in science, we are studying Latin prefixes and suffixes, which are often used in scientific terms. They are also useful for gleaning the meaning of words we don’t know, as Latin is the root of the English language. There are tasks in each student’s binder, and we will do these as we have time until the end of the year. Students also have a handout on Homographs that we will handle in the same way. These learning activities are ongoing until end very end of June, and I will do checks in class to see they are coming along.
• Descriptive and Figurative Language: As we go outside for our walks and discuss our connection to nature, we are working on being descriptive with our vocabulary. In class, we have done some exercises in our journal to begin this journey. We will practice giving active voice to the things around us in nature, even the things that are not alive, through the use of personification. We will discuss metaphors, similes, onomatopoeia, and other figurative language tools we can use to describe things more vividly for the reader.
• Poetry: Students will practice making haikus, cinquains, free verse, and other short forms of poetry, which also reading nature poetry available in a large selection of books in the classroom. We will be making a small journal of our favourites and presenting one to the class. Details to come in a later post.
• Skeleton Tree: We will be discussing how one can survive in nature, and the relationship between people and the land, through the novel Skeleton Tree. Students will use the Question, Answer, Response method as we read, which encourages them to think of deeper questions and to notice details while reading. We will do this together as a group, then students will produce a brief e-port book report.

More details to come about the specific assignment details and due dates. This is just a summary of what we are doing.

I encourage everyone to please keep journal entries neat for their poetry entries, which will make creating your journal easier, so you can find the poems you have made.

I also suggest keeping up with poetry assignments, as we may have one each day. If you need to take it home and finish, it can be homework to make sure your poem is complete, so that the next day we can move on to new work.

Thank you,

Ms. D

In class, we have been talking a lot about biodiversity! We have covered key concepts and vocabulary such as ecology, ecosystems, food chains, abiotic and biotic elements, biomes, and keystone species.

Here are some of the videos we watched, in case you would like to see them again:

Bill Nye Biodiversity

TED Ed Why is biodiversity so important?

What does biodiversity do for us?

We also watched Planet Earth’s Pole to Pole, which showed us the many biomes and amazing diversity of life we have, stretching from the Arctic down to the Antarctic.

Using the books in class and the websites below, please do the following:

1. Use the map handout I gave you. Give it a title, make a legend, and then colour the map to show where the different biomes of the world are. We listed them in our journals.

2. Using the other handout I gave you as a guide, for each biome, please find out its general location in the world, its characteristics, and then 3 plants and 3 animals you might find in each biome. The first biome can be done on the handout. The others you can record in your journal.

3. You may work with a partner in class, but you need your own map and information in your journal.

DUE:  April 23rd, Friday

Biomes Websites:

Blue Planet Biomes

NASA Mission Biomes

BioExpedition YouTube Types of Biomes in the World

YouTube Putting the History of Earth in Perspective

BioExpedition Website Types of Biomes

The Wild Classroom Biomes

MBG Net Biomes

Kids Do Ecology Biomes

UC Museum of Paleontology Biomes

ASU Ask a Biologist Biomes

Nat Geo Biomes

Build a Biome Game

Vimeo Biomes of the World Video

PBS Learning Arctic Tundra Video

PBS Learning Desert Biome Video

PBS Learning Biomes Slideshow

Biodiversity Websites:

AMNH Biodiversity for Kids

TedEd Can We Bring Back Species that are Extinct?

AMA 50 Bird Species and the Sounds They Make

TED Six Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World

Go Hiking  Lichens of Vancouver Island

For Fun When You Are Done:

The Cornell Lab Bird Academy Games

The Cornell Lab Bird Videos

TED Ed Can we build a perfect forest?

National Geographic and CAS iNaturalist

Naturescapes Tours

BC Trails Birding 101 Backyard Birding

 

 

 

Hello Everyone!

Now that everyone has a topic of passion for their independent project, we are actively doing research.

What to do for secondary research (we talked about ALL of this in class.):

• Find resources for your research! We are actively doing research until April 30. You  need to use both book and internet resources.
• Go online to order books from the public library. They are doing “pick ups” so you do not have to browse in the library, but if you are able to quickly visit and pick up resources, that is great.
• Ms. Ho, our school librarian, has been ordering books from other school libraries, including the high schools, and they are gradually coming in to the classroom. These books can’t go home, but you can take notes on them during class time.
• Check out your own books on your topic from the Suncrest Library. We have library every Thursday.
• Use an encyclopedia online to get information on your topic if possible.
• Find websites on your topic. Remember to think of all the synonyms of the words related to your topic as you do Google searches.
• Use websites with appropriate endings — .edu, .gov, .org.  Avoid those with .com, and avoid websites with lots of ads.
• Avoid blogs that give opinions rather than facts.
• Avoid entertainment articles that have games, ads, or other distracting elements. If it is a reputable source of information, there will be less of this.
• Use websites that have a specific author, and are not older than 2015.
• Take notes in your journal, under the section for Independent Project, and using the chart. Remember to ask questions first, recording them on the left, and then record resources and answers on the right.
• Use the Wonderings Wall question method discussed in class to ask deeper questions during the process of research.

What do I record for secondary resources, so I can make a bibliography for the project?

• You need to do a bibliography in May. Do not worry about making a formal one right now. Just make sure to record the information about the resource in your notes, so you can make a bibliography later.
• For a BOOK:  Record the title, the author or editors, the publisher, where it was published, the copyright date, and the pages you used.
• For a WEBSITE:  Record the name of the website, the name of the article you used, the date of the article, who wrote the article or the name of the person who made the website, the date you accessed the website.
• For a MAGAZINE: Record the title of the magazine, the date of the magazine and issue number, the name of the article you read, the author, and the pages used.
• For other resources, please come see Ms. D and we can talk about it.

What to do for primary research (this is required, choose one, and make sure to document your primary research with written observations, photos, or a lab write up.):

• Interview with an expert on the topic. (Before you do an interview, write down your questions and ask Ms. D to review them with you. Record the person’s answers, their name, and the date of the interview.)
• Observations at a location, or of someone doing something related to your topic. (It is a good idea to take both written observations, the dates you took the observations, and take some pictures to share later as part of your presentation.)
• Lab experiment. (Use the scientific method to do a lab write up. Take pictures to document the process so you will have them for your presentation later. Write down the dates you conducted the experiment.)
• Build something. (Document your design process with a draft drawing or plan, notes about how the process is going, and pictures so you have them for your presentation later. Record dates about when you did certain things in your notes.)
• Do something. (Try something for the first time, document the experience, and take pictures so you have them for your presentation later. Record dates about when you did certain things in your notes.)

Next Steps?

• Let Ms. D know what your primary research is, so she can help if needed.
• Record your resource information.
• Let Ms. D know if you are having trouble finding resources.
• Take lots of neat notes, as you will be required to show them to me.
• Begin working on what your primary research is, as that can take lots of time..
• We will talk about how to present (as there are lots of options) at the end of April, and focus on that during the month of May.

Due Dates?

• Secondary Research Notes — Due April 30th.
• Primary Research — Due May 31st.
• Presentation and Bibliography — Due June 11th
• Presentation to Community  — Approx. June 16 — Method for presentation and specifics of that date to be communicated later, given we have to figure out health and safety concerns first.

Thank you, everyone, for all of the great work you are doing so far!

What is it?

As part of our studies on media, we have been analyzing what the parts of a news story are, as well as identifying the steps a reporter takes to create an interesting news story for the public.

Everyone will be creating their own news reports! Some students may choose to do a newspaper article, and others will choose to do a broadcast news report.

If you are doing a newspaper article, it is best to work on your own. If you are doing a broadcast news report, you may decide to work by yourself or in a pair. No more than two people in any group, please, and you need to work with someone you haven’t done a project with previously.

What are the steps?

1. Your audience is “students at Suncrest,” so brainstorm a list of news article/report ideas that you could report on. It will need to be something that you will be able to write a full article about, and it needs to be interesting to your audience.
2. After you have chosen an idea, brainstorm how you will gather evidence and information to help you write the article. Who will you interview? What observations can you make? What research will you need to do? What pictures will you need to take? What data or math numbers can you gather for this article? How might you present the information (graph/chart)?
3. Begin the research and gathering process. Record your findings in your journal under two journal pages called “News Report Notes.” Take pictures using an iPad, or with a device at home if needed. Make sure you have access to your photos at school by saving them in your email or on One Drive.
4. If you are doing a newspaper report, use the handout “Writing a News Report,” as well as any news reports you have seen online and in print, as a guide to writing all of the parts of a news report. Make an outline for your article first (a list of what you will talk about) and then begin drafting it in your journal or on the computer.
5. If you are doing a broadcast news report, make sure you watch some news reports online, or some live interviews done by reporters. Then, make an outline for your article (a list of what you will talk about) and begin drafting it in your journal or on the computer.
6.  After you make a rough draft, make a final copy. Make sure to edit it by reading it aloud. Have a peer also edit it carefully for you. Fix any errors.
7.  If you are doing a newspaper report, begin using the tools available on Microsoft Word or any other program you prefer from the Microsoft Suite, to begin the layout of your article. Make sure you think about spacing, the format of the headline versus the body of the article, pictures you want to include, and any charts or graphs that may be helpful.
8.  If you are doing a broadcast report, begin practicing saying your script out loud. Practice at home in front of an audience. Decide how you are going to present your report — in the studio or live on the scene? Do you need a microphone or a news reporter’s desk? What kind of background might you need? What kind of costume will you wear to show you are a reputable reporter? What kind of voice and tone do news reporters use?
9.  Share your presentation. For newspaper reports, share your report with me so we can share it with the community. For broadcast reports, present your news report in class.

What are Ms. D’s expectations?

• I can choose a topic for my news story that is of interest for my intended audience.
• I can use critical-thinking skills to gather factual information for my news article or broadcast.
• I can conduct interviews with students or staff to gather information for my report.
• I can create my story using all of the key elements of a news report.
• I can express my ideas clearly in writing, editing carefully for conventions, and using complex sentences, conjunctions, and transition words.
• I can use tools such as interesting vocabulary, an appealing layout, numbers/charts/graphs, props, or an expressive voice to better communicate my ideas and catch the audience’s attention.
• I can collaborate well with a partner if I choose to do the project with one.
• I can share ideas about my local community in a news story format.

When is it due?

Presentations and articles submitted no later than April 6th, as we will be moving on to another unit at that time.