MS. DETERRA'S MAKER STUDIO

Hello Everyone,

We began watching In the Shadow of Gold Mountain in class, which is about the Chinese Head Tax. You can watch the rest of the video at the National Film Board site, here.

We also watched this video about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, narrated by Chief Robert Joseph and sharing his own experiences with Residential Schools.

Here are some of the ways you can help with Reconciliation, with this list from CBC, posted as part of National Indigenous History Month last June 2020. There are many examples of personal acts you can take to help, such as educating oneself about Indigenous issues through books and videos.

Here is the Government of Canada website on What is Reconciliation?

As part of Black Shirt Day, which is on Friday, January 15th, we are wearing black shirts in support of peoples of colour and civil rights, acknowledging the systemic racism that happens in our communities and taking steps to educate ourselves about it. It is especially important this week as Martin Luther King Day is also this week, which is an acknowledgement of all the work Martin Luther King Jr. did to advance civil rights. Here is a video we watched in class to learn more.

I will continue to add to this post as I find more resources.

Hello Everyone!

In term three, one of the major things we focus on is an independent research project. We end the year by doing a formal presentation of our findings.

But right now, we are in term two. While I will provide more specific information on the entire project later, right now we just need to decide on our topics!

So, by January 25th, I would like to know your topic.

How do you choose a topic for IP or Independent Project?

1. Make sure the topic is something you are really passionate about. Do not choose a topic just because an adult suggested it, and do not choose a topic because you are trying to do something similar to your friends. It has to be something you want to know about! (Otherwise, this process is not fun at all.)
2. Topics need to be something you are not already an expert on. Or, if it is something you have studied before, you need to come up with new questions about the topic.
3. Topics need to be deep and take time to explore, but they also need to be specific so you have some direction. For example, I am not going to study “how do lights work” as that will not take very long to do, and I can probably use one resource to answer that question. But, I am also not going to study “plants” – this is too big of a topic and could be about anything! A good example would be “how electricity use affects the environment” or “what we can learn from indigenous knowledge about plants”
4. Brainstorm several options before settling on one. Discuss with Ms. D. Let’s talk together about your topic. Have more than one option just in case.
5. Can you answer this topic using only one resource, or will you need to use more than one? A measure of a good topic is that you will need to use more than just GOOGLE to figure it out. You will need to look at book resources, maybe do some interviews of experts, or perhaps do an experiment and document it.
6. Make sure the topic is at your level. Some topics are far too complex, and we won’t be able to find resources that will help you (at least not at your reading level, and not within the Burnaby Libraries.) So, please listen to Ms. D’s guidance when I say, let’s find a way to make it age appropriate for you.
7. Do not do a topic you have done as a previous Genius Hour or Independent Project topic.  If you want to continue research from a previous project, then let’s talk about how this project will be different and answer NEW questions you have about that topic of interest. Maybe try to be open minded to doing something new so you expand your knowledge!
8. You can choose to expand on something we have talked about in class. If you want to do genetics, for example, even though we have been talking about it in class, then that is great! This is a good opportunity to expand on unit topics.

Okay, that is all for now. In class we will talk about this some more. Time to start brainstorming!

Ms. D

Hello Everyone!

We are now moving on to a new unit, but we want to finish up our discussions from the math we were doing. As discussed already in class, we will be making our own math games! We will work on these games leading up

Learning Intention: Create a game for a specific audience that will teach or practice specific math skills from the structure of math tasks we did, or the conjectures we discussed during term one. Use your creative, critical-thinking, and ADST skills, as well as communication and collaboration skills if you choose to work with a partner!

Due: We will work on these off and on up until December 18th. Our hope is that we can play your game no later than December 18th, Friday.

Requirements:

• Choose to work either on your own or with a partner. If you choose to work on your own, be careful that your game is not too complex, so you can finish the requirements.
• Choose an audience for your game. It could be our class, intermediate students, or primary students, such as our buddy class.
• Choose a format for your game. It does not have to be something complicated. Think about all the games we experimented with during our unit. This can be a dice, card, board, or trivia game, for example. Get creative!
• Think about what will make a game appealing. When you compared games, what kinds of things did you notice will make an interesting game?
• Many of you said you enjoyed critical-thinking games that involve strategy. What strategy will you need to use to win your game?
• Think about a unique idea. Avoid playing another version of a pre-existing card or board game. You can use elements of games you have played, but we are not copying games.
• Determine what materials you will need. Either create or gather what you will need to play the game. Ask Ms. D for any materials you need at school. Do not buy anything new — think reuse and recycle from what you already have!
• Write a set of rules for the game on the computer in size 12 font  OR write the rules by hand on paper provided by Ms. D. Rules need to have the game title, game objective, game materials, game strategy, the math you are practicing through the game, and the steps you will need to play the game.
• Have someone play your game.
• Evaluate your own game for its success!

Last year, we made complicated board games for the human body unit. The purpose of those games was to practice specific knowledge from the unit. For this project, however, the intention is to use math actively, and to involve critical-thinking skills and strategy!

I will provide you with a handout in class, in addition to this blog entry, but it says the same things. Many of you have already started working on your ideas and plans. Great work!

I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Ms. D

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