Category: Assignment Info

We have spent time this unit talking about the structure required to set up a city, as related to FORM=FUNCTION!

• We took some time to identify key features of maps, as we looked at different types of maps from around the world (key vocabulary: grids, compasses, longitude/latitude, key/legend, scale, city maps, and topographical maps.)
• We talked about services needed if you were to set up a city. We looked at Burnaby’s City Services, and we made a chart of services provided at a municipal, provincial, and federal level.
• We also imagined what the first cities would have been like. Where are cities located? We determined they are close to resources that give us our basic needs and economy.
• How do cities change as the population grows? We drew some diagrams about the imaginary Joe Land that grew over time, and then talked about how structure changed and increased as more people moved in!

Now, we are working with a partner to create our own city, which we will advertise with the hope that people will want to come and live there!

Steps to Create the CITY:

• Decide on a city name and the country it is in. Make sure the name isn’t taken. Think about how the name will be appealing to the people that might live there.
• Your city must be on a coastal area that has water access of some sort. You must design the other topographical/land features for the area.
• Think about what kind of city this is. What is its main economy? How does it make money? How will that impact the design of the city?
• How does this city get its needs met and how does this impact its design? Think about its location in relation to resources. How do the natural surroundings meet the needs of its economy?
• What is the population like and how does that affect the design of the city? How many people can live here? What services will there be? What kinds of things do the people who work here want to do?
• Make a draft copy of your city. Use a piece of 8.5×14 paper to make a draft design. It does not need to be to scale. This is just to get a basic idea of your plan.
• Use the Seattle map I provided on the board or another similar-sized map for help with scale. You need to provide a scale for your map, as well as a legend/key, grid marks, and other features. The Seattle map we went over is a great guide, as it is the same size as the large piece of graph paper for your final map.
• Once you have a scale, start sketching out where things will go on the large piece of graph paper. You need to first label the grid. You don’t have to draw grid lines, because they are already on the paper, but you have to label the lines. Then, get a ruler out. Start sketching out the city in pencil, but measure as you go. Are the buildings, roads, and features of your map realistic? You may want to think about the real sizes of things out there. Again, use the map as a guide.
• Colour in the map after you are sure you have it set up correctly.
• Create a brochure to advertise your city, which will talk about your economy, key features, and reasons to live there! (We will talk about this separately next week.)

Criteria for Your Map:

• Well thought out. You have answers to the questions I have asked above. You have shown you are a THINKER about your plan, and that you are KNOWLEDGEABLE using information from our unit.
• Final map is attractive, neat, and well planned.
• Grid lines have been labeled appropriately.
• A key/legend, compass, and other map features as seen on maps provided in class have been provided.
• A scale has been provided on the map, and it was used to decide how big things are and where they are placed. The map features should look appropriate sizes and appropriate locations from one another.
• The map shows the structure of the city. In other words, people would be able to get their needs met and get around through the city, too. City services, resources, economy, and basic needs have been considered.
• Location of natural features should be realistic and appropriate for the type of city you are designing. They should also be appropriate sizes using your scale.

Good luck creating your city! Rubric to follow in class on Monday. City maps are due Friday, Dec. 9th

Hello Everyone,

French dialogues are now due on Monday, but please work on them at home. Everyone was working well, and we needed more time to finish them. Be ready to go for Monday.

LIBRARY TOMORROW! Math Quiz, too!

Here are the videos we looked at today as part of science and social studies discussions around our unit:

City Services of Burnaby

History of Vancouver 

Nikon Universcale

For French Beginners — If you want a fun way to practice pronunciation and to remember basic phrases in French, here are the songs we were playing in class, along with some others you can watch and repeat to get a sense of the language:

Comment tu t’appelles Video for French Help

Bonjour Video Song for French Help

Au Revoir Song for French Help

French Greetings Song for Children

French Months

Thank you,

Ms. D

We will be working on a mini research project about structure. Each of you has chosen a specific area to research, approved by Ms. D in class.

Step One:

Find out information about your topic related to FORM follows FUNCTION and the things we have been talking about in class. Use some of the research sites on the Articles of Interest page to get started.

Please record your resource. Use EasyBib if needed to help! 

You will need to use one encyclopaedia, 2 books, and at least 2 online sources.

Answer these questions, and make sure you record your notes to turn in!:

• What is the form of your structure? (You will need specific details, a labeled diagram with all of the parts labeled.)
• What is the purpose of your structure? 
• Who is the structure for? Who does it benefit or who was it designed for?
• How does it work? How is it built? How do the parts work together?
• What works well with its design? What does not?
• What would need to be changed to make the structure even better?
• Is there anything else that is interesting about the topic you have chosen?
• ONE QUESTION OF YOUR OWN: Make up a question and try to answer it.

Step Two:

Create a PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Prezi presentation with your research. You may not start on it until you show Ms. D your notes. If you have not done PowerPoint much before, then you should choose that one, as it is the easiest to work on.

Avoid putting too many colours. Choose a theme to work with so all slides look similar. Do not put too many words. Use visuals instead. Do not use pictures with any copyright symbols. Do not just use clip art. You will be presenting, so what you will say can be recorded on another sheet of paper as your script.

As you work on your presentation, make sure you save as you go. Name your file in this way without punctuation:

FIRST NAME     STRUCTURE Presentation    TOPIC    DATE (month, day, year – two digits)

For example:  Andrea Structure Presentation Skyscrapers 111516

Make a minimum of 10 slides, using this as your outline to share information from your notes. 

Slide 1:     Interesting Title of Presentation, Your Full Name, Date, Picture filling page
Slide 2:     Introduce the structure and where you would find it.
Slide 3:     Explain what the structure is for. Who uses it? What is its purpose?
Slide 4-6:  Explain how the structure works and how form follows function.
Slide 7:     Explain how the structure works well and how it does not work well.
Slide 8:     Explain how the structure could be improved or other design facts.
Slide 9:     Sum up all of your other slides, like a concluding sentence but in a slide!
Slide 10:   Thank your sources and list the Bibliography

Step Three:

Write a script for what you will say for each slide. Have a peer edit it. Then practice it so you can present it in front of the class. The whole presentation should not be more than 5 minutes long.

HOW TO WRITE A PARAGRAPH
Like we did in class together today!

STEP 1:   Get a topic

STEP 2:  Brainstorm anything you can think of around the topic

STEP 3:  For your first sentence of the paragraph, ask a question about the topic.

Example:  Why are maps important tools to humans?

Example:  Have you ever wondered why everyone needs to celebrate their birthday?

STEP 4:  For your second sentence of the paragraph, start with the TOPIC, the word ARE, and then write three things you think are true about the topic.

Example:  Maps are navigation tools, helpful for learning about a location, and show scale of larger areas.  (three things)

Example:  People celebrate their birthdays because they are marking the passage of time, people like gathering with friends, and having celebrations are fun.  (three things)

STEP 5:  For each of those three things, write 1-2 sentences to add to your paragraph.

Example:  Navigation tools like maps give you an overview of the area and allow you to travel to new places.

Example:  Since the early ages, we have had a need to mark the passage of time, either with a calendar, a clock, or with special occasions. A birthday is a personal marker of time given it shows how long you have been on the planet and how much life experience you have had.

STEP 6: Write a concluding sentence. This sentence is what the reader walks away with. It is the “SO WHAT?” Why did you write this paragraph and what do you want us to think about the topic. It will be what the reader will remember most.

Example:  Next time you are lost or in a country you are unfamiliar with, make sure you check out a map so you can find your way!

Example:  On your next birthday, remember that your special day means more than just eating cake and having fun, because it also marks a special moment in your life!

STEP 7:  Put it all together into one paragraph that is 7-8 sentences long. Make sure you indent at your first line. Give the paragraph a title.

STEP 8:  Have someone edit your work. Make changes. Write a final draft. Put your name on it!!!

Hello Everyone!

To practice both our writing and speaking skills, we are going to be doing an activity called the SPEECH JAR. Everyone will be providing topics on slips of paper, and then I will fill the jar with them. Each person will then draw a topic from the jar to do a short speech on for the class.

This first speech will be a prepared one.

• The speech should not be more than one minute long, give or take 10 seconds.
• You should provide us with up to three interesting facts about your topic, which may require some research.
• Your speech should have a strong introductory sentence that is not, “Hello, my name is so and so and I would like to talk about ….”
• Your speech should have a strong concluding sentence that is not, “And thank you for listening to my speech.”
• You can read your speech from a sheet of paper.
• Your speech should be in the format of a paragraph, which we will be practicing in class.
• You will have two days to prepare your first speech, due on Wednesday, October 26th. You will be given some class time to prepare.

Our second speeches will be extemporaneous speeches.

• Same requirements as above, but you will only have an hour to prepare your speech after drawing a topic.
• Speech topics will be drawn in the morning, and then speeches will be delivered in the afternoon!
• This speech activity will be announced the morning we are doing them!

A good speaker uses:

• Inflection/Tone
• Expression/Enthusiasm
• Enunciation (each word is clear)
• Volume
• Eye contact
• Appropriate hand gestures
• Good body posture
• Appropriate speed — not too fast, not too slow.

Some tips:

• Start with a web brainstorm about the topic
• What would be your opinion on this topic? That could be your topic sentence.
• Find three supporting facts. Don’t make them too long or too complicated.
• Write a quick outline. What three things do you want to say? Write it in short form first, then write a bit more about each of those points.
• Try not to start each sentence in the same way. Avoid always saying, “I think…”
• Avoid repetition. Each sentence needs to be different.
• Don’t start sentences with words that are meant to be connectors between ideas. For example: But, However, And, Because, Although

Here is the Speech Jar Rubric ! And here is the Sample Speech About Mondays from class. Good luck!

Ms. D

Hello! On here, post your questions we brainstormed in class about things we learned during the “Action for Human Rights” Unit. Then, classmates will respond with answers! Review the comments (and your unit binder) in preparation for the quiz.

The quiz will be online in Google Forms, using your iPad to respond. It will involve short answers and multiple choice. It will involve all subject areas discussed during the unit. I don’t do the marking based strictly on points or percentages. I use a rubric. Marking will be done as follows:

A   Almost all answers correct; 1-3 questions do not have clear answers. Provided excellent detail to show thinking and participation during the unit. You can clearly see how the person was paying attention during our discussions.

B   Most answers correct; 3-6 questions need answers that are more clear. Provided a good level of detail to show thinking. While there are some errors, the student participated well during the unit and knows their stuff!

C+ Most of the key ideas are in the student’s answers; however, there are more than six questions where more detail was needed to show thinking and a correct answer. The student participated well in the unit, and for next time needs to add more detail to show they were listening.

C/C-  There are significant errors in the student’s answers. More detail is needed to show thinking. Some one-word or blank responses. Needs to work on listening well during discussions.

Just a quick note to everyone that the First Nations questions you started on Friday with Ms. S are not due on Tuesday. If you finished them, great. But, if you need more time, there will be some given on Tuesday in class. Thank you!

Ms. D