A collection of moments from our Grade 7 learning community
Hey, Grade 7s!
A few reminders for this week:
-cartoon Math is now overdue: please submit these to Ms. Ramen ASAP
-Jump Rope for Heart fundraising continues this week! Help us reach our goal!
-early dismissal on Friday, Jan. 31st
-Course selection presentation on Wednesday, Feb. 12th from Burnaby North
-Science Fair research will be checked on Friday
Thanks everyone!
Hello, Grade 7s and Grade 7 families!
Please see below for an update from our News Crew about a recent assignment from Career Education:
Hey, Grade 7s!
Please read this update from our News Crew about your amazing to-scale cartoon Math projects:
“This project was a great start to our unit on Cartesian plains. This required the skills of both art and math as we had to measure the lines to create a grid. With a small picture of the cartoon character, we were trying to recreate on a bigger paper. We were blowing up the pictures from 1 Cm to 3 Cm, so the picture on the bigger grid was significantly bigger.
The first thing we did was choose our character… it was a little outdated, and [we wish there was an option for] Bluey. The usual characters were an option, like SpongeBob, Hello Kitty, and a weird starfish. But there were also things that you wouldn’t expect, like Homer Simpson.
We start with a blank piece of paper, not lined, not turned into a grid, just blank. The first thing you must do straight away is get a ruler. (A note to families: if your kid doesn’t have a ruler, please get them one, since if they don’t have one they will be fighting everyone else to get one of Ms. Ramen’s spare rulers). Afterwards, we worked on creating grids on both the big blank paper and the tiny printed picture of the cartoon character we chose to do. We had to copy the grid of the tiny cartoon picture to the big paper. After carefully drawing the character, we were now ready to use more of our skills by colouring. After that’s all done we have finally finished our project and we can now sit back and enjoy the view of all the huge cartoon characters outside of the computer lab.”
Thanks, News Crew!
Hello, Grade 7s!
This week, we started learning about Black Excellence Day, which will be observed next week (January 15th). This day is one opportunity to learn about, acknowledge, and amplify the stories of innovators from Black communities in Canada and globally!
One of the first changemakers we learned about was Stevie Wonder. His music career has spanned decades, and his messages of hope, equality, and love have been heard around the world! Stevie Wonder is also an inspiring person to learn about not only because of his talents in singing, piano-playing, and songwriting, but because he learned all these skills as a blind person. Stevie Wonder has even collaborated with contemporary artists like Ariana Grande.
Please feel free to watch the videos below… you will likely recognize the songs!
Some possible discussion questions:
-Have you ever heard of Stevie Wonder before? Do you recognize his music?
-Why do you think his career has lasted so long? Why does his music still appeal to modern audiences?
-Who are some other notable musicians from Black communities? Who else might we learn about?
Hello, Grade 7 students and families! I’d like to formally welcome our first post from Div. 2’s ‘News Crew’. They will be periodically updating our class blog with information about projects, assignments, etc.
Below an excerpt from their overview of the clay skulls activity our class completed for Socials:
“This project was a great overview of what we learned in Socials. Creating skulls that represented our earlier ancestors. These skulls ranged from early Ardipithecus to our generation Homo sapiens. We started by using clay to put together our skulls. We needed to round out the clay and then use tools like chopsticks to help make the eyes. Ms. Jesse Lyn (our artist in residence) taught us about clay making and how ceramic is made.
To make the ceramic skulls we first need to learn how it happens. The first material is clay which can be found at the bottom of streams and riverbanks. Then we need to model the clay like we did with our skulls. After the clay sculptures or in this case skulls, gets taken to a giant oven [kiln] that warms up between 2124’f and 2264’f (1162-1260’c). After it is done being fired it is given back to us to glaze.
After about 2 days or so Ms. Jesse Lyn brought back out hominid pottery. As we were going to start the 2nd phase, glazing. (Please note: glazing is a pottery term of when you put color into your pottery, but it could also be the icing on a cake. The first phase is what we’re going for!).
You grab a brush of a color you think fits your skull and then you paint. There is red paint, a couple of different grays, [beige and white], and a darker color. “Why would you paint your skull red?” you might ask. Well, the reason is quite simple. When the clay gets fired the colors change drastically so when you get your skull back the red will now be a pinkish-gray. Each group took about 10 minutes, so with 5 groups the glazing took roughly 50 minutes. And so, we had to wait 2 more days. There would be a chance that you wouldn’t recognize your pottery after it was glazed, but that’s why the teachers thought ahead (like they always do from years of experience) and made us engrave our initials into the back of the skeleton’s skulls.
So, we wrapped out skeletons into some wrapping paper and brought it home. It should now be at your house and you’re staring at it while you’re reading this. Or, your kid might have lost it.”
Thanks so much, News Crew!
-Ms. Ward
Hi, Grade 7s!
A few reminders as we begin our week together:
-Hip-hop continues every day this week, with our performance for parents/guardians/families on Friday
-Your “Out of My Mind” and “Pumpkin Chunkin” reflections on Teams are due by the end of the week
-Please make sure to stay on top of your work for Ms. Ramen (Socials, Math, etc.)
-Skull sculpting part 2 is Thursday… make sure you dress appropriately, as the glaze can stain!
-Math quiz next week. Make sure you have finished your ‘cheat sheets’ and bring them with you
Thanks!
-Ms. Ward
Hey Grade 7s,
By request, I have posted a PDF version of the game “What is This Cat’s Name?” below! Feel free to play with your friends or family at home.
Have fun!
As we continue exploring our identities as artists, we have been discussing what makes someone an ‘artist’. We brainstormed whether or not an animal could be classified as an ‘artist’ or not! According to our discussions, an artist means someone who: shows creativity, produces some type of art (painting, sculpture, writing, song, etc.), improves their skills, does art as a job or hobby. According to our definition, would the dog in the video (below) be considered an artist? What do you think?
Did you know that some historians have found evidence that sculpture as an art form has been around since 25000 BCE? Today, we had the privilege of learning the fundamentals of clay and sculpture from our artist in residence. Our classes began creating a clay model of hominid species of their choice. Later, we will glaze them and reflect on our experience. Take a look at some of our progress photos below:
