News Crew: Agamagraph Project

Hello, Grade 7s and Grade 7 families!

 

Please see below for an update from our News Crew about a recent assignment from Career Education:

 

” For this project, you have chosen one word to describe your outlook for this year…  a trait that you are working hard to develop and master.   – Ms. Ramen”
Thank you for letting us borrow this quote Ms. Ramen! The agamograph project, as you saw up there ↑, is one word, that would describe your goals for this year (i.e. courageous – Trying things that scare you. As if you succeed with the things that scare you, it may make you a better person.) To make the agamograph, we needed to design and create a creative art background for our word, and color the number “2025”in, (even if all our minds are still in 2024). After cutting it out into 6 pieces we were ready to put it together to make the agamogragh.
The effect of the agamograph makes it so it has 2 sides. If you’re facing the agamograph on the right side you may see 2025, Same on the left, except you may see the other word. This effect happens when the back of the paper sticks up making it like a mountain effect. 6 of the pieces are put facing one way in this case the 2025 pieces would be facing its right side, and the word/goal is facing its left side this creates the effect that makes agamographs so cool.
This word is almost like your new year resolution after writing a paragraph on how we were going to accomplish this definition for ourselves, we are now ready to put our goal into action.”
See the agamographs in action in the photos below. Thanks, News Crew!

Science Fair Information:

Hello to our Grade 7 parents/guardians,
I am sending a quick message to let everyone know that our Grade 7 students will be participating in a Science Fair this Term! We will be presenting our projects on Thursday, February 27th. Our students have been hard at work researching, inventing, and/or experimenting around the topic of “science is for everyone”!
Due to space and time constraints, we are not able to welcome families to attend, but I will be filming a ‘virtual tour’ that you will be able to access on Teams afterwards.
If you have not already done so, please check in with your child about their progress so far on their Science Fair project. They should have already brought home a purple proposal sheet to be reviewed/signed by a parent/guardian/important adult. Students have also signed this sheet and have been granted approval/partial approval for their proposed project by me as well.
Each project must include a visual component (poster, model, diagram, video, etc.), a written component (text on a poster, a brochure, etc.), and a verbal component (answering questions from our judges, a script, quick summary of their project, etc.).
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions… I will send a reminder and additional information closer to our due date.
Best wishes,
Ms. Ward

News Crew: Cartoon Math Project

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!

 

Black Excellence Day: Innovators in Focus

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?

Skulls Project: Student Voice

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

Term 2 Survey: Parents/Guardians

Hello to our Grade 7 parents, guardians, and families!

I ask that you please find some time to fill in this survey as we begin our Term 2 learning journey together. I will use the responses to guide me as we continue learning and growing together.

The link can be found here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeLQ6eHsZzl5NHMdx6qFHG21QzdHORqgxD_ovLS3Q5prHlX4w/viewform?usp=sharing

If you are unable to access the link, please reach out to me.

Best wishes,

Kim Ward

 

Reminders:

Hi Grade 7s! As we approach our last few days before Winter Break, please remember:

-pancake breakfast is tomorrow! Feel free to wear (weather-appropriate) pajamas if you’d like

-please return your report card envelopes (signed by a parent/guardian)

Thanks!