30 Day Challenge - Final

Back in February, Ms. Lees assigned us to challenge ourselves and create a "thirty-day challenge", in which we would create a simple goal for ourselves and attempt to achieve the goal by completing what we assigned ourselves for thirty days.

My goal that I had chosen was to drink a full bottle of water for the thirty days that we had to participate in the challenge. I chose a simple challenge because I really want to achieve this goal. The reason for this challenge was because my mom had always complained that I was not drinking enough water, and thought it was eventually going to become a health problem for me. I also found that I always forgot to drink water during school.

So far, I've been able to achieve this goal and was able to drink a bottle of water every day, during school time. I was able to achieve this easily, since my goal was very simple, and also because my mother had reminded me every morning to bring a bottle of water to school.

I believe that I have completed the "thirty-day challenge" successfully and that because I was able to do this for thirty days, I can make this become more of a habit for me. By turning this into something I do every day, it can be more beneficial for my body and also stop my mom from complaining about how less water I drink.

30 day challenge final report

My 30 day challenge was to wake up at 6:30am except Sundays.  However, when I first started the challenge, it seemed easy, but I couldn't stick to it!  Therefore, I decided purchase the alarm with the biggest noise and also got two alarm clocks.  Therefore, after that change, I first had a difficult time waking up, but after about 3 days, I was used to it.  I am really glad that I set this challenge because this is helping me a lot.  I sometimes have homework left that needs to be finished and I can save my precious time.  In conclusion, I want to say that I really thought that this was a good experience and I want to do a different 30 day challenge.

Tuesday, February 27 2012

What we did
Today in Ms. Lees humanity class, people that weren't finished the diary yesterday were suppose to finish the diary with research and notes.  However, some people still didn't finish there diary yet.  Thus, Ms. Lees said that they now had to sacrifice their lunch time and come to the LST room tomorrow.  Then, she started talking about the strike that looked like it was going to happen soon.  Then, we got into groups for the skit and we started making scripts and come up with ideas.

Why we did it
I think Ms. Lees told people that weren't finished the diary to go to the LST room because Ms. Lees wanted to teach the unfinished students the consequences of not completing homework.  Ms. Lees also talked about the strike because a lot of us were very curious and we had to know what to do.  Then, I think we had the skit rehearsal because the class is when everyone is together and so that we can save our time by doing it in the class.

Connection/Reflection
I think it was a good choice of Ms. Lees making people go to the LST room at lunch tomorrow because students in our class little lousy about homework, and this would be a great way to learn about completing assignments.  I think that the skit rehearsal was pretty fun because it had lots of communication and doing a skit is a fun and exciting thing.  However, as always the room became obnoxiously loud.  Therefore, we should start working on concentrating on work.

Homework/Tips
There is no homework but the people that didn't finish the diary, you must go to the LST room tomorrow and finish it off.  Also, we're going to be finishing 'There will be wolves' soon, so get ahead on them.  Keep up with your 30 day plan and FLEX is Thursday so if you have a question, come.

Monday, February 27 2012

What we did
Today in Ms. Lees' humanity 8 class, everyone was suppose to finish the Medieval Role project.  However, a large portion of our class didn't finish the project because some people were absent and some people had some different excuses.  Therefore, for the whole block, a large portion of us were just trying finish the diary.  However, some people weren't even finished the research, so those people finished the research first.  Then, Ms. Lees asked us if we were having any trouble with the bibliography, so she helped us with the bibliography.  The people that were finished got together and started on the skit.

Why we did it
I think Ms. Lees wanted us to finish the diary before we got started on the project because diary is a important part of the project and it was also due today.  Ms. Lees helped us with the bibliographies because doing bibliography was a little bit challenging and people were having trouble with doing bibliographies.  I think Ms. Lees let the students that finished get started on the skit because Ms. Lees didn't want them doing nothing and it was privilege of finishing the project on time.

Connection/Reflection
I really liked the way Ms. Lees was a very nice and flexible teacher because most teachers  deduct marks when students didn't finish by the due date.  However, Ms. Lees just gave the whole to the people that weren't finished the project which I thought was very generous of her.   Also, I think going over the bibliography was very awesome because I found out that I had made lots of mistakes and I would get a lot of marks of for that if I just handed that in.   However, I found that the class was obnoxious loud even lots of people were many behind and if I was a teacher, I would just make the student hand in whatever they have so I think our class should get quieter.

Homework/Tips
For homework, finish the diary, notes, and the bibliography for the project.  We're going to be finished 'There will be wolves' soon, so get ahead by doing the chapter questions.  If you're behind, FLEX is on Thursday, so please come.  Keep up with the 30 day plan and think positively and everything will be solved. :)

Friday, February 24

What We Did

We started off the class with taking out our There Will Be Wolves chapters 9-10 questions and having Ms. Lees checking them. She looked over all our answers and gave suggestions for those we answered poorly on. After she went through everyone, we reviewed and went over the answers for chapters 6-10. When all the questions were answered, we took the quiz for chapters 6-10. The quiz had almost the exact same format as the chapters 1-5 quiz, so we there was no confusion. We traded our quizzes around the group to mark.

Ms. Lees also answered any questions about the diary that is due Monday. She stated that the diary has to be two pages long and double spaced. We can print it or write it neatly, but if we're printing, the font size has to be 12 and the font cannot be too fancy that is difficult to read. The best font choice is the default font.

Ms. Lees handed out a sheet which has information on how to make your bibliography. We went over how the format should be and some rules and must-haves for a bibliography.

Learning Intentions

Ms. Lees wanted to check our answers because she wanted to observe who finished their homework and who didn't. She also wanted to see how our answers improved in both quality and quantity. We reviewed chapters 6-10 because there was a test on it after, so she wanted us to bring back our memories for those chapters to prepare for the test. We were tested on chapters 6-10 to see how much we remember and understood from those chapters.

We got a chance to ask questions about the diary because Ms. Lees wanted us to have no confusion in the format she wants it in. She wants the font and font size in a specific type because she needs to be able to read it easily, and if the font size is too large and the quantity is just meeting, which is two pages, we don't have enough writing down.

We spent time on the bibliography sheet because we needed to write a bibliography for our diary and many of us don't know how the format should be.

Reflections/Connections

I liked how we reviewed chapters 6-10 first before we did the quiz. That really helped me on the quiz because I forgot some of the incidents that happened in those chapters. The quiz was quite easy for me, but I forgot the order of the events that happened.

The discussion about the diary straightened out my confusion. I was kind of confused about the font size if we were printing it, but I'm glad that she answered it before I could ask.

I didn't know that there was so many rules for making a bibliography. I thought that you just needed to write the source you got the information from. In fact, you needed to place the background information in a specific order. There is also small rules such as the last name of the author has to come before the first name.

Homework

You have to finish your diary for Monday. It should be either printed or neatly written with the bibliography. The length should be two pages long, double spaced.

Tips

If you finish your diary by Monday, you get put in a group and earn more time to work on your skit while others work on their diary. Also, if you know that you will be busy later on, you might want to finish your chapter questions before you get busy.

30 day challenge progress report

My 30 day challenge was to wake up at 6:30am every morning except Sundays.  Nevertheless, I sometimes have trouble sticking up with my 30 day challenge because sometimes I sleep really because of homework.  Therefore, I wake up a little bit later than 6:30am.   Therefore, in order to stick to this challenge, I will have to finish my homework right after I get from school and sleep right at 9:00pm.

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

What we did 
Today was a double block day.  Anyways, in the first block, we talked about what we were going to do until spring break.  For example, on the board, Ms. Lees wrote Wednesday-There will be wolves Chapter 1-5  quiz.  After she was done with that, she asked if anyone was going to be away before spring break or after spring break.  Therefore, she told the people that will be away that they have to finish the 'There will be wolves' chapter questions before they left.  Then, we went over Chapter 1-5 of 'There will be wolves' until break.  After we came back from the break, we had the Chapter 1-5 quiz.  After, Ms. Lees gave the rest of class time to finish Chapter 10 questions, or to finish the notes.  Our day was done after that.

Why we did it
Today, Ms. Lees talked about what we were going to do until spring break because Ms. Lees  had a water leak at her house, so she could be absent any time.  Therefore, she told us beforehand what was going to happen.  We reviewed the Chapter 1-5 of 'There will be wolves' not just because we had a quiz, to make us understand what happen in the book and to make us ask questions about it.  After the review, we had the quiz to check our understandings.  After that, Ms. Lees gave us the quiet working time so that some behind guys can catch up on novel questions or to finish the notes for the Medieval role project.

Connections/Reflections
I really loved that we got the quiet working time.  I like quiet working time because if you have the quiet working time in class, you can work hard, and have no homework!  Some of us were loud and obnoxious in the working time, so I think our class can improve on staying on task.  I didn't really like that chapter 1-5 quiz but as a student, it is something we have to do because without tests, the teachers won't know what we learned.

Homework/Tips
For Friday, finish up to Chapter 10 for'There will be wolves'.  Also, you have to finish the notes for the Medieval role project with the bibliography by Friday and you have to bring it! You can also study for upcoming quizzes or tests.  On Friday, we have test on 'There will be wolves' again.  FLEX is tomorrow(Thursday) so if you have any questions, you should go to FLEX. 

30 day challenge

My 30 day challenge was to keep my room clean, so far my 30 day challenge is going good because my room is quite a bit cleaner than it was at the start of the challenge. Since my room is clean this saves me time for other stuff, like doing homework, and going out with friends; because my parents rule was that i couldnt go out unless my room was clean. So now since it is always clean i get to spend more time with my friends and doing things i enjoy.

30 Day Challenge

My goal that I chose for the "30 Day Challenge" was to drink a bottle of water every day in school hours. The point of my goal was to drink enough water everyday, constantly. I also specifically stated that by doing this challenge, it wouldn't mean that I'd be drinking less water at home or school. This goal is a helpful reminder for me to also drink water at school, not just when I get home. As for my progress on the challenge, I am currently doing very well with my goal. I was able to drink a bottle of water everyday during school time, and I believe I can accomplish my goal.

30 day challenge progress report

So far i have successfully (or i believe) ran more often. My goal was to run 30% more than before i started the 30 day challenge. I accomplished this by feeling in a rush mire often than i usually would, doing that also helped me do my homework and other stuff much faster than normal and opened up more free time for me.

I feel good about my 30 day challenge, it has decreased the time i need to do my daily routines, and it was easier than i thought it would be.

Feb 21, 2012

What we did
Today Ms. Lees humanity 8 class, we were in the library again to work on the Medieval role project.  Today, Madame Monk told us the secret way to do the bibliographies by using Fraser Height Library.  First we look find a book, and click add to list, then, click resource lists, it will do the bibliography for you.  After she was almost finished telling us about this special way of doing bibliography, Madame Mac came to do the library because Ms. Lees wasn't here today.   Therefore, after Madame Monk was finished, Madame Mac told us to keep on researching for the Medieval role project.  A lot of people tried to do the research using the library book because today was our last day in the library working on the project.

Why we did it
We went to the library because there was more sources including books and computers.  Madame Monk taught the class how to do the bibliography using the Fraser Height library website because she taught it would be easy for us to get bibliography using a computerized program.  As a joke, Madame Monk told us not to tell Ms. Lees that she told us this way of doing bibliography because it made it too easy!   After, I think the reason we did the research in class was that we don't get lots of homework, and we at least need one book source, and library was a good place because there were many books.

Connection/Reflections
I really liked going to the library because when I am in a different place, I always feel good, and can work well.  Also, there was many sources like books and also computers.  I was very happy when Madame Monk taught us how to do the bibliography using Fraser Height library website because it made it very easy to do.   Without her teaching us, we would've done it the hard way.  Today, most of us worked pretty well except that some people were too loud, and some were using there phones in the class.  I think we can make the class much better when everyone cooperates and listen to the teacher.

Homework/Tips
For homework, if you didn't finish up to chapter 9 of 'There will be wolves', make sure to finish.  Also, we are going to have a quiz from Chapter 1-5 so read the book again to remember the story again.  Also, keep up with your 30 day challenge and seek help to Ms. Lees if you have trouble sticking up with the challenge.  This week, FLEX is on Thursday, so if you're behind in anything, come the FLEX.

Feb 20, 2012

What we did
Today in Ms. Lees humanity 8 class, we were in the library to work on the new projects we got.  First, we all picked a medieval character from the Ritz cracker container.   Then, after we finished choosing our medieval characters, we got into groups with the people that had the same kind of group like peasant, noble, and merchant.  We were going to do some research after we wrote what you were doing for the project, and 4 topics that we wanted to write about the character.  After that, we learned how to do bibliography.  There were 3 types of bibliography that we learned and they were bibliography for internet sites, encyclopedia, and actually.  Ms. Lees told us that we will at least need 1 physical book source for our project.

Why we did it
We went to the library because there was many sources compared to our classroom.  For example, there was computers and many books.  When we were choosing the medieval character, we drew out from the Ritz cracker container to make it fair as possible and to make no complains from the students.   After we started researching about our character and probably the reason was that we went to the library was for us to get some work done so we didn't have a lot of homework.  We learned how to do bibliographies because without knowing what to do, we will get it wrong.

Connections/Reflections
I think going to the library was a good idea because we got to use the computers, and do some research.  I also was glad that we used the draw-out system when we chose our medieval roles because it was the most fair idea.  I think in real life, at work, and other places, they use this system that so that someone that gets the hardest job doesn't complain.  I think learning the bibliography was a good idea because in real life, when you books, etc, you must put the bibliography or else, somebody could sue you for having that persons information without listing that you got it from that person.

Homework/Tips
For Wednesday, finish up to chapter 9 of the 'There will be wolves' chapter questions.  Also, Ms. Lees told us that we are going to have a little quiz on 'There will be wolves' so read the book again to refresh, and remember again.  Also, we are in the library tomorrow, so come prepared with things we need for the Medieval role project.  Also, study for tests for other subjects other than Humanities so you can achieve a good mark.

Feb.20 2012

What we did:
Today in humanities we were in the library, once Ms.Lees' arrived we were all picked a medieval job from a container. After everyone had their topic we were all put into groups, eg. nobles, religious and pesanets. Once everyone was in their groups we went over how to make a bibliography and we took notes on what we needed to have in our bibliography. When we were finished writing the notes we went on the computers to do research on our job, we had to had at least 4 topics we wanted to learn about for each job. We will have all of tomorrows block to work on our research and whatever we do not finish will be for homework.

Why we did it :

We learned how to do a bibliography because if you do copy information or data from a source without mentioning it, it is called plagiarism even if it is accidental. We did research for our projects in class so that we wouldn't have much homework and that we could ask for assistance if we needed it. We also used the librarys resources (books, computers) for our project because the books in the library had information. Some of the information in the books would have been difficult to find on the internet, and the books could also help us find lots of information in one place and save us more time.


Connections/Reflections:

I enjoy going to the library to do research because you have so many ways to find information/data easily. I am glad that we learned the criteria of a bibliography because before today, i couldn't write a proper bibliography, i usually forgot to add information. I think learning how to write a bibliography will help me a lot in the future whenever i have to write a report or do a project that requires me to look up and record information.

Homework:

We have to finsh "there will be wolves" chapter 8 questions by wednesday, and tomorrow will be the last day to do research for our projects in class; so whatever is not finished will be for homework.

Feb 15 Learning Blog

What we did Today:

Today we were supposed to take notes on pages in our pathways textbook on woman's rights, and medieval manors. We can choose which style of note taking we take them with (outline, web, or cornell) We also had to use the textbook to compare woman's roles in the middle ages and woman's roles today. We had to finish these in class because we couldn't take the textbooks home since the students coming tomorrow need to use them too. Anyone finished both of these were supposed to work on chapter 8 questions of There Will Be Wolves.

Why we did It:

We worked on pathways notes because we couldn't do it for homework, (due to the need of textbooks tomorrow)so finishing them was first priority. We compared women's roles from then and now to help understand development from then to now, and we worked on Chapter 8 on There Will Be Wolves because the people that were finished needed something productive to do.

Connections/Reflections:

I felt slightly glad about taking notes about the content in the Pathways textbook because we had already taken notes about the content in the textbook before, so it was familiar to me. I believe that comparing women's roles would help the class when we would have to compare more things later on in life (because practice always helps).

Homework:

Chapter 8 questions about There Will Be Wolves, due Friday if you didn't finish them in class today (which you probably didn't)

Wednesday, February 15th

What We Did

In the beginning of class, the substitute handed back our There Will Be Wolves chapter 1-5 questions. She just took chapter 1-3 for completion marks, since it was not fair to count marks in the beginning when we had no chance to improve on our writing. Our chapter 4 and 5 questions were marked in a new format that we haven't used this year. If you see an X on your paper, it means that you have either misread the questions or your answers are incomplete. A check mark with a negative sign means that it is not good enough for grade eight quality. Just a check mark is satisfactory, around grade eight quality. A check mark with a positive sign means that your work is excellent quality and above expectations. Something to watch out for is that your answer should somehow include the question in it. This means just by looking at your answer, you should be able to figure out what the question is. It should also not include "I think" or "I believe". The best and easiest way to avoid that is to just take those two words out of your answer, without changing anything else.

For most of the class, we took notes on the manor and roles of women in Pathways, chapters 2 and 5. We had a choice for which format of note taking we wanted to use. For chapter 2, we were to find any background information about the manor. For chapter 5, we took the information of roles of women in the middle ages and compared it with women today. To make it obvious and clear, most people either used a table/t-chart for comparing or a Venn diagram. The note taking took longer than we thought, because a handful of us weren't finished until the end of class.

The last thing we were supposed to do after we finished the note taking was to work on our There Will Be Wolves chapter 8 questions. Because there was a large amount of information in Pathways for note taking, not much people actually got to work on their questions.

Learning Intentions

Our questions were marked because Ms. Lees wanted a good understanding of where we're at. She also wanted us to know our weaknesses in writing and how we could improve.

We did note taking to understand better about the text. It helps us read it more thoroughly and often helps memorizing. These notes could help us study when there's a test on the chapters. Comparing women's rights and roles with a table or Venn diagram could get us used to using these strategies to compare similarities and differences. For me, this also made me realize how I should be keeping track of time and using time wisely, because I finished my notes last-minute.

For fast workers who finished their notes before class ended, you could work on your questions instead of talking to your neighbor. This decreased the noise level and also decreased the homework you had for Friday.

Reflections/Connections

Handing back our questions gave me more confidence in writing, because I received a very good mark on chapter 1-5 questions. I like the marking format she used to mark our questions. It lets us know where we are, like letter grades, but not very specific, like percentages. I tried avoiding "I think" or "I believe" in the beginning of my answers by checking them over again when I'm done. This skill and reminder will be with me later on when I write more paragraphs or essays.

To be honest, taking notes on Pathways again was very boring for me. I don't enjoy taking notes because changing writing into my own words is very difficult for me. I always end up having too similar sentences. I also had to remember to not write full sentences, which I am not used to, because I was always told to write all my answers in full sentences.

Homework

Finish your chapter 8 questions if you haven't been able to finish them in class. Go to flex if you did not finish your notes.

Tips

You can always email Ms. Lees or post on her blog if you are having troubles posting or about the homework. You should have 10-12 blog posts by now. If you do not have at least 10 posts, you can post this week and next week to make it up.

Tuesday, Feb.14th

What We Did

Today we studied about Feudalism. One person from each group was assigned to read out loud a few paragraphs in Pathways, which explains Feudalism and the Feudal Contract. Then Ms. Lees let us copied a web about Feudalism's Influence On Medieval Society from the projector. On the web, it explained briefly about what Feudalism and the Feudal contract is. The five arms of the web extended to each level of people: English earls, William's knights, manor lords, serfs and freehold landowners, and nobility (king and the barons). Under each section, it described those kind of people, such as their power and what they received from the king. We also filled in a pyramid ranking each level of people, from the king at the top to the freeholders and serfs at the bottom. Ms. Lees also explained how the top four levels are only 10% of the population and the bottom level, the freeholders and serfs, are 90% of the population. We made a chart listing each levels' responsibilities and obligations and Ms. Lees went over it with us with her answers after we worked on our own. At the end of class, we read a short paragraph about The Oath of Allegiance and The Canadian Oath of Citizenship, then made a Venn diagram showing the similarities and differences between the two oaths.

Learning Intentions

The whole purpose of today's lesson was to learn about the high middle ages and feudalism. We took notes on Feudalism's Influence on Medieval Society to see how feudalism and the feudalism contract affected the society back then. We filled in the pyramid to understand better of the levels of feudalism. It was also easier for Ms. Lees to show how the upper four levels only contains 10% of the population and the lowest level containing 90% of the population, since the bottom level is the largest section drawn, and the area decreasing when moving upwards. We made a chart listing each level's responsibilities and obligations to understand what they had to do to the society and their upper levels. The Venn diagram for the two oaths was to show their similarities and differences more obviously, and also to let us practice and getting used to using Venn diagrams.

Reflections/Connections

I enjoy learning about the high middle ages more than the early middle ages, because I feel like it has more similarities as the modern days. The history of the past is very interesting for me, teaching me what has happened before I was born. The lesson today, Feudalism, was pretty easy for me to understand, because I'm used to knowing that there were different classes of people, and the lowest class usually took up the most population. The pyramid helped me a lot for memorizing the order of the different levels of people. The chart also cut down all the long paragraphs in Pathways into short, strong main points describing their responsibilities and obligations. I think Venn diagrams are the best way to compare similarities and differences between different ideas. I can also use Venn diagrams for comparing other information later on in my life. It will make my life easier because it is so obvious, stating the similarities and differences.

Homework

There is no homework today if you have finished There Will Be Wolves chapter 1-7 questions. If you want to work ahead, you can start on the chapter 8 questions that will officially be assigned on Wednesday and due on Friday.

Tips

Work hard and focused on Friday so we won't have homework for the weekend. Also remember about your 30 day challenge and try not to break it!

Feb. 14 2012

What we did Today:

Today in humanities we mostly reviewed Pathways chapter 2, we looked at the feudal contract and the 3 F's. We also copied a web from the projector about the feudal contract and the the responsibilities and obligations of the people in the city. We learned that the Pope and his nobles all had different responisbilites and duties; and that they were only 10% of the whole population! The other 90% of the population was free landers and serfs, who didnt have many rights (serfs were considered property of land).


learning intention:

We filled out the chart about the "classes" of the cities because Ms. Lees' wanted us to see how different the people lived. The higher nobles had a much better lifestyle than freelanders because the nobles had rights and the king protected them and gave them justice as long as they remained faithful. Where as the serfs were considered property of the land, but they were not allowed to be "kicked off" of their farm. We made the web about the feudal contract to see what the "conditions" were for nobles and others.


Reflections/Connections:

I personally enjoy learning about the medieval ages because i think it's interesting to see how far the world has come, back then i dont think they could have even imagined what the world is like today! I like making webs about what we are learning because sometimes when we are just writing notes my writing starts to get "sloppy" and not very neat so a web is much easier for me to understand. I think i will start using webs more as i get older to organize any information in a more neat and understanable way.

Homework: There is no homework for today unless you would like to start your there will be wolves chapter 8 questions.

**This blog is for yesterday Feb. 13 my computer wasnt working properly**

What we did: Today in humanities we had a subsitute teacher, after we took attendance we all watched a movie about the cathedrals of Rome. While we were watching the movie Ms.Pillay gave us a sheet of questions of what we should be thinking about while we were watching the movie. These questions were: Why would the people build the cathedrals if they wouldn't be able to see the finished product? What type of tools did the people use back then and what would we have used for the same product now ? What are some projects that are in the community that are being cunstructed right now? After we finished watching the clip we were all assigned a question from the sheet and were told to discuss it with the other members of the group. When everyone was done we shared our answers with the whole class and wrote down other answers that we didnt have.

Why we did it:

We watched the movie about the cathedrals because Ms.Lees' wanted us to know how important religion was to everyone who worked on the cathedrals, and see how far technology has come since then. For example now we have cranes, bull dozers, etc. However in medieval ages they didnt have those tools so they had to use manpower , animal power, pulleys etc. to get the job done. We discussed the questions as a group because it is important to know what others think about about different topics in the movie.

Reflections/Connections:

I like the idea of watching movies instead of reading everything we learn from textbooks because sometimes when i am reading information i get lazy and stop paying attention to what i am reading and more on my surrondings. Talking in groups is a really good idea to me because i like hearing other peoples ideas and compairing them to mine to see what i am missing and to help them by giving them constructive critism on their responses. I think i can use the skill of talking to others about my ideas and asking for help when needed a lot in the future especially in the higher grades.

Homework: Chapter 7 questions for there will be wolves were due today and if you would like to go ahead you can do chapter 8 questions for friday.

Tuesday, February 7 2012

What we did


Today, in Ms. Lees grade 8 humanity class, we got separated into groups of 2s.  The thing was that you were not allow to work with someone that you already worked a lot with before. In our groups of 2s, we discussed about the chapter questions for 'There will be wolves' chapter 3 and 4.  We weren't correcting each others work, we were just adding on facts for each questions.  When we wrote new stuff for each question, we used a different pen.  After we were finished that, Ms. Lees told us to start 'There will be wolves' chapter 5 questions.  While we were doing that, Ms. Lees called some of us and helped us to change our name.  For example, if it was William98, she changed it to William K.

Why we did it


The reason we discussed 'There will be wolves' chapter 3 and 4 questions in pairs was that if we worked in big groups, like 5 people in one group, it would've been extremely loud.  We also worked together as a pair to find out the best answer for each question, and add on to your answer.  Ms. Lees paired us with the person that we didn't work with before, to make us get to know each other better.  Also, when we were adding more facts for our questions, we used a different pen to show what we achieved by working as a pair.  If we used the same pen, Ms Lees would have trouble finding what we achieved by working together.  I think Ms. Lees let us start the 'There will be wolves' chapter 5 to make us get less homework; to make us learn to use class time wisely because if we have lots homework, your not going to be able to play, or do other things.  Ms. Lees helped some of us change our name or blogger because she couldn't know who we are.  For example, my name before was William98, but there could be more than one William that Ms. Lees teach.

Connections/Reflections


I think it was good to pair up with someone that we haven't worked with before because this may help us in new relationships because if you haven't had lots of these experience, you will be shy when meet a new person.  Also, I think making our work better in pairs was awesome too because now, we have thorough answers for each questions.  Looking back, today was a pretty good day because most of the things went smooth because large part of our class finished the homework.  Nevertheless, our class was pretty loud, so maybe we can get better at that.

Homework/Tips


Today's homework is to finish 'There will be wolves' chapter 5 questions thoroughly.  This is all you have to do for Humanities so if you have a test that is coming up, it would be smart to start studying now rather than doing last minute studying.  This week, there is no FLEX on Thursday so if you have something to ask, please ask a classmate, or arrange a time with Ms. Lees or just come next Thursday.   Also, Friday is a Pro-D day so do not come to school on Friday.

30 Day Challenge - Start

My challenge is to drink a bottle of water every school day. My water bottle is not really large because I won't be able to finish it during school hours if it contains too much water. I will try to finish it equally throughout the day, and refill if I finish early. By setting this challenge doesn't mean I won't drink more than one bottle of water at school, or that I won't drink any water at home. I will still drink water at home; I just won't keep track of it like I do at school. I will try not to break my challenge by filling up my water bottle every morning and remember to drink water every block and lunch.

My (John's) 30-day Challenge

My 30-day challenge is to run (or at least jog) 30% of the time i would've been walking instead. I chose this challenge, because i believe that i need to be more active, and because i have gym and would eventually get a beep test, and i would need to get more exercise. I can accomplish this by thinking that i'm in more of a rush than i would usually be in these 30-days so i would do things faster, and would get more exercise since i would be using more energy to do my daily routines. This would also help me when i actually need to be faster in my routines because i would already be faster than usual at doing them.

What we Did :
Today in Humanities we all reviewed our blogs with Ms.Lees. She taught us how to write proper comments and how to extend our learning blogs so they are more detailed. We also reviewed some of our peer blogs and made comments on them together (good job Angela!). Ms. Lees also mentioned that some of our learning intentions could be more detailed and less vague. To do this she mentioned that she always drops hints about why we are doing the activity, (so listen carefully). Today Ms. Lees' also taught us how to critique our own work and other members in our groups posts. Some people mentioned that they felt mean or uncomfortable giving constructive critisism; but in the end it would help the blogger in the future so they know not to make that same mistake again and it would also help you not make that mistake in your own work. Near the end of class we watched a video about making 30 day goals, my goal for the next 30 days is to keep my room clean.


Learning Intention:
The reason we went over our blogs was to learn how to post proper and affective comments on our peers post. Ms. Lees' wants us to do these blogs because writing paragraphs every week will help our vocabulary and writing skills, without us noticing we are practicing writing paragraphs. Also she wanted us to make our blogs very detailed so that if someone who wasn't in our class read the blogs they would understand what we did that day and why we did it. We watched the video clip at the end of class to learn how to make resonable goals and try to achieve them in a short period of time.


Connections/Reflections:
I think that it is good that we learned how to write comments and that we went over the criteria for our posts because i think that i will be posting more comments now that i know how to post affective and helpful comments on other members posts. I like the idea of peer editing and assesment because in some cases you can learn more from other students who are doing the I think that the comments on posts will help me in the future, even if it is not on one of my posts because i will know to look for that mistake and this skill will help me a lot in the future when i am expected to write longer and more detailed paragraphs or essays. The idea of making goals for me is an okay idea because if you dont achieve your goal even though you tried hard it can make you upset but when you do achieve your goals you feel on "top of the world" you are proud of all of your hard work.


Homework and Tips:
Today we didnt get any homework from humanities, but we were expected to read chapter 5 for today. If you have already read the whole book i suggest you re-read the chapters with the class to refresh your memory of all the details. Other than that we dont have anything to do for the night.

William's challenge

My challenge is to wake up at 6;30AM every morning.  I chose this challenge because I sometimes have trouble getting to school on time because I woke up late.  It also is a good challenge because if you wake up early, you can read, or do other valuable things.   In order to reach this goal, I will have to set up an alarm clock, and also sleep before 9PM so I can get enough sleep.

Friday, February 3rd

What We Did

On Wednesday, Ms. Lees promised that if everyone finished chapter 3 and 4 questions before Friday, there would be no homework for the weekend, so the first thing that we did in class on Friday was to check our homework. Unfortunately, someone didn't complete the questions, so Ms. Lees assigned homework. We spent the rest of the block finishing the rest of the concept web presentations. Everyone did a good job speaking fluently and confidently.

Learning Intention

Ms. Lees made the promise that we won't have homework for the weekend if we completed our homework because on Wednesday, a handful of students didn't complete their assigned questions, so Ms. Lees wanted everyone finishing their homework for Friday. We do questions for every chapter because it is a great strategy to understand the book, There Will Be Wolves. We did concept webs on our own chosen novel because that way we're learning background information about the middle ages while we are reading and understanding a novel. The informal presentation was to practice for our formal presentation and speeches later on in the semester.

Reflections/Connections

I liked the idea of that if we finished our homework, we won't have homework for the weekend. Even though we did have homework because someone didn't finish it, the homework was easy, so it didn't really matter. I have done questions for novels since grade four, so I know all the expectations for the answers and quick strategies to find them. I enjoyed working in my novel group because my members were pretty easy to work with, except the fact that we did had a few conflicts about people not finishing their work. I'm a nervous speaker, so it was always difficult for me to do a presentation or a speech, but it was better this time because it was so brief and short. Practicing presenting can be practice for later on when you have a job that needs presenting and expressing ideas.

Homework & Tips

- Read chapter five for homework.

- Flex next week is Monday.

Feb 1 Learning Blog

What we did:

Today, during the first block of the day, most of our novel groups presented our concept maps to the whole class. We talked about what we learned about middle ages from the novel we read, and what we learned about being in a group. Some groups didn't present, (i believe) because of lack of time. After the break we re-watches the Ideo shopping cart video again and discussed about it right after. Then we worked on There Will Be Wolves questions for awhile

Why we did it:

We presented our concept map today because we didn't have time to do it before. We re-watched the Ideo video so after that we can talk about the video and update our notes from our last discussion about it. We worked on the There Will Be Wolves questions to get a head start on the homework

Connections/Reflections:

I think that presenting the concept maps is going to help me with future presentations in school or some other time in my life, by giving me practice with speaking to an audience

Homework

Do There Will Be Wolves chapter 3 and 4 questions, the questions were given as a hand-out.

If your blog group/peer evaluation isn't finished, than you should go to flex tomorrow to finish/hand it in

January 31th 2012

What we did


Today, in Ms Lees humanity class, we had silent reading for about 15 minutes.  For the silent reading, we read 'There will be wolves'.  Then, Ms Lees solved some problems that was happening with the blog.  The problems were mostly not being able to post, Ms Lees can't see our blog stuff and  some people weren't following Ms Lees yet.   Then, we had some interruption with the fruit program.  Fruit program is a program to make us eat more healthy fruit and today we ate a pear.  Then, we started to discuss about the novel questions in groups of 3s.   However, if you weren't finished, you had to finish it when everyone else was having a discussion. 

Why we did it


I think Ms Lees made us do the silent reading because she was busy at lunch time with leo club, and she had to have her lunch.  She fixed the problem with the blogs because some people couldn't post and it was a problem.  We discussed about the novel question because by discussing, we can get better at oral communication.  Also, a lot of people had different answers, so we told each other what we got.  We got into groups of 3s and used chips because we didn't want one person dominate the discussion.

Connections/Reflections


I think discussion about novel question was great because I think it is useful in many ways.  For example, you became the president of United States.  You sometimes have to discuss with other senates and if you are a good communicator, you will do what you want to do not what other people make you to do.   Also, I think silent reading would help us a lot because it makes you to concentrate, so I think you can concentrate better when you do other activities like playing a soccer game. 

Homework&Tips


Read Chapter 3 for novel 'There will be wolves' and those of you that didn't finish the novel questions, finish them.  Also, if you need extra help, Flex is normally on Thursdays.

What we did:

Today in Ms.Lees humanities class we went to the library to review our learning blogs. We also looked back at some goals we set from January,to see of we had achieved them. After we set some goals for the upcoming month.Some of our goals included: posting regularly,and being more detailed on our responses.

Learning intention:

I think Ms.Lees wanted us to reflect on our goals from January to see how far we have come since then. She also wanted us to review our learning blogs because it was important to see how much better our posts have become since the start of the blogs. Ms.Lees also wanted us to peer evaluate because it will be a useful skill in the future.

Connections/Reflections:

I think that it was good that we reviewed our blogs today together as a group because we worked together and explained what each person needed to work on more. I think that peer evaluating will help all of us in the future because we learned what teachers look for in our work and got help/advice from others that are working on the same assignment as you.
Homework Tips:

We will be presenting our novel webs tomorrow and if you have not finished your "there will be wolves" questions they are due tomorrow.

Wednesday, January 18th

What did we do?

Ms. Lees had trouble with the geography test so she asked us to help. Unfortunately the people who marked it did not total the mark up. They seem to not know that there was an answer key prepared for them either because they marked one of them. Since they might not have marked some tests with the key, there might be some incorrect markings. To make sure it was all correct, Ms. Lees read out the answers and helped us mark it. We also got to look at our test after everyone was done calculating the mark. Because we spent almost the whole block marking the tests, Ms. Lees said she'll extend the due date of our concept maps to the end of block one on Friday. At the end of class, Ms. Lees tried to show us a video, but ran out of time, so she posted the video on the blog instead.

Why did we do this?

We marked the geography test because it would only take one block to mark it if the whole class marked two each, while it would take Ms. Lees hours to mark all of them by herself. We could check if the mark was totaled up correctly by taking a look at our own tests. Ms. Lees wanted us to see the video she was planning to show us because she wanted us to compare it with Wednesday's class.

Connection/Reflection

Calculating scores could be connected to math, and marking the test would be good practice now if you want to become a teacher or similar jobs later on. I think it was difficult to correct both tests at the same time because I often forget that I have two tests to mark. I felt relieved after Ms. Lees told us that we had one more block to finish up our concept maps.

Homework & Tips

Plan out your pictures so you won't waste time on Friday.

Wednesday, January 11th

What We Did Today

We had a substitute teacher today, since Ms Lees had an appointment. The teacher showed us a plan for the morning, on the overhead written by Ms Lees.

For the first block, we got in our novel groups and worked on our webs. We discussed about the headings we could have, about the middle ages. For example, some headings could be food, clothing, religion, etc. Then each group member got assigned one or a few headings and was supposed to takes notes on it according to the novel. If you finished early, you could start thinking about the pictures and the web layout.

We had about 20 more minutes to finish our webs after break. After that the teacher handed out some editing checklist and rubric. We were to find a partner and trade our paragraphs that we wrote before for him/her to proofread. We were to fill out a checklist and highlight a rubric for each paragraph of our partner's. When the paragraphs are are edited and ranked by our partner, we have to do a good copy of them either written neatly in pen or printed in Arial font, size 12.

Why Did We Do This?

We discussed about the web headings with our novel group to work on our communication skills. We should learn to give ideas while also listening to other people's opinions. We are making webs based on our novels because our historical novels include a lot of information about the middle ages. By making a web, we can not only learn about the middle ages, but also learn to organize information and illustrate it.

By letting someone else proofread your paragraphs can decrease the errors in spelling, grammar, and other issues. Reading it out loud helps you to understand it better and also easier to find mistakes in sentences. Editing someone else's work can allow you to see what others are good at and to learn from them.

Connections/Reflections

I think making webs together with our group members was much easier if I was doing it on my own. My group members thought of many different headings and ideas that I didn't think of. This way we can gather more information in less time and work. Making webs would help me later on if I wanted to organize something in a easy way. I could use communication skills almost everywhere, anytime. Better communicating skills means less confusion from others.

Having someone proofread my writing would prevent a lot of errors being made in my good copy. I can't notice some errors even when I read it over and over again. Being able to write good paragraphs means being able to write good essays. Being able to write good essays means that the rest of your life will be much more easier, because you will need to write essays all through school and even work if it involves presenting information.

Homework

- Do a good copy of your paragraphs, either typed out or written in pen.

Tips

- Bring in winter clothing for "Warm and Fuzzy Drive".

William is doing the next post.

Learning log Dec 10

What we did today

Today we did the Geography Challenge for the whole first block. It consisted of 90 questions and was marked out of 100 (10 questions gave 2 marks). It was very hard to do because we didn't even learn most of the info on the test (i'll be calling the Geography Challenge a test from now on) and most of the questions were based on prior knowledge or guessing.

Why we did it

We wrote the geography challenge to help with our geography skills and to decide who got the highest marks in our class because the school will take the 25 students with the highest marks in the entire school to a bigger tournament-type thing.

Connections/Reflections

In my opinion I believe think that the geography challenge was very hard compared to most tests we'll eventually have, since we couldn't exactly study for it and the fact that there were 90 questions of questions that made most of us guess the answers because we had nothing to study.

Homework

No actual homework except finish your social studies textbook notes, finish reading your books if you hadn't already and remember to go to Thursday's flex if you need to

Learning Log-Jan 9

What we did today

For the first part of the day we discussed things coming up such as geography challenge being tomorrow, and explanations on our course selection for gr.9 and how it'll have more options than grade 8 course selection and other things. After doing some geography challenge rounds on European countries, festivals, and remarkable wind formations, we started looking at our novel projects and about how we read it more for learning social studies than English (such as learning about traditions, clothing etc. of the time), and expectations and criteria for the "concept maps" such having good information, organization and co-operation.

Why we did It

We discussed geography challenge so we'd all be ready for the fact that its tomorrow and we need to be focused in order to finish all the questions. We talked about the course selection because sometime this week, the counselors will be coming to our class to discuss about it and so we could learn more things about course selection if we were confused. We went over the concept map, mainly to learn what an actual concept map is and expectations for them since we would have to be working on them soon.

Connections/Reflections

I think that being able to choose our courses for next year would be an excellent way to prepare for later in our life when deciding what job you want, since choosing your courses and choosing a job are very similar in ways such as, don't do it if your just doing it to be with a friend, and to choose what would benefit you the most. I feel that they geography challenge might improve our geography skills so we can use them later in our lives and dont get lost planning a trip to Disneyland or any where else you might have to go that you are unfamiliar with.

Homework

I don't believe there is homework today but go to flex on thursday if you need the help or are stuck on homework and if you for some reason didn't Dinah reading your novel, than you should finish reading it

Learning log Jan 4

What we did

Today we started the day by practicing the Geography Challenge in which we answered 30 hard questions about geographical history etc. After that we re-watched a video about the middle ages and the three various periods of the middle ages (early, high and late) while taking notes at the same time. After the break, we all went to the library to go and work on our various blogs, by discussing criteria and expectations for the blogs. For the rest of the block we were discussing the quality of blog posts of the fellow blogers in our blog groups by grading them on a scale of 1-5, 1 being the worst, and 5 being the best.

Why We did it

We practiced our Geography Challenge to prepare for the upcoming official Geography Challenge and to increase our overall speed in finishing them, since there will be many questions. We watched the video to learn about the middle ages and to finish it because we didn't the last time we watched it.
We spent a whole hour working on our blogging skills to improve them and to asses weak points to improve on and to decide who's good at posting and who's not so good.

My reflections/connections

I believe that by taking notes on the middle ages video, we would have improved our note taking skills, since we were watching a video instead of reading a book we would have to deal with taking notes and listening for more things to take notes on at the same time, so we should have improved. When doing our blog work on the second block I believe we improved our blog writing by looking for parts that are bad in the blog and improving on them, the blogging skills can be further used to help with essays you may write in the future or if you grow up to have a formal blog of your own.

Homework

Finish reading your novels, you have until Monday to finish

What we did : Today in humanities class we discussed key events and what we have done/worked on so far this year. We also talked about some upcoming events like the fuzzy drive (you can donate and clothing,slippers,socks etc. but only clean items). Also Ms.Lees' told us today that we will be having a geography challenge next week on Tuesday. After we were done discussing the upcoming events we were asked to draw a graph based on our: behavoir, understanding, and effort so far this year. We were also expected to write a few sentences on the back of our graphs explaing them and writing down a goal for January.


Learning Intention: I think that the reason that we discussed earlier events this year during class today is because Ms. Lees' wanted us to reflect on everything that has happened so far this year and to review the stuff we have already learned. We talked about upcoming events because it is important to know what is going on around the school and it is important to get involed and help out in any way possible for example the "Warm and Fuzzy Drive" by donating our clothes to people that are less fortunate is a good way to help society. The reason we did our graphs today is because Ms.Lees' wanted us to reflect on our behavoir/effort/understanding of what we have done so far this year. Ms.Lees' wanted us to write a few sentences and a goal on the back of our graphs because it is important and helpful to set reasonable goals in life.

Connections/Reflections: I think that what we did today was good for all of us because it is important to look back and see how far we have come since then. For example at the beggining of the year my plot diagrams and character webs were not very good they could be quite poor sometimes; however now my work had improved a lot and i am more confident in my work than i was before. Personally i think that it is good to set goals because it gets you motivated to get up and make yourself proud. I think that it is important that we learn how to pick a good goal while we are in school because this is a skill we can use in our lives as we get older and into the higher grades; no matter what path we all take this will help us to be inspired and not to give up.

Homework/Tips: remember that there is a warm and fuzzy drive going on this week and next week the winning class gets an ice cream party, also the geography challenge is next week. Also we must be finished reading our novels before next monday, even if you already have read your book it is always good to refresh your memory. Dont forget we will be doing webs about the novels soon and there will not be a mid term for humanities just a year end test.

John will be doing the next post.