Wellness Week - Part Two!

We are going to take the week to continue to learn about ourselves and how we can keep ourselves mentally healthy. Please try at least one choice on the choiceboard each day and write about it in your learning journal. Please click the link below to access the choiceboard.

Wellness Week Part Two Choiceboard

Community Circles

This week our community circles will be on Tuesday at 10:00 and Thursday at 3:30.

Please continue to use the same meeting code on Google Meet.

If you have lost the original invitation, Sam has put the meeting code in our class Chat. Thanks Sam!

Hope to see you all there!

Intermediate Music and Dance Challenge #4

Here is the next installment of our music and dance challenges. You can share them with me on google drive at michelle.nye@gapps.yrdsb.ca. Due Date - June 10th.

Music - Open Project

I'd like to hear what music projects you have been working on in your time at home. I know many of you practice instruments such as piano, violin, or ukulele. On any instrument (voice included), choose a song you have been working on and video or record yourself - show me your stuff!

Alternately, you can create another composition using Chrome Music Lab.

In this composition I would be looking for melodic repetition, and use of ternary form.

Dance

Watch the following three evolution of dance videos. Choose 1-3 of the dances demonstrated in these videos and film yourself performing it/them. To be clear, one dance would be "The Cabbage Patch" or "Singin' in the Rain" for example -  NOT the whole video. I'll be looking for attention to rhythm and spacial awareness.

Alternately, you can photograph yourself doing the moves and share the photos with me. Please label which dance move you are doing in the photograph.

The Evolution of Hip Hop

The Evolution of Dance 1950 - 2019

The Evolution of Dance 1920 - 2000's

Have Fun!

It was so great saving the world with many of you.

The Zombies didn't stand a chance with you guys on the case!

Literacy

Your essay on The Giver/Gathering Blue is due Monday.

Please put it in a separate document and share it with me.

Math

If you are still unclear about transformations here are some resources that may help. You can also - as always - ask questions in our private chat rooms.

https://www.kidport.com/Grade7/Math/Lesson_7__Reflection_and_Rotation.html

https://www.helpingwithmath.com/by_subject/geometry/geo_transformations_8g3.htm

In your learning journal, please describe each of the transformations in the graphic below:

Original shape:

Transformations:

Harvest Day!

Today I harvested our beautiful pineapple!

Jeffrey the pineapple will be my delicious breakfast tomorrow and I will begin to root the topper to start a Jeffrey Junior.

Friday Fun Song!

Walkin' on Sunshine!

Enjoy the weekend!

Community Circle today (Thursday) at 3:30!
We are going to talk about math and do a Breakout (escape room) together.
Use the invitation from our original meeting on May 20th.
Hope to "see" lots of you there.

Math
1. For the image below please describe the transformation. Is it a translation, rotation or reflection? Describe the move using directions, integers and coordinates.

2. What is the point of reflection for the image below?

3a) For the image below, what would be the coordinates of A' B' and C' if the triangle were reflected using the x-axis as a point of reflection.
3b) What would be the coordinates of A', B' and C' if this triangle were rotated 90 degrees, counterclockwise using point C as the point of rotation?

Monarchs
Do you remember our Monarchs last fall? It seems like so long ago.
Today I heard reports of the first monarch sightings of the year in Ontario.
The great-great-great grandchildren of our Greta, Stripey, Michael, Sundancer and friends have returned! Welcome back!

New JK Rowling Book!
For all of you Harry Potter fans out there (I am one too! I'm a Hufflepuff in case you are wondering) JK Rowling is releasing a new story called The Ickabog. On the website below, she releases a chapter or two each day. Also for my artists out there there is an illustration contest for the story too!

https://www.theickabog.com/home/

Talent show!
Moraine Hills is a having a virtual talent show in June.
If you are interested in participating, check out the details on the We The Kind website.

It was so nice to "see" many of you in our community circle.
Next community circle is on Thursday at 3:30. I'll be talking a bit about math and we will play a game together! I hope many of you can join.
For those of you who could not make it - no worries. I have shared with everyone the essay example that I talked about today. I tried to colour code to make the structure clear. If you have any questions - please let me know.

The essay for the Giver/Gathering Blue is due Monday.
Here is the success criteria:
- 5 paragraphs - introduction, 3 body paragraphs and conclusion
- Introduction paragraph in format in the example shared with you.
- Fully explained ideas in the body paragraphs
- Use of quotes from the book to support ideas
- SPG - spelling, punctuation and grammar


This saga just keeps going...
So exciting!

MHPS Lip Dub 2020!
From Mr. Harber:

2020 LIP-DUB / INFO

 “Look For The Good” by Jason Mraz

Each year, Moraine Hills Public School does a LIP-DUB where a video is created of all our
school students and staff dancing, performing, etc. to music.  It is time for this year’s LIP-DUB! 
It is important that we explore ways to bring our students, families, and community together
when we are forced to be apart……. and what better way than a distanced lip-dub!

The song “Look For The Good” by Jason Mraz is quite fitting for the situation that we find ourselves in. 
It’s about finding the silver-lining to situations and to look for the good that surrounds us.

Look For The Good - Jason Mraz - Lyric Video

Look For The Good - Jason Mraz - Live Video

Look For The Good - Jason Mraz - Official

We are hoping that your child participates by taking a video of themselves and submitting
the video file along with the consent form. 
Students can lip-sing, sing, dress up, make signs, dance, wave,
smile, be goofy, or film something that has been positive and uplifting for them.  
The clip can be any length - Mr. Harber will be receiving them and editing them to put together what
we hope will be lots of clips from students and teachers across all grades .
This is a time be creative but also have fun.  I know the students love watching the lip dub every year
and seeing all the familiar faces of their friends, teachers, learning buddies, etc.

All videos need to be submitted to me by June 10.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION - CONSENT FORM
The signed consent form must be included with the video.

How can the form be filled out:
- Students can print it, sign it, and take a picture to upload with their video.
- Students can also have a written note from their parents giving them permission.
- Some parents might be able to fill it out digitally as well.

Community Circle today at 11:00!
Remember to use the invitation to the last community circle to sign in.
We will be talking about The Giver and Gathering Blue.

Math
Introduction to transformations.
Please watch the video below. In your learning journal please note: what is a translation, rotation, reflection, and rigid transformation.

The Ongoing Robin's Nest Saga

While cooking on the BBQ, Mr. Nye noticed this brand new wasp nest being built in our fence.
It is quite a feat of engineering! We are now wondering how do we safely share the space with them? Your thoughts? Have you noticed many wasps and other flying friends out lately?

We've got a great week ahead of us!

Community Circles on Google Meet
This week we will meet as a class on Tuesday and Thursday.
Tuesday at 11:00.
Thursday at 3:30.
Tomorrow we will be discussing The Giver and Gathering Blue and I will go over the expectations for the essay and how to write your opening and closing paragraphs.
You can use the same code/invitation as last week's community circle. Please DO NOT share this code or invitation with anyone outside our class.

If you have borrowed Chromebooks from the school and you need help with tech support you can email: student.techhelp@yrdsb.ca. and they will help you out.

Literacy - The Giver/Gathering Blue
In preparation for tomorrow's community circle, please write the third paragraph for your essay. Choose one more point of comparison either a similarity or a difference between the community in the book and the community you live in. Please remember to use quotes from the book to support your ideas.

On Friday I was able to get in the school briefly. I brought the pineapple plants home.
Look how big Jeffrey the pineapple has gotten!

The Ongoing Robin's Nest Saga

Saturday:

Sunday:

Advice from Charlie Brown Week - Final Day

Math - Data management assignment due today. Please make sure it is in your learning journal or shared with me.

Literacy - Please finish reading The Giver/Gathering Blue by Monday. Next week we will be working on your comparison essay.

Reminder of music and dance challenge #3 - see blogpost on May 12th

Friday Fun Song!

Awesome advice from Baloo!

"Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
That's why a bear can rest at ease
With just the bare necessities of life"

Advice from Charlie Brown Week - Day 3

The field guide is done!!!
I am super excited about it!
I'm sending it to the printer this weekend.
Here is the cover:

I understand that you guys have a few assignments from a variety of classes due Friday, so I won't give you anything new.

Math - Please finish the graphing assignment
Literacy - Please finish reading The Giver/Gathering Blue by Monday.

It was nice to "see" so many of you on our community circle. Next week we will meet again Tuesday and Thursday. I'll let you know the times of the meetings on Monday's blogpost.

The Ongoing Robin's Nest Saga
The robins spent most of the day today bringing mud to create this perfect bowl for their nest. Later in the afternoon they started to bring grasses to make it nice an comfy. Here is how it looks after all of their work today:

Advice from Charlie Brown Week - Day 2

Reminder! Our Community Circle is today (Wednesday) at 2:30.
Click on the link in the invitation (in your gapps email).
Don't forget to turn off your cameras and mute your microphones to begin with.
I will have my camera on - but I would like yours off.
As we take turns talking we will unmute our microphones one by one.
Looking forward to gathering together!

Math
Please continue to work on your data management assignment.

Literacy
Please read chapter 19 and 20.
Make a prediction as to how you think the book will end. Support your prediction with evidence from the book.

Outside Everyday Challenge
On the We The Kind website - I have posted the Outside Everyday challenge.
I signed up myself and my family. Let's try some of the suggestions as a class too!
We went in the backyard and made a worm motel to observe worms for a bit.
Scroll down on this page to find out how to make one.
Here is our motel:

As we were searching for worms we found lots of what I think are June Beetles (I'm checking on iNaturalist to be sure) they are super cool! Check your garden - you might find them too! Some think they are not great for the plants - but they are a food source for many amazing animals! I was thinking that is a tough choice - good food source for animals but bad for the plants. Hmmmm.... would you want them in your yard? Why or why not?

Advice from Charlie Brown Week - Day 1

Start of the week check-in
This week we will try a Rewind - Pause - Fast Forward.
Thinking about the last week, please tell me what things you wish you could rewind and do again, what things you wish you could pause on, and what things you wish you could have fast forwarded through.

Community Circle on Google Meet
This Wednesday at 2:30 pm we will have a class Community Circle on Google Meet.
You should have an invitation in your gapps email.
Please tell everyone you are in contact with - I'd really like all of us there.
Before you join the Community Circle (meeting) please turn your camera and microphone off.
We will take turns talking - just like in our regular community circles. When it is your turn to talk then you can turn on your mic.
I'm really looking forward to gathering together as a class again!

Math
Data management assignment.
Due Friday.
Using the data you collected last week please complete the following:
1. Create a graph that best represents the data you collected.
2. Write about who could use this data to their advantage and why. For example, if you were collecting data on the colours of cars, perhaps a paint company or a car company could use this data.
3. Create a second graph - of the same data - but now use one of the techniques we learned about that can make a graph misleading. (see blogpost on April 19th)
4. Explain your second graph and how it can be used by the people in your answer to question #2.

Success criteria:
- my graphs are clear and fully labelled
- I explained the data a collected and who could use that data to their advantage
- I was able to use one of the techniques we learned about to manipulate my data.

The ongoing robin's nest saga
I have sad news and good news. First the sad. The nest that was built over our back porch light has been abandoned and the egg is gone. I don't know what happened, but I noticed that the mama robin wasn't on the nest for an extended time and so I took a peek - no egg. I was very saddened by this.

Now the good news! With the warmer weather, we have started to bring our indoor plants outside. I have a large citrus tree that my grandma started from a lime seed. It looks like this:

Yesterday we noticed robins checking the tree out and sitting inside on the thicker branches.
Low and behold - this morning they started bringing nesting materials:

and they are building a nest in there!
Look carefully - you'll see the robin in there:

I will keep you up to date as this develops!

Friday Fun Song!

Celebration!!! - Long weekend!

WOO HOO!

Math

Please continue to collect your data.

On Tuesday we will begin creating graphs and analyzing the data.

The Giver/Gathering Blue

Please read chapter 18

Robin nest update!

Just when I thought the robins had abandoned the nest, I was bringing the dog out last night and the robin scared the daylights out of me by flying out of the nest and right by my head. This morning I took a peek while she was away and look!

Here she is sitting on the nest (that's our back door)

A close up:

Hey you! I want to tell you something...

Ok - now that the important stuff has been said we'll get down to business.

Math
Continue to collect you data. The more days you collect data this week - the better. Try to get new information on your topic everyday.

The Giver/Gathering Blue
A couple weeks ago, I asked you to write a paragraph in preparation for your essay. Now I would like you to write the second one. Choose a new comparison between the community you are reading about and the community you live in. It could be something that is similar or something that is different. As always, please use quotes from the book to support your ideas.

Cute alert!!

For you daily smile and "awww"

Here is the brand new baby giraffe at the Toronto Zoo:

Absolute last call!

I have pretty much finished our field guide and I am now just editing. I will be finished this weekend. Last chance! Please, please, please, send me your pages if you have not already and send me a photo of you that I can put in the "contributors" collage. I have photos from Sara, Didem, Michelle, Crystal, Sam, Anchal, Ellen, Anna, Kaynaz and Joanna.

Math
Please continue to collect data.

The Giver/Gathering Blue
Please read Chapter 17 and continue to add to the Jamboards.

I have been seeing and hearing more and more Goldfinches on my morning walks. If you get the chance to go for a walk in your neighbourhood - look and  listen out for them.

Intermediate Music and Dance Challenge #3

Please watch the following videos with Canadian professional musicians and dancers keeping up their performance skills while staying safe at home. After you have seen the videos, please write a short email to me (michelle.nye@gapps.yrdsb.ca) answering the following questions:

1. Briefly describe the dancers' use of body and space.

2. What elements of music would be hard to achieve when the musicians are all playing remotely from home and why?

Dancers from the National Ballet of Canada

Musicians From the Toronto Symphony and Dancers for the National Ballet

***Bonus marks if you can tell me why this one is called "Bach to the Barre"

Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Please complete this challenge by Friday May 22nd

Hello beautiful people!
I hope you are having a wonderful day.
I enjoyed my short conferences with a few of you yesterday! Everyone else - please make sure to let me know on our private chat when is a good time to chat.

Math
Continue to collect your data. Make sure you have told me what data you are collecting in your learning journal.

Giver/Gathering Blue
Please read Chapter 16.
I have shared a new Jamboard with you according to what book you are reading.
In Gathering Blue - you are comparing living in The Fen,The Council Edifice and your home.
In The Giver you are comparing your family with families in the story.
Please add sticky notes (on the left side) with single word descriptions  for each section. Please sign your name to the sticky note. I have put an example on there for you to see.
*the Jamboard for The Giver has two pages*

ELL support
Remember that Mr. Hussey is available to help you. Just send him an email and he'll be happy to help in any of your subjects. Gareth.Hussey@yrdsb.ca

A message from Ms. A and the library:

There are many exciting things happening in the Learning Commons. See our survey results from last week, Dog Man vs Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and make sure you complete (if possible) two new surveys. Continue to read new book recommendations, makerspaces and reading sources. Please send me an email if you have any questions, comments or anything to share. Have a great week!
Ms. Angastiniotis

https://sites.google.com/gapps.yrdsb.ca/llc-at-mhps​

Hello awesome people! Welcome back!

I hope many of you took the time last week to work on really good routines to keep yourself mentally strong and healthy. Those things aren't just for Mental Wellness Week. You should continue to take good care of yourself all of the time.

Keeping in Touch

I have set up private chats with all of you in Google Chat. This week I would like to conference with you at some point. I feel like I am losing touch with many of you and I'd like to see how you are doing. Using that private chat, please let me know what is a good time of day for you to chat with me and we will set up a time to "meet".

The Giver/Gathering Blue
Please read chapter 15.

Math - Gathering Data

Your job for math this week is to gather data. You will use the entire week to just gather information on something that you are interested in. For example, you might sit in your front yard and tally the number of red cars, white cars and black cars that go by. You could write down the number of each different animal and bird you see in your back yard or out your window. Perhaps you will keep track of the amount you eat from each food group in a week. Maybe you will measure a dandelion each day and track its growth. Or track how much time you spend on the computer or social media.  The possibilities are endless! Be creative! This week you will collect the data - next week you will be reporting on the data and creating graphs with it. In your learning journal - please explain what data you will be collecting this week and how you will write down the data (ie tally chart etc.)

I hope Mental Wellness Week has given you a chance to relax, recharge and reset.

Please take what you have learned and keep using it everyday. 

Care for yourself and keep yourself strong.

You are important.

Friday Fun Song!

And that led me to this awesomeness...

I hope our Mental Wellness Week is going well for you.
I am enjoying reading and seeing what you guys are trying out from the choiceboard.
Continue to try one or two new things each day.
Please continue to learn the different healthy ways you can rest and recharge your mind.
Try to make some of these practices regular routines for yourself- like mindful breathing, for example.

I took a break today to watch the birds cams. Oh my goodness the owlets and the hawk hatchlings are so cute! I took some screen shots while I was watching. 

Day three of Mental Wellness Week!
I am enjoying reading in your learning journals about how you are learning to take care of yourselves. Please continue to try one or two things from the Mental Wellness Choiceboard each day.

I see a couple of new jokes on the Jokes! Jamboard. This is for fun - but it is also to help you get to know how to use Jamboard. I'll be using it for math and literacy discussion in the future. Try it out! You'll find the Jokes! jamboard in your "shared with me" drive.

I have been doing my work mainly at my kitchen table and yesterday and today I noticed birds flying very close to our back door  - a lot! It turns out robins are building a nest using our back deck light. It's really beautiful! No eggs yet - but I'll keep you up to date! Very exciting!

Hi Everyone!

Day two of our mental wellness week.
I hope you are really taking time for yourself and learning about how to keep yourself in a good mental health space. I understand some people are having trouble seeing the choiceboard. Make sure you are signed into your gapps account before you go to the blog - that might help. Or try a different browser (Chrome or Explorer). If you are still having trouble, please send me a note and I will share it with you privately.

Some of you have sent me jokes - thank you! I have been doing a lot of laughing! This is really good for my mental health. I started a Jokes Jamboard that I shared with all of you. You should see it in the "shared with me" section of your google drive. I have posted some of the jokes you sent me. Go check it out and add your own jokes - lets share the laughter!

News From Ms. A and the Library!

May the 4th be with you!!!! If you're interested in drawing Star Wars characters visit a makerspace in the Learning Commons to get creative. Mother's Day is a week away and I have posted some Mother's Day art activities that you can choose from as well. Also, don't forget to read some new book recommendations and vote for your favourite book series.....Dog Man vs Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Visit the Learning Commons makerspaces, get creative and keep exploring!

https://sites.google.com/gapps.yrdsb.ca/llc-at-mhps​

Hello beautiful people!

May 4th - 8th is Mental Wellness Week at Moraine Hills!

In honour of wellness week we are going to focus our learning on ourselves.
Below is a choiceboard made by Ms. V and the amazing team at Silver Springs PS.
Each day this week, I would like you to choose at least one thing from the choiceboard.
Enjoy your time with each activity! You could ask your family at home to learn with you.
In your learning journal, tell me what you did each day and how you felt about it.
If you can, include a picture or some other documentation of your learning.
Please take time for you this week and have fun!