I just wanted to start with that today. Remember it - it is true.

We are over a week into our distance learning and I am wondering - how is it going?
I don't really have a sense of how much time you are spending on school work.
The guidelines from the board are that you should be doing between eight and ten hours of school work a week - that's for all subjects. In your learning journal, please tell me  - Is this about what you are doing? Are you finding it is more than that? or not enough? Please be honest.

Reminders!
- Please check your google classrooms for art, history/geography, science and French!
- Mr. Hussey is available to help ELL students. You can email him at gareth.hussey@yrdsb.ca

The Barred Owlets have hatched!
They are so sweet - you should check out the nest cams.

Literacy
The Giver/Gathering Blue - Chapter 4 - remember to use evidence from the text (quotes) to support your ideas.

The Giver - Talk about "release". What does it mean to be released?  How did Roberto look when he walked through the door of the Releasing Room?

Gathering Blue - How was Kira feeling at the end of the chapter? How would you be feeling if you were in her place?

Math
Using yesterday's graphs:
1. If you were a hamburger company, which graph would you use to try to convince stores to buy your hamburgers to sell at their store? Explain.
2. What if you were a hot dog company? Which graph would you use? Explain.

Hello amazing people!!
I started a new routine for myself this morning. I am getting up earlier and going for a walk first thing in the morning before I start work. I heard so many birds! It was amazing.
What beautiful things are you noticing in the world around you?

Math
These two graphs display the same information.
Compare the two graphs. Is one of them misleading? How?

Literacy
Writing. We are going to continue to work on creative writing from another point of view or perspective. Last time you wrote from a bird's point of view. Still using the bird cameras as a setting,  I would like you to try a perspective other than the bird. You could be a nest, a tree, a bird feeder, an egg, or many other things - be creative. I will be looking for point of view n your writing. I will also be looking for you to add in some emotions - how does the nest or tree etc... feel?

Music
I had some great questions about the music assignment. I thought I would answer them on the blog so everyone can see the answers. There is some confusion about the elements of music - timbre, texture and beat in particular:
The texture is how thin or thick the music is . Really thin music has only line of music played by one instrument. Thick music has many things going on at once with lots of instruments.
Timbre is the sound colours the different instruments make. The composer might choose to write for flute because they want the music to sound bright and shrill. Or they may write music for the trombone because they want it to sound brassy and low.
Beat is the pulse of the music. You know when I count the band in - "one, two, ready, go" That's the beat. It can be fast, slow, strong, steady etc...

Here is a sample analysis of a song:

This beat of this piece is really hard to find. It is not strong and it is also doesn't feel steady. I have a hard time tapping my foot to it.

The music doesn't seem really fast, it sounds like andante - a walking pace.

The aren't big changes in dynamics and the music sounds in the louder range between a mezzo forte and forte.

There are some crescendos and decrescendos to make the dynamics interesting and come alive.

There is only one line of music so the texture is thin. At times there are double stops to add a bit of texture.

Cello is the only instrument making the timbre dark and mellow.

Welcome back!
I hope you all had a wonderful and restful long weekend.
Reminder - my office hours are 10:00 - 11:30.

After each weekend - I will be doing a check in with you as I did last Monday.
It will always be the same question, but I expect your answer will change.
Please make an entry in your learning journal answering the following question:
How are you feeling?
a) Awesome!
b) I'm doing pretty ok
c) Just meh
d) I'm struggling
e) I'm not at all ok and I would like a check-in with you Mrs. Nye.
 Please explain your above answer.

Math
We are going to start to explore how we can use and manipulate graphs and data to tell the story we want it to tell. How we can display data so that it is biased towards what we want it to say. With that in mind, take a look at this cartoon and tell me what it is about:

Literacy
Please read chapter three of either the Giver OR Gathering Blue. Reminder - you should only be reading one of these books - not both. Gathering Blue is an option only for those of you who have read The Giver before.
Also please remember that at the end of this novel study you will be writing a five paragraph essay comparing the community that the book takes place in and the community that you live in. Please take notes as you are reading the story. Your essay will need quotes from the book to support your ideas.

Chapter 3 questions - to be answered in your learning journal
The Giver - How is the role of birthmother viewed in this society? Talk about what happens to them and how they are treated.
Gathering Blue - What choice was Kira given at her trial? What did she choose? Do you agree with that choice? Why or why not?

Google Chat
A few of you have let me know that you are having trouble with google chat. I'm not sure why there are troubles, but I'll give some possible answers to your problems. I'll be on the chat during my office hours - try it out and let me know if you are still having problems.

1. Open your Google Drive

2. Look in the top right corner - you'll see nine dots in a little square.

It looks like this:

3. Click on the nine little dots.

4. You should see "Chat" once you click on the nine dots.

It looks like this:

If you do not see it - scroll down and/or click on the "more" option.

Once you are in chat, on the left side there is a search option. Search for "Mrs. Nye's Class Chat Room". You are all members - I double checked.

Try it out and let me know how it goes.

Hello wonderful people!
This is just a reminder that Friday and Monday are holidays and I will not be posting new work.
Use this weekend to rest and catch up on some work if you want. I will be checking my email from time to time over the weekend - if you need me for anything please let me know.

I opened a class chat room on google chat - please don't goof around and abuse it. I want to keep it going so we can try to talk to each other a bit. I miss our class discussion! I will start a new thread each day and I will be on the chat during my office hours. You will find the invitation in your gapps email. You can also access it if you go into your google suite (the nine dots in a square in the top right corner of your google drive) you'll see the icon for "Chat". The room is called "Mrs. Nye's Class Chat Room." Please let me know if you have any problems. Thanks to Ellen for testing it out for me!

I'll finish with a song for you. I'm thinking of you. Have a great weekend!

We're all in this together! Keep movin' don't stop.
Great advice!
This is Sam Roberts (awesome Canadian musician) at home with his kids - like we all are!
They recorded his song We're All In This Together.
So great! My son and I have been working on the song Three Little Birds on Ukulele and Guitar. I am also knitting a pair of mittens. Tell me what projects you have been working on to keep yourself busy at home.

For whatever reason - my email keeps cutting out on me during my office hours. Next week I am going to set up a google chat during my office hours so you can ask questions and get answers in real time. Plus I can hopefully hear how you are doing!

Math
The three graphs from yesterday's post are displaying data for the sales of chocolate milk at a school cafeteria. You and a group of students have proposed to the cafeteria manager that there should be a day when chocolate milk is 50% off - half price.
According to the data, which day should that be? Why?
You can only use one graph in your presentation to the manager.Which graph would you use to convince the manager of your idea and why?

Novel Study - The Giver/Gathering Blue
At the end of this novel study you will be writing a five paragraph essay comparing the community that the book takes place in and the community that you live in. As you are reading, please keep notes with this in mind. In the essay I will be looking for quotes from the book to support your ideas. I suggest either keeping notes on paper at home or opening a separate google document to keep notes in. If you have any questions about this - please ask!

Please read Chapter 2 and answer the following question for your book:
The Giver - If some older people in your community were to observe you, what job do you think they'd give you and why?
Gathering Blue - How were children treated in the village?  Give examples to support your points.

What beautiful weather we have had this week! It feels like spring! After school, I went out to clean up the garden with my kids. Here are some signs of new life that I noticed.:

Look outside, or even better- step outside, and find a sign of new life. Tell  me about it in your learning journal - if you can, take a picture and share it with me.

There may be times when I am on your learning journal document at the same time as you - don't be afraid to chat with me. I'd like to stay connected with you!

Math
The three graphs below all show the same information. In your learning journal, talk about the strengths and weaknesses of each graph type.

Literacy
Reading - we will take a day off from The Giver/Gathering Blue. I want to give everyone a chance to catch up. Please make sure you have read chapter one.
Rehan asked me to put the link to the book so it is more easily accessible. If you look on the right side of the blog under "important links" I have put the links there. Thank for the suggestion Rehan!

Writing -  Focus: point of view.
Last week, I posted a link to the Bird Cams. Here is is again:
Bird Cameras
Right now the Barred Owl and the Red-tailed Hawk are sitting on eggs, and the Petrels and the Albatross have babies in the nests! You can watch the birds live and you can also watch past footage if you scroll down. I would like you to choose one bird to watch for a while. Using that bird's point of view, write a diary entry. If that bird wrote in a diary, what would it write today? Be creative! I'm looking for your writing to be from the bird's point of view. Example - "This morning I was siting on my eggs when all of a sudden..." Please put your diary entry in your learning journal.

Music
As you may have noticed, I posted an intermediate music assignment to the blog. Please check the assignment and when you have time, you can work on it. I will only be posting one music assignment every two weeks.

Art
Reminder to check your art google classroom. You have an assignment there that you can be working on. Thanks to Brandon for letting me know!

Intermediate Music and Dance Assignment

Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis is one of the most talented and versatile musicians of the modern era.

For this assignment you will analyze two Marsalis performances; one jazz and one classical. Finally, you will analyze a dance performance to music composed by Wynton Marsalis. Please share your assignment with me at michelle.nye@gapps.yrdsb.ca. Please make sure your name is in the document title (example - Michelle Nye's Music assignment)

If you have any questions - please let me know at michelle.nye@yrdsb.ca

Learning Goals/Success Criteria:

Music:
- I can express analytical, personal responses to musical performances in a variety of ways
- I can analyse, using musical terminology, ways in which the elements of music are used in the music that I listen to

Dance
- I can construct personal interpretations of the message of dance pieces (I can say what I think the piece is about)
- I can analyse, using dance vocabulary, ways in which the elements of dance are used in a dance

Music Analysis Guiding Questions:
1.Using the elements of music, describe the Haydn concerto - the classical piece.
2.Using the elements of music, describe Second Line - the jazz piece.
3.Compare the two Wynton Marsalis performances.
a)Describe the similarities in the music.
b)Describe the differences in music.
c)Compare the performances

Dance Analysis Guiding Questions:
1.Using the elements of dance, describe the performance.
2.Why would it be harder to dance to live music?  (as opposed to recorded music.)
3.How does the dance reflect the music of Wynton Marsalis?

Video Resources

Marsalis on playing classical music and more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrdM5L6ctGY

Marsalis classical performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb5MSJcBb9o

Marsalis jazz performance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RqWGuWIM_g

Dance performance (you can just watch the “trailer”)

https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/concert/63

Reminders

Elements of Music
1.Tempo - the speed
2.Dynamics - the volume 
3.Beat - the pulse of the music
4.Texture - the thickness of the music
5.Timbre - the sound colours of the instruments

Elements of Dance
1.Body - the position and shape of the dancer
2.Energy - the force ie light vs. strong
3.Relationship - the way two or more dancers are connected
4.Space - The area in which the body moves
5.Time - response to the rhythm and tempo of the music