Hello there everyone in “The City of The Wolves”!
What We Did Today
Today was a pretty quiet day due to numerous people who had committed to the Vow of Silence with the Global Issues Club. On this lovely Wednesday Humanities double block, we accomplished many things. For the first block, we did a quiet work time where we either got caught up with older work or started on note-taking and making. We had to take notes on passages from the Pathways textbook. From pages 9-20 we had to take notes in the outline form. Once we finished that, we had to take notes for pages 21-29 in a web/map form. And if you finished that, then you did note-taking in a Cornell layout (if you want to see the video clip of how to do a Cornell, it’s on Ms. Lees blog). We took a little stretch, worked a bit more and then it was time for break. At the beginning of second block, we spent some time spelling and practicing for the upcoming spelling bee that’s in a week or two (I forgot). Since there were some people doing the Vow of Silence we had to do a written bee instead, congrats to the girls on their win against the boys! J After all the excitement, we watched clips of how to take notes using the Cornell method, and how to do a mind map (something we will need to know as the year goes on). Again we settled down for a time of quiet work until the end of the day.
Learning Intentions
There are a few learning intentions today. For our quiet work time, I think it was so that we learn how to manage our free time wisely and not waste it all yapping with our friends although it may be a lot more fun than getting down to work. You really need to manage time wisely for the note-taking because we can’t take the Pathways textbook home to work on it. We need to practice our spelling not only because the spelling bee is up and coming, but because writing is used everywhere! Living in a country of two main languages (English and French) you kind of have to make yourself understood through writing and through oral communication, not only one and not the other. Learning to take notes is very useful because when we get into higher grades and into university, we need to keep track of what we’ve learned and we need to study for exams. The Cornell is a very useful way to study for tests... We have a test on Friday so you might want to take that into consideration. And also we post on this blog to make sure we are aware of our audience and not say anything that would reflect badly on ourselves or our school. Not that you should ever be saying bad stuff...
Reflections and Connections
Ms. Lees said that we don’t have to use the terms “muddy” and “marvy” but I like to use them because they’re a good way to explain how I feel about the time in Humanities class. Anyways, today I felt pretty marvy because I think I get the different styles of note-taking and I know how to use them although the Cornell somewhat confuses me a bit. I’m feeling pretty excited about the spelling bee too because I got perfect scores on both the written bees (sorry if this sounds like I’m bragging... Because I’m not) and I think I’m pretty solid with the grade eight word list. I mentioned how we need to use spelling in real life so I don’t need an “out of Humanities connection to the real world”.
Homework Helper
1. We have a Geography test coming up on Friday this week, so don’t forget to study for that. Here’s a tip you probably heard in class today “The more ways you see something, the more likely you are to retain that information” that may help you while you study. Fredrick has also kindly linked the info about the test to our blog.
2. You can use a Cornell to help you study and use the methods from the video clip on Ms. Lees’ blog.
3. Study for the spelling bee if you would like to become a serious competitor to represent our school at the Regional spelling bee.
Trevor, we have a math test tomorrow on Chapter 6, just in case you forgot J
On Friday, Trevor will post the lovely Learning Log! Good luck!