R8C History

Reminder: 

Bitstrips Gold Rush comic due Monday.

The photo above has absolutely nothing to do with your assignment. But I love the fact that I can update the blog while on the way home on the 401!

English

Survival Guide

Shark attack? Falling through the ice? No problem!

Due date: Thursday, December 11 (R8C and EMF8B)

Assignment outline

English

Gallery Walks for our Raven Media Projects coming up this week! Here's a preview, courtesy of Mr. Noah in R8C, who would like to thank George Lucas for his tutelage:

R8C History

The Gold Rush Comic
At this point, you should have finished Part 1 of the project - the six background questions we need to be able to create our comic. Once you've gotten the green light from me, plan your comic using the template from class.

Don't waste all of your time working on your avatar! (I can't believe you were making fun of mine - some of you look just bizarre!)

R8C Math- WWF Benefit Concert

Music To Soothe The Savage Beast project due
Monday, December 1.

Details and rubric outline in Math tab above.

English

"The Raven" Media Assignment

Here it is, as discussed in class: Assignment Outline

Due dates:

• EMF8B: Monday, December 1
• R8C: Tuesday, December 2

English

• Have you shared yours with me yet?
• Did you include an original image?
• Did you avoid YOLOs and clichés?

Details and rubric can be found in the purple English tab above.

R8C History

Based on our discussion in class today:
1. Who is this man?
2. What's his role in our government?
3. Who was the first in his position after Confederation?

Mental Health Support

We had a great discussion in class based on "The Raven". Mental health issues were a major part of that discussion.

Here are the two links I had mentioned in class.

Kids/Teens Help Phone


Youth Services Crisis Line

R8C History

The Assembly of Colonies

For the better part of the past two weeks we've been working on our upcoming reenactment of the Charlottetown and Quebec conferences. There might be less dancing and our gathering will definitely alcohol-free (unlike when the Fathers of Confederation got together), but other than that, we'll be doing our best to be as authentic as possible. Some major decisions are to be made...

Our Assembly is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, November 12. For further details, please check the History tab above.

"The Raven"

Leading up to Hallowe'en we spent some time analyzing Edgar Allan Poe's masterpiece, "The Raven".

We listened to Basil Hawthorne's brilliant reading of the poem, which you can find here:

Basil Rathbone's rendition of "The Raven"

For a musical interpretation, you could try this:

And for something different altogether, how about this one?

"The Raven" directed by Aaron Quinn

R8C Math - Rate and Ratio

So, you think you're fast at texting? (Though never in class!)

Try this sentence and time yourself:

The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.

The world record stands at 18.19 seconds for that sentence:

• What's your time? 
• What's your ratio of words per second? 
• How about words per hour?

"I Was There"

The summative assignment for our recount unit was introduced today. Please see the English tab for details.

The planners (graphic organizer) are due tomorrow.
A final due date has not been set yet.

A Sad Day

The terrible and shocking events of today reverberated in our school today. Word spread quickly amongst all students and staff, as you can imagine. The school went into a Shelter In Place mode, which essentially meant that students remained inside the school building and did not go out for recess or gym. For further details, please see the GMS blog.

We did discuss some of the events in class, though only briefly as details were only beginning to emerge. I am sure there will be more questions tomorrow and while we might address some of them in class, many of them might never go answered, unfortunately. The OCDSB did issue an alert with Communication Tips for Parents and Teachers, if you are interested.

R8C Math

Math test on square roots and Pythagorean Theorem on Monday.

Poems due Monday

"Where I'm From" poem due Monday, October 20.

See the English tab for details.

History: Capital City Assignment

R8C History

The Queen had her reasons for choosing Ottawa as our capital city. Now, let's take a closer look at other capital cities around the world.

Your Capital City assignment is due on Tuesday, October 14. We've already had lab time to work on this, so no more class time will be given for this assignment.  Check your email for details. Share your work with me; you do not need to print anything.

The rocking city of Ottawa, ca. 1859.
My house is on the far right. If you look closely,
you can see me shooting hoops in the driveway. 

"What Do I Remember Of The Evacuation?"

Here's a copy of Joy Kogawa's poem: What Do I Remember Of The Evacuation?

Joy Kogawa was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1986 and still lives in Vancouver, as well as in Toronto.

EMF8B - make sure to finish the Need-to-Know, Nice-to-Know organizer by tomorrow.

Source: cbc.ca

Source: http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca/

Top Right Paragraph

In class we recently read Antonio Skarmeta's short story "The Composition", which generated a lot of discussion on some of the following topics:

• living in a dictatorship vs living in Canada
• famous dictators
• juxtaposition in literature
• human rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

The following writing assignment was assigned:
Top Right Writing Assignment

Photos, Milk/Pizza and Toonies for Terry

Photo orders should be handed in ASAP! Due date to the office is October 1.

Milk and pizza order forms were handed out today and are also available on the GMS blog.

Please also bring in a $2 donation for Toonies for Terry.

Hope to see you there!

Letter of Reference Assignment

Your letters are due on Monday, September 22 (R8C and EMF8B).

A couple of reminders:

• letters can be handwritten in black or blue pen, or typed
• your letter must be double-spaced, whether it's typed or handwritten
• you can share your letter via Google Drive if you want, but you still need to print it!
• if you need to print at school, meet me in the lab at 8:00 a.m. 
• your graphic organizer needs to be handed in, too

For further details, see the purple English page at the top of this screen.

Photo Day Tomorrow!

Hope you called your stylist!

Mr. Gitter's grade 8 class

"Did You Know?" 2014

James Frey aka. ???

For EMF8B only!

Today we began to discuss the features of a recount. We'll continue that discussion tomorrow, but here's the question from the end of the class:

What is James Frey's pen name (or nom de plume - you are in FI, after all)?

School Supplies and Forms

Well, we've been back for a week now. By now all students should have the required school supplies.

Also, if you have not yet emailed me or returned the second page of the intro letter (see Recent Handouts sidebar on the right of this screen), please get in touch with me. Thank you.

See you on Tuesday