SRB Science Trip

What a great way to spend a Friday afternoon!

For the videos of your amazing hydraulics machines, please check out Google Classroom. I've posted all the videos there.

Parents, ask your child to log in for you to see the videos.

What Could We Do?

Here is the link to the CBC article we discussed in class today about the vandalism at the Parkdale United Church in Westboro.

So, what could we do to show our support?

Parkdale United Church Vandalized

Interview with Reverend Bailey

Source:http://www.ottawasun.com/2016/01/18/vandals-spray-paint-racial-slurs-at-parkdale-united-church

High School Registration

Keep bringing in those course selections for high school, whether it be for Sir Robert Borden, Bell, Woodroffe, or any other school.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Art

Here is the video on drawing one and two-point perspective:

English

Happy New Year! I hope everybody enjoyed a relaxing holiday break.

I'm happy to report that after some initial technical difficulties - we blew a fuse twice, knocking out power for much of the second floor at GMS- our end-of-year breakfast and Sundae extravaganza was a success. Thanks to everybody who sent in items.

For one of our upcoming assignments, we will be disecting newspapers. If you get a newspaper delivered to your home, I would greatly appreciate if you would send in your papers once you're done with them, whether it's the Ottawa Citizen, Globe&Mail, National Post, or the Ottawa Sun. Thank you!

EMF8B&C English

The "I Was There" creative writing assignment is due this Thursday, December 17; well, the first draft, at least.
    
For this assignment, we'll be taking a trip in the good ol' time machine, back to a historical event of the students' choice. Our goal is then to retell that past event as if you "were there", either as the event's main character, a (fictional) bystander, or even an inanimate object, such as the Berlin Wall, for example.

We've already completed our wikipedia-style intro, a selection of explosive openings which were judged by our peers, and are well into the writing process, including a graphic organizer to plan our work.

An outline of the assignment, along with the evaluation rubric, has been posted on Google Classroom. Several samples from previous years' students have also been made available in the classroom.

Source: http://worldsoccertalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/i-was-there.png

English

Our "Tell-Tale Heart" mock trials are almost over. We had some spectacular performances by the lawyers and a wide variety of witnesses.

Two assignments are coming up:

1.  Thursday, Dec. 3: A quiz based on the vocabulary of "The Tell-Tale Heart" and irregular plural forms.

2.  Friday, Dec. 4: Final revised copy of the "Where I'm From" poem.

TTH Trial

Our mock trial based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" is scheduled for Thursday and Friday of this week.

Each student was assigned a specific role along with a description and needs to prepare a statement for the trial. These statements need to be submitted on Wednesday!

Students who do not have their statements prepared will not be allowed to participate in our trial.

Source: https://farm1.staticflickr.com/129/383476178_8fe0f5e767_o_d.jpg

What We've Been Up To Since September

As mentioned, I will be using this blog again from here on in to keep you updated on some of our classroom assignments and events, but I thought I would take the time to let you know what we've been up to so far.

In terms of writing, we started out by writing a letter of reference about ourselves. This not only gave me a good idea of individual writing levels, but it also allowed me to learn a bit more about each new student. We applied for our dream job, which some of us took seriously, others not so much -- there were marine biologists and bed mattress testers...

Under the umbrella of recounts (texts that retell a past event), we've read several texts, but here are some of the highlights, along with key assignments:

• "Smoky Night" by Eve Bunting, a child's account based on the L.A. Riots. We used this text to identify text features of a recount and started our exploration of the theme of childhood innocence.

• "The Composition" by Antonio Skarmeta, based on a child's perspective of growing up under a military dictatorship. As part of this text we took a look at human rights in general and our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in particular. We also connected the story's events and themes to current events, including dictatorships, past and present.

• "What Do I Remember of the Evacuation", a poem by Canadian author Joy Kogawa about the interment of the Japanese-Canadians in BC during WWII. We extended this to the Holocaust and the current global refugee crisis.

• Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" was our Hallowe'en read. Aside from learning more about Poe himself, we explored the human condition as expressed in the narrator's emotional rollercoaster. We also took a closer look at the myriad of poetic devices Poe so craftily used in his famous poem. Oh yes, we also watched The Simspons' version of the poem. A highlight was "The Raven" media project which asked students to represent the poem in any media format of their choice. These project were then presented in a Gallery Walk, with each project acting as an exhibit. The results were amazing and I hope to share some of them on this blog. We had musical interpretations, comparisons to Harry Potter, "The Raven" as a series of mathematical equations, an interpretative dance performance, collages, short films, "The Raven" represented through famous paintings, etc., etc.

• Sticking with Poe, we read his classic short story "The Tell-Tale Heart". We studied some vocabulary and will now be examining the narrator's state of mind before staging a mock trial based on the story.

And that's pretty much where we are at the moment. 

Snowhawks Ski & Snowboard Club at GMS

I am passing along some information about the GMS...

...Snowhawks Ski & Snowboard Club

This year, Snowhawks Ski & Snowboard School is offering Greenbank Middle School students a four-Monday ski and snowboard program. The program will run the same evenings as the Snowhawks-Knoxdale program. The first outing is Monday, January 4, and the program then continues through January 25. Two trips each to Vorlage and Mt Cascades will provide plenty of variety. Participants are welcome to register for lift tickets and motor coach travel only, or may add on lessons and/or equipment rental as desired. Motor coaches will leave the school at dismissal, and return to school at 9:00 PM. Deadline for registration is Dec 3rd, although space may fill before the deadline. A PDF version of the info-sheet is attached to this message. There is a limited amount of funding to provide assistance to families who require financial assistance. Inquiries should be directed to Snowhawks.

To register please go to: https://snow-hawks.com/For any questions about the program, please contact Snowhawks directly at Ottawa@Snowhawks.com or 613-730-0701.

Ahhh, this brings back memories from ski club when I was in grade 8...

We didn't have snowboards back then, so we tried sliding down the Alps on ironing boards. Ahh, the good old days...

EMF7A Math

We are coming to an end of our mini unit on order of operations and there will be a brief quiz tomorrow. And no, it will not be a speed-walking scavenger hunt! Sorry;)

Source: http://image.mathcaptain.com/cms/images/101/order-of-operations1.png

Back in business!

Thankfully the labour unrest has been settled and I am now in a position to use this blog to provide updates on class assignments and events.

To begin with, you can subscribe to this blog by entering your email address in this box on the right side of this screen:

By subscribing you will receive an automatic email notification if anything new is posted on this blog.

Parent Interviews:

Even though progress reports will not have been issued yet, we are going ahead with parent-teacher interviews this week. Unfortunately, I am not available this Thursday evening due to a family commitment.

I am booking interviews for Wednesday evening and Friday morning instead. I apologize for the inconvenience, but will make every effort to set up a meeting time suitable to your schedule.

Having said that, I am teaching five classes this year. As a result, I will not be able to accommodate all requests and will need to prioritize. If a face-to-face interview is not possible, I am happy to conduct a phone interview at a different time instead.

Thank you,
Karsten Gitter

Blog Updates

Due to ETFO sanctions as part of the ongoing Work-to-Rule phase, effective September 21, 2015, I will not be updating this blog about classroom happenings.

I sincerely hope the current labour unrest can be resolved soon. 

James Frey AKA???

As discussed in class, there are some prizes to be won for the correct answer about James Frey, the author who got into a lot of trouble for being too inventive with his famous memoir.

You need to log into Google Classroom to find the question and answer it. Check your old email to see how to access your new email account and Google Classroom.

Welcome Back!

And we're off to the races!

Students, as discussed in class, this will be one of the ways for you to keep on top of  your work. We will be using Google Classroom a lot this year, so this blog will not be as detailed as in past years.

Parents, since you do not have access to Google Classroom, you can use this blog to find out what's going on in our classes.

Hope you enjoyed Day 1. See you tomorrow...

The End...

Congratulations on your grade 8 graduation!

Students, thank you for keeping me on my toes and for many memorable moments. For me personally, some of your work on "The Raven" sticks out in particular, as well as as the countless debates and arguments in class. "I ain't awoofin'!"

Parents, thank you for your support throughout the year. If your child was absent when report cards were handed out, the office will be mailing them.

Have a great summer and all the best in grade 9!

Source: http://libraries.ne.gov/walthill/files/2015/05/schools-out.jpg

Congratulations!

You made it!

Enjoy the summer, be safe, and read a good book, or two. How about another Agatha Christie? Here's a list of suggestions: Top Ten Agatha Christie Mysteries

Want to get ready for high school? Start off with Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, which many of you will be reading in grade 9 English? And after that, the long-awaited sequel Go Set A Watchman. Only took Harper Lee more than 50 years to write it... Coming to a store near you July 14.

Stock Market

Big day tomorrow! Are you ready?

Make sure to bring in everything you need for your office and get ready to make some money!

Trip Forms

There are two forms that some of you still haven't handed in:

1. The grad ceremony form indicating your plans for June 24.

2. The Haunted Walk/IMAX field trip permission form for June 22. This one's due this Friday, June 12 as we need to submit numbers to the museum.

R8C Math

SRB Math Olympics & BBQ trip coming up Tuesday, May 26. Trip forms need to be returned by Friday!

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