This week students will be uploading a few artifacts of learning to their blogfolios. These posts are intended to showcase projects and assignments that demonstrate growth.

In case students are having trouble creating their blog posts or changing their blogfolio layout, I have included a couple video tutorials.

Check out these useful blogging videos that Mrs. Thompson created:

Creating a Post

Writing a new post is quite easy! It is very similar to writing a page or even a document in Word of Google Docs. You can choose to write a new post in a few different spots throughout your dashboard; either way will bring you to the same place.

Inserting a Google Doc

Hyperlinking Docs

You are always able to hyperlink to a Google Doc, which will direct people to an external link where they will be able to see the document. Depending on the sharing settings, you can choose whether they can edit, view or comment. If you would like this document to be publicly accessed, it is also important to change the settings so that ‘anyone with the link’ can view the document, otherwise you’ll be getting lots of emails from parents requesting access.

1. Click Share in the top right-hand corner

2.  If you would like to share it with specific people, start typing their name or email address

3. Decide whether you would like them to be able to view, edit or comment.

4. If you would like to allow anyone with the link to have access to the document (best if you are linking on your blog so that parents can access the document without it being shared with them, click Change at the bottom of the Get link box.

5. Click the arrow for the drop-down menu next to The Ottawa Jewish Community School and select Anyone with the link. Remember to also select whether you would like those with the link to view, edit, or comment.

6. Copy the link URL to then add as a hyperlink within your document. You never want to paste a long URL to your blog.

Embedding a Google Slides Presentation

Just as with Google Docs, there are a few different ways to embed a Google Slides presentation, and the option you choose will depend on the purpose for sharing. 

If you would like to share a Google Slides presentation for people to view only, the best way to do so would be to publish the presentation to the web and obtain an embed code. 

Embedding Docs as PDF

If you would like to embed the actual document into your post, as is recommended, you will need to save it as a PDF so that it will show up as an image within your post.

Embedding a Video

When adding a video to your post, it is always best to embed the video so that visitors can watch the video directly in the post without having to navigate to a new page. However, it is still important to consider copyright laws when sharing videos that you did not create! Just because something is on YouTube doesn’t necessarily mean it is free to share (think about whole movies you can find on YouTube for free. You can always read the permissions, but chances are…these are not legally shared)

When in doubt, create your own videos or hyperlink to them on YouTube if they can’t be recreated. 

No matter where your video is from, you will want to use the embed code in order for it to properly show up in your post. 

YouTube

YouTube makes it very easy to find their embed codes to copy. 

Screencastify

If you have created a video in Screencastify, while the video is processing, a new tab will open on your computer. From there, it will give you the option to get an embed code. 

From Google Drive

If you accidentally closed the Screencastify tab, or you created the video in some other program (Screen Recorder or even a recording of your Google Meet session) these will all automatically be saved to your Google Drive. Once the video is in Drive, it’s just a few quick steps to embed it directly into the post. 

 

This week we spent time discussing the importance of humanitarian aid. Our class spent time with Etudes Sociales class in preparation for our upcoming collaborative project.

We had a meaningful discussion about the following questions:

• What is a global issue?
• How do Canada’s actions affect the global community?
• What relationships already exist between Canada and the global community?
• Why is international cooperation important when addressing global issues?

Students will be working together to research a humanitarian organization that Canada contributes to. Partners will prepare an oral and written presentation on an organization of your choice, with a poster/brochure that presents its logo and the relevant information relating to your organization.

Important Dates:

• Project assigned- Tuesday, November 8th
• Planner completed-Wednesday, November 16th
• Check-In with teacher
• Poster/brochure completed-Monday, November 21st 
• Presentations begin- Tuesday, November 22nd

 

Important Documents: 

International Organizations Project Instructions/Rubric

International Organization Group Planning Document

As we continue our discussion of Canadian identity, students spent time this week reviewing a map of Canada. It is essential that our students have an understanding of where each province and territory is located in the country in order to comprehend essential components of history. Students will study their map of Canada to ensure they can adequately identify the provinces, territories, and capital cities. We will have a quiz on this content on Thursday, November 3rd, 2022. They should spend time reviewing their map each night.

They may also use the following websites to quiz themselves:

• Canada: Provinces and Territories 
• Canada: Province Capitals – Map Quiz Game

Today our class will be discussing and analyzing a variety of resources related to the importance of Truth and Reconciliation. Students will listen to survivor testimonies and review the 94 Calls to Action that were created by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We will discuss the importance of both remembering and changing rather than simply forgiving and forgetting. Students will reflect upon our lessons by creating a blog post that demonstrates their own learning.

Click here to access our slideshow: Truth and Reconciliation Week

 

Last week we watched the film IMAX Over Canada. This documentary showcased the vast amount of nature and diversity that Canada has to offer. Diversity is defined by Merriam- Webster as the condition of being composed of different elements or qualities.

Students are being asked to use the observations they recorded as they watched the film to expand upon the question: What makes Canada a diverse nation? 

Check out these sentence starters to help you get started:

• • How are the provinces different from each other?
    • What natural features are present in certain provinces but not in others?
    • How is the climate different?
    • Explain the difference in economic opportunities
    • What languages are spoken?
    • Where are they located?
      • What are the major cities/landmarks?

The assignment directions and the example can be found here: Canada a Diverse Nation

This week we began our first unit in Grade 6 Social Studies. Our first unit will involve the analysis of differing Canadian identities. Students will explore the diverse cultures, landscapes, and symbols of the various provinces and territories. Furthermore, students will uncover the difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation.

The following slideshow will be used to access our daily notes and do nows:

Washerstein Grade 6 Social Studies Slideshow

This is a live document that will be updated regularly!

Dear Middle School Families,

Welcome to our 2020-2021 school year! Tonight is our ‘Virtual Back to School’ evening where you are invited to join each of your child’s teachers virtually (see Dr. Mitzmacher’s email with the schedule for the evening) and learn about the different programs. There will also be time for you to ask questions.

Below you will find the video presentation about each grade for Social Studies if you ever need to refer back to it or if you’re not able to join us this evening. Please reach out if you have any questions!

Grade 6 Social Studies

Grade 7 Social Studies

Grade 8 Social Studies

Kindly,

Mrs. B

Hi Everyone,

Introduction to Social Studies- Virtual Style! 

I hope you had a great weekend and are all ready for our virtual classroom experience! It’s going to be a learning curve for everyone (including myself!) for where to find information, login information, getting used to the new schedule, but we got this 🙂 It’s an exciting journey together and one that I’m really looking forward to. It’s a great opportunity for you to dive into particular topics you’re curious or passionate about that relate to Social Studies (more to come on this, but be excited).

All your teachers are available throughout the day if you have questions. You have Mrs. Cleveland as your homeroom each morning and this is a great space to ask questions (I am sure others have the same questions as you too) and you have your Grade 6 Advisor too. Reach out to us and we’re here to help you throughout this journey.

Today we have our first ‘independent work’ period for Social Studies. This is a period where the class topic and tasks are given, and then you can work through the material on your own. What should you expect? It may be an article to read, video to watch, or activity to try out at home. This could be followed up by a task to complete and submit. An example of a task that could be assigned is a photo scavenger hunt, reflection to complete via Flipgrid, or questions to answer and submit through Google Docs. Whatever it is, it’s always my goal to have the instructions as clear as possible for your independent work period.

Today’s Plan- Wednesday, March 18th

We’re picking up where we left off at school. We have started our new unit ‘Canada’s Interactions with the Global Community’ …or lack of right now 🙂 You each created fantastic inquiry questions about things your curious to learn more about through the unit, and I’ll incorporate them along the way. One of the first tasks we started on was learning our world geography, so when we’re talking about different countries and places, you have an image of the world map in your mind and know where they are. So far we have learned and labelled North America, Central America, and South America.

TASK 1 (Suggested time: 20 minutes)

For the first part of our Social Studies class today (20 minutes), you are asked to continue to learn the country names for our next two continents (Europe and Asia). Visit the website Seterra and click the ‘play online’. If you have a printer, you can also click ‘printables’ to print out the maps like we did in class and try labelling it with an online Atlas (I’ll find a good online Atlas to use and add it to our ‘resource’ section of this blog at the top of this page.

TASK 2 (Suggested time: 55 minutes)

At the beginning of the year we learned about what it means to be an informed citizen and why this is important. The ‘big idea’ that we took away from it is that it’s important for us to use reliable sources and know what is going on in the world (current events) since we are so connected with one another. Start to think about what makes a source reliable or unreliable? What are the ‘clues’ on each website you go to that shows whether it is reliable or not?

For today, you are asked to find a ‘current event’ news article (Google News, CBC News, Scholastic News, Time for Kids). Here’s the CATCH: It needs to be a POSITIVE news article that is happening WITHIN Canada. We know that news tends to be negative so let’s all find some positive news to share with one another.

STEP 1: Find and read an article from an above source.

STEP 2: In a Google Doc., complete the following:

a. What is happening in the article?

b. Who is involved?

c. Where is it taking place in Canada?

d. Why should Canadians care about the issue presented and be informed about it?

Share your Google Doc. with Mrs. B by Friday at 9:00am. Be ready to share your current event at our first virtual class on Friday!

Looking forward to ‘seeing’ everyone!