Week 4 of Distance Leanrning

                                    Weekly Message

     It's hard to believe that by the end of this week, we will have been learning from home for a month. I'm so impressed by the dedication that many of you have to stay on top of your learning. Learning from home is greatly impacted by your learning skills (those things we comment on, on the first page of the report card). If we were in our classroom I'd be pointing to the charts that live above the widows. When you set mini-goals for yourself and work to accomplish those goals you are building your skills in self-regulation, responsibility, initiative, and independent work. 
    Please set goals for what you think you can accomplish for English this week while you are learning from home. You can set your goals using the google form that is linked in the pink box on the weekly slide deck, on the Reading Class Discussion in Showbie, or by simply clicking the link here.

Remember that any work that you do can impact your final mark in June:-)

Here is the plan for this week in English:

Links to Weekly All Subject Slide Decks:

8D April 27th - May 1st 

78 April 27th - May 1st  (this will be linked on Sunday evening)

Links to Ongoing English Assignments:

Link to Passion Project Assignment

Link to Independent Reading Assignment

Link to Movie Genre Bingo Assignment

Week 3 of Distance Learning

Welcome to your third week of distance learning. I hope that you are all healthy and safe. Thanks to all those students who have been checking in with me throughout the last two weeks. It really puts my mind at ease when I get to see your wonderful faces and hear your voices. Enough of me getting mushy!  

Please be sure to fill out the goal setting form as it is a great tool to help you to take ownership of your learning. The Form can be found on the weekly slide deck, the Reading Class Discussion and here. 

Remember that all of the work you do can impact your final marks in June.

Here's the game plan for this week of distance learning with Ms. J:

Links to Weekly All Subject Slide Decks:
8D April 20th - 24th
78 April 20th - 24th

Links to Ongoing English Assignments:

Link to Passion Project Assignment

Link to Independent Reading Assignment

Link to Movie Genre Bingo Assignment

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I have been blown away by the creativity from my kiddos this week. It makes my heart happy to see students taking ownership of their learning. It's also been great to touch base with kids during my daily video chats. It always brightens my day when we get to chat. A big thank you to everyone who took part in this week's COVID-19 Meme challenge. Here are some of the beauties that made me smile:

Created by JJ

                                                  Created by Kaylee

Created by Claire & Kate

Created by Noah

Created by Noah

Created by Malcolm

Created by Kumaire

Created by Joy & Kumaire

Created by Kumaire

Crated by Sarah

Created by Sarah

Created by Kaylee

Created by Claire

Created by Ethan & Kaylee

Created by Shelby & Kaylee

Created by Sadie

Created by Alex E.  & Vienna

Week 2 of Distance Learning

So here's the game plan for English this week. I've included a link to full weekly slide decks at the bottom of this post.

It's hard to believe that we've been at home for a month now! It was great to connect with as many students as I did last week and I hope that I get to talk to more of you this week.   For those who completed the Space Vacation assignment last week, here are the answers to the crossword puzzle:

As we continue to navigate this new normal I encourage you to use this blog as a resource for the work that will be ongoing. Please use the links provided below.

Link to Passion Project Assignment

Link to Independent Reading Assignment

Link to Movie Genre Bingo Assignment

Link to full 8D weekly slide deck 

Link to full 78 weekly slide deck

First Week of Distance Learning with Ms. J

Welcome to week one of distance learning with Ms. J! I know things are strange and the world is a crazy place but let's make the best of it. Nothing we do is carved in stone so let's figure this out together. Thank you in advance for your patience as we adjust to this new way of learning.

Check out my weekly message here:

78 has this same plan.

Goal Setting

At the beginning of each week, I'm going to ask students to complete a Google Form where they set goals for what they hope to complete. We will start the following week by reflecting on our previous week's work and setting new goals.  Link to Goal Setting Form

Check out the links below for the complete week at a glance for both 8D and 78

8D's Complete Subject WAG

78's Complete Subject WAG

Movie Genre Bingo Assignment

     After chatting with a number of kids from both classes it was very clear that many were spending a lot of time watching movies and other shows. There are lots of literacy skills that kids can develop by watching movies with a critical eye. Movies, after all, are just another form of text! This will continue to be an option for students to work on throughout our time learning from home. All instructions and resources for this assignment can be found in a pink folder under Reading in Showbie. Looking forward to talking movies with kids. Stay tuned for some FlipGrid movie chats in the future! 

Passion Projects

     

     I'm so glad that we launched our Passion Projects prior to leaving for the March Break! Rest assured, we will continue with this assignment as we figure out this new way of learning from home!  
    Most students have completed the Brainstorming and Pitch. I will be conferencing with students and making adjustments for those who had initially pitched a collaborative project that involved community interactions. 

Stay tuned for lessons posted in Showbie about:
Asking Better Questions to Focus Research
Taking Better Jot Notes to Avoid Plagiarism
Engaging Ways to Communicate Learning

I will be expecting students to check in with me during my daily office hours as they move through each stage of the Passion Project. Students will receive regular invitations via email to join Google Meets I'm hosting.

Learning Goals and Student Outcomes

Character

• We are learning to make plans and set goals so that we can take responsibility for our own learning 
• We are learning to have perseverance and vision so that we can successfully finish our passion projects

Reading

• We are learning to show an understanding of a variety of informational texts 

Critical Thinking

• We are learning to be critical about the information we gather online so that make sure we share the best information we can

Writing

• We are learning  how to gather information to write for an intended audience
• We are learning how to organize the information we gather so that we can communicate our understanding of this information

Communication

• We are learning to choose the most effective tool or tools to communicate a message to an intended audience

Creativity 

• We are learning how to ask rich inquiry questions so that we can gain a deeper understanding of the topic we have chosen

Media Literacy

• We are learning to create a variety of media texts, using a variety of digital tools to improve our communication skills

Link to Complete Passion Project Action Plan

Click the link above for access to the complete action plan.

Link to Complete Assessment Rubric

Click the link above t view the complete rubric.