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May 10 - Students are doing some written practice today transforming sentences that are writting in a causal manner into more formal language appropriate for a business letter. This is homework if it isn't completed in class. Tomorrow we'll start writing simple business letters.

May 4 - Today we have moved on to filling in the address information for the heading and inside addresses of a business letter. Tomorrow there will be a short quiz what we've learned so far this week. While we were reading The Cay, Ms. Corr was able to find and order the 1974 TV movie of The Cay and it finally came in. During the last two blocks, all the grade sevens will watch it on the giant screen in the library. Peace.

May 3 - Yesterday I introduced the concept of the business letter. Students, memorize the mneumonic NALD NTBAL. (name, address, location, date)(name, title, business, address, location). Today I'll break down NALD NTBAL and show the students the proper way to write the addressing information. Then we'll spend some time analyzing the differences between exemplars of a satisfactory letter and an excellent one.

May 2 - We are beginning a new unit today on functional writing. Students will learn how to write a business letter, properly adressed and how to use formal, rather than casual language. By next week, we'll move on to learning how to create simple resumes, since all the students are now old enough to do some part-time work. There may be some homework during this unit, but I don't expect there will be very much. Also, I saved all the old blog posts to my archive on my wiki site, in case you need to see something from before.

Mar. 31 - Tomorrow is the vacation fair, everybody! If you're not finished our billboard by the end of school you've got homework! Over 80 mins I've got 7 classes coming through for the fair and about a dozen parents. Parents, if you would like to show up and shop, just send me an email and I'll email you the details.

Mar. 30 - Okay, I've caved. I'm moving back the sales day to Friday, and I'm going to consider an alternative delivery method for the short unit test. It will probably be a Google form that students will be able to do at their leisure over the spring break. I'll post an update on that tomorrow. Parents, our sales presentation will be in my classroom and Mr. K's classroom (114, 115, we are opening up the sliding wall) on Friday between 9:20 a.m. and 10:40 a.m. If you are interested in attending and acting as a "customer", I'd love to have you. Just send me an email and I'll book you in with the office and provide you with "money" when you arrive.

Mar. 29 - Work on the billboards is proceeding! The marking rubric for the written sales pitch is available, as well as the rubric for the billboard. Just click the link above.

Mar. 24 - I haven't had much to update this week as students have been working hard on writing their sales pitches. I've read some really interesting and funny work so far. Today will be the last class for writing time. Students who are not finished will need to use the homework room after school or the weekend to put the finishing touches on their work. On Monday. we will learn a few new concepts to apply to our sales billboards. I'm hoping that we can build our billboards on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We will have our sales presentations on Thursday. Friday will be a short test on the concepts we have learned to apply. For Monday, students should have a tri-fold board. Here's a link to what they look like. You can get them at Staples. Link Have a nice long weekend!

Mar. 22 - Update**--> Students here is the finished rubric for your written sales pitch. I've taken ideas from all three classes and cleaned it all up a little bit. Check it out so you know what to do and how to do well. Yesterday the class developed a rubric for their written sales pitch. We did it collaboratively by using a shared Google spreadsheet. It worked out quite well. Today we'll go over those rubrics, as students were still making changes from home, and then the writing can begin. Also, it's William Shatner's 80th birthday today!

Mar. 18 - This is the last class day for research. Some students have been doing some really interesting research. For example, several groups are using Google translate to be able to teach their customers important phrases like: Where is the toilet? Yes. No. How much? I suggested to the boy who is researching Mogadishu that he might also want to look up: "I surrender," and "which way to the Canadian embassy?" Truth be told, he's doing a remarkable job of finding the best in a rough place. That's been a really satisfying thing for me on this project as the students conduct their research. They're picking up a lot of things I didn't think about or expect. For example: many of the students have learned about currency conversion in order to be able to tell their customers how much cash to bring. In fact, a lot of kids didn't realize that other countries used different money. I had an interesting experience with a couple of kids looking for translations when they realized that "bathroom" would not be a very good word to try to translate because its a colloquialism. Toilet is much better. Another thing that a number of students have learned that I wasn't expecting them to is that many languages don't use our alphabet. This came as a shock to a student researching Beirut. Arabic looks a lot different from English when it's on paper. Actually it's quite an elegant language to look at. Anyhow, we'll be moving on to designing the plan and rubric for the written sales pitch on Monday. Have a great weekend everybody!

Mar. 15 - More research time today. Students will have a portion of each day's class for research until Thursday. Then we'll move on to organizing the information and planning the sales pitches. I will also have a short quiz tomorrow on using language and images to convince. Students, study the notes I gave you. The most recent version is posted as a PDF in the downloads section if you lost yours. Also today the students will spend some time choosing their favorite writing piece from the last several topics. One more round and then we move on to revision.

Mar. 14- It's pi day today. For those of you who don't know, I used to be among you. Then, you see, I married a math geek. I am now wise to the wonder of pi, as it is celebrated in all its infinitely numerical glory each year on this day. My wife likes to dress up as Piwoman, a superhero. There is pi pie. The number 3.1415~ is forced into situations it would not normally be found or compfortable. So, just letting you know.

Today students are beginning their research into the cities I assigned them. I had a couple of students look for pictures of Tehran. Turns out they did't know a revolution happened there in the 70's. Now they know. The big difference between the research the students are doing now and the research they did back in December, is that this research is a much more specific type. The students are looking for specific types of information to convince and sell, rather than just inform. So if they discover that a city happens to exist in a place that is say, floodprone, it will be there job to try and find out if that city has a good water skiing school or waterpark... Perhaps not exactly that, but you get the general idea. I'll soon post the work booklet in its current form for those students who have lost their handouts or were absent.

Mar. 10 - We're doing some skimming and research together as a class today on one city. Often times I think we just expect students to intuitively know how to conduct research, but it's more complex than that. The main idea today is to understand that good research is focussed and planned, and that you should use time effectively by skimming potential information sources. Parents, if you don't have a copy of [|Google Earth] on your computer at home. Please allow your child to download and install it. It's an amazing educational tool that is often quite spectacular. In fact, if you've never played with the program yourself, give it a go. It's just awesome. The reason I'd like students to have a copy of the program at home is that it will really be helpful for them in conducting their research. Also, it's parent teacher interview night. If you haven't made an appointment yet, don't bother now, we're booked solid until 9:30pm. That being said, if you still want to meet up, just email me and we can arrange a time next week.

Mar. 9 - Sorry no update yesterday; seems I forgot. We've started our first unit of Term 3. I'm calling it: The Hungry Travel Agent. Essentially, all the kids are taking the role of a travel agent. I've assigned each of them a city that they will have to develop a vacation package for, and then, sell that package after developing a sales a pitch and mini-billboard. We're going to hit numerous outcomes from the program of studies in this unit, but some of the big ones I'll be focussing on are:

1.1.1 - extend understanding of ideas and information by finding and exploring oral, print and other media texts on related topics and themes 2.2.2 - justify own point of view about oral, print and other media texts, using evidence from texts

2.2.11 - identify and explain the usefulness, effectiveness and limitations of various forms of oral, print and other media texts

2.3.6 - explain how sound and image work together to create effects in media texts

2.4.3 - create oral, print and other media texts that are unified by point of view, carefully developed plot and endings consistent with previous events

3.1.2 - use note-taking, outlining or representing to summarize important ideas and information in oral, print and other media texts

3.3.2 - produce oral, print and other media texts with well-developed and well-linked ideas and sections 3.4.1 - communicate ideas and information in a variety of oral, print and other media texts, such as reports, autobiographies, brochures and video presentations

3.4.2 - use appropriate visual, print and/or other media effectively to inform and engage the audience Anyhow, there are a bunch more outcomes, but if you want to see the whole unit plan for yourself, I'll put it up on my wiki sometime next week. I like doing that so you can see that I actually know what I'm doing. Lol. Anyhow. Yesterday I taught a lesson on how to use language for the art of convincing. Today we worked a bit on how to use images for the same reason. Tomorrow I'll do a short activity on how to skim texts and articles for important information. By Monday next week the kids should be able to start researching their cities, and by about Thursday they'll start a plan for their vacation package. The really fun (read: devious) part of this for me is that some kids will be developing vacation packages for cities like Acapulco, Cancun, Paris and New York. Other kids (the ones I know like a challenge) have gotten tougher cities. I gave one group Mogadishu. That's going to be an interesting vacation package. I hope it comes with an all-inclusive Humvee. Adios.

Mar. 7- Doing some test analysis with the grade 7's today. No homework. Tomorrow we start the first unit of term 3.

Mar. 6- 10:47pm - I'm done making comments. Please read them so that the last six hours of my life haven't been in vain. Though I've heard some good Big Sugar tunes I hadn't listened to in a long time, and my wife baked me a giant sympathy cookie. That was good. It's amazing how work cuts into my Star Trek: Online time. 6:27pm- I'm listening to The Tragically Hip. I think the relentlessly positive themes in the music may be affecting my commenting. Warning: The comments on your report cards may not share with your parents the full impact of any laziness or missed assingments you may have committed. 5:45pm Hey everybody. I'm doing report card comments, and in order to save them I must submit the grades. THE GRADE ON HOMELOGIC THAT YOU CURRENTLY HAVE MAY NOT BE THE GRADE ON YOUR REPORT CARD. PLEASE DISREGARD IT FOR NOW. I have some assignments to mark that were handed in late and I still have to input your term two exam marks.

Feb. 29-Sorry for the late update today, I've already had supper. Actually I had breakfast. Sometimes I like to have reverse supper. Pancakes and omlette!

Anyhoo, students wrote a quiz on conjunctions and clauses today. I'm happy with the results overall, kids. Tomorow I will have a short unit exam for all ELA classes. It will take you less than thiry minutes to write, or your money back. However, since nobody gave me any money, students will write for as long as it takes. Students, tomorrow during intervention block I will be conducting selective review on topics from term 1 and 2. If you've got questions, come and ask them. If your question is, "Mr. Ripkens, how many times have people asked you to leave and never return?" then please don't show up. Thursday will hold nothing for ELA, and the Term 2 final is on Friday morning. It will be multiple choice. No more than 90 questions, but not less than one. See the study guide link at the top of the page if you want to know what will be on the exam. Live long and prosper.

Feb. 28- It's going to be an interesting week, kids. Today- We finish up instruction and practice on conjunctions and clauses. If you need extra help with this, see me. Tuesday- I quiz (short) you on conjunctions and clauses for marks. The second half of class we will spend doing review of prepositions, homophones, and participles. Wednesday- Short unit test on all the stuff above. It should pretty much be old hat to you by now. We'll mark it in class. Thursday/Friday- Term 2 exams. So, easy week, eh? Remember that the link to the exam's study guide is at the top of my blog underneath (I just used a preposition) "What's New?"

Feb. 25- More refined work on conjunctions today. We're learning to identify and use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions properly. In the process we are learning about what makes a clause. I've also posted the [|Term 2 Exam Study Guide]. Keep and eye on this page for any changes.

Feb. 24- We're learning about [|conjunctions] today. The students are pretty familiar with the simple coordinating conjunctions, such as "and, but, and or." We'll be going a bit deeper over the next couple of days to learn about subordinate conjunctions and correlative conjunctions. This will be pretty new for them. However, thanks to Mr. Sutherland, I have a marvelous old nugget of instructional ingenuity that many of you parents out there will probably remember: Conjunction Junction

Feb. 23- Marked quiz today on homophones and participles... unless of course I haven't taught you yet today, and you happen to be checking this page. In that case... announced... for you.... Please don't tell the others!

Feb. 22- Good day, everyone! Welcome back to school from your long weekend. I'll be your teacher, Mr. Ripkens. I hope you're ready for an exciting week of learning about grammar! We'll be playing a participle review game in class in addition to our reading and writing today. Today's writing topics are: Remember that with any of these topics, students can write poetry or prose. Whatever comes to their mind. Tomorrow the students will have a chance to go back to the last five pieces they've written, choose their favorite, and expand upon it. They will then revise for grammar and punctuation. It will go into the good copy pile for a third look later. Just a reminder that the term 2 exam is at the end of next week. I'll let you know precisely when the ELA test will be, soon.
 * If I could travel to any time in the past...
 * My idea of a great T.V. show...
 * The death penalty is (right/wrong)...

Feb. 16- __Ode to Teachers' Convention__ We meet again, o meeting of meetings, For you come around every year. Between great sessions of eatings, I will deign to spare at least an ear. For my attentions will be privy, to many a thing, and all of the free stuff the text pedllers bring. For two days will go by, with narry a student in sight. To not burst into tears, Will take all of my might. Be it happiness or sadness, the cause I cannot say, but to convention I must go, to receive two days' pay. I will learn about learning, about this, about that. About brains and assessment, and DeBono's six hats. To the city I run, tonight I'll arive, if I should not find any fun, at least I'll have gone for a drive.

//Have a great long weekend, kids!//

Feb. 15 - More participle stuff today, but only about twenty minutes of it. We'll also be going over our Unit 1 review booklets. Today's writing topics: Parents, please sign and have your child return the permission forms for the career fair by tomorrow morning at the latest. Also, all classes, your marks are up to date in Homelogic, except for some of the project marks.
 * The best vacation ever.
 * Ideas for eliminating global poverty.
 * Write 12 steps to becoming a better person.

Feb. 14 - Is there something going on today? Some students gave me candy. What gives? We're continuing to learn about participles today. Because it's a new idea I don't mind if it takes us a few days. Today's writing topics to choose from are: I have all the models and sketches from the Dogsong projects marked. So far I'm really happy with what I've seen. I'll be marking the video interviews and written work soon. Well, whatever is going on today, I hope it doesn't stop. I like candy.
 * 1) The planet I come from is called...
 * 2) A true friend is...
 * 3) I am less than a, but more than a __. I...

Feb. 11 - Hey everybody! What's the difference between the following statements? That's the root of what we're learning today. The difference is that the first statement contains a participle before the noun (girl) whearas the second contains a simple adjective. A [|participle] is something we all use, though it's like that neighbor you've lived next to for a decade and you still don't know their name. A participle is a word that works on a noun but has the characteristics of both a verb and an adjective. So in the statements above, the second one just describes the a single physical aspect of the girl. The first describes in her by what she is doing. Most of the students seem to be enjoying the 15 minute speed writing project we've started. Today's topics are: Have a great weekend everybody! Well deserved.
 * The laughing girl
 * The tall girl
 * 1) If i owned my own private jet...
 * 2) make the best pets...
 * 3) Someday my children will...

Feb. 10 - More work with homophones today, but that will be it. Just want to expose the kids to a wider variety of common homophones, other than the standard: there, their, they're and to, too, and two. Here's and interesting website (for boring people like me). Homophone.com offers a long list of homophones that have been alphabetized. I've been using it to play a homophone game with the students. We'll play some more today. Remember students, to have your Unit 1 review pack finished for tomorrow so that we can go over it. Also, if you haven't already handed in your copy of Dogsong to the library, do so as soon as possible. Today I'm also starting a mini-project with the students. Each day they will get 15 minutes to write on one of three topics that I give to them. The point is to try and write as much as they can on the topic and fill up one page. Every five topics they write on, they will pick their favorite work and fix up any errors. Once they've written fifteen times, and have the three best picked out, from those three best they will choose their favorite. It will be refined and expanded upon, typed up on computer and handed in for marks.

Feb .9 - Did some work with homophones today. Congratulations to the Greasy Bacon Pants and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles teams for their victories in the homophone game.

Feb. 7 - We will be doing some sporadic review for the rest of this month. So far this year we've covered five units. All three classes are on track time wise. We will be doing a bit of review intermitently this month rather than a big rush before test time. Remember students, the second term exam will be cumulative. This means that there will be stuff from term 1 on the term 2 exam. Keep your review materials from this week to study from. We'll do one more unit before the term 2 exam, starting soon. Today students will have some time to read from their library books, and get a start on their Unit 1 review package. The review is homework. We'll go over it on Friday. It is not for marks.
 * 1) Conventions/Mechanics (Sentence structure, punctuation, verb tense, grammar, etc.)
 * 2) Story Telling (Story)
 * 3) Poetry (Poetry Booklet)
 * 4) Expository Writing (Research Reports)
 * 5) Novel Study (Dogsong)

Update - 7K, your marks are up too, except for the Dogsong project. To all students, and NHI is not a zero, but it counts in the system as one. Get in your missing work too get those marks up. Update - 7R marks are updated on HomeLogic, except for Dogsong projects which I have yet to mark. Feb. 3 - Students are writing their Dogsong exam today. We will mark them in class so that I can go over some of the more difficult questions with the students. I like watching it when they have 'a ha' moments on questions they didn't answer correctly. They usually get them right the next time they come across such questions. On this test, most of the questions range from knowledge level to application on Bloom's Taxonomy of the different types of thinking. I've put a picture below so you can see what that's all about. Lastly, I'll be working hard to get all the projects marked, commented, and input. By late this weekend, all marks in HomeLogic sould be up to date. Parents, please ask your child if he/she has handed in their report that was due at the beginning of January. I'm missing a lot of them, particularly from students in 7K. Have a nice weekend!

Feb. 2 - Reminder that tomorrow is the unit exam on Dogsong. Knowledge, comprehension and application level questions will be on the test. It will be at least 50 mulitple choice. Studying comprehension worksheets, vocabulary sheets and old quizzes will help to be well prepared.

Feb. 1 - I'm sitting at my desk as the students complete the smoking survey from the University of Alberta. They're taking it very seriously, which I appreciate. The University is conducting a study on behalf of Health Canada to find out more about the smoking habits of young people. They want to use the information to help develop new programs that the will be more effective in curbing the likelyhood of kids starting to smoke in the first place. It certainly doesn't seem to me that kids (at least middle school) are smoking like they used to. That's, of course, just my limited viewpoint. Today is the second last day for working on Dogsong projects. Things are starting to shape up. Once they're finished, I'll post some pictures of the students' work.

Jan. 31st - Students are continuing to work on their Dogsong projects. I'm really pleased with the way many of them are shaping up. There are some excellent models of the dogsled, and some of the the sketches are starting to look very lifelike. I've been trying to emphasize the importance of revision since December, and this project is no exception. Students produce much better work when they're not afraid to be constructively critical of their own products. In other news my son, Darwin, turned four on Saturday. He was very excited by all the Spiderman stuff he received. I now know each night when he's finally fallen asleep, because his large Spiderman action figure stops making comments about webslinging and capturing bad guys. So far, the webslinging action that fires a plastic web across the room has yet to cause any injuries, however, if I need to take a day off to see the optometrist you'll know why.

January 28th - Worked on our projects today. Lots of students have chosen to build models or do interviews. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the book report was not a popular option, eh? Oh well. Lots of kids are doing sketches of a character too, which I think is totally cool. I like integrating art into LA. Also, I've moved the dates up on the exam and the project. I forgot that next week has a Family Friday. Students don't have to work on their projects for homework over the weekend, though I know a few brought them home anyway. Have a great weekend!

January 27th - I should be back to updating this page on a daily basis starting next week, keeping you all up to date about what's going on in language arts. My combination of redesign and non-focus have led to a startling lack of wit and insight on the internet recently, and I vow to correct it as soon as possible. I hope you like the new layout! In class we've completed reading our novel. Students were given a project choice today. They've only to complete one project, but I've tried to offer choices that would give each student something they would enjoy and benefit from. The main objectives here are appreciation of the novel, comprehension, and adaptation of literature into new forms. You can see the projects here on my wiki. Timeframe for completion: Wednesday or Thursday next week. Also, parents who check Homelogic, there are no marks in for ELA for term 2. If you go into HL, it will be blank. I have recorded marks for several assessments so far this term, however I have not input them into the system. I have not set up a marks weighting scale yet for term two. Things should be input and weighted by February 6th or 7th, once we're finished this unit and the students have written their unit test. I'm sorry if this causes problems for you, but I want to make sure that the students' marks are accurate. I've had cases before where I input the marks before weighting which caused some confusion, and I don't want to repeat that, for the sake of the students.

__Tuesday Jan. 11 - HOMEWORK STATUS: Chapter 3 Comprehension Quesionts DUE: Wednesday to be reviewed in class.__ Novel study contiues. We have reviewed the concept of conflict as it pertains to Dogsong. Students have also learned about motif, and some of the motifs in this novel. Remember kids, a motif is an idea that reappears frequently in a story, and it's designed to evoke an emotional response or connection with the personal experiencing the story. There will be a quiz on chapters 1-4 on Friday, January 14th. It will be mulitple choice. Also, for those of you who check this page frequently... You may notice some differences that appear and go away quickly. I'm going to be experimenting with the full set of tools I'm given for this pae, and am going to try to maximize what I can do with it as part of a larger project. __Friday Jan. 7 - HOMEWORK STATUS: Overdue reports should be handed in ASAP.__ Sorry for the late update today. We read chapter 2 of Dogsong and worked on the comprehension questions. I am taking this set of questions in to mark. Students have class time, so the questions are not homework. __Wednesday Jan. 5 - HOMEWORK STATUS: None__ Blast! I updated this page with a big long post on Monday, and now that I look, it seems I forgot to save it. Oh well, so what if I lost ten minutes of my life that I'll never get back. I lost a thousand times that watching ads during reruns of Star Trek. Kids, if you haven't handed in your report yet, please get it in. I want them all in so that I mark them on the weekend. We're doing a novel study this month. Dogsong is the name of the novel. It's by Gary Paulson, the author of the well-known young adult novel: Hatchet. This unit is going to be a lot less digital than the last, in which we spend about a month using laptops to conduct research and write reports. Each chapter of Dogsong will come with a set of comprehension questions. We will be doing most, if not all, of the reading from the book in class, so students probably won't need to do any reading at home for this novel. For most chapters, students will also get some type of application-level assignment, called: Reading Responses, where they take what they've learned from the novel apply that knowledge to create a product. Some examples of this will be: Paragraphs, illustrations, a timeline, a satire, a plot summary, and vocabulary work. I expect the unit to last through the end of January, and February should see the start of something new. I'll be developing a set of pages on my Wiki site to support the class materials. That all being said, happy new year to all of you. This decade should be an interesting one for planet Earth. Hopefully a good one, too. __Wednesday Dev. 15 - HOMEWORK STATUS: REVISED, READ BELOW__ 8:23pm - It was a snow day today. I'm starting at the clock. I'm staring out the windows. It's snowing. On the transportation website, it says the busses are running... right now. That could change. I'm not a betting man, so I can't make any judgements as to "weather" their will be school tomorrow. (Ah, puns, how I adore thee.) However, with a day of school now missed, and Friday after a sockhop, I'm going to make a declaration about due dates for the research project. All mind map plans must be in to me by Friday morning. The due date for the research report will be the first day back from school: January 3rd, 2011. Kids, I'm cutting you a break here because I don't want you to feel too stressed. I know you've got other assignments. Merry Christmas. __Monday Dec. 13 - HOMEWORK STATUS:__ __See__ Research Report Completion Calendar 1:00pm - Into the last week of the research project now. I've dumped the presentation part, as things are moving more slowly than I expected. We can do presentations a couple of other times during the year. For now, kids, you really need to know that the most important thing is to hand in your completed mind map plan asap. Then your report is due on Friday. See step 5 for info on the report. Also, T minus 4.5 days until Christmas holidays. Let me be the first to say: //Sometimes my dog likes to whip up some shake n' bake and dance upon an elevated toadstool.// Now, I know that has nothing to do with Christmas, but I just wanted to be the first person in history to say that sentence. No one has ever said that before. I am the first. One more thing, too. I need to file a complaint, kids. This morning I was in Mr. Sutherland's classroom, and noticed something. The gifts were beginning to pour in. Upon arrival of my classroom, nothing. I am dissapointed. But for the record, I love presents. __Thursday Dec. 9 - HOMEWORK STATUS:See Research Report Completion Calendar__ 2:45pm - Alright, research project continues. Students, if you're not done your research yet, you must finish it over the weekend and try to be finished the mind map from step 4 as well. __Monday Dec. 6 - HOMEWORK STATUS: See__ Research Report Completion Calendar 11:47pm - It may be late, but I'm still updating today. I spent the whole day working with Miss Hugh on the Christmas Concert. I have to say that I think the kids are doing a great job. The actors are putting in lots of effort, and the songs are really well done. The concert will also clock in at around forty minutes, which is a really nice running time. I wasn't in the classroom today, nor will I be on Tuesday, as I'm continuing to work on the production. Please keep up with wiki for the latest information on the research project. Kids, you ought to be on Step 3. I'll post Step 4 as soon as I can get around to it. I had to go and get excercise tonight so that I can maintain the amazing shape that I'm in. I wouldn't want to lose my "most handsome teacher at NHS" crown to Mr. Kowaliuk on account of my becoming excessively portly. Always remember the important things in life. #1: Vanity. __Friday Dec. 3 - HOMEWORK STATUS: See__ Research Report Completion Calendar Most students should be finished or nearly finished their topic mind maps. Parents, please see the Research Report Project Home to see where we're at and what we're working on. The wiki site continues to be updated.

__Wednesday Dec. 1 - HOMEWORK STATUS: Fact vs. Opinion Booklet NOW DUE__ Man. In the old days before proper nutrition and sanitation, being sick for a month would just kill a guy. Now, we have to suffer only to get sick again. Progress? Hmmm. Anyhow, I'm back at school. We're going to do a bit more groundwork for our research project today, having a look at mind maps. Seems lots of the kids don't know how a mind map is different from a simple web. Feel free to check out these examples: Rules of Mind Mapping A Simple Mind Map A Thorough Mind Map Before writing their report, students will create a thorough mind map to plan it out. Also, if any of you parents out there are going to the Yuk Yuk's comedy show in Bonnyville on Firday night, you are lucky! You're going to get to see me and my band, the 3 Chord Kings, rock up the dance floor after the laughs are over. Though, people who know the band will know that the laughs won't actually begin until we take the stage. Take that as you will. __Tuesday Nov. 30th - HOMEWORK STATUS: Fact vs. Opinion Booklet DUE Wednesday__ 8:15am - I'm at home today. Mr. Halldorsen will be subbing for me, and I'll be working from here. Today students are going to be doing some pre-research preparation. I've created a Fact vs. Opinion booklet for the students. This shouldn't be anything new for them, as FvO is a big part of grade six social studies. All the same, a review is important. Each student has to identify the difference between a number of statements, and then I've provided them each with an article from today's Edmonton Journal. It has plenty of both types of information in it, and the kids must sort it out. In a day and age where "infotainment" is becoming the norm, and highly opinionated talk shows attached to twenty-four hour news networks are becoming prime programming, //my opinion// is that it's very important that kids be able to recognize the difference between truth and fiction. It's also called for by the curriculum. By the same token, an opinion is a valuable thing and shouldn't be demonized, but students need to learn that opinions that are worth something are those that are supported by facts, not independant from them.

__Monday Nov. 29th - HOMEWORK STATUS: None__ 2:30pm - 7E is reading right now. When dealing with and teaching 7th graders, I often try to think back about what grade seven was like for me and my friends. The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that the kids I teach at least seem to me to be much better behaved and more mature than we were. For all the griping people often do about the young, saying their lazy and don't care, I've got to say that for the most part I don't find that with my grade sevens. The kids are alright, man. It's either that, or I was a much bigger pain in the rear in school than I remember. Maybe both. Probably both. Both. 10:00am - I brought in some decent tea. Can't stand Orange Pekoe. Gotta have tea, Early Grey, hot. If the tea in my cup isn't fit for a starship captain, it isn't fit for my consumption. So I guess we're finishing the revision of the short story I wrote for the kids to fix up. I underestimated how much time it would take. This morning with 7R I thought we'd be all marked and finished in 15 minutes. It took the whole class. My bad. Change of plans for LA in Decemeber. I was going to run a novel study, but with Christmas concert and all the other stuff going on, I felt like maybe it was a bad time. If we'd have had last week it would have been a go, but no problem, we'll do it later in the year. In the meantime, we're going to do a research project. This is a very flexible assignment that's very self-directed. That way with all the stuff going on, the kids can work at their own pace. This project is going to be done in concert with my new wiki site, which I'm pleased to say is under construction. I'll work on it some more tonight, and hopefully by the end of the week, the entire project is up there. Right now you can find my completed unit plan for the research project, for those of you that are interested in seeing how your child's LA work fits with the curriculum. It totally makes it look like I know what I'm doing! :P Check it out @|here. I've also added a permanant link at the top of this page. __Thursday Nov. 25 - HOMEWORK STATUS: None__ My favorite cast member from Saturday Night Live, pretty much of all time, has got to be the late Phil Hartman. The man was a comic genius. There's this old skit from the mid nineties before he left to work on the show Newsradio where Phil plays an over-the-top acting coach in a small studio. It's one of the funniest bits SNL ever had I think. Anyhow, there's this part where he starts to hassle his actors by making a big face and saying, "This is something," then letting it go and saying, "this is nothing." Then he'd repeat it over and over again and all the actors would pretend to know what the heck he was talking about just to stay in his good graces. I'm willing to bet some of you parents out there might remember it. It was sad because I started doing that today during the Christmas play rehearsal... and not one person got it. I was so terribly dissapointed. As for language arts, we are going to mark the capitlization sheet we started yesterday. I'm recording each student's score, but you won't see it on Homelogic. I'm taking them just to see if any red flags come up, so that I know which students are ready to move on and which will need some more help. In the education world we call this assessment for learning. Essentially, the assessment I'm collecting is to help me make more effective decisions about my instruction in the near future. Why move on to semi-colons if the kids don't know how to use periods effectively? Know what I mean? After we're done marking, I've written a short story to help the kids understand and practice the process of revision... There are no periods or capital letters in the story. It's about a page long, and as a result of the intentional errors, it's darn near incomprehensible. The kids' mission will be to break it and make it effective through the process of revision. In other words, analyze it and add periods and capitalization where necessary. Also, I'm saving some trees. The kids will do the whole assignment on laptops, so that they can make changes directly to the story. Once they're done, it's simply a matter of saving it in their network space where I can mark it. I love computers. This is something, this is nothing. __Wednesday Nov. 24 - HOMEWORK STATUS: None__ 9:30am - So last week when I was feelng really sick at work, I was strolling through the office in an apparent attempt to infect others. (OMGZOMBIES!!!!) Mr. Whaley passes by me and, as most have been doing lately, recoils violently. After collecting himself, however, he suggested to me that I might try drinking some tea to restore some of my speaking ability. Now first, let me say this: Mr. Whaley now has the distinction of being the first person ever to attempt to get me to talk more and not less. For this, I am honored. (In high school, my nickname was "Shut Up Ripkens," no joke.) Anyhow, the point of this is simplay than now, I can't stop drinking tea. I've been drinking it constantly. At first I politely declined his suggestion, as I'm not really much of a hot drink consumer. However, now I think I'm going to start bringing my own teas to work. I'm going to get special mugs for each day of the week or different flavors. I'm going to put different colors of food coloring into my teas and see what sorts of... nevermind. Point is, I'm converted, and in fact, it does help to keep my currently raspy voice at least marginally functional. The kids appreciate this because I don't use the nice British lady voice sythesizer nearly as much. However, I digress. Reteach/relearn continues this week. It occured to me that at the beginning of the year, capitalization was not a part of my review. Now, the kids have done this stuff before, but perhaps it's time for a refresher. We're goign to go through rules of capitalization and then revise some sentences that are improperly capitalized. Kids, I know you think this is boring, but you brought it on yourselves! My big theme right now that we will be carrying forward through the year is "revision." Students, I want you to learn to see the value of revision. I gave every class a big story about the automobile, and how it's progressed throughout decades to the incredible machines that we have now. The moral of the story? If you don't think revision is important, then go find a Model T and start cranking. __Tuesday Nov. 23 - HOMEWORK STATUS: None__ 8:45am - I'll post on the site in a little while once the final marks numbers have been crunched. Should be by 11:00am. I just need to add in a few items for students who needed extra time. Today we are continuing to do some re-learning of concepts we covered this year. I thought yesterday that I'd be able to do it all in a day or two, but I think now that it's going to take all week. I know that all you kids are happy about that! Not. I want to start a novel study soon that will run us until Christmas, which really isn't that far off. Also, preparations for the Christmas concert play are rushed but proceeding well. Great cast of young people should bring the house down. __Monday Nov. 22 - HOMEWORK STATUS: NONE__ 9:00am - Tired? I am, but I live. Today we are going to go back and relearn some concepts that I identified as weak spots for the kids. We'll be looking at verb tense, using quotation marks, capitalization of names and places, and the devil that is run-on sentences. Parents, your child's HomeLogic mark will be complete tommorow morning and will be the mark on the report card. If you have any questions, feel free to email me. On each report card I've made a brief comment summarizing what we've been working on, your child's academic needs, their work habits, and their behavior in my class. I encourage you to book your parent-teacher interview as early as possible if you'd like to meet and discuss in more detail. Otherwise, you know you can email me. There are a lot of you that I haven't had the chance to meet or talk to yet, and would like to. Have a great day, everybody! __Sunday Nov. 21__ 11:17pm - So. Much. Marking. I'm going to be tired in the morning, kids. If everyone brings a good book and no one tells Mr. Whaley that I'm napping under my desk, I think we'll get through the day without incident.

__Wednesday Nov. 17 - HOMEWORK STATUS: Students should finish up unfinished work. Cut-off for late story hand-ins is Wednesday. Thursday morning is cut-off for poetry books.__ 9:40am - Most students received a copy of the above study guide for the exam tomorrow. However, if they were absent they may have missed it. I've linked to it so that you can quickly download a copy. ELA review in my room during Intervention today. 9:15am - Today is a flex day for students in grade seven. Students can work on getting unfinished assignments in to me before the report card cut-offs mentioned above. If finished everything, students can use their class time today to study for the ELA Term Final on Thursday afternoon.
 * IMPORTANT--> ** [|TERM 1 STUDY GUIDE]

__Tuesday Nov. 16 - HOMEWORK STATUS: Students should finish up unfinished work. Cut-off for late story hand-ins is Wednesday. Thursday morning is cut-off for poetry books.__ 10:27am - I am so sick. Yet, I have so much to do. Parents, Homelogic should be up to date and balanced by Saturday, so if you want to see your child's mark, that would be the time. Right now I've got marks tat aren't input, and a bunch of marking left to do, not to mention term test marks that will come in late Friday. While I'm on the subject, Term Final for LA is Thursday afternoon. 1-3pm. It will cover our three units so far. Students should bring home a study guide sheet tonight. I'll have it printed off soon. Basically, kids, you can study from all the instructional handouts nd worksheets you've gotten this year. There will be three parts to the test: Part A: Grammar (about 30 questions) Part B: Storytelling (about 25 questions) Part C: Poetry (about 15 questions) Total is 70 multiple choice questions. It's worth about 30% of your term grade, so study hard. __Wednesday Nov. 10 - HOMEWORK STATUS: Students should spend one or two hours during the long weekend to work on their poetry e-booklets.__ 11:50am- Just want to say, "Great Job," to the NHS band with O Canada. 10:00am-Remembrance Day ceremony today. Students will continue to work on their poetry e-booklets. Kids, take them home and work on them over the weekend. I'll give you time to finish them up on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday next week are review days. Also, if you haven't handed in your story yet, get it to me ASAP so that I can mark it over the long weekend. __Monday Nov. 8 - HOMEWORK STATUS: Students who ahve not handed in their complete stories should finish them on their own time and hand them in as soon as possible.__ OMG WHAT'S UP? I feel like it's been forever! Oh yeah, it has. My bad, I've been totally slacking lately with updating the site. Truth is, I've been marking my brains out as students handed in their story plans last week. What I thought would take me about two or three minutes per student to mark actually ended up taking me about ten minutes each. Now on to the stories themselves... I estimate an average marking time of twenty minutes per student. For three classess, that's just under twenty-four hours of marking. I found it entertaining when a few of my students approached me to ask for their marked stories after only a two day weekend. HAHA!! That being said, my goal is to have all the stories marked and return by the end of Wednesday. It's a lofty goal, but I think I can do it with enough caffeine. So the rest of November will look something like this... This week, short unit on poetry. Monday next week, flex day. Tuesday and Wednesday next week, review. Thursday and Friday next week, term exams. Report cards come out shortly thereafter. After term exams, we'll be starting a novel study that will carry us through to christmas. For now, students have downloaded a copy of their poetry workbook. Basically, it will cover some of the common concepts found in poetry. Students will then be exposed to about a dozen different types of simple and mid-level poems, and be asked to write their own. This is an activity in which the students are working with a group to support eachother. Kids, make sure that before you bring me your life and death questions, you've made a point of having a discussion with your peers. This is about your learning, not my teaching. Here's a [|link] to the poetry booklet which is in the grade 7 LA downloads page. Remember, you don't have to print it, just fill it out in the word document, save it with your name appended to the title, and eventually you will only print out the original works that you've added through the miracle of cut and paste.

__Tuesday Nov. 2 - HOMEWORK STATUS: Students may choose to work on their stories at home.__ I'm feeling a certain degree of pride right now. Almost all of my students have handed in their story plans, and kids, you are doing a great job of developing the relationship between characters, conflict, and the plot of your story. Yesterday we started working on our stories. We are continuing to work on them today. I broke out the laptops from the library, so we are working on those. Students should have their story more or less fleshed out by the end of class tomorrow. That way we can spend Thursday doing revisions, and then hadn them in Friday morning. If we can be done by then, I'm considering rewarding all the students' hard work with a good film on Friday. I'll even bring popcorn and some pop. Later today, I'm going to post the final submission guidelines for the story, as well as the rubric. __Thursday Oct. 27 - HOMEWORK STATUS: Most students will be bringing home their story planner. They should spend time working on it. It will be graded according to a rubric which all students have received. Due Friday by the end of the school day.__ Seems I forgot to update the blog yesterday. Sorry about that. Students are planning their stories today using a graphic organizer which I have posted in the downloads section of the school site. I have also posted the rubric by which students will be graded. They have all received one so that they know what is expected of them. In fact, yesterday, they helped me develop it. :) Also, if you are a regular reader of this page (once a week or more), would you quickly send me an email through the website. You don't have to write anything, just put "reader" in the subject line of the email. I'm trying to get a sense of how effective this website is. Thanks. __Tuesday Oct. 26 - HOMEWORK STATUS: None (today's assignment should be completed in-class, though the occasional student may need extra time at home. Parents, please check with your child.)__ Happy last week of October, everybody. Break out your parkas and Sorel's, pull out the dogsled, feed the dogs that pull the sled, and prepare to be reprimanded for facewashes... winter is here. Yesterday morning my three year old son woke me up to a chant of, "Daddy, daddy, it's Christmas!" My five year old daughter, who is very matter-of-fact like her mother, informed him that it wasn't Christmas. She knew this because Halloween hadn't yet happened. She basically told him that the Christmas present train would be rolling out from the station immediately after the Halloween candy train unloads its passengers. I think I'm going to have to get them a game for the Wii so I don't have a revolution on my hands. Today, students are reading a story called: Moon Maiden. It's a fantasy tail about a Japanese-Canadian girl in the future who has strange hallucinations on the moon after traveling their to go to school. She has experiences their that force her to question her own reality and understanding of the world. Once the students have read the story, they will be given a plot analysis chart. Last week, we worked on analyzing plot as a class. With this assignment, which I will be marking, the students will have the opportunity to discuss the story with a small group of up to three others, and then complete the analysis chart. At this point, I'm not sure if I want to do another one, perhaps with a video, tomorrow. We'll see how things go today. Kids, if you lose your plot chart, or parents, if you'd like to see what your kids are doing, I've posted the plot graphic organizer in the downloads section. (See the Downloads button at the top of the page.) Just a reminder to everyone that you should not come to school in costume on Friday, but rather bring it with you and change into it at lunch. As I will be away at an imnportant ATA function, the ever-popular Mr. Ndovi, a friend of mine and a favorite of the students, will be subbing for me. One other note: I was plugging marks into Homelogic over the weekend. They are still not all in, for which I apologize. It was not for lack of trying, but I was experiencing some technical difficulties. I was able to maintain my compsure, however, and my computer remains mostly intact. __Friday Oct. 22 - HOMEWORK STATUS: None__ 1:00pm - Today's big thing is the reader's theatre version of The Legend of Slappy Hooper. We're going to read it and then form up into three large groups. Each group will then analzye the plot of the story for presentation to the rest of the class. We'll compare the three plot lines and see if we can reach some agreement about the plot of the story. Remember, no school for students on Monday. We teacher's have Institute Day, which is like a day of school for teachers. On Tuesday when we get back, we'll do some more group work analyzing the plots of a couple other stories in the form of flashback and in media res. Hopefully by Wednseday, students will be conducting their own plot analysis and Thursday and Friday can be spent planning the plot, conflict, and characters for their story. The Storytelling unit is going to run about a week longer than I had hoped, so students, be prepared to have more frequent homework during the couple of weeks we spend on Poetry unit, as we'll have to have it done before report cards in mid-November. It will probably include a book of poetry project for you to work on over the long weekend. That being said, it won't be an unreasonable amount, as I like to try and keep your weekends free. __Thursday Oct. 21 - HOMEWORK STATUS:None__ I'm happy, and the students are happy to been done with conflict for the time being. As you can tell, there was no conflict of interest. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Nevermind. Time to move on to understanding plot and elements of plot. We're going to be looking at and using a modified Freytag pyramid to understand how plot events shape up stories. The modified Freytag pyramid looks like this: Will analyze the plot of a couple different things, then by mid next week we should be planning our own stories, highlighting the relationship that exists between character, plot and conflict. __Tuesday Oct. 19th - HOMEWORK STATUS: Students who did not complete the Frankenstein or Buffy the Vampire Slayer conflict analysis sheets must have them finished for hand in Wednesday morning.__ 10:04am - Students, here's the link to the Buffy comic if you need to see it for your homework. [|Buffy Comic] 9:00am - So, if you like comic books, turns out there are plenty available for free and legal download on the internet. I found some Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics on the BBC's website, of all places. All I did was Google "downloadable comic books" and voila. Students, I'm sure you'll be happy to know that after today we will be moving on from conflict analysis, provided the lot of us do well on the assignment. The only other time you'll see these sheets in the near future is for planning the conflict in your own story. Also, I figure that stories about mosters are more or less in tune with the time of year. On a side note, I made the most amazing catch at dodgeball last night. For those of you who don't know, Monday night is a ritual for many local teachers. The game is dodgeball, the stakes are life and death. The results are semi-painful. I digress. The catch. So an opposing player launched an absolute bullet at me, and it hit me square in the chest. Now, that being said, and opposing player needn't throw particularly hard to hit me, as my speed setting tends to rest somewhere between lathargic and rigor-mortis. However, the ball popped off my chest, up and out towards the center line. I jumped back onto my feet, ran for the ball, and made a diving catch. I'm just glad my wife was there to see me conduct my semi-annual athletic moment of note. I'm now ready to command an army. __Monday Oct. 18th - HOMEWORK STATUS: Frankenstein conlfict analysis sheet due Wednesday A.M.__ 9:08am - Hmm, as I look here, it seems that I forgot to save my post on Friday after I wrote it. Well done, me. For a good chunk of last week, students analyzed conflict as a class from two different stories. Today and tomorrow, they will do it on their own. The first thing we're going to analyze is an adaptation of Mary Shelley's: Frankenstein. I figure it's getting pretty close to Halloween, so why not, eh? Tomorrow, students will do an analysis of a comic book. Once they're done both, they can turn in the one the think they did the best on, and I will mark it instead of the other. For today, students will have the option of reading Frankenstein on their own or as a part of a reading group. Also, anyone else feel like the weekend was really short? **MAJOR BUMMER ALERT** - I'm away at a meeting during the Halloween festivites at IRS on the 29th. Total bummer, dude. Guess I'll have to dress up on Monday. __Thursday Oct. 14th - HOMEWORK STATUS: NONE__ So between the long weekend and my being away from school, it feels like ages since I've updated this page. Hopefull you're all still following what I'm putting up here. I had a great long weekend with family, sadly though, I had little time for global conquest between turkey eating and quading down the Ironhorse Trail. Interesting sidebar: I was one of the last people to ride a train along the railroad that used to run through the Lakeland. My first job out of high school was to help the two person engineer/maintainence crew keep the track in good enough shape to be used before it was closed down. It was a great job. As for my absence from school for the last couple of days, I had the honor of being selected as a part of a division cohort that travelled to Olds to take part in a face to face meetup for the Personal Learning Project. The project, as I understand it, aims to reform education in a manner that allows learners to take full advantage of modern communication technology and web 2.0 applications in order to build better learners. The fundamental concept revolves around a learning theory called Connectivism. Will Richardson, who is spearheading the movement and PLP project, is ardent that where many of us grew up in a world where we had several teachers, kids now potentially have billions of teachers. He thinks that kids should be able to take advantage of that, and that teachers need to be the facilitators of a new kind of learning. I'm very excited about it, and though it's going to be a lot of wokr, I hope to become a better teacher out of it, and have my fellow teachers benefit from my learning. In class we are continuing to study conflict. On Tuesday, the students analyzed an old episode of the Transformers begin to understand how and why conflict occurs, and how opposing motivations cause conflict. Ultimately, students will understand that conflict between characters is what drives plot. Today, I'll be reading a story about a conservative Chinese mother who seeminly does not approve of her daughter. The students will analyze the conflict between the new characters. I'll soon provide links to my new blog on the PLP project, so that you can follow me if you are interested. __Wednesday Oct. 6th - HOMEWORK STATUS: Students who do not complete the "Identifying Conflict" handout from today will need to finish it for homework. It is being taken for a mark. UPDATE: THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO 7E __ 9:55am - All classes are wrting the quiz on identifying character traits today. After that, we wil be moving on to a handout on identifying the different types on conflict based off a plot synopsis. On Monday and Tuesday, we will look at conflict in a 30 minute video and a story that I will read aloud. Students will use a conflict map to understand several different aspects of the concept. We'll use the same maps later this month to help us plan the conflict that our own stories will center around. Tomorrow LA will be a reading block with Mr. Elliott. I, as well as a number of other teachers, will be gone with 130 students to the cross-country challenge in Lac La Biche. Normally I don't attend this kind of thing. Running is something I typically reserve for special occassions such as when I'm being chased by tigers. Needless to say, that's not the kind of thing that happens every day, though, I remain on the look out for tigers. Anyhow, Mr. Whaley needed an additional supervisor. While I was initially hesistant, Mr Hodinsky assured me that there would be both hot dogs and hamburgers at the event. Sold. I probably won't be updating tomorrow, so if I don't, I wish you all a great Thanksgiving weekend. Also, I'll be celebrating my 7th anniversary on Monday! So for whoever is reading this I'd just like to let you know that I'm a very lucky man. My wife is beautiful, intelligent, driven, kind and since she's married to me, obviously very patient. Also, she plays Civilization with me. What more could I ask for? __Tuesday Oct. 5th - HOMEWORK STATUS: NONE__ 1:04pm - Sorry no update yesterday. I was away at a literacy meeting and there was a guest teacher in for me. For the moment, we have finished working on character traits. Students will have a quiz tomorrow on character traits. The following will be assessed: -use of adjectives -use of adjective phrases -understanding of the difference between character traits revealed directly and through inference. -use of directly reevealed character traits and traits revealed through inference. Below is a reposting of some stuff I had posted previously that you can review with. 1. Directly - The author uses an adjective to //tell// the reader about a character trait. 2. Inference - The author reveals character traits by //showing// them through the characters actions. Here's an example: Direct - //John was a hard-working man, dedicated to his employees.// Inference - //It was already past midnight when John glanced at his watch. Where had the time gone? Having spent all day and much of the night fixing the errors on his employees' pay-cheques, he had neglected the dull ache pulsing from his stomach.// In this example you can (hopefully) see that the inference method of revealing character traits allows the reader a great deal more flexibility in determining their perspective on the character. It makes the reader's experience more personal an engrossing. Generally speaking in story-telling, the inference method is preferable, though the direct method remains useful at times, particularly for its brevity... if brevity is what you're after, of course. For today, we are beginning our quick study of the different types of conflict found in stories. __Friday Oct. 1st - HOMEWORK STATUS: Students must have all 8 of their character trading cards finished and ready for trading on Monday.__ 8:50am - I'm sure glad it's Friday. I haven't had time all week to respond to threats made by Napoleon against my humble and peace-loving empire. Tonight, I deal with the little man. By the way, if you didn't know, Napoleon was exiled after his defeat at Waterloo to a small island in the south Atlantic called St. Helena. He died there not too long after. I believe the general consensus is that he died of stomach cancer, but many also believe he was poisoned. Google has a pretty good map of St. Helena here: [|Map] For today, each class is finishing off their trading cards. We were going to have our trading session today, but it seems people need more time, so we will have it on Monday. Students who don't finish today should work on them over the weekend. Also, I'm excited to say that I've been selected along with five other teachers from NLSD to represent the school division as a part of an international Powerful Learning Practices cohort. We'll be engaging in and seeking new ways of using technology to enhance classroom instruciton and assessment, and sharing that learning with our peers. It's a very limited opportunity and I'm looking forward to getting started.

__Thursday Sept. 30th - HOMEWORK STATUS: NONE__ 9:20am - As I write this, students are happily working away on their character trading cards. Basically, everybody gets to make eight cards to keep or trade away in a "draft" later in tomorrow's class. The objective is that the kids will make characters with traits that make them desirable for a story and interesting enough that others will want them. When we start writing stories in mid October, students will have to include at least two of their characters in that story. Here's what the cards look like when they get them... Also, if you were interested, this is adresses part of the curricular outcome: Students will analyze how plot develops; the connection between plot and subplot; and the interrelationship of plot, setting and characters. When the students write their stories, they will be required to have their characters respond to the plot in realistic and believable ways. In a couple of weeks when we are learning about plot development, students will plan out the events of their story, and then plan how to have their main character(s) deal with that event. __Wednesday Sept. 29th - HOMEWORK STATUS: There will be homework for those students who do not complete the assignment during class or the intervention/homework block.__ 10:34pm - If you know a bit about astronomy, you probably know that Earth resides in what astropysicists call a "Goldilocks zone." It's basically window of distance from a star in which the temperature of a planet within that window would be warm enough to support life as we know it without being so hot or so cold as to prevent it. Given the size of our star, and Earth's distance, the temperature of this planet is supportive of life. In the past few years, astronomers have discover hundreds of planets orbiting other stars, many of them very close to us (in galactic terms, of course.) Below is a link to an exciting article. Astronomers have discovered a planet very near to us, that rests within the "Goldilocks zone" of its solar system, and is very likely capable of supporting life in a form we would recognize. Anybody up for a vacation? [] 11:10am - In class today I'm assigning the reading of a story called "The Scream." Students should read the story and then complete the 11x17 handout that goes with. Students must identify two directly revealed traits about each character, and four traits revealed through inference. Students must write down a quote for each as evidence. This assignment is to assess their learning of new concepts taught this week and last week and a mark will be recorded. __Tuesday Sept. 28th - HOMEWORK STATUS: NONE__ 1:05pm - The Edmonton Journal has a nice page today full of stories about peoples' fond memories of being read to. [] 9:06am - Continuing with our study of character, we will be creating mind maps of adjectives to describe some characters today from the story "My name is Angie." We'll do some comparison and see if we can easily see what character people have based their maps on by the characteristics they think of. Later this week we'l' be making some character trading cards! On a personal note, the English settled a city directly in what was clearly my territory, last night while I was playing Civilization V. I felt I had to respond with force when diplomacy failed to have any meaningful impact on Queen Elizabeth's political stance. Although the war overall was protracted, my knights and longswordman quickly dispatched the city of Nottingham, and moved on to conquer both London and York, though they owe a great deal of their success to my archers who softened the targets prior to invasion. Now, it seems the French, on the otherside of what used to be England, are concerned by my conquest, and Napoleon has begun to mass his armies. I will keep you aprised of the situation as it devlops... except for tonight because I have to go to a couple of staff meetings. One other thing. I am making a challenge to all my students based off a wonderful joke. The first student who can tell me why the following joke is utterly hilarious will win a prize. Rene Descartes walks past a newspaper stand, and the merchant says, "Would you like to buy a newspaper?" Descartes replies, "I think not." HA HA! __Monday Sept. 27th - HOMEWORK STATUS: NONE__ 11:00am - I'm in a state of semi-panic. I looked over at the clock on the wall of the classroom to see that one of the hands was pointing directly at the 11, while the other was pointing directly at the 12. For nearly three and a half seconds, I was unable to determine whether or not the time was 11 or 12, as the black colored hands of the clock blended neatly into the black numbers emblazened upon said clock. Thankfully, the longer of the two appendages has moved slightly to the right and I have since been able to correctly determine the time. Crisis: resolved. Today we are continuing our study of character. In class on Thursday, we read a story called "My Name is Angie." Today the students will think back to a variety of actions that the character engaged in and then provide adjectives to describe what those actions reveal about the character. The goal is to gain an understanding of character traits. We'll do some practice over the next while so that students can reveal traits in two ways. 1. Directly - The author uses an adjective to //tell// the reader about a character trait. 2. Inference - The author reveals character traits by //showing// them through the characters actions. Here's an example: Direct - //John was a hard-working man, dedicated to his employees.// Inference - //It was already past midnight when John glanced at his watch. Where had the time gone? Having spent all day and much of the night fixing the errors on his employees' pay-cheques, he had neglected the dull ache pulsing from his stomach.// In this example you can (hopefully) see that the inference method of revealing character traits allows the reader a great deal more flexibility in determining their perspective on the character. It makes the reader's experience more personal an engrossing. Generally speaking in story-telling, the inference method is preferable, though the direct method remains useful at times, particularly for its brevity... if brevity is what you're after, of course.

__Sunday Sept. 26th__ 11:37am - I did a Google search just to see, and this seems to be legit. I'm not 100% sure though, could be a hoax. Wicked sweet if it's true though. I wish they had chosen me... or William Shatner. [|UN to Appoint Earth Contact for Aliens] __Thurdsay Sept. 23rd - HOMEWORK STATUS: NONE__ 1:45pm - Yesterday we began our unit on story. This unit should take us until approximately Halloween to complete. We are going to be learning about and using concepts such as plot, conflict, character, setting, and effective description. We are starting today with character. Sorry no update yesterday, I just didn't get around to it. I'd like to make it up to you, my loyal readers, by providing you with a link to a website that my kids have all kinds of fun with. [|thisissand]

__Tuesday Sept. 21st - HOMEWORK STATUS: NONE__ 10:13am - Kids, I'm finishing up the marking of your tests today. Parents, we marked most of the test in class, but there is a written section on verb tense that I'm marking myself. It's a fairly light day in class today. We are doing some discussion and I am lecturing to give an introduction to what plot is. I am framing it in terms of the "plotline of our lives", priming the students for our unit on storytelling. Tomorrow, I'll post the ins and outs of the unit so that you can get an idea for what we'll be doing. __Monday Sept. 20th - HOMEWORK STATUS:__ NONE 11:37pm - Sid Meier's Civilzation V goes on sale in 23 minutes. The greatest strategy game of all time is one of the things that spurred my interest in history, politics, economics, etc. If you don't know, I'm a social major. I'm am looking forward to this game more than I am looking forward to Pizza day next week. 4:41pm - No grades will be available on Homelogic, I'm afraid. I don't have access to TeacherLogic quite yet, so when the marks are up, I'll post a notice at the top of the page. Bummer. 8:55am - All Grade 7 ELA classes are writing their review test today. We will mark it in class, so everyone will know their score before the end of the day. Parents, I will be entering the marks right away today, so if you are on HomeLogic, you will be able to see how your child did by the end of the day. Thursday is picture day. Students should not wear green as the photographer will be using a green-screen to digitally add backgrounds after the fact. I'm going to request that they put my portrait into an ensemble shot of the cast of Battlestar Galactica. Also, it is my solemn duty to inform all of you of a terribly misfortunate occurence thanks to the rotation of our Gregorian calendar. It is with a heavy heart that I come to grips with it... International Talk LIke a Pirate Day fell on a Sunday this year. This tragedy is nearly overwhelming me, as I have, for the first time in my career, missed the opportunity to spend an entire day of instruction talking like a pirate. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the International Fund for the Free Expression of Pirate Speech. By the way, kids, this has absolutely nothing to do with downloading Justin Beiber songs from the internet. __Friday Sept. 17th - HOMEWORK STATUS:__ __7E, 7R, 7K--> Finish any undone work from handouts today on comma use and general punctuation. DUE MONDAY A.M.__ 7:31pm - Students may bring home their practice worksheets on the homework mentioned above. Kids, be finished. Also, noticed how I used a comma appropriately after writing the word: kids.. and... also. Anyhow, I felt you might all like to know that I had pizza for supper tonight. It was amazing. Eating pizza satisfies my craving for pizza in ways that only eating pizza can. I washed it down with some apple pie made by my fabulous neighbour across the street. Kim, if you're reading this, the pie was great. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a wonderful weekend. I'm off to Wal-Mart. I need to buy bigger pants. 9:53am - The Terry Fox Run is happening at the tail end of today, with students running or walking to raise awareness and money for cancer research. A good friend of mine about my age lost his mom to cancer a few years back, and I can tell you that it's something that stays with people, so if you've got a few bucks to donate, please do so. Today we're working working with what is probably the most straight-forward stuff so far. Students will review basic use of commas, periods, exclamation and question marks and do some practice work so that I can assess their proficiency. Another test has been moved from Monday, so the ELA test will go ahead. Students, if you require any extra help or instruciton prior to the test, please let me know. If you're studying on the weekend and find yourself in need of help, you can also email me through the website. I'll try and get back to you as quickly as possible.

__Thursday Sept. 16th - HOMEWORK STATUS:__ __7E-->Finish Apostrophe Booklet (approx. completion time 10-15mins) DUE FRIDAY Block 6__ 10:17am- We are working on a review of apostrophes today. I had hoped to include a review of commas in the mix, however that will have to wait until tomorrow. Students, be prepared to take home a period/exclamation/question mark review about the same length as the apostrophe booklet I gave you today. I will make sure that we have time for the instruction and to do at least one of the sheets together. The rest should only take about fifteen minutes if you are working hard at it. Hopefully we'll have it all accomplished, though. Bring in money for the Terry Fox Cancer fundraiser if you've got a few extra dollars kicking around. The school's goal is to raise a thousand dollars, so if everyone brings in three dollars, we're set. For more information about cancer, check out the link below on Canadian cancer statistics. It's rather sobering. @http://www.cancer.ca/Canada-wide/About%20cancer/Cancer%20statistics/Canadian%20Cancer%20Statistics.aspx __Wednesday Sept. 15th - HOMEWORK STATUS: NONE__ 11:25pm- Whoaaaa! Super late update today. Luckily for me it is still 'today' by about half an hour, so technically I didn't go without updating the blog today. I had a busy day. Normally I try to update during a prep or break, but we had an assembly that stretched rather long into my prep and I spent the time responding to emails from my fans. (Mr. Whaley sent me 12.) Anyhow, review continues for a few more days. We moved through adjective and adjective phrases pretty smoothly. For the most part, the kids know it pretty well, so I've got to give kudos to their past ELA teachers. We also covered basic quotation mark use. Kids, if you need reminders of how to use them properly, ask me, or just look at a novel. Notice how they put the marks around the spoken parts, and pay special attention to where they place otehr types of punctuation such commas, as well as sentence enders like periods, etc. Also, I understand that there may be a pile of tests scheduled for the grade 7's on Monday. I'm going to look into this, and if it seems like too much, I'll move it back to Tuesday or Wednesday. Keep watching the blog for updates. It was meet the teacher night tonight! I didn't meet a single one I didn't already know. Hahahahaha! Nevermind. Seriously though, I enjoyed meeting all the parents that came out to visit and I thank you for making the effort. I was also pleased to hear that so many of you are actually reading this stuff. Clearly, Cold Lake requires some additional venues for entertainment and diversion, or you haven't discovered that your internet browser can be used to play Farmville. If you didn't get a chance to come to the school and meet up, but you would like to, please send me an email through the website, and I will arrange a time. Now I'm going to find my way to bed!

__Tuesday Sept. 14th - HOMEWORK STATUS: NONE__ Added a notice about an upcoming test just below the pictures at the top of the page. If there is a test or quiz coming up that's where you will find the date. Of course, I'll also tell students in class. Today we're focussing on adjectives alone and in phrases. Stickers are available to be won! Remember kids, adjectives give power and meaning to nouns. So far the most effective lone adjectives I've heard are: The powerful eagle swept down upon the defensless rabit. So far the most hilarious adjective phrase I've head is: The person riding in the shopping cart is my teacher. What went on here before I transfered in? Sounds like the kind of place I want to work! Also, at the end of the month, I will take all the postings I've made from September and copy them into a word file. I'll post that file as an attachment to my page, so that if you ever need to review some old stuff, you can. One more thing... Kids, if you have any information regarding the matter of who replaced the portrait of me in my Captain Kirk uniform with that of a primate, I will offer you a bubble gum in exchange for information that directs me to the sinister culprit.

__Monday Sept. 13th - HOMEWORK STATUS: NONE__ 8:55am- We continue with our review today. After finishing off the current handout, students willl begin another review handout that includes: correcting incomplete sentences as well as using quotation marks and adjectives. Later this week we should be about ready to do some review of major forms of punctuation. NOTICE: We should be ready to have a review quiz (for marks) by early next week. Kids, take five minutes each day and review the work we've done so far, so that you don't have to do a big study session the night before. Also, on a personal note... On Saturday we marked the 9th anniversary of 9/11. I spent a week in NYC this last August and made a point of heading down to ground zero, the former site of the World Trade Center. The place is largely a construction site these days, with the new WTC #1 tower slowly rising above ground while the 9/11 memorial museum takes shape below. However, there are makeshift monuments and reminders of the event all over lower Manhattan. In Battery Park, at the south tip of the island about three blocks from the WTC, rests a large spherical statue that was part of the WTC plaza. It survived mostly intact to be displayed in the park, but is badly damaged. Torn in places, shredded in others, it's a pretty stark witness to the kinds of forces that were in play that day. A church just up the street from the WTC has a cross-shaped set of steel beams displayed along the sidewalk. I think the most visceral reminder though, is how empty a great deal of the area surrounding the WTC is. Some streets are very quiet, and down some alleys and on some rooftops you can still see damage from the catastrophe. Also interesting, every single major tourist attraction includes airport-style security, with metal detectors, random searches, and x-ray screening.

__Friday Sept. 10th - HOMEWORK STATUS: NONE__ 9:35am- Review with all three classes thus far is showing that we need to do some work with identifying verbs. On the plus side, when it comes to selecting powerful verbs for writing, some really good ideas are coming out. Remember kids... Choose verbs that don't just tell what's happening, but add meaning and power. Ex. The boss WENT through the office, LOOKING for his employee. A good verb can provide a lot of meaning and direction to a sentence as in these next two examples. Ex. The boss STORMED through the office, HUNTING for his employee. The boss STROLLED through the office, SEARCHING for his employee. Notice how changing the original verbs to more powerful verbs enhances the meaning and imagery of the sentence. The first example is generic and would rely on other sentences to give it meaning. The second example tells us what the boss is doing, but also that he or she is probably angry and in a hurry. The third example also tells us what the boss is doing, but gives us the sense that the boss is calm, probably not in a bad mood at all, and not in a hurry. Effective verb use makes good writing. Also, a tip we learned today. // How to identify the verb(s) easily in any sentence. // Simply add a word that indicates time in front of the sentence, such as yesterday, right now , or tomorrow. Any words that have to change are verbs. Ex. I am going to the store to buy milk. (present tense) Tomorrow I will go to the store and buy milk. (changed to future tense) "Am" and "going" are the verbs since they had to change to "will" and "go".

__Thursday Sept. 9th__ 1:50pm- The best thing about reviewing concepts from past grades isn't so much that the students are reminded of past learning, but as a teacher you can quickly assess where you need to spend some time working with your students. Also, talk to your child tonight and ask them what book they are reading at school. Have them describe it to you, and talk about what they like or dislike about it. 8:07am- All classes are working on a review of a number of grade 6 level ELA concepts. Not for homework. __Wednesday Sept. 8th__ 9:34am-A big shout out to the grade 7's who sang O Canada during assembly today. Good stuff. A little pitchy at times, but we'll work on it. ;P There is a video on YouTube from the Oilers 2006 playoff run (I'm still a bit heartbroken) where the whole crowd is singing O Canada at the top of their lungs. Leaves me with chills everytime I see it. __Tuesday Sept. 7th__ 10:08am- Oh yeah, we are also doing our seating plan today. Groups of 4. 7:52am- Had a relaxed weekend camping with family and friends, even if the weather was a little shoddy here and there. I am now staring outside the window of my classroom and appreciateing that it's raining while I'm working, instead of being bright and sunny out. Today we're going to be continuing with our 20 minutes of daily reading at the beginning of each class. The students seem to both enjoy and appreciate the time to read. I hear a lot of people say that kids don't read anymore, and perhaps they don't read as much as they used to, I'm not really sure. However, in my experience, kids still like to read, and the best way to become a better reader is to read more. Try to give your child some built in reading time at home, or better yet, get together with them and have a designated reading time. Each class is also going to spend some time with a short English language rules sheet so that I can get a feel for how well they know some of the basics and not-so-basics. After this, they'll get together and compare answers so that they can do some peer teaching. Students will also get a hand out so that I can assess what they know in more detail about descriptive language and sentence structure.

__Friday Sept. 3__ 1:11pm- 7K is reading. I have every class do 20 minutes of reading from a novel at the beginning of the first class they have with me. Longstanding research indicates that reading for at least 20 minutes a day makes better readers if the reader is reading the right type of read. The kids have to check with me to make sure the novel they pick is okay. So far so good. Also, Nottingham placed second in the Pink Day contest. It only occured an hour ago and Mrs. Fraser has reminded me 4 times. Doesn't matter though, Nottingam will prevail.

9:00am-Found out that I'm on the Nottingham House Team. I hope all the other teams are prepared to succumb to the mighty will of our most powerful and erudite House Team. __Thursday Sept. 2__ Welcome to NHS! My name is Mr. Ripkens and I am utterly shocked... apparently. If you have a child in Grade 7 at NHS, I will be teaching them English Language Arts every day of the week. My mission is to teach, improve and grow the knowledge, skills and appreciation of the english language through a variety of methods, strategies, tactics, and forms. In addition, I am trying to break the world record for most commas used in a single sentence as you may have noticed in the previous sentence. If you'd like to know what's going on in class, please bookmark this website address and check it at your convenience. We'll be diving into our curricular objective after the Labour Day long weekend. During this first week of school I have several objectives: 1: Have the students familiarize themselves and become comfortable with their class and me through teambuilding activites and self-expression projects. 2: Ensure that students become familiar with some common teaching tactics and strategies that I use frequently in my instruction, including: Think Pair Share, Concept Attainment, and Venn Diagrams. I will teach and use many more as the year progresses, but we will start with these. Please feel free to phone or email if you need to contact me for any reason. Meet the teacher night is 6-7 pm on Wednesday September, 15th if you would like to meet me. I will be easily identifiable as the most handsome man in the room. (Unless of course there is another man in the room who signs my pay cheque, in which case I will be second most handsome.)