Teachers across the school have been working hard and creatively to motivate and engage students while they learn online. This has translated into a lot of positivity and enthusiasm from our students. In this article, we highlight a few of the exciting learning activities that Middle School students have been taking part in.
English
Grade 6 English Teacher Leah Rempel made a Padlet for Grade 6-6 that compiled notes written by students with things they are thankful about (click on the photo to view the full-sized image). “I love all the sweet notes I am getting from G6 students - one of the homerooms is having students write "thankful" notes to teachers, and the comments are making my day!” Ms. Leah said.
Grade 6/8 English Learning Leader Catherine Liang added: “It was great to see parents interacting with advisory and English lessons. Some parents popped into our online conversation and shared how they loved the book we are reading, and kids in our mentor class brought their family into our flex scavenger hunts and photo safaris. The kids had to find 'something that made them happy' and these kids grabbed a person. Sweetness personified.”
Another highlight from Middle School English has been the author Holly Thompson replying to students after they reached out to her and agreeing to have a virtual talk with students on December 5. Holly is an award-winning author who has penned novels, short stories and poems for children, teenagers and adults.
Design
Students in Grade 6 have been able to seamlessly continue a Photoshop Design unit at home after the switch to remote learning. In the unit, students are tasked with designing their own currency using Photoshop. The objective of the unit is to help students grasp “Layers”, which are key to using Photoshop effectively. A banknote has many key ingredients that can be added such as numbers, writing, portraits, landmarks and other cultural references and is therefore an ideal project for understanding Layers.
“When we went online we were still able to continue with this work. Online, we have had the chance to show the progression of the students work,” said Design teacher Andy Cole.
Grade 8 Students are completing their Bluetooth speakers digitally in Adobe Dimension and will be trying out different materials for all of the components.
Math
In G8 mathematics, students have transitioned seamlessly to remote learning and have continued to follow their Personal Learning Plans for this unit. Students are practicing and developing their algebraic skills by solving linear equations and inequalities and investigating systems of equations. Each student knows exactly which lesson he/she needs to focus on and can gauge their understanding through lesson-by-lesson mini quizzes with automatic feedback. In our online classes, students working on similar topics are grouped into break-out rooms, allowing us to adjust our instruction and support accordingly with shared digital whiteboards.
In Grade 6 Math, students learned a range of new skills and concepts including dot plots, mean and averages, bar graphs and double bar graphs, and discrete and continuous data.
PHE
Students in Grade 6 PHE have been taking pictures and describing what food they have made themselves during online learning. This will be followed up by an online nutrition unit.
Meanwhile in Grade 7, PHE students have been working on a Healthy Body + Healthy Mind unit. Students have been learning about strategies they can use to focus on physical well-being as well as mental well-being. This week we focused on meditation and yoga. In each lesson students also needed to complete 30 minutes of physical activity from a choice box.