Hello everyone,

This week we completed the short story cycle that we started a few weeks ago with The lottery. The critical thinking skills and the “encoding/decoding” skills that you practiced will be something that you will continue and practice through the rest of your time in school. We also completed Chapter 4 in the textbook, which is the most important in understanding the western world view. We examined the start of universities, the protestant reformation and the invention of the printing press. How these ideas connected with Humanist thought and the scientific method is one of the foundation stones of the western worldview.

We will continue with chapter 4 on Monday. We have 3 weeks until break, and a lot to address and review before moving away from the renaissance to the new world.

Have a good weekend.

Hello everyone,

This was another short week. I hope that you had an opportunity to reflect on and remember some of the things that are important to you as we do on Remembrance Day. This week we continued to look at some of the important current events and those events in history that have impact on us today. We also looked at the short story “The fun they had”. Through this we examined a method to look at a analyze texts or anything new to us. This is looking at things through the lens of “who what where when” to find the mechanics of structure and then “Why” to explore the meaning or purpose of the task and to give meaning to those mechanics.  Next week we will continue to explore the major discoveries of the Renaissance focusing around the scientific method and how that will influence everything.
Have a good weekend.

Hello Everyone,

I hope that you had a good week. Our work this week has revolved around completing chapter 3 and looking into the foundations of the Renaissance. We began exploring and defining some of the important vocabulary that we are encountering in the text book and in our reading. As we continue forward it is important that we continue to take an active and dedicated approach to the vocabulary. Being able to articulate and use focused language will not only aid our refined understanding but also to support our thoughts and arguments.
We in light of Remembrance day we have looked at war poetry and some of the language and experiences around these events.
Next week we will be working on chapter 4 and the nuts and bolts of the thoughts and developments of the Renaissance.
Please complete your chapter 3, your chapter 3 workbook and continue your vocabulary work.
Have a good weekend and please take a moment on Monday to reflect on what you feel is important to remember and for those who have made sacrifices for others.

Hello Everyone,

This week we were to finish off chapter 3. We looked at the emergence of humanism and how it shifted from the ideas of the medieval period where nobles or the church decided what was acceptable and why, to justifying that people could be educated and make those decisions themselves. We looked at worldview through Halloween imagery  and Christmas through a traditional Alpine folktales of Krampus. You have been given a large amount of time to work on and complete your chapter 3 assignments. Next week we will be looking at chapter 4, the nuts and bolts of the Renaissance ideas and how they are applied.

Have a good weekend.

Hello Everyone,

We had a good start back to school this week after some time off for thanksgiving. I hope that you enjoyed your break and that you are ready for the next chunk of time leading up to winter break. This week we talked about the Canadian election and some of the impacts that it has. We talked about the difference between first past the post and rep by pop styles of elections. We continued to work on the specific skills such a research and expression of ideas. We also worked on the importance of planning and organisation through not only your calligraphy project but also through the buoyancy project in math/science with Ms. Wilson. We talked about how critical thinking while creating and throughout the design process will help to catch many simple and normal errors that everyone makes. We also continued to discuss chapter 3 in the in textbook which focuses on Humanism. The key parts Humanism is that it is focus in Europe on the ability and the authority of humans to think about, devise and create things on their own without justifying it to any other greater authority. Please continue to work on your chapter work, chapter 3 workbook, and your vocabulary.
Have a great weekend.  

Hello Everyone,

This week we started working on Chapter 3. We have finished the background story providing context to the end of the middle ages and the start of the Renaissance in Italy. We are now starting to explore what the changes and ideas of the Renaissance are. We started talking about Humanism. This is an idea, with the word coming from Latin, around the importance and value of human thought and reason. Looking back at what the ancient Roman and Greeks wrote, the Humanists started to copy their approach to thinking and looking at the world. Hence the name re discovery or rebirth referring to the ideas and thoughts of Ancient Rome. We will continue to look at this idea and explore now of the new/old ways of thinking when we return after break.
You have some vocabulary and some workbooks about chapter 3 to keep you busy. Also we will ensure to complete the Calligraphy project when we return.

Have a good restful week.

Hello everyone,

I hope that you enjoyed this interesting week. We finished off looking at chapter 2 in our textbook. This covered the silk road, the rise of trade and the importance of the Italian City States. This week your chapter 2 research and your geography questions were due on Friday. We also had a small test on chapter 1 and 2. I asked you to be reflective after the test about how you did, and after you received your mark to think about the things you can do to build positive habits moving forward. This includes asking for assistance and help or being critical about how to engage with the work. As we move forward I will be working with each of your to help devise and refine positive and focused work and study strategies.

Have a great weekend.