LET'S TRAVEL - Web Links For Your Courses!

HELLO GRADE 8 BRISTOLIANS:

The past three weeks have been FUN so far. I hope you are enjoying your classes and are learning new things every day. Aren’t we lucky to have our EDUBLOG to guide us along the way? I know we covered a lot of new topics in a short period of time. This site will help you learn them while having fun. You will find relevant links for each of the courses that will allow you to explore concepts in more depth. If you look at the RIGHT HAND SIDE of the page,you will find Maya The Bee's links for FUN GAMES, ACTIVITIES and helpful LEARNING TOOLS. Go and explore. Don't forget to be generous with your opinions or sites that you might come upon. The rest of the class might enjoy them as well!

Be ready for a take off! First, we are going to the WORLD of MATHEMATICS:
In BeDmAs town of MaTh, you are expected to evaluate expressions that involve integers, including expressions that contain brackets end exponents, using the order of operations. Here are some sites that will help you survive and possibly become a recognized citizen of BeDmAs.
1. For a memory warm up, we will start with a BeDmAs anthem. Try rapping to it. It works!
http://educ.queensu.ca/~fmc/november2002/BEDMAS.html
2. Now lets go to a tutorial that will help you walk more confidently through BeDmAs. Just follow the steps:
http://www.math.com/school/subject2/lessons/S2U1L2GL.html
3. If you need BeDmAs worksheet/s to polish your skills, go and get them. Just fill out a few things and you can get as many worksheets as you like:
http://www.theteacherscorner.net/printable-worksheets/make-your-own/math-worksheets/algebra/order-of-operations.php
4. For BeDmAs citizens who like their brains to be teased and stimulated, go and have fun:
http://www.funbrain.com/algebra/

What is you interpretation of this painting? Guess, and let's go to the WORLD of LANGUAGE. Here, you are expected to be able to read from a variety of texts such as graphic texts, informational texts and literary texts. This week we are going to focus on graphic and informational texts (e.g. graphs, charts, online sources: dictionaries, thesauri, etc.)

Below you will find activities that will help you with reading charts, graphs and Thesaurus. These sites will give you feedback on how you do. The first one is on reading data charts:

1. Hello data here I come:
http://www.tv411.org/lessons/cfm/reading.cfm?str=reading&num=10&act=4&que=1
2. How do we read graphs?
http://www.tv411.org/lessons/cfm/reading.cfm?str=reading&num=10&act=2&que=1
3. Words, words and more words! The Word must have, the one and only:
http://www.webster.com/
4. Would you like to play with the well known Thesaurus?
http://www.tv411.org/lessons/cfm/vocabulary.cfm?str=vocabulary&num=2&act=3&que=1

Can you guess that we are in the WORLD of GEOGRAPHY? What about the population? It this world you are expected to construct and examine population pyramids to make predictions about future trends in population characteristics. The first site gives an overview of a population pyramid. Then take a closer look at the animated population pyramid. http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/teacher%27s_kit/activity4_handout1.cfm
2. If you like animations, this is it. It's fast moving! First you must choose where to go:
http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/analysis/agesex/tables.cfm#animations
3. Let's construct our OWN population pyramid. Check out a tutorial that helps you do it in Excel.We will be doing this in DATA MANAGEMENT math unit, so get ready now:
http://www-agecon.ag.ohio-state.edu/class/aede597.01/gonzalez/pyramid/
4. Take a look at StatCan predictions. Compare their predictions with your own:
http://www.statcan.ca/english/ads/91-520-XPB/pyramid.htm

Finally, it's time for the WORLD of SCIENCE! In this world you are exploring animal and plant cells. You are expected to describe differences in structure between plant and animal cells. You should be able to state your own observations. Here are few sites to help you along the way:
1. Listen to what they have to say about the cell:
http://www.mcgrawhill.ca/school/schoolGraphics/sf08_u2_t3.swf
2. If you are curious to find out a little bit more about cells go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/asguru/biology/01cellbiology/index.shtml
3. This one is an award winning website that will allow you to see colour images of bacteria:
http://www.cellsalive.com/
4. Cut, turn and zoom on your CELL:
http://www.life.uiuc.edu/plantbio/cell/

Welcome Aboard Bristolians!

Dear BRISTOLIANS:

Welcome to Miss K's page! I am looking forward to meeting you all and getting to know you better. I am sure that our learning journey together will be fun and exciting one. As you already know from your teacher, I will be in your classroom for the next two months. My goal is to assist you in your learning process. Don't forget that I will be learning from you, too!

That being said, I encourage you to ask me any questions you might have. I really believe in all WH questions (and others) as they show CURIOSITY. The other noun that's related to learning is ADVENTURE. The C noun is always thirsty and the A one is always restless!

Please feel free to post to this blog and share about yourselves. I would love to hear about your ideas, thoughts or simply, any comments,suggestions & jokes you might have....oh, yes complaints are welcome too, and for now they are FREE of charge. If you have any interesting sites you would like to share you could post them in our DON'T BE STINGY LIST. Please, do not forget that this is a space for positive and respectful exchange. Be supportive and encouraging of each other!

If you are curious about Miss K, keep on reading.

Miss K's real name is Ana Krneta (yes, the last name has three consonants in a row) and if you attempt its pronunciation, I bet it will be a good exercise for your tongue muscles. At the moment, Miss K is attending Pre-Service Program at Brock University, Faculty of Education.
What does that mean? Miss K is passionate about teaching and she wants to be a teacher. But first she must finish her training!

Miss K also loves to learn not just from BOOKS, but also from seeing PLACES, TRAVELING, TALKING to people, and by doing things. In other words, Miss K loves learning through experiences!
As a result, her world is SO much bigger. In the past few years, she has been involved with working with & instructing newcomers to Canada. What did she learn? Oh, a bunch.

She got to learn about distant places in Africa, South America, Middle East, etc. She got to eat some amazing food and learn about rich cultures from all over the world. Her formal training is in Applied Mathematics and yes, she loves traveling through equations, matrices and math puzzles. And trust me, MATH is not scary.

Miss K enjoys climbing, all sorts of music (lately mostly ROOTS REGGAE) and eating delicious Indian food. If you are still curious, just ASK!

Bristolians, I will see you again in class. Looking forward to our joint adventures!

Miss K