Self Evaluation Part 2

Here is a late addition to the Self Evaluation of SOLE from yesterday.

What do you like about SOLE?
- it is more than learning from a text book. Text books are simple and just give you the answer.but with SOLE you are using the internet, and you get both the answer and background information to make your understanding stronger.

How has SOLE affected your learning?
- it is more exciting than paper and pencil work
- we are growing up with technology and using it

How will SOLE change school?
- kids would have more fun if they were doing SOLE
- kids would want to go to school

What is special about SOLE?
- we learn more from researching in groups
- we learn more when we are interested in what we are learning

What have you learned about yourself by using SOLE?
- I can take more initiative in my work.
- I can use SOLE outside of school

How do you think SOLE will help students around the world?
- the world would be a better place
- their might be less bullying and more sharing
- people working on teams are more like people in real jobs

Student Evaluation Of SOLE

Today I had my students do a written evaluation of SOLE. Below are their responses to the questions asked. I am impressed with the depth of insight they demonstrate. Happy Reading.

What do you like about SOLE?

- it helps your brain learn what it needs to know about things.

- we can use the computer to find information

- we use the computer to type what we found instead of writing it on paper

- you get to form a group to research a question you came up with

- you can learn from what other groups research

- it helps improve your reading and writing

- that it is okay to learn

- the computer has more information than a book

- it is fun

- you get to know everyone in your class

- you get to present to the class

- if you are wondering about something you get to find out about it

- it is the perfect way to learn about a topic

- instead of reading through books you get to use the computer and the internet

- that we get to research every question we want to know about

- I learn a bunch of information about a variety of topics

- I learned more than I did before we did SOLE

- it increased my reading level

- I like how you can do this at home, at school, by yourself or with a group

- you get to work with your friends

- we come up with the questions that need to be answered

- it teaches you more than you know about a topic

- you are not told what to do, you get to decide it

- I learn something new every time we do a SOLE

- I learn about the people I am doing it with

- you learn about whatever you want

How has SOLE affected how you learn?

- it has shown me how to research better

- I have learned far more than I thought I would from the internet

- it made me a better reader and writer

- because it easier and more fun to learn this way I am happier

- I did not know I was a good presenter

- you can get lot of info but you can’t cut and paste

- it encourage me to read

- we use the computer more effectively

- it helped me become a better researcher

- it makes me remember the answers to hard questions

- that when we use a laptop for research and a laptop for putting down the information we learned not to plagiarize

- I am reading harder books because SOLE increased my vocabulary

- it has increased my reading, writing, vocabulary, self esteem and leadership skills

- I learned to work better in groups and how to get along with people I might not work with

- it made me smarter

- SOLE got me to a higher reading level

- it helped me to talk better to an audience

How will SOLE change school?

- we were taught old things, now we learn new things

- it changes boring to fun

- it helps make us focussed

- books are not needed anymore

- it would make students happier

- we would learn more than we thought we could

- we would have access to more information than a text book

- SOLE would improve everyone’s reading making their grade levels higher

- the whole school could work on questions in large groups

What is special about SOLE?

- SOLE is special because people can be dumb but if they do SOLE they can become smarter

- we always get to use the computer

- we are typing up our answers instead of writing them out by hand

- it is fun

- Everything about SOLE is special

- it helps your brain grow when you research and share with the class

- it is like always working on a project with your friends

- it is a good way to use electronics

- everything

- it helps you with your reading because you are reading and researching all the time

- it is an effective way of learning

- it uses electronics which is a faster way to learn

- it is special because not many schools are doing it

- it changes how we work together in a classroom

- you work with friends

- how much more I learn from my friends

- you learn what you are interested in and passionate about

What have you learned about yourself by using SOLE?

- I learned I can be smarter when I think

- That I can improve myself and that I am equal with everyone else

- I work well in a group because I learn more and get more done

- it is fun working with other people

- working in groups is faster

- that I would rather be a leader than a follower

- I also realized I like working independently

- I am a better researcher than I thought I was

- I was always saying “I can’t do this,” but now I barely say that at all

- I made new friends with my classmates

- I can do whatever I put my mind to

- I always tried my best but it never seemed to work out. With SOLE that has changed.

- I learned to work well in groups

- Learned that I am smarter than I thought I was and that I ask good questions

- that I do interact well with others

- how much I know about a lot of topics

- I love typing and became more interested in some of the things we researched

What have you learned about your classmates while doing SOLE?

- some people are very serious about their work

- some are very different from me

- I like their reactions when we find a very good fact

- some students are good at different things. Some read well, some type well and some write very neatly

- some are very focused

- some share better than others

- some are good to work with and some are not

- they are gifted in their own ways

- I learned about the different interests my classmates had

- some people were shy and didn’t want to go in front of the class but now they are up there with everyone else

- how much smarter they are now

- they are excellent researchers

- they are great people when we do SOLE

- some are shy and some are good leaders

- they have good questions, are always happy

- they are not distracted while presenting

- some work well in groups and some don’t

Other

- I learn a lot every time we research

- I liked researching Van Gogh, How the Earth was formed, How to make 3D movies, Why can’t men have babies?, How to make hats, and all about Christmas

- I don’t like that some people choose  partners that don’t focus and talk about silly things

-

Christmas

                                           When and How Did Christmas Start?

Denyce , Alisha, Jaylah

354 AD contains early evidence of the celebration on December 25^th of a  Christian                                      liturgical feast of the birth of Jesus.  Many popular customs associated with Christmas developed independently of the commemoration of Jesus birth. They had pre Christian festivals that by the time the church was celebrated around a winter with people who were later converted with Christianity. Christianity means a religion based on a person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth or it’s beliefs or practices. Nazareth means a historic town in Northern Israel that is mentioned in the Gospels as the home of Joseph and Mary. The fact the Donatists of  Roman North Africa celebrated Christmas may indicate that the feast was established time the church was made in 311. The other dates for Christmas is January 6^th and 7^th and the 19^th

Why do we get presents on Christmas?

Abi, Dora, Mia

Family and friends give presents to each other to show appreciation and how much they care

The first present that people can remember is when God gave his one and only son to the people of Earth.

Presents can be from underwear and socks to $1000 toys. Kids always love to try to peek at their presents and figure out what they’re getting.

The following is an old story that doesn’t appear to have an author. It has been shared many times.

The Gold Wrapping Paper:

Once upon a time many years ago, there was a gruff man who worked very hard just to keep food on the table for his wife and children. This particular year just days before Christmas, he punished his little five-year-old daughter after learning that she had used up the family's only roll of expensive gold wrapping paper.

As money was so tight, he became even more upset when on Christmas Eve he saw that the child had used all of the expensive gold paper just to decorate one large shoebox she had put under the Christmas tree. He also wondered where she had gotten the money to buy whatever was in the shoebox.

Nevertheless, the next morning the little girl, filled with excitement, brought the gift box to her father and said, "This is for you, Daddy!"

 As he opened the box, the father was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, now regretting how he had punished her.

 But when he opened the shoebox, he found it was empty and again his anger flared. "Don't you know, young lady," he said harshly, "when you give someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside the package!"

 The little girl looked up at him with sad tears rolling from her eyes and whispered: "Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was all full."

 The father was crushed. He fell on his knees and put his arms around his precious little girl. He begged her to forgive him for his unnecessary anger.

 An accident took the life of the child only a short time later. It is told that the father kept this little gold box by his bed for all the years of his life. Whenever he was discouraged or faced difficult problems, he would open the box, take out an imaginary kiss, and remember the love of this beautiful child who had put it there.

 In a very real sense, each of us has been given an invisible golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family, friends and God. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.

Why are the main colors of Christmas red, green, white, and gold?

By Aaliyah, Rheya , Caden

The colors of Christmas are green, red, gold and white. Green represents holly and the trees. It also reminds people that winter dose not last forever. Red represents Santa. It also represents the bishop ropes that Santa wears. This goes back to other stories about St. Nicholas. Gold represents the sun and light on the dark night of Christmas. It also represents the colour that people say keeps you warm. White represents the snow and the cold winter night.

Mistletoe Tradition

Our question is: How did the mistletoe tradition start?

by Adrian ,Zack ,Keeshan

Since ancient times, the mistletoe has been one of the most magical mysterious plants of European folklore. People argue against the use of mistletoe in Christmas decor as the plants were used in pagan tradition. Mistletoe has been associated to Celtic and Pagan rituals and was used in Norse mythology. People in ancient times thought of it as a plant that held wonderful powers. In some cultures the mistletoe was a symbol of peace, love and kindness. The modern day tradition of kissing under the mistletoe comes from Norse mythology. A Norse goddess declared the mistletoe a plant to symbolize love rather than death. As the myth goes it recently stood for being a symbol of love. Kissing under the mistletoe naturally became a tradition as everyone understands the powers of love.

    Christmas Tree Traditions

Olivia, Cameron, Hunter

The Christmas tree tradition started in Germany, were the people would take in pine or an evergreen tree, (now or a fake one,) and decorate the tree with: 

1700’s; apples, nuts and foods.

1800’s; candles, cranberry and popcorn strings, garland, tinsel and candy canes.

Now, lights, Christmas ornaments, candy canes and ribbon and for the top, it’s the star of Bethlehem, or a herald angel

All About Christmas

Dora, Alisha, Caden, Adrian M

The representative for Santa was born in Patara, Turkey in 280. He died December 6^th 343 in Myra, Turkey. He then transferred into Santa Claus. Before he died, he was a Christen bishop who provided for the poor and sick. The date of Christmas is December 25 in most places or January 6^th or 7^th or 19^th. Christmas is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas is a civil holiday in many of the world’s nations. Christmas is called Christmas because it combines 2 words Christ’s Mass. The term literally means the Mass of Christ. No one knows exactly how long Christmas has been around for.

How did the earth form?

Hunter, Zach, Andrew, Denyce

A billion years ago the solar system was nothing but a bunch of clouds. The clouds of dust were made of called dust particles. The dust particles soon got attracted to each other, and formed one big spinning disc. As the disc spun, the disc separated it into smaller rings. The spinning of the rings made them white hot. The center of the rings was the sun. The outer rings turned to large balls of fire. The balls were made of gas and molten liquid and soon turned into planets. The planets were Earth, Mars, Venus, Neptune, Mercury and many other planets.

What Makes Lightning?

Abi. Mia

Lightning is produced in thunderstorms. It is  made as liquid and ice particles move above freezing level collide. There is a build up of large electrical fields in the clouds. Once electrical fields become large enough a giant spark occurs between them.  Thunderstorms produce lightning and are very dangerous.  Lightning kills and injures more than hurricanes and tornados each year. The number of people killed and injured is in between 100-1500 people. Have any of you ever rubbed your feet across carpet and then touched a metal doorknob and get shocked? That is what happens with lightning

How Do You Make Something 3D?

3d films are captured using two lenses placed side by side just like your eyes. 3D films like Avatar trick your mind, bringing images projected onto a flat cinema screen and projecting them forward. in old fashioned 3D films, footage for the left eye would be filmed using a red lens filter, producing a red image, and footage for the right eye would be shot using a blue filter, resulting in a blue image.  Together they fool the eye into thinking something is standing out or sitting back on the screen.

HOW Does a Snowflake FORM?

Olivia, Rheya, Keeshan, Katelynne

BEFORE SNOW FALLS, IT TURNS INTO ICE CRYSTALS. When the ice crystals get heavy, they form six tiny arms, and as they fall, the arms grow and get bigger as droplets of water attach themselves to the crystal and freezes. It also has to be less than 0 degrees to snow. Snow starts in the Earth’s atmosphere as tiny droplets.

A snowflake gets it shape from the way the air hits it.

Why do we dream when there is nothing there?

When you close your eyes you imagine stuff. Your brain is active during rem (rapid eye movement). The rapid eye movement exercises the brain during long periods of sleep. Neurotransmitters remained active during sleep. Recent research reveals that our dreams are our mind at work organizing and making sense of memories, sort of like therapy but only inside your head.

Our thoughts about dreaming.

Caoimhe What I think is that the threats in life that we see makes you dream bad things like you are falling off a cliff.

Aaliyah

I think what happens in the day could get involved with your mind and get in your dreams

Kaydn

When you dream the images in your mind come to life

    The motivation to succeed is lacking in education at the moment. Everyone is trying to instill extrinsic motivation in students to get them to succeed. We establish curriculum, set goals, develop time lines and teach all to the same end. Most students do not want to learn what we are teaching them. The key is to establish intrinsic motivation through finding topics of interest and then applying the curriculum to help them meet their goals. Building on this internal motivation catches the students in the act of learning and expands it to follow the interests and needs of the individuals. They stay motivated because they are interested. One cannot expect to cover the curriculum as it exists now. One cannot expect that square boxes where everyone is taught the same thing will work. As adults we all have different interests and follow those interests to our satisfaction. Why are we restricting students in their interests?

The following is from an article from the Smithsonian based on why schools in Finland are successful.

The Foundation

Public schools should be organized into one system.

Everyone contributes to the curriculum to provide guidelines for learning, not set in stone prescriptions. The guidelines would be brief and to the point.

All resources are given equally to all schools, not just new or wealthy schools.

Every teacher would have to have a master’s degree in theory and practice at state expense. State expense would be grandfathered out in 5 years. At that time all teachers should have a Master’s degree or lose their job.

With a Master’s degree all teachers should be referred to as professionals in the truest sense since their education would be more in line with other professionals.

All children will be taught in the same classrooms, with lots of special teacher help available to make sure no child really is left behind.

Hire and keep people who love the work. Encourage creativity in the workplace. Explore best practices every year.

Equip all schools with the latest technology and find ways to maintain it without giving over control of it to corporate entities.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Why-Are-Finlands-Schools-Successful.html#ixzz2ZKmQ5JAj 
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

Today we experimented a little bit. The students were given two laptops per group. One for research and one for recording information in their own words. This meant the recording and rewriting could be quicker. It also made sure that the copy and paste method was not being used.

Why do the leaves on trees change colours?

Dora, Caoimhe, Rheya, Cameron

The leaves on trees can be red, purple, yellow or orange as a result of the chemical processes.  Chemical processes place in the tree as seasons change.  Leaves only change colour in the fall. The reason is because when Fall comes around, the Chlorophyll breaks down and the green disappears, and shows yellow, orange, red and purple colours. The pigments in the leaf also help with the colour. For example, Anthocyanin’s and carotenoids will appear the colour orange. And Carotenoids will appear orange, red, but mainly yellow. Tannins is responsible for brown coloured oak leaves. Trees also store the nutrients in the roots for winter to absorb the leaves and survive the winter. Some trees will lose their leaves very easily, such as pine, spruce, firs, hemlocks, cedars, etc.  Some trees won’t lose their leaves for 2-4 years or more.  Also on Fall leaves, the temperature, light, and water supply have an influence on the degree of Fall colours.

 Eye Injuries

Abi, Kaydn, Mia

In your knee you have glands and if you scratch those glands it get to the nerves. But when you scratch your eye it is one of the most sensitive things in your body because you don’t have  glands or something covering the nerves so the nerve get ruptured  and hurts. Under your eye you have many nerves. Under your eye your nerves are the most sensitive. There are many types of injuries around, near, and in your eye. Corneal abrasion, scratched cornea, pink eye, and many more. Scratches around and near and on the eye are very serious they may need very expensive medical help: Such as surgery, stitches, antibiotics, and much more.

  

  Stellar system                          Adrian m&d Hunter             

A stellar system is another name for a star system. A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars which orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. A large number of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a star cluster or galaxy, although they are also star systems. A Stellar system of two stars is known as a binary star. A multiple consists of three or more stars that appear from the earth to be close to another one in the sky

What Causes Earthquakes?

Aaliyah, Keeshan, Alisha

Website: htt://www.ga.gov.au/hazard/earthquakes-basic/causes.html

-         An earthquake happens when rocks break down and move as a result of stress caused by plate movements

-         There is more than 1 type of earthquake

-         There are interpolate and volcanic earthquakes

-         Volcanic earthquakes forms with melted rocks called magma it’s stored in reservoirs

-         All earthquakes on main land Australia and Tasmania are interpolate

-         Earths outer layer is broken into a bunch of pieces called tectonic plate which are almost about a 100km thick and are constantly moving away from the past year

Website:HTTP://kids.discovery.com/tell-me/curiosity-corner/earth/natural-disaster/how-earthquakes-works volcanic

-there is one other thing that causes earthquakes movement by the movements of plates under the earth’s surface

What Is A Goose Egg 

Zach, Andrew, Caden

First you bump your head. The bigger the fall the more pain and the bump gets bigger. An ice pack helps make the swelling go down.  If the injury is severe it was probably from falling or hitting your head. Some of the side effects are head ache and swelling. It swells like a goose egg because there is no place else for the bruise and blood to go but out. On other parts of your body your muscles can absorb the bruise. It can sometimes lead to a concussion. Some symptoms of a concussion are dizziness, vomiting, stumbling.

Why do they call a safety pin if it’s not safe

Stewart, Denyce, Cody

Safety pins are called safety pins because you can lock the pin part of it in this type of holder

When a safety pin is used properly to close dippers and more they are very safe. They are good for arts and crafts.

Safety pins are used for closing things. There is a different type of safety pin that is used for hanging up clothes on the close line.

An International SOLE Hangout on Youtube at 1pm. Eastern time. Watch the kids research a topic!

Here is the link to the video of the hangout.

https://i1.ytimg.com/vi/FCtITdIQyBk/wide_360p_v4619737.jpg