Spatial Sense!

image from Deepika Gupta's Blog

In Mme. Fernandes' class today, we explore some of the basic concepts & required skills in Geometry/Spatial sense, particularly about Cartesian Plane and Transformations through game simulations~  

What do you already know about Cartesian Plane? 

What do you already know about Transformations?

What are some of your new learnings today? 

Please share your thoughts with us in the comment area below.

Photo Essay and Visualization

We've started a photo essay project with Mrs. Fairbarn's grade 7 class.  Students are asked to choose a song, identify the message(s) of their favourite parts of the lyrics, and turn these 'words' into 'images' in their photo essays.

What is a Photo Essay?  We investigated this term at the beginning of the project, and decided on this explanation:

A series of photographs that illustrate a narrative, a statement, a purpose, using imagery and symbolism, with minimal text.

We also decided that in order to do this project, we will need to learn:

• Imagery/Symbolism: Visualization
• Basic composition 
• Basic photography techniques
• Basic post-production techniques (Adobe Photoshop)
• Understand copy right & fair use policies/regulations

During our investigation about basic photography & post-production techniques , we learned that there are many factors that can impact the message of a photo, thus altering the audience's perception of our work.  We learned that:

When taking the photo, consider:

• Angle(vantage point): it tells the story!

• Lighting & exposure

• Composition: Rule of Thirds

When fixing the photo, consider:

• cropping & ratio

• contrast, lighting, exposure (Level)

• effect (don’t over do it!)

Some of the examples are shown here:

We looked at how cropping and ratio can make a world of difference in photos (see landscape below)

We also briefly looked at how exposure affects your picture quality (and sometimes moods as well~)


We also took a shot at playing with levels and effects to 'change' the story a photo can tell:

nostalgic,  dream like, memory

joyful, good times, love of the game

haunting, tragic, scary

Here are two links used during our mini-lesson, focusing on Rule of Thirds as a way to frame your shots:

Rule of thirds from Jayne Whitelock on Vimeo.


What do you think about this project?  Any suggestions/feedback? Questions? 

Enjoy making your first (?) photo essay! We will be sharing some of our work in the next few weeks! 

Google Site Exploration....continues

The 7/8s (Fernandes) have been exploring and constructing their personal 'digital portfolio' online using Google Sites in the past weeks.  We will be sharing the sites with you all (YRDSB google accounts required) in the coming month.  In the meantime, we have been working collaboratively to solve problems as we encounter them while using Google Sites; another example of the power of collaboration in learning.

What have you learned using Google Sites?  Care to share a tip, a shortcut, or answer someone else's inquiry?  We look forward to your feedback!

in the meantime, here is a solution to a question posed by several: HOW DO YOU DELETE UNWANTED SITES?

please follow the steps below and let me know if you have any issues..

Cheers,
Mr. H

Select your site (to be deleted) from the list **you can only delete the site(s) created by you

Select 'MORE'

Select 'Manage Site'

Select 'Delete this Site'

(closer look) Select 'Delete this Site'

Select 'Delete'

If you happen to delete a site by 'accident' (really??); you can restore the site within 30 days of the action.

Select 'Deleted Site'

Locate the site you wish to restore in the list; select 'Restore Site' 

You can also choose to 'delete permanently if you are certain that you will not need the site anymore.  This action cannot be reversed.