Geometry Introduction

Today we defined the term POLYGON.  We reached a consensus as to a working definition for the term polygon that will suit our purposes.  Did any of you discover a different definition that you also found useful?
Watch the video that will help reinforce learning.

Then you went on a hunt for prefixes that represented multi sided figures.

Please share some of your learning as a post.

Thanks K.P. for this helpful website:
http://www.basic-mathematics.com/prefixes-used-in-math.html

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Elevated to Sainthood

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has stated that the Native Canadian woman, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, is worthy of sainthood because of, "her life of exemplary devotion and sacrifice and because this fact has been reinforced by the miracles of healing that have been effected through her direct intercession".

Hundreds of faithful, representing all shades of the human rainbow, flocked together on Sunday in Bensalem to rejoice over the canonization of the first American Indian saint.

They celebrated Kateri Takakwitha, known as “Lily of the Mohawks,” with a Catholic Mass, American Indian song and dance and a procession around the St. Katharine Drexel Mission Center and National Shrine. The procession was led by volunteers who carried a 5-foot statue in St. Kateri’s likeness.

“It’s very deserving,” author Lou Baldwin said as he and wife, Rita, joined in the celebration. Baldwin wrote “St. Katharine Drexel: Apostle to the Oppressed” and “A Call to Sanctity: The Formation and Life of Mother Katharine Drexel.”

“Saints are supposed to be examples for us,” Baldwin said. “(Kateri) is a very good example of what a Christian woman should be.”

Kateri was born in 1656 near Auriesville, N.Y. Her mother was of Christian Algonquin descent, and her father was a Mohawk chief. Her parents and brother died during a smallpox outbreak when Kateri was 4, church historians said. The disease also damaged Kateri’s eyesight and scarred her face.

Raised by her uncle, Kateri recalled how her mother prayed to Jesus Christ, according to historians. She too wanted to become a Christian, but her uncle would not allow it until Kateri was a young adult.

After she converted to Catholicism with the help of church missionaries, Kateri was scorned and ridiculed by people in her village, the historians said. She fled to Canada to live in a settlement of Christian Indians near Montreal.

Kateri cared for the children and elderly in her village and helped convert other Indians to Christianity until her death around the age of 24, the historians said.

Pope Benedict XVI agreed in late 2011 to elevate Kateri to sainthood after it was deemed medically inexplicable by the Vatican that a 5-year-old boy was able to survive a flesh-eating bacteria attack. The miracle occurred in 2006, church officials said, after Jake Finkbonner’s family and Lummi tribe members prayed to God through Kateri’s intercession.

Jake, now 12, and hundreds of members of his tribe from northwest Washington state attended Sunday’s canonization in Vatican City.

“May her example help us to live where we are: Loving Jesus without denying who we are,” the pope said Sunday during the Kateri’s canonization. “Saint Kateri, (protector) of Canada and the first Native American saint, we entrust you to the renewal of the faith in the first nations and in all of North America.”

She was one of seven people canonized on Sunday. The other new saints are Sister Marianne Cope, Pedro Calungsod, Jacques Berthieu, Carmen Salles y Barangueras, Giovanni Battista Piamarta and Anna Schaeffer.

Kateri’s canonization is a moment of pride for many American Indians, including those who are non-Catholics, said Quentin Bear Fuller during the Bensalem celebration hosted by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

“To be understood by Europeans has been our goal for many years of existence,” Fuller said. “I am very happy for her. It makes us proud.”

Sister Patricia Downs, director of the Drexel center and shrine, said Saint Kateri demonstrated her strength through her faith and belief in Jesus Christ. “She lived out her values strongly,” said Sister Downs.

It is that faith that brought people of all walks of life together on Sunday for at least one day, said the Rev. Bruce Lewandowski, the diocese’s vicar of cultural ministry.

“Let our prayer today be that we are united tomorrow as we are today,” Lewandowski said during the Mass celebrated in Kateri’s honor. “Let us live our lives by the example of the ‘Lily of the Mohawks.’”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

http://youtu.be/mB4Xlz9YYII

Catholic Missions in Canada

PART 1
With your assigned partner, using a map of Canada, find the following communities:
Kuujjuarapik, Quebec
St. Anthony, Newfoundland
Duck Lake, Saskatchewan
Cranbrook, Alberta
Baker Lake (Qamanit'uaq), Nunavut Territory
Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories
Mayo, Yukon Territory
Fort St. James, British Columbia
Lynn Lake, Manitoba
Sandy Lake, Ontario

PART 2
Do an Internet search to find out the population of each community listed above.
With your assigned partner, display the population information using an appropriate method.  (ie. bar graph).

Statistics Canada:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca
Information by Community can be done at:
http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-591/index.cfm?Lang=E

PART 3
Find out the main source of income for each region from PART 1.
What do all these communities have in common?
What provinces are not included in this list?

Sites that might prove helpful:
http://cmic.info/home
http://www.town.stanthony.nf.ca/
http://ducklake.ca/
http://www.investnorthernbc.com/communities/fort_stjames/default.htm
http://www.sandylake.firstnation.ca

Who in the world is ?????

Joseph Kittinger

What's the connection?

Watson, the sequel!

Thanks to one of our keen students who is always seeking new opportunities to gain and share knowledge, here is a new link to follow related to Watson 2.0.  (Thanks T.P.!)

Just yesterday I read a fascinating news article with the headline, "Apps and iPads redefine medicine", which I'll share with you in class.  With the plethora of gadgets, apps and web-based information available to diagnose illnesses, decide treatment, and to obtain and share information, it begs questions about human connections and bedside manner. 

Is this explosion of technology in medicine a good or a bad thing?

I think I smell a debate simmering on the stove.

Newspaper Resource

Please follow the link to the Hamilton Spectator for our classroom subscription.

The class email address and password are available in the classroom so that all students have access to the electronic version of the newspaper.

Presentation Tools for Students

I would like to suggest that we independently investigate the following sites recommended by the 21st Century Fluency Project.  They are a variety of tools for everything from presentations  to animations and timelines.

Over the next few days, make it your goal to thoroughly investigate and explore one or two of the recommendations and report back to the class on your findings. 



Things to consider when reporting back:
Which site? 
How user friendly?
What are the positives?  Negatives?
How could it be used in the learning that occurs in our classroom?
http://www.fluency21.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=2980&utm_source=Committed+Sardine+Blog+Update&utm_campaign=1f0b5d75ae-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email