Mid Term Exam
Wednesday, January 26 in the afternoon.

For the remainder of this week students will be given an opportunity to review for the mid term. Students should apply themselves well as this test does account for an important piece of their year evaluation. Students have been given a guide and if they have kept themselves organized for the year they should have a good chance at success. For classes we are reviewing I encourage students to bring topics to class they are having difficultly with. That way we are addressing areas in which they have concern.

The test will consist of the following:

Section A 50 Multiple Choice
Section B Canadian Provinces/Territories and capital cities
Section C Know how to diagram the Rock Cycle
Section D Contour Maps
Section E Topographic Maps
Section F Climographs
Section G Landform Regions
Section H Questions In this section students will have one major question that focuses on the advantages/disadvantages of Canada's geography. All students will have to do that question. Of the remaining 4 questions they will have to complete three questions.

Obviously some of the sections will take more time than other sections so students should should not get caught up on a section. They should move on and come back to sections they have difficulty with after they have completed the rest of the exam.

Today we completed an overview of soil/vegetation regions, climate regions and ecosystems. Similarities were pointed out and took students through the handouts provided on the regions. At end of class each student given a location to create a divergent bar graph on (Question # 5 on page 75) Will complete next day.

Today we finished most all of the notes relating to the characteristics of soil - water, air, minerals, and organic matter. In addition students were given worksheets where they could record information related to a soil profile. We have a few more brief notes and then students will required to complete a chart that outlines the various soil and vegetation regions of Canada.

Also of note is that as of Friday the Geography class will now be divided into two classes instead of one class. We have been fortunate in that the school has been able to access an additional .5 unit that will be used to have two Geography classes and also provide support for students at the intermediate level. Ms. Natasha Gale Chatman has been hired for the remainder of the school year in that capacity. Class lists will be posted tomorrow identifying the classes students will be in as of Friday.

Happy New Year!

We have had two classes in the new year and we are now looking at activities and issues related to how Canadians use resources on the land. Today we started with an overview and then notes were provided on how the characteristics of soil. This will build to the point where students should be able to relate that the soil a region has affects vegetation and consequently how people live in an area.

In addition we have finished watching the movie "Day After Tomorrow" which looks at the effect of drastic climate change. Despite taking an extreme approach the movie does point out the issues that global warming and climate change can present. Students should be able to relate this to issues we are now experiencing with floods in Australia, blizzards in Europe, The wind and rain prior to Christmas and the overall warm winter we are experiencing - Is our climate changing? That is an issue they should be able to relate to.

Stduents should also read in the next few days Chapter 5 in theiur textbook. Pages 68 - 79.