To see this even bigger, click here.
Friday, 28 February 2014
Thursday, 27 February 2014
What Stuck With Us, February 27th, 2013
What Stuck With You Today? Anything else to share? Your name
| Maker Jr. It was fun, and I learned a little about electrical flow. Negative --> Positive = Power; Negative + high voltage --> positive = ZZZZTT = Skin = dust. | Camden | |
| what stuck with me today was maker jr because i learned new things about electricity and surcets and it was really fun! | Thomas! | |
| I say chromesise | Miguel | |
| The why you cup your hands when you play the harmonica was cool to learn and interesting to know. | I still LOVE THE CHROMEBOOKS!!!!! | Melodee |
| Maker juniour stuck with me today because it was really cool to know how to make circuit. | Nils | |
| At recess I played my favorite game. | Aaron McLeod | |
| During class time, i learned more about paralympics and what they mean! | no | Erika |
| Mousercise stuck with me today. | Mousercise helps to learn trackpads. | Jack |
| Well, I am really excited about the tryouts so it was hard to learn, but I learned how to make a multiple choice question with Maker JR. | Wish me luck in the tryouts!! | Johnny W. Kurelek III |
| what stuck with me was writing about the olympics and what about it was fun but sort of frustrating cause of all the people that were on it.It was alittle much like in people | I LOVE THE CHROMEBOOKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | kaleigh |
| I really enjoyed the math we did today, I liked the "travelers", it was a awesome way to get people to share new idea's and for each person to get a chance to share what their previous group came up with. | Not today. | Victoria |
| I learned about the paralympics and the special olympics | CHROMEBOOKS ARE AMAZING AND FUN AND ect | Melodee |
| what stuck with me was the Math should look,sound and feel like document because i think it will really help me reflect on and improve my math attitude | madi | |
| Writing 'What stuck with you today." And also the math attitude thing. | nooo | Millie |
| I had fun learning how to make the quiz cards. I think it was a really cool experience and I think other people will have fun doing the questions. | Yaro | |
| today I learned that there is such thing as electro thread. Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 | be happy and drink coffee it will help with the tired problem I guarantee it! | HUNTER!!! |
| when we practice our kids snpit in french. | molly | |
| mcker jr was fun and a bit frustrating but overall it was so unece. | no | skye |
| How awesome the environment of Maker Jr. was! It was so creative and innovative that it just made you wanna make! | I think we can use Minecraft in a maker situation using the redstone system. Redstone is basically a wire and there's a bunch of things such as repeaters, which continue and delay redstone, dispensers, which dispense blocks or items, pistons, which is a block that has a part which moves forward that can be retracted, and much, much more! | Pat |
| What stuck with me today was Maker jr. I think it was really fun and I love how we can work with electric items and how we usually can't at home. | Can the Maker jr. come in again to make the books | Gabby |
| The thing that stuck to me today is The Maker Jr. I found it really cool how we got to make it our selves and how they actually worked out really well. I fine that Maker Jr. helps me understand electricity better than regular learner. | Fiona | |
| i dont really have any thing today sooy if this is not a good responcse | no sorry | oceanna |
| Maker Junior quiz cards. | Quote the raven, nevermore. | Nat |
| Bin 2 stuck with me today.Sharing your answer with another pair and then another group and then share how we got that answer makes you think,really,really hard and thats fun!I noticed that there were many different answers that me and my pair and other pair didn't find but the other group did. | Clara | |
| not my energy i am dead tired my circuit thingy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i figured out how to make my circuit work and it was super fun !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | larry |
What Stuck With Us on Feb 26th, 2014
What Stuck With You Today Anything else to share? Your name
| I would have to say blues in the school again it was really enjoyable | Miguel | |
| today I leaned that there were different kinds of harmonicas and people can customize harmonicas | Unicorns are REAL!! | Hunter!!! |
| blues in the school I just love the blues music because I love harmonicas. | Aaron McLeod | |
| Today the math game we played is stuck with me, I was a really fun game and I can't wait until we play greedy pigs! | Have a good rest of the day! | Hannah |
| The math game because it was really fun and we should maybe do the same game but with multiplication. | Nils | |
| Blues in the schools stuck with me today because i found that it was the most interesting so far, in my opinion. | Jack | |
| The blues in the schools; I learned that there are many different types of harmonicas (or instuments in general) , and that by doing specific things to the body of the instrument can TOTALLY change the noiuse! | Camden | |
| I learned the twelve bar blues | no | oc |
| what stuck with me today was 2 things so one of them was slc it was cool for kim i hope to see my slc and the math game was AWESOME | kaleigh | |
| what stuck with me today was... -blue's in the school | Ellis | |
| I loved using the chromebooks the best. I love them so much and I liked collaborating on the drive and stuff. Its really fun:) | nope | Millie |
| The two tricks for not getting nervous that Catrina taught us in Blues In The Schools. The first one his hold your pinky and the second one is tap around your chest. The second one stood out to me a bit more because I remember from Mind Up. I think it's the therapy where you tap sensory points. | Nope. | Pat |
| What stuck with me today? The thing that stuck to me the most was the cooperative Google doc about our Kiva loan. I fine that when we work together on a cooperative doc we can get more done. I also fined it really cool how we are all typing on the doc at once. I am really excited to make our decision on who we are going to loan to. I wrote about a person named Andres De Jesus. Me and Gabby explained why we wanted to have him as our loan. | Fiona | |
| Today Blues In The School stuck with me. In blues in the school I loved how happy the performers were. I thought that it was really fun. Also what stuck with me was the Kiva loan. I think that we should get back into doing the loans. | Gabby | |
| What stuck with me today math with help stuck with me today, I finished the yellow light work and started the green light work and that gave me more of a challenge. I also found that getting to know the chromebooks even better and using them more stuck with em today, I am so exited to work with them more! | Victoria | |
| What stuck with me today was the new math game because you had to try to match numbers to make doubles and if you had single numbers you would cross them out and then add up all the doubles and there is your answer | Thomas! | |
| Well, I didn't really learn anything new today but at the blues in the schools i learned a lot about Harmonica's the different sounds you can make, and the places where you can put your fingers to make sounds, plus one more thing that i learned about it was the different types of sounds you can make! | no | Erika |
| Little Walter had no home and barely any money but he still managed to become a famous harmonica player. | Nat | |
| Playing the math game with clara stuck with me because we got a new record for the game, in was the perfect mix of fun and learning. | no | skye |
| what stuck with me was blues in the schools because of all the different sounds the harmonica can make | madi | |
| The why you cup your hands when you play the harmonica was cool to learn and interesting to know. | I still LOVE THE CHROMEBOOKS!!!!! | Melodee |
| Today Blues in the schools stuck with me.We learned about two famous Harmonica players.Sony Terry and little Walker.Little Walker got his name since he started so young,near when he was 14 he had no home and slept where he played on pool tables.Sony Terry would have so much air in his lungs and couldn't take more he'd go whooo whooo.Catreina said these were her two favorite players. | Clara | |
| hmmmmm let me think .KIVA!!!! thats what stuck with me today i really hope someone agrees with my choice of murunga and the one acer farmers . they don't need a lot , the loan will help the whole organization and her family , i can't see why no one seconded me yet ! plus she is going to use the profits from her farm to send her kids to school. also i was thinking a good project for our class:we research something and create a blog to tell the world about it and support it ! hear is a example lets say clara is concerned about how some girls don't get the same rights as boys ,she could make a blog about that (ha ha she already has one about that !)or ,lets say , erika could make a blog about animals or someone can make it about well anything that interests them ! | id like my class to know PLEASE JOIN MY DIGITLE BOOK CLUB bye larrysa | Laryssa |
We Stand Together Daily Fact #4
(For some reason, I never got Daily Fact #3, so we've skipped from #2 to #4!)
Daily Fact #4
Almost half of non-Aboriginal Canadians living in cities have not heard or read anything about Indian residential schools?
Aboriginal Experiences in Residential Schools
Beginning in the late 1800s, Aboriginal children were removed from their homes and placed in residential schools run by the Canadian government and local churches. The schools attempted
to assimilate and “civilize” the Aboriginal children. Instances of abuse were widespread, and in overcrowded schools, tuberculosis was often deadly. Of the approximately 150,000 children who attended residential schools, at least 3,000 died.
The schools had a devastating effect on many Aboriginal families, which is still felt today. Two-thirds of urban Aboriginal Peoples say they have been affected by the residential schools, either personally or through a family member. In 2008 the Canadian government offered an apology, twelve years after the last residential school closed in 1996. Today, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada works to establish truth, healing and reconciliation in the aftermath of the residential schools.
Daily Fact #4
Almost half of non-Aboriginal Canadians living in cities have not heard or read anything about Indian residential schools?
Aboriginal Experiences in Residential Schools
Beginning in the late 1800s, Aboriginal children were removed from their homes and placed in residential schools run by the Canadian government and local churches. The schools attempted
to assimilate and “civilize” the Aboriginal children. Instances of abuse were widespread, and in overcrowded schools, tuberculosis was often deadly. Of the approximately 150,000 children who attended residential schools, at least 3,000 died.
The schools had a devastating effect on many Aboriginal families, which is still felt today. Two-thirds of urban Aboriginal Peoples say they have been affected by the residential schools, either personally or through a family member. In 2008 the Canadian government offered an apology, twelve years after the last residential school closed in 1996. Today, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada works to establish truth, healing and reconciliation in the aftermath of the residential schools.
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
How We're Feeling in Room 209 Today!
The capture of our wordle gets a little fuzzy when I make it bigger - you can see it more clearly here.
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
We Stand Together Daily Fact #2
Compared to other Canadians, First Nations People’s homes are 90 times more likely to be without running water, and currently 90 First Nations communities cannot drink the water that comes out of their taps.
Water issues in First Nations communities
Access to clean water is usually considered a problem present only in developing countries, but for some families in Canada, this is a very real issue. Lack of proper infrastructure in First Nations communities has resulted in conditions usually seen only in developing communities. More than 3,000 homes on reserves across Canada lack running water. Two out of five of these homes are in Manitoba. In the Island Lake area of Manitoba, some Aboriginal families subsist on 10 litres of treated water a day per person, plus another 20 litres of untreated river water for laundry. The United Nations considers 50 litres per person the minimum to meet basic needs!
Even when Aboriginal communities have access to running water, it may not be clean enough to drink. Of the more than 600 First Nations communities south of 60 degrees parallel, 90 had a drinking water advisory as of December 31, 2013.
We Stand Together Daily Fact #1
Free the Children is hosting a conversation from Feb 24th-March 7th to raise awareness about aboriginal issues.
Canadian Cree and Métis served as code-keepers for the Allies’ top-secret transmissions during the Second World War, sending and translating messages into Cree and then back into English.
Aboriginal Canadians During the World Wars
First Nations, Inuit and Métis all have a long history of standing beside non-Aboriginals to defend Canada in times of conflict. In fact, despite facing discrimination, one in three First Nations men of military age volunteered during the First World War, serving as soldiers, snipers, sappers and scouts on battlefields across Europe. The war brought together men from First Nations across Canada. Some of the first Aboriginal political organizations formed during this time of Aboriginal pride and solidarity.
When the Second World War broke out, Canada’s Aboriginal population again prepared to fight. At least 3,000 status Indians volunteered (likely many more), and a small number of these soldiers were recruited for a special American initiative. Along with American Navajo, these men became responsible for coding the Allies’ most important messages into the Cree language. The efforts of the Navajo are recounted in the 2002 film Windtalkers, starring Canadian Aboriginal actor Adam Beach from the Saulteaux Nation.
For decades after their service, the experiences of the code-talkers were classified and they could not even speak to their families about their service in the war. The Canadian Aboriginal code-talkers never received recognition, either from the American or Canadian government, for their contributions to the Allies.
Awesome Songs
Nils' mom, Anna, just shared his new favourite song with me. I may also have a new favourite song.
It reminded me of this other awesome song that I love!
Monday, 24 February 2014
How Do We Feel Today?
I took the results from our first "How Do You Feel Today?" survey and made a Wordle. Check out how Room 209 feels today!
Sunday, 23 February 2014
Getting into a Routine - Our Chromebook Learning
Good morning boys and girls,
For the first few weeks that we work with the Chromebooks, we need to get into some patterns and habits.
After you have completed your training, unboxed and labelled your device, you will be using your Chromebook each day to support your learning and to communicate your learning.
We will begin by getting into a routine, starting today.
Once you have picked up your Chromebook in the morning, you will follow these steps:
#1. Respond to the How Do You Feel Today? survey.
#2. Set a timer (we'll all install "Timer-Tab") for 10 minutes and log in to Typing Web. Practice your typing for 10 minutes.
#3. Set another time for 10 minutes and log in to IXL (or Khan Academy if you've linked your account with mine). Practice your place value/decimal/fraction work for 10 minutes.
#4. If you have time left, get down to work on other tasks that are assigned - check the Mustard/Ketchup and Pickle boards.
At the end of each day, before we put our Chromebooks back and plug them in for use the next day, you will be expected to respond to the "What Stuck with You Today?" survey.
For the first few weeks that we work with the Chromebooks, we need to get into some patterns and habits.
After you have completed your training, unboxed and labelled your device, you will be using your Chromebook each day to support your learning and to communicate your learning.
We will begin by getting into a routine, starting today.
Once you have picked up your Chromebook in the morning, you will follow these steps:
#1. Respond to the How Do You Feel Today? survey.
#2. Set a timer (we'll all install "Timer-Tab") for 10 minutes and log in to Typing Web. Practice your typing for 10 minutes.
#3. Set another time for 10 minutes and log in to IXL (or Khan Academy if you've linked your account with mine). Practice your place value/decimal/fraction work for 10 minutes.
#4. If you have time left, get down to work on other tasks that are assigned - check the Mustard/Ketchup and Pickle boards.
At the end of each day, before we put our Chromebooks back and plug them in for use the next day, you will be expected to respond to the "What Stuck with You Today?" survey.
Winter Walk Day
Students knew it was a special day when they arrived to the school yard and there was a huge giraffe waiting to say hello to them.
A cozy, winter hello!
Warming up with "Alena's Buns of Steel".
After the warm up, the entire school went on our "Run Route" twice. Even though it was cold outside, we were nice and warm!
Students Hard at Work - Preparing for SLCs
Room 209 Fashion: Aaron and Philip
Third Annual Living Musuem
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| Time Travellers take a few minutes to read and get themselves focused before the big event. |
Many of you followed along with our Living Museum on Twitter again this year, so these photos will be familiar.
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| Just three of the Time Travellers, Leonardo DaVinci, an early European boat salesman and an Aboriginal. |
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| The Girl with the Pearl Earring and a European Artist. |
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| Gabby the archaeologist teaches young potential explorers about her adventures. |
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| The Maori and Ojibwa Time Travellers tell young explorers about their lives. |
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| Madi and Hannah were pretty tough Maori warriors! |
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| The inside of a Mayan pyramid. |
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| Some of the Time Travellers made sure to Skype with our friends in California and share what they had learned. |
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| As always, our very own Genius Baby made an appearance to soak up some knowledge. |
What It's Like to Have a Therapy Dog in Our Classroom
In the past couple of months, we've been really lucky to have Nancy and Merlin come into our classroom. They're an amazing team who work with Therapeutic Paws of Canada. Nancy is Merlin's owner and Merlin is the kindest, sweetest, most incredible dog I've ever met.
After hearing about a therapy dog from a class that Tiiu's class did a Mystery Skype with, we did some online research to see if there were therapy dogs in Ottawa. That's how we found TPoC and Merlin and Nancy.
Things can get pretty stressful in a classroom, and when students come to school already feeling worried or anxious, it can be really difficult to focus and to learn. Merlin's influence in our room is amazing. He keeps everyone calm, focused and brings a smile to everyone's faces.
Nancy and Merlin come to visit us at least once a month and we all get to say hello to our canine buddy, as he licks us all hello, wags his tail and presses the "pet me more button".
One by one, each student takes some time to cuddle up to Merlin and read to him. He's an excellent listener! I love when the students select a picture book and make sure to show Merlin the pictures!
If you want to see a photo of one of Merlin's tricks, check out the article about him and Nancy from the Algonquin newspaper.
We are so lucky to have Nancy and Merlin come visit us.
Craft Fair Philanthropy
Molly made lightboxes and sold them to raise money for CHEO.
Skye and her friend created pet profiles and sold them along with photos of animals to raise money for the Humane Society.
The kindness and creativity of Churchill students never ceases to amaze me!
Jackson - Fashion and Hudson
Jackson started rocking a sleeve as a hat. Room 209 fashion is always on the cutting edge!
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Chromebook Questions
Skye had an awesome idea and it was to include parents in our Chromebook pilot project by hosting an information night for them about the devices and how we plan to use them. We talked about the options of having the teacher present, doing small student-run presentations for a group of parents or "Speed Geeking" (using a "Speed Dating" model to have students share apps, projects or ideas as parents rotate through stations). If parents are interested in an evening event to learn about Chromebook use, please get in touch with Shauna and one will be arranged!
Many students returned to school today with signed Appropriate Use of Chromebooks agreements. Some very interesting questions and issues were raised. Please remember that this is a learning process for ALL of us: admin, teachers, students and families! Please continue to raise questions and make comments as you notice issues.
Here are my thoughts on questions that were raised with the agreements.
"Students have no expectations of confidentiality or privacy with respect to any usage of a Chromebook. Teachers may use monitoring software that allows them to view the screens and activity on student Chromebook."
How will this happen? What are the consequences for students not doing what they are supposed to be doing?
For now, I will be monitoring the screens of students physically and having them live-blog/tweet or share their work on the Google Drives, so that students are accountable for their time online with the Chromebooks. Students will have clear guidelines and expectations of what they are to be working on and I will regularly check in with them to ensure they are doing so. If students are not working on approved tasks on approved sites, they will lose privileges. After an initial poor choice, the student will lose access to his/her assigned device for the remainder of the day, and have a discussion with the teacher. Next time, he or she will lose access for a full week. Finally, if it happens again, we will collaborate to find an appropriate consequence.
As we get things up and running, I've learned about some ways that I can see all student screens at once. There are a couple of possible ways to do this. NetSupportSchool and Hapara have systems that can be purchased and allow a teacher to monitor a class set of Chromebooks, by being able to view all users and what is on their screen at any time. Below is a video from NetSupportSchool showing how their system works.
"I will not download or use programs that my teacher has not approved."
What is the approval process?
For the first several weeks using the Chromebooks, students will all be using the same online programs, websites, apps and extensions. I am doing a lot of research on which programs, apps and extensions will enhance and transform our learning and have several to train the students in. When students learn about apps/extensions of programs they would like to add to our repertoire (Clara has already shared about things like Lucidchart and Powtoon), they can share information with me and I will make a decision about how to introduce and use them in class. Students and I can work together to formally create an approval process for when it becomes necessary.
"I will log on to the school network and my Google account using only my own credentials (username and password)."
Will students be asked to only use their OCDSB Google account?
For now, yes. One of the great things about Google Chrome is you can have multiple users logged in at once. For example, I have a "teacher" account (with a ninja image) and a "home" account (with a little kitty) open in seperate tabs and don't have to log in and out several times a day. Right now, students will set up their cloud.ocdsb.ca accounts. Some students have their own gmail accounts and we MAY, in the future, add those as well. The main reason for adding a second account would be that, right now, on our cloud.ocdsb.ca accounts, we can't access Google Hangouts (Google's version of Skype, with other functionaliites), and Google Hangouts would be very helpful for us to collaborate with another 1:1 class, such as the students in Ms. Robin's class in California. We'll deal with this after all students are comfortable first using their own cloud.ocdsb.ca accounts.
I am open to input and ideas, please feel free to share comments here or send in a note or email!
Many students returned to school today with signed Appropriate Use of Chromebooks agreements. Some very interesting questions and issues were raised. Please remember that this is a learning process for ALL of us: admin, teachers, students and families! Please continue to raise questions and make comments as you notice issues.
Here are my thoughts on questions that were raised with the agreements.
"Students have no expectations of confidentiality or privacy with respect to any usage of a Chromebook. Teachers may use monitoring software that allows them to view the screens and activity on student Chromebook."
How will this happen? What are the consequences for students not doing what they are supposed to be doing?
For now, I will be monitoring the screens of students physically and having them live-blog/tweet or share their work on the Google Drives, so that students are accountable for their time online with the Chromebooks. Students will have clear guidelines and expectations of what they are to be working on and I will regularly check in with them to ensure they are doing so. If students are not working on approved tasks on approved sites, they will lose privileges. After an initial poor choice, the student will lose access to his/her assigned device for the remainder of the day, and have a discussion with the teacher. Next time, he or she will lose access for a full week. Finally, if it happens again, we will collaborate to find an appropriate consequence.
As we get things up and running, I've learned about some ways that I can see all student screens at once. There are a couple of possible ways to do this. NetSupportSchool and Hapara have systems that can be purchased and allow a teacher to monitor a class set of Chromebooks, by being able to view all users and what is on their screen at any time. Below is a video from NetSupportSchool showing how their system works.
"I will not download or use programs that my teacher has not approved."
What is the approval process?
For the first several weeks using the Chromebooks, students will all be using the same online programs, websites, apps and extensions. I am doing a lot of research on which programs, apps and extensions will enhance and transform our learning and have several to train the students in. When students learn about apps/extensions of programs they would like to add to our repertoire (Clara has already shared about things like Lucidchart and Powtoon), they can share information with me and I will make a decision about how to introduce and use them in class. Students and I can work together to formally create an approval process for when it becomes necessary.
"I will log on to the school network and my Google account using only my own credentials (username and password)."
Will students be asked to only use their OCDSB Google account?
For now, yes. One of the great things about Google Chrome is you can have multiple users logged in at once. For example, I have a "teacher" account (with a ninja image) and a "home" account (with a little kitty) open in seperate tabs and don't have to log in and out several times a day. Right now, students will set up their cloud.ocdsb.ca accounts. Some students have their own gmail accounts and we MAY, in the future, add those as well. The main reason for adding a second account would be that, right now, on our cloud.ocdsb.ca accounts, we can't access Google Hangouts (Google's version of Skype, with other functionaliites), and Google Hangouts would be very helpful for us to collaborate with another 1:1 class, such as the students in Ms. Robin's class in California. We'll deal with this after all students are comfortable first using their own cloud.ocdsb.ca accounts.
I am open to input and ideas, please feel free to share comments here or send in a note or email!
Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Chromebook Arrival - First Unboxing
After much anticipation (Ellis was sure we'd been waiting 5 months). the 31 Chromebooks for our 1:1 pilot project arrived!
We went over our Chromebook questions from last month and then worked on a document of Chromebook Expectations. Students took a copy of this home tonight to read over with their parents and sign. This is working document which is their contract and acceptable use policy.
Some students stayed in at recess to do the very first unboxing. OC's name was drawn and she got to unbox Chromebook #31 (our "spare"). Aaron put together a little video to show our excitement.
There are still some things to discuss and look at before everyone is assigned a device. For the first few weeks of using Chromebooks, we'll be working slowly and on the same tasks. We are going to make sure that everyone can effectively use these tools before students can "take their ideas and run with them".
Some of the things we'll be doing the next few days include unboxing and labelling all the Chromebooks, setting up our charging stations, logging into them for the first time and setting up user accounts, and watching some training videos.
We'll start with Introducing the Chromebook:
We'll watch a video giving a Chromebook Education Overview:
We'll talk about how to care for and handle the Chromebooks.
Then, we'll practice how to use the Chromebooks (before we even get our hands on them!).
Finally, students will unbox Chromebooks and set them up for their first charge!
We couldn't be more excited to get started and look forward to learning with this new technology and sharing our progress and challenges!
Now, to think about screen time limits...
Monday, 17 February 2014
Reflecting on our Mystery Skype Call with Ms. Vo's Class
On Friday, we had a Mystery Skype call with a class in Dallas, Texas. They are on Twitter and we can continue to connect with them there.
We had a sneaky-peek of where they were located before our call, so, while they tried to find out our city, we worked to figure out which one of the many, many schools in Dallas they were from.
After our call (which was their second ever Mystery Skype), we reflected on our work during the call.
Lately, we have been using "Stars and Planets" instead of "Stars and Wishes". We think about "Planning" rather than "Wishing", because that makes us more responsible, and Plan-It, rather than just sitting and wishing.
Mystery Skype
Stars:
-we were all very respectful of their different interpretations
-our questions were really well thought of
-all doing good things on computers
-we listened really well
-people were including others to share laptops
Planets:
-more people participating
-be more quiet, no shhushing needed
-we should have more questions planned out beforehand
-nobody talking unless it’s your turn
-more quiet because ipad picks up noise
-when you’re sharing, speak loudly
-stay more on task
-next time, Shauna should hook to projector once we’re connected
-follow instructions the first time
Thursday, 13 February 2014
Underground Railroad Tasks in the Computer Lab Today!
Hello boys and girls,
Welcome to the computer lab!
Your tasks today have to do with Black History Month in general and The Underground Railroad in particular. By now, we've read the stories of Henry "Box" Brown and Harriet "Moses" Tubman, but it's time to dig a little deeper into the history of the Underground Railroad.
PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS BELOW!
Task #1: Select one of the following links and work on the tasks for at least fifteen minutes. If you complete one of them, visit the other.
Choice A: Scholastic interactive
Choice B: National (explore) Geographic Interactive
Task #2: Write a comment on this blog with FOUR full sentences. The first two sentences should be things that you learned from your work in Task #1, the third should be a question that you have/something that you're wondering, the fourth should be something you think or feel after reflecting on this and taking on a first person perspective.
For example: "I worked on the Scholastic Interactive and I learned that "abolitionists" were the people who helped slaves on the Underground Railroad and that they wanted to abolish slavery. I also learned that there were "Wanted" posters that offered people rewards to turn in escaped slaves, even in the northern "free" states. I wonder if these "Wanted" posters were also posted in Canada and if slaves were often turned in. Doing these tasks, I felt for the slaves who used the Underground Railroad to escape, and felt very grateful to be living in a time and place where we know that people are all created equally and deserve to be treated equally."
Notice what is included in this comment. Please check over yours for the following success criteria before posting:
Success Criteria for Underground Railroad Comments:
-posted as a comment on THIS post
-written in full sentences
-sentences make sense
-you have checked over your spelling, using the built in spellchecker
-sentences end with proper punctuation (. ! or ?)
-sentences begin with capital letters
-2 sentences describing juicy facts you learned
-1 sentence describing something you are still wondering
-1 sentence reflecting on how you feel about all this
Task #3 (optional): If you finish Tasks 1 and 2 and still have time left, please visit IXL and work on one or more of the following areas.
Grade 5s, work on:
-A.1 - Place values in whole numbers
-A.2 - Word names for numbers
-A. 3 - Compare numbers up to millions
-A.4 - Word names for numbers
Grade 6s, work on:
-A.1 - Place values in whole numbers
-A.2 - Word names for numbers
-section E - Money
Have a great time in the lab!
Shauna
Welcome to the computer lab!
Your tasks today have to do with Black History Month in general and The Underground Railroad in particular. By now, we've read the stories of Henry "Box" Brown and Harriet "Moses" Tubman, but it's time to dig a little deeper into the history of the Underground Railroad.
PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS BELOW!
Task #1: Select one of the following links and work on the tasks for at least fifteen minutes. If you complete one of them, visit the other.
Choice A: Scholastic interactive
Choice B: National (explore) Geographic Interactive
Task #2: Write a comment on this blog with FOUR full sentences. The first two sentences should be things that you learned from your work in Task #1, the third should be a question that you have/something that you're wondering, the fourth should be something you think or feel after reflecting on this and taking on a first person perspective.
For example: "I worked on the Scholastic Interactive and I learned that "abolitionists" were the people who helped slaves on the Underground Railroad and that they wanted to abolish slavery. I also learned that there were "Wanted" posters that offered people rewards to turn in escaped slaves, even in the northern "free" states. I wonder if these "Wanted" posters were also posted in Canada and if slaves were often turned in. Doing these tasks, I felt for the slaves who used the Underground Railroad to escape, and felt very grateful to be living in a time and place where we know that people are all created equally and deserve to be treated equally."
Notice what is included in this comment. Please check over yours for the following success criteria before posting:
Success Criteria for Underground Railroad Comments:
-posted as a comment on THIS post
-written in full sentences
-sentences make sense
-you have checked over your spelling, using the built in spellchecker
-sentences end with proper punctuation (. ! or ?)
-sentences begin with capital letters
-2 sentences describing juicy facts you learned
-1 sentence describing something you are still wondering
-1 sentence reflecting on how you feel about all this
Task #3 (optional): If you finish Tasks 1 and 2 and still have time left, please visit IXL and work on one or more of the following areas.
Grade 5s, work on:
-A.1 - Place values in whole numbers
-A.2 - Word names for numbers
-A. 3 - Compare numbers up to millions
-A.4 - Word names for numbers
Grade 6s, work on:
-A.1 - Place values in whole numbers
-A.2 - Word names for numbers
-section E - Money
Have a great time in the lab!
Shauna
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
ECLIPSE by Yaro, Larry, and Johnny
This year in room 209 one of our literacy programs is called ECLIPSE. It stands for :
E-Engaged
C-Choice
L-Literacy
I-Independent
P-Purposeful
S-Stamina
E-Eggucational (Educational)
There are three ways of doing ECLIPSE: Read to Self (where you read to yourself), Read to Eachother (where you read to a partner), and Work on Writing (where you write a story).
When you start ECLIPSE you pick someone to do a good example and a bad example. A good example is where you are sitting quietly with your book in your hand and your book bin (which is a bin with books that you want to read in it) beside you. A bad example is when you are talking loudly and you are out of your seat and not paying attention to your book. After, you go to your seat and get out your book or writing journal. You set a timer for a little while like about 5 minutes to start and every time you go for a bit more time. You are not alowed to talk though. If you talk you stop and record the time you did.
In read to a partner there are four ways to read to a partner: I read you read (where you take turns reading), choral reading (where you read at the same time), read 1 book, read different books.
ECLIPSE is really good for building your stamina for reading and writing quietly.
By, Yaro, Larry and Johnny
Sunday, 9 February 2014
Shared Reading: Henry's Freedom Box
Unicorn Research
Skye and Molly made a hilarious presentation as a unicorn and a unicorn researcher. We learned a lot about unicorns!
Bansho Sharing
For our Patterning and Algebra unit, we tried doing several Bansho activities.
Bansho is a Japanese style of teaching Math, where each lesson has three parts. Each lesson starts with activation, where the class discusses some things that they know about what they'll be focusing on that day. Then, it's the Bansho, group work, part. Students work in small groups to collaboratively solve problems. They use any resources, strategies and tools they want. Finally, each lesson ends with consolidation, in which they share what they came up with and challenges they had.
Finally, we display our work and sort them into solutions and strategies that were similar, and we determine which ones were most effective and efficient.
Consolidating our learning from one day helps us determine what we need to focus on for the next day.
Bansho is a Japanese style of teaching Math, where each lesson has three parts. Each lesson starts with activation, where the class discusses some things that they know about what they'll be focusing on that day. Then, it's the Bansho, group work, part. Students work in small groups to collaboratively solve problems. They use any resources, strategies and tools they want. Finally, each lesson ends with consolidation, in which they share what they came up with and challenges they had.
Finally, we display our work and sort them into solutions and strategies that were similar, and we determine which ones were most effective and efficient.
Consolidating our learning from one day helps us determine what we need to focus on for the next day.
About the Authors
My desktop is COVERED in photos I've been meaning to put up on the blog - some of them for months!
Remember when we read all the different About the Authors and you all did a "Graffiti" activity, moving around the classroom and commenting on the different samples?
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