World Water Summit

Today, the Rainbow Eggheads had an absolutely AMAZING culminating project to end off our Social Studies unit. We had the first ever World Water Summit attended by (mock) members of the Canadian levels of government, international organizations and charities.

Most exciting, we live streamed the whole event via Google Hangouts on Air and many of our parents and friends tuned in, even submitting questions for the panelists.

Sara and I could not be more proud and impressed with the work the Rainbow Eggheads did and their amazing, confident, knowledgable sharing. 
We debriefed the Summit and talked about some other issues related to water that were raised at the Summit. One viewer asked if bottled or tap water was better. We had varying opinions, and watched this video to learn about "Manufactured Demand".

We were so inspired by the ideas in this "Story of Stuff" video that we have our next art project idea...Honest Advertisements!

A HUGE thank you (many hip-hip-yeahs) to our AWESOME student teacher, appropriately named Sara Awesome for her guidance on this terrific project!

In which the Leadership Club Heads to We Day

The Leadership  Club earned spots at this year's National We Day, which was held at the Canadian Tire Centre. The event hosted 16 000 students and teachers who have worked to make a difference locally and globally. It was our first time attending the National We Day, and we certainly hope to be invited again in the future!

It was a really special, emotional, engaging and energizing day for students, staff and parent volunteers alike. We got to hear from Queen Noor of Jordan, MLK Jr's son, Spencer West (a legless adventurer) many youth who have worked with Free the Children, several musicians and other inspiring speakers and entertainers. 

We all got "Swag Bags" that included awesome light bracelets that lit up when we clapped. 

I am so proud of the Leadership Club members for earning their way to the event and for their awesome behaviour the whole day. Our goal was to arrive laden down with food, and some students even had to replace their bags, as they brought so much! 

We wish that all members of the Leadership Club could have joined us, as they've all worked really hard this year! 

Thanks to the staff and parent volunteers for joining us today!

At the end of the day, some students listed their favourite things about the day. I'll let them tell you the story:

"It was really sad to hear about lots of children not being able to have food, or being abused. I'm inspired to change the world." - Erika

"I liked Jen and Jas. Their voices were nice." - Ben

"I liked the Queen, Spencer West and the girl with HIV. Her speech helped me because I have Diabetes, and I realized that everyone has something. Spencer overcame obstacles and he's inspiring." - Katie

"I really liked how the kids talked about a boy who changed the world (Iqbal) and a girl who changed the world (Malala). I really liked what the Queen of Jordan said. I think we should work with Free the Children next year." - Gabby

"Something that really stuck with me was when the man talked about walking across Canada and enjoying nature's beauty. I want to fundraise to help people enjoy nature. I also liked the Queen of Jordan. When she was talking, I was really focused. It was inspiring. She said some things that were sad, but also hopeful." - Vickie

"I liked everyting, but mostly I liked the girl with HIV because she stood up for herself. It was really powerful that they thought she was going to die and now she's a teenager. When the children spoke, they had a lot of emotion and power." - Millie

"The girl who talked about her life with HIV and her brothers and sisters said that there are so many wheelchairs and crutches, words can't get through to us." - Madi

"I liked the girl with HIV's speech. She was really inspirational and very determined." - J

"I really liked the girl who was HIV+. She was really inspiring and she had a lot to say about bullying. It was very helpful and her message could be helpful to many more people." - Fiona

"I liked it all!" - Mel

"I really liked Spencer, because it's amazing he accomplished so much." - Anna

"My favourite moments were when Spencer walked our on stage and when Jordan sang 'Freedom' because it was his first time singing that song. I cried." - Hannah

"I liked when Queen Noor talked about how many kids are in poverty and when Spencer said, 'Find your why'." - Clara

"I loved the lights. Whenever somebody would clap, or when someone said something that really meant something to you, you could see all the lights sparkle." - Laryssa

"I liked everything!" - Molly

"My favourite part was everything!" - Pat

"I really liked the HIV+ girl. She was very open to showing that everyone has a staircase. When you get to the top, you're done and you've reached your goals. She has a couple of extra steps and she embraced that." - Sharky

Craft Fair Philanthropy

 As I continue to go through the files on my desktop, I found these gems. At the Christmas Craft Fair, many Churchill students (including some of our very own Rainbow Eggheads) sold crafts that they created. Even more incredible than that is that many students made crafts and sold them to help local and international charities.

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.

 Clara sold bracelets to help UNICEF support people in the Philippines.

The kindness and creativity of Churchill students never ceases to amaze me!

Clara Was Inspired by Magritte

After watching our Rene Magritte slideshow, Clara was inspired. So inspired that she wrote one of her typically creepy and brilliant poems. Check it out. 

The Surrealist Art of Rene Magritte

Today, we started to look at the art of Rene Magritte to inspire our upcoming art project. Each painting gave us A LOT to talk about. In fact, we totally ran out of time and only got about a third of the way through the art. We'll finish the slideshow in class, but if you want to take a look at home, and leave comments, please do.

After watching the slideshow, students were heading to meet their Reading Buddies, but Clara grabbed paper first saying, "I have a poem." Thanks for the inspiration, you wacky genius, Magritte!

Alex's Lemonade Stand

Kid President's Message for Teachers and Students

Thinking About Princesses and Superheroes

In Room 209, we talk a lot about society's expectations for little boys and little girls. I spotted these two recent items about princesses and thought some of you Digital Degus might find them interesting.

Below is a video made by first graders illustrating a song called "The Princess Who Saved Herself". Why is this song (and the story) kind of unusual and special?

Merida, the protagonist from "Brave" was a bit of a change from the usual Disney princesses. I know that students in Room 209 really liked her. Lauren even dressed as her for one Hallowe'en! Last weekend, Disney announced that Merida was their "official 11th princess" and gave her a makeover. Check out the link to see what you think of her makeover!

There is, in my opinion, an AWESOME artist, using photos of young girls dressed as superheroes and creating comic book-style portraits of them! Check out her project. I wonder if we could do something like this with some of the younger students? Maybe a Hallowe'en project. I'm also thinking of the little boys who dressed as princesses for the Medieval Fair. I wonder if someone could create some art based on them?

Coding

Tonight, I was inspired by a video I watched.
It's not long. Take a few minutes and give it a view!

I have been amazed and inspired by my students in this class and in the classes I've taught in past years because they consistently pick up ideas in technology so quickly and innovatively.

I don't know a lot about coding, but the video inspired me. I did two mini lessons on a really cool, free educational coding website called Codeacademy. You can do one quick mini-lesson to see if it's something you want to do, then you can sign up through your google account (easy for those of you who have set up on the google drive).

I am 7% finished the HTML Basics course. Right from the comfort of my own couch!

I wonder who will do something to amaze me next?!

Paper Man

On Thursday, we'll be filming our Stop Motion videos. My brother, Mike and his girlfriend Eleanor, will be coming to help out, along with my mom, Laurie and my husband, Matt. Eleanor's friend made this awesome Stop Motion video! Enjoy "Paper Man 2"! I bet you'll be inspired!

Complete Streets Presentation with Caroline

Today, Caroline came in to talk with us about the way we use streets. As always, we had LOADS of ideas to share!

Ecology Ottawa inspired Caroline!

After watching this, Mel said, "That was inspiring!"

What did you notice they did in Copenhagen?

-they didn’t wear helmets! (Kaleigh)

-the pink “car” was used for bike storage, I wonder what it’s made of (Hunter)

-there were more bikes than cars (Fiona)

-there was a cyclist counter to know how many people are using bikes (Fin)

-there is a cargo bike with a space in front for carrying groceries, the video sort of inspired me (Ethan)

-by biking, they saved the environment (Sophia)

-traffic lights for bikes, they go green a little bit before the cars (Jackson)

-the lights in the streets that only the cars can see to keep the bikes safe (Gabby)

-it costs the government a lot of money to set it up, it’s a little complicated, it might take a little money (Ethan)

-it might cost of a lot of money, but we have to think to ourselves, but would we rather spend money and not have people getting hurt? (Fin)

-the citizens are the people who give the government the money to spend, and the citizens should have a bit of choice in what it is spent on  and they might like spending money on the bike stuff (Jack)

The City is thinking about doing something like this in Ottawa. They are called "Complete Streets". If this is something that is interesting, important and inspiring to you, you can help make a change. Citizens, like you can tell the City what you think! You can draw a picture or write a letter or an email or make a video or do something else creative to tell them what you think!

The Story Behind Kid President

Wow! Kid President is the real deal! Check out the story behind the man (or, in this case, the kid!)

Brotherly Love

Wow. This is an incredible story.

Robot Cat!

I Have an Awesome Idea...Do You?

Check out Project Awesome. They give out $1000 grants to Awesome Projects. I have some ideas for some Awesome Projects. The ones I've thought of so far have to do with technology and our Fielding Friends...I'm thinking!

I want you to get thinking, too! What could we apply to Project Awesome for?

Kid President might be able to inspire you with his Awesome Year ideas:

"Low Tide" a review by Madi

"Low Tide" was a book that Shauna's cousins made (Alicia and Jack). They wrote this book when they were in Florida when all of a sudden Alicia looked out of the window and saw it was low tide and yelled, "Low tide!" When Shauna told us the story, I'm that it was funnier in person.

The snail on the front was drawn by Alicia and all the pictures were taken by Shauna or Ashton or Alicia. The book was very cool and funny and cute. It would have been even better if there was a picture of an octopus, I'm sure Shauna would have liked that too. Some of the pictures were taken by Shauna's new camera. When we were reading the book, some of the pictures were falling out.

Me and Purploopa (a tiny toy octopus) are just sitting here right now while Mel is just waiting and Shauna is typing and asking, "What else? What else?" It's sort of getting annoying.

The book was from those hardcover books that Shauna got in Florida that Shauna got for her class before but they don't deliver to Canada anymore, so she got them delivered to her condo.

Most of the writing was by Alicia and Jack and then some was by Shauna. I wonder if they did all that good spelling by themselves or if they had to ask Shauna or Magic Mike or Matt or Courtney or Ashton.

They were on St. Pete Beach and in one of the pictures, there was a Fairy Forest.

-by Madi

The book's cover!

The cousins, writing the book.

Once again, the cousins writing the book.

Ideas for my Hardcover Book Sample Mind Map

Pablo Picasso

In class, we read spoke and read about one of the most well known artists of all-time, Pablo Picasso. We were surprised to learn many things about him and enjoyed learning more about the man behind the famous art.

As Shauna read aloud from "Lives of the Artists: Messes, Masterpieces and What the Neighbours Thought", students listened and then took turns summarizing paragraphs. You can read below to see what we learned!

Pablo Picasso

1881-1973

-age 92

We already know:

-abstract artist – not realistic

-blue period

-there are some original Picasso paintings in Ottawa

-knew how to do abstract and portraits, not many artists know how to do that

-from Europe – Spain

-he did a lot of different types of art: ceramics, sketches, paintings, sculpture

We learned together:

-he didn’t do well in school, he had dyslexia

-he brought a pigeon to school and drew it

-he was pretty successful in Spain at a young age

-he lived in an attic in Paris, was robbed for everything but paintings

-whenever he had enough money, he went to the bullfights, because he liked that as a child

-he was extremely productive, a workaholic

-he was pretty small, but buff

-he’s crazy, he went crazy around people, he was a show off

-he had lots of important friends, but he was very violent and they were afraid of him!

-he dated a lot of ladies and a neighbor threw a rock at a window

-he only let one person watch him paint, his second and last wife

-he had four children and had a good relationship when they were younger, when they were older, he didn’t have interest in them

-he had some weird habits: he didn’t throw anything out, he didn’t let anyone dust his studio and he safety pinned his wallet to his vest pocket

-he was paranoid about his security

-he didn’t have a phone until his son had a medical emergency

-he had a strict and sort of strange diet

-eccentric:  different from other people, liked to keep lots of animals

-really big show-off, vain: liked books and movies about himself

-prolific: he made 200 paintings at the age of 90
-source: "Lives of the Artists" - Krull

We learned on our own:
-Picasso's dad painted in the realistic style, he saw his son's paintings and quit painting because Pablo was better! - Pat

War Child Canada Ad

Mad World Video

What's going on here? Can you observe and make inferences before the end of the video?