An Adorable May Sharing

May Sharing

The Big Dance (Gillian and Natalie’s classes, Dance Mania)

-it had many different dances from around the world -Clara

-I caught on that it was different dances from around the world because the music was changing. They all were in sync and knew what they were doing. -Skye

-It was really fun to do the dancing-Laryssa

The Fire Dance (Alena’s class)

-I really liked it, I like how Alena’s class came up with it -Gabby

-It was, they had glow sticks and fake fires and it was in the darkness -Ali

-I liked the Fire Dance because they all knew what htey were doing, I’m pretty sure they practiced for a long time. I thought they were going to use fire -Jackson

-Everybody wore black, they just wanted to see the glow sticks and fire-Luis

Walrus’ Gift

-I liked how they read the book out loud and it was kids instead of teachers. Next time, they should all speak up -Molly

-I really liked it how they had different people instead of just one person -OC

-I liked that was a really calm story -Tom

-you shouldn’t exclude people -Lailah

Worms (Kindergarteners)

-it was cute how they kindergarteners were doing it-Lailah

-iot was really funny because worms like to listen to rap music and then when they showed us how big worms are -Ellis

-I found it really funny and I think it was really interesting because I learned stuff. I learned that along with horses and other animals, worm poo is used as fertilizer -Pat

WITS Videos (Room 209 and Roy’s class)

-I thought about the WITS videos it was funny. The part when Brody did the motion with his hands -Lochlan

-I liked the same thing as Lochlan-James

-I liked the one where they were in the library-Tom

-They tell you not to bully - Sam

-Don’t just say mean things or push - Lilah

-You should ignore it if someone is bothering you - Alex

-Walk Away - Sam

-Talk it Out - Clara

-Seek Help, Get Help - Tom

Tomorrow is Autism Awareness Day!

Today we talked about what Autism is in order to prepare for Autism Awareness Day.

Tomorrow, to show empathy and understanding about Autism, we are asking all members of our school community to wear blue.

This first video is one of my former AWESOME students:


Watch these videos and experience what some artists have said Autism feels like.

Sensory Overload (Interacting with Autism Project) from Miguel Jiron on Vimeo.
Look at these beautiful photos a father has taken of his Autistic son in order to try to get inside his mind.

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!

Two Interesting Videos I Had to Share

Watch these two videos and think about who made them, what their messages/purposes are and consider if you enjoyed them.


Try Text Busting one or both of them. You can link to your Text Busting work in the comments below!

Genius Hour #1

We are doing this cool new thing called Genius Hour. Genius Hour is where we do something with a purpose. It is kind of instead of Friday Free Time, which was where we basically do whatever we want. This time, we are doing Genius Hour!

Here are some examples of the things we do in Friday Free Time:

-play random games

-play with blocks

-SOMETIMES work on something that has a point

-goof around

Here are some of the things we do in Genius Hour:

-take things apart (example: toaster)

-record a song and put it on the class YouTube or blog

-write a story with Heather C’s grade 1s or 2s

-endangered species small projects
by Lauren and Millie

 Hunter created a strange little monster and then dissected it!

 Laryssa created some beautiful Plasticene crafts for her grandmother and their family Easter celebration


Haydon created Plasticene characters and used one of the class iPads to film Stop Motion animations.


 

Genius Hour Expectations:

Purpose:

-to be doing something that is useful but that you are not already doing for school - Fiona

-something productive have a goal! - Hunter

-you can work in groups or independently -Fiona

-it might not fit into a category/subject at school - Laryssa

-you may start to bring in supplies for Genius Hour - Pat

-if you’re NOT SURE, just CHECK!

Brainstorm ideas:

-take something apart (toaster) (CHECK WITH PARENTS and SHAUNA FIRST!) - Hunter

-make something - Gabby

-art project, make a painting - Kaleigh

-be an imagineer, make a model of a ride, submit it to Disney - Pat

-practice programming on Hopscotch - Shauna

-make a Puppet Pals video with a student from Heather C’s class about Skippyjon Jones - Shauna

-record yourself singing a song and post it on our Youtube channel - Shauna

-make a Show Me about Math - Jack

-create a Sifteo game - Fin

-draw on Paint with the new drawing pad - Fin

-install the new webcam - Shauna

-research an apple, make a Smart Ideas about it, make a whole project about it - Thomas

-make a Plasticene earth and split it in half - Molly

-make a video game - Hunter

-make a board game - Shauna

-make a Math game - Miggy

-do a project on “boys” and “girls” toys - Fiona

-draw something and label it with the drawing pad (an organ, for example) - Fin

-make something with Plasticene - Sophia

-make a news report - Madi

Liam and Daniel recorded themselves singing.

Stop Motion Videos

If you want to watch the awesome collection of Stop Motion films from this year's Film Festival, check out the Vimeo link.

Pulleys, Levers and Gears - demonstrations by students in Room 209

Today we watched an awesome Disney Imagineering video about Pulleys and Levers and were inspired to go on a Simple Machine hunt throughout the school. We shared our information in different ways!
-Show Me by Fiona and Lauren


-Youtube video by Laryssa, Liam and Cohen
-Show Me by Jack

List by Pat:
Today in class we did a science mini project. In it, we had to go around the school and find simple machines. Here's mine! Enjoy!
Display screen, globe, hamster wheel,  axle on clock, axle on door, wheels on moving desk, wheels on cart, wheels on moving chair, hands on clock, door, door handle, light switch, pencil sharpener, pins, and sand timer.

Many more episodes of "Fantastic Pulleys, Levers and Gears!"

Lip Dub - Signed Up!

Hello Digital Degus,

 Remember when I told you Anna's teacher, Dean, was wanting to do a Lip Dub? We talked about it very briefly in class, and as always, you were all very keen to participate in something new! Well, it's happening. I just signed us up tonight!

UPDATE:

The Lip Dub song JUST changed (as of Tuesday, March 5th at 10:20 a.m.) to Is Somebody Singing?/The International Space Station Song

  The song that we'll be Lip Dubbing is "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Many of you will know it. We'll be assigned one line to lip synch. I don't know yet which line it will be. Once we know, we'll have to come up with a creative way to lip synch it so we can really stand out!



Listen and see if you can learn to sing along with some help from the lyrics.

The first time I ever heard this song was from this adorable father-daughter duet. Check it out too!

That father-daughter duet reminds me of this other awesome father-daughter duet that just came out. It doesn't have anything to do with our Lip Dub, but it's just too cute!


If you haven't seen a Lip Dub before, there are MANY of them out there, but my personal favourite is this one that was also a wedding proposal:
The only problem is, it makes me cry every time I watch it.

Magic Math! Tic-Tac-Toe: The Sevens

Allison introduced me to "Mr. Numbers" on YouTube and this great trick for learning  your seven times tables. I know I always get tripped up on my sevens, and I found this very helpful. See if it helps you, too!

Stop Motion - Movies with a Message

We are getting ready for the 2nd annual Churchill Alternative School Stop Motion Film Festival.

This year our Film Festival has a theme, "Movies with a Message". Your message should be the title of your movie. Some of the Primaries ahve already filmed their movies and their messages are: "You Can Make 12 In Many Different Ways", "Safe Choices Are Good Choices" and "All Feelings are OK". As a class, we'll decide whether all our messages will be on the same theme or subject area, or if each group will make an individual choice. I was thinking that some of our class mottoes like: "We all learn on different ways on different days", "Tell it to the potato", "If you want to be trusted, be honest", etc. would make good messages for your movies. But, that's just a thought I had.

For this project, you will be in groups of four or five students. We will have a total of five groups in our class.

The steps involved in this project include:
-brainstorm
-storyboard
-write script
-collect and prepare props
-rehearse
-film (with cameras and tripods set up)

For some inspiration, check out last year's films and the films I've collected and posted below.

Churchill + Craig Cardiff = Beautiful Music

Yesterday, all the students of Churchill helped Craig Cardiff write a song called "Love Turns I into We". Craig posted it on youtube! We're almost world famous!

Dana just emailed me with the video of our class, Alena's and half of Tiiu's singing our part of the song...



Here are three videos we took of our time with Craig:


I think Thomas took this, it's the very end of our song "Love Turns I into We"


This song is SUPER catchy, "Love Is Louder".

Our class Beatboxers:

Room 209 News Desk

Today we hosted a live news show in our classroom. We went from selecting and researching our news stories to preparing and practicing them and finally presenting them for the class. Owen was with us this afternoon and helped to record each segment of the Room 209 News.

Enjoy!

Brain Gym - Brain Buttons and Hook Ups

In Room 209, we have been connecting the two hemispheres of our brains through a series of exercises called "Brain Gym". We are learning these exercises together and you can practice them at home too. They're especially amazing at helping us to get focused before we get down to work on writing activities.

 

 How to find your Brain Buttons

 

 Hook Ups help us get focused

Innovator - Caine's Arcade

Welcome to your first period in the computer lab, students! When you come in to the computer lab, there will be tasks for you here on our class blog. Some of you watched this video "Caine's Arcade" last year. Please take 10 minutes to watch it once again or for the first time today during class. Caine inspired so many people that there has been an updated film made and a foundation started in his honour. Check out what the "Imagination Foundation" is up to. How are YOU inspired by Caine's arcade? You can leave a comment here and share your ideas of what you can do now that you've been inspired by this amazing nine-year old innovator and inventor!