October 15

The SAN Script – Thursday, October 15

pumpkin

WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH A GROWING-UP PROCESS

With the commitment to not cause harm, we move away from reacting in ways that cause us to suffer, but we haven’t yet arrived at a place that feels entirely relaxed and free. We first have to go through a growing-up process, a getting-used-to process. That process, that transition, is one of becoming comfortable with exactly what we’re feeling as we feel it. The key practice to support us in this is mindfulness—being fully present right here, right now.

St. Anthony Today

October 15

https://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf32399

The key now is signing up others to vote – this is the vital link:  http://goo.gl/forms/omdJeucbeX

9 More Days!!

Staff workshops today – please be ready to start by 8:45 and 12:45

Workshop outline is very simple:

Mathletics webinar (live) – 45 minutes

Break – 15 minutes

Discovery Ambassador Program – direct instruction on Spotlight on Strategies (SOS) – 45 minutes

self-paced exploration through Discovery PD – 45 minutes

Edmodo link:  https://www.edmodo.com  your code:  scdww4 – this is where you will work and learn  between sessions

 

 

October 12

The SAN Script – The week of October 13 – 16

Creative Courage for Young Hearts: 15 Emboldening Picture Books Celebrating the Lives of Great Artists, Writers, and Scientists

Jane Goodall, Julia Child, Pablo Neruda, Marie Curie, E.E. Cummings, Albert Einstein, Ella Fitzgerald, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Frida Kahlo, and more.

Margaret Mead extolled the value of “spiritual and mental ancestors” in how we form our identity — those people to whom we aren’t related but whose values we try to cultivate in ourselves; role models we seek out not from our immediate genetic pool but from the pool of culture the surrounds us, past and present. Seneca saw in reading, one of the oldest and most reliable ways to identify and contact these cultural ancestors, a way of being adopted into the “households of the noblest intellects.” And what better time to meet such admirable models of personhood than in childhood, that fertile seedbed for the flowering of values and identity?

Collected here are thirteen wonderful picture-books celebrating such worthwhile “spiritual and mental ancestors.” It is, of course, an incomplete reading list, yet it is a deliberate one — a great many such books exist, but few feature the trifecta of wonderfulness: a cultural icon notable for his or her lasting contribution to humanity beyond mere fame; an intelligent and nuanced life-story lovingly told; and beautiful, imaginative illustrations rewarding in their own right. Please enjoy.

JANE GOODALL

One should want only one thing and want it constantly,” young André Gide half-observed, half-resolved in his journal.“Then one is sure of getting it.” More than a century later, Werner Herzog wrote passionately of the “uninvited duty” that a sense of purpose plants in the heart, leaving one with “no choice but to push on.” That combination of desiring something with inextinguishable intensity — which begins with letting your life speak and daring to listen — and pursuing it with steadfast doggedness is perhaps the single common thread in the lives of those we most admire as luminaries of enduring genius. It is also at the heart of what it means to find your purpose and live it.

In Me…Jane (public library), celebrated cartoonist, author, and animal rights advocatePatrick McDonnell chronicles the early life of pioneering primatologist Jane Goodall (b. April 3, 1934) and tells the heartening story of how the seed planted by a childhood dream blossomed, under the generous beams of deep dedication, into the reality of a purposeful life.

 

The rest of Jane Goodall’s story and the others can be found here  Some great books for our library!

oct 10Why geography is important!


Tuesday, October 13

Please vote for St. Anthony all this week

 

 

Oct 10 3-45

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10: 50 Thanksgiving songs rehearsal in gym, gr.1-6

Glitterbug arrives from Ottawa Public Health

Staff Meeting (PM)

Wednesday, October 14

Wastefree Wednesday Today

Fire Drill (AM)

Swim to Survive – grade 3, Maria and Angela

Thursday, October 15

Recycle Day at St. Anthony Catholic School- PLEASE recycle today!

first PD Day

 

Overview:

This session focuses on building a foundation for networking while exposing participants to the intentional and strategic integration of digital resources through our Spotlight on Strategies (SOS) series.  Participants will also learn about the “Flipped Class” model of instruction through a fun networking activity to showcase their learning.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understanding of instructional strategies to integrate digital media into the classroom
  • Create a “flipped classroom” activity using a paper slide video format

Schedule (AM)

9:00 AM Mathletics webinar

9:30 break

9:45 Discovery Education Part I

Schedule (PM)

1:00 PM Mathletics webinar

1:30 break

1:45 Discovery Education Part I

Friday, October 16 

Thanksgiving Mass at St. Anthony

Pizza Day

 

October 8

The SAN Script Thursday, October 8

Lord, grant us the ability to think with your mind, to hear with your ears, to see with your eyes, to speak with your mouth, to walk with your feet, to love with your heart. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
– Common Prayer

Oct 8

                                                                                              a good story prompt…

Thursday, October 8

Jeans day

Please vote for Aviva today – https://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf32399

Alina Carranco, Neurocognitive Science Student at Carleton, volunteers in Mrs. Rupnik’s class

Paul at Safe Schools Training Board (AM)

Social at 4:00 PM today

Recycle Day at St. Anthony Catholic School- PLEASE recycle today!

October 7

The SAN Script Wednesday, October 7

voice of the day

In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.

-Anne Frank

We are second in our category - 14th overall - we need more votes to stay afloat!

We are second in our category – 14th overall – we need more votes to stay afloat!

 

St. Anthony Today

Please vote for our school – please ask your students (juniors to do so too)

https://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf32399

Swim to Survive – Grade 3, Maria and Angela

Waste-free Wednesday

School Council – Paul and Teresa attending 6:30 PM

You Have Everything You Need Already: What #GraceLeeTaughtMe

The first time I heard about Grace Lee Boggs, I was already long out of college. Like many, I wasn’t given a significant education of AAPI activists, and I stumbled upon a quote of hers in a Public Radio Writer’s Almanac:

gb1.jpg

The quote hit me at a strange place in my life: I had just moved to Hawai’i, and completely lost my concept of home. I had never been challenged to think how “small,” or “local” change would be effective– it was always about moving up in a system to change it. In fact, when I left teaching, it was because I was convinced that “teachers in classrooms would not be the source of change” (something that as I write, I cringe). I looked up her story and filed it away with things to research “later.” 

When I heard about her passing, I reflected on what I had learned from reading her work later in my life. Now, in my fourth year of teaching, Boggs’s words and activism have been a guidepost for how I structure my work now. It was not until I returned to the classroom (and eventually understood it as “home“) that I realized that it will not necessarily be the teachers in classrooms who make change, but rather the students and communities who spend time there that create movements, with teachers hopefully supporting them. 

#GraceLeeTaughtMe that it was only in both recognizing myself as a part of society that I had to “take responsibility for,” but also had to “[confront] the values that they have internalized and consciously adopted different values.” (1998

It was Grace Lee Boggs who helped me understand that many forms of activism are valid, and to find and nurture my own. When I wondered if perhaps I was not loud or radical enough in language, it was her reminder and reassurance to stop “clapping…do some more thinking!” (2012) that made me feel comfortable sitting in the pauses. 

It was not until #GraceLeeTaughtMe that the “we are the leaders we have been looking for” (2007) that I understood who needed to be at the forefront of the movement (answer: the community, usually not me). Grace Lee Boggs framed the kind of classroom and space I want to help my students exist in:

There’s something about people beginning to seek solutions by doing things for themselves, by deciding they are going to create new concepts of economy, new concepts of governance, new concepts of education, and that they have the capacity within themselves to do that, that we have that capacity to create the world anew. (2013)

the remainder of the article can be found here

October 6

The SAN Script Tuesday, Oct 6

[Jesus] stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

– Luke 4:16-19
voice of the day

What Jesus was offering, in other words, was not a different religious system. It was a new world order, the end of Israel’s long desolation, the true and final “forgiveness of sins,” the inauguration of the kingdom of god.

– N.T. Wright

Aviva poster

We start voting at noon today at https://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf32399

Please get your students to vote – its time they got involved in the campaign to improve their yard!

St. Anthony Today

Paul away all day

X-country running – Meg away Tonia in, Sandra away

5 Image Apps for your Classroom

Posted by on October 5, 2015

Any child knows that a picture communicates differently than text. It’s not just quicker, it shares more detail more effectively. In seconds, our brain grasps a wide selection of data from the picture’s color, layout, design and draws conclusions. To do that with text requires lots of words, re-reading, extreme concentration, and scratching the head.

It’s no surprise research indicates the majority of students learn better if they see information. This includes graphic organizers, diagrams, mind maps, outlines–even pictures and art work.

Here are five image apps. One (or more) of these will be perfect for your classroom:

Canva

Free

1.8 million users have created over 15 million designs using Canva’s one million+ design templates (including font schemes, stock photographs, backgrounds, and illustrations–some free/some fee) to create cards, fliers, posters, newsletters, infographics, and more. Drag and drop project parts to personalize the design (see my Canva-created poster below). Edit photos using preset filters or advanced photo editing tools like brightness, contrast, saturation, tint, and blur. Save as a high-quality image or a printable PDF. Canva provides lots of graphic design video tutorials for even the most basic skill level. These are great for mature elementary age, Middle School, and High School students, as well as teachers.

Canva for education features 17+ lesson plans from some of the leaders in tech-in-ed. You can even sign in through Google Apps for Education. Canva not only works on iPads, but desktops and laptops.

puppy with a message - cavalier king charles spaniel puppy with sign around neck - 7 weeks ols

Chatterpix

Free

Chatterpix is an intuitive, fun mashup of audio and visual communication. It’s easy for youngers and appealing to all ages. Simply take any photo, draw a line to make a mouth, and record your voice. This can be a butterfly talking about its life cycle, a colonist discussing life in the New World, or a chimpanzee bemoaning the demise of his homeland. Students can even use a picture of themselves with their own voice.

Chatterpix requires no log-in. Students have 30 seconds to record their message, which encourages them to concentrate on the important elements they wish to communicate.

PicCollage

Free

Use photos, stickers, frames, videos, funky fonts, and cutouts to create personalized greetings. Pictures can be imported from your photo library, Instagram, Facebook or the web. A wide variety of templates are available for cards, projects, and photo collections. Using the frame layout option, students can create a collage of photos for sequencing activities or digital portfolios. For youngers, PicCollage has a setting to disable social media, website images, and ads.

The only downside with this app is it’s not available on desktops and laptops.  For those digital devices, students will need a different tool.

piccollage

Skitch

Free

Skitch (part of the Evernote family) is an easy-to-use image annotator  that loads quickly, works well with other student digital tools (like Google Drive), and can also be used as a whiteboard. Take a photo or upload an image from a variety of collections (web searches can be turned off in the School Mode). Next, mark it up with simple tools like shapes, arrows, sketches and text annotation.  When you’re done, email it, upload it to Google Drive, save it to an Evernote school account, save it the clipboard or camera roll, or a wide variety of other save/share options. Images don’t have to be pictures: You can mark up an internet site or even start with a blank whiteboard.

Popular uses of Skitch include sharing a diagram (say, of the human body) for students to fill in, sending a map to parents with event directions, or annotating a website with use instructions.

SonicPics

Fee ($1.99)

Add images from your photo library or snap new ones with your camera. Arrange them however you would like. Record a voice-over narrating images as you swipe through them. The finished project is a video file you can share with friends. and classmates. This is a great differentiation tool for students who don’t communicate well with writing, but know the material.

Teachers can use this as a formative or summative assessment by sharing a group of pictures and having students add voice-overs explaining what they see. For older students, it might include characters or scenes in a novel.

sonic pics

Whichever image editor you use, use one. Images are catnip to students–almost irresistible and why not? Drawing and art have their roots tens of thousands of years ago. Nothing’s changed. Mankind still loves talking with pictures.

More about online images:

My Picture’s a TIFF and the Program Needs a JPG

What Online Images are Free?

Drawing in Photoshop

 

October 4

The SAN Script – for the week of October 5 – 9

The Aviva Campaign Begins!!

 

 

Oct 4 notice

 

 

Herre is our Aviva Page for this year – it is all ready to go and over 100 tweets have been programmed to go out between Sunday and Tuesday.  The most important tactic is the daily e-mail reminder to vote – many people have told me this.  You can all help by spreading this link to a Google Doc where people can register their e-mail address for reminders starting October 6 Two Days From Now http://goo.gl/forms/B0DaTX2lJh

It looks like this:

http://goo.gl/forms/zdmZIUz8pd

We have done very well so far this year – we have received grants totalling $7000,00 since Sept and up to $25,000.00 from the Gala. However, if we want to complete this transformation this year we need to win Aviva – that means making it into the finals and coming our first in votes. Let’s all work together for St. Anthony Catholic!

St. Anthony This Week

Monday, October 5

Sandra away today – cross country

Squirmies today at lunch

Final Gala meeting – 3:30 Paul

Tuesday, October 6

Cross Country all day – Meg away

Please vote for St. Anthony

Sandra away today – cross country

Wednesday, October 7

Wastefree Wednesday Today

Please vote for St. Anthony

Swim to Survive Program starts 1:00 Grade 3

Parent Council Meeting at SAN – Paul and Teresa attending

Thursday, October 8

Safe Schools Training – Paul (AM)

Alina Carranco, Neurocognitive Science Student at Carleton, volunteers in Mrs. Rupnik’s class (AM)

First staff social

Please vote for St Anthony

Friday, October 9

Christian Community Day

Please vote for St. Anthony

This is a good, reflective article – worth a read

 

Educators – Please Stop and Think About This for a Minute

chicago

Life is good. Don’t waste these days of beauty and wonder.

 

 

These were the thoughts I had when I was in Chicago for a two day MIE Training. After watching the sun rise over the river on my walk to the Microsoft office my mind was in a good place to start the day. I thought that I needed to share this positive mindset with everyone in a blog post. As I continued to walk I kept thinking about what I would say to have an impact. And then…..

While I was thinking about this topic, reality hit me.

This feeling is not always the case for every student that walks through our doors. Unfortunately, life is not good for everyone and rarely do they get to see days of beauty and wonder.

As educators it is easy to lose sight of these moments because of the universal constraints and stresses that almost every single teacher across the nation can relate to:

  • We often get caught up in the little minor details of work.
  • We need new textbooks or materials
  • We stress about what standards to teach, how to teach them, which ones are more important than others
  • Are we getting enough prep time?
  • Why is every kid not turning in their rote memorization homework
  • We need more time
  • We need more money
  • We need more technology
  • We need more technology that works
  • Where is the wifi?

The list goes on and on……

please click here for the rest of the article

October 1

The SAN Script – Thursday, October 1

moon 2

Dwarfed. Feeling small on a Monday. Full moon rising over Bondi #supermoon#bondi

DEDICATE THIS EXPERIMENT TO OTHERS

We can begin anything we do—start our day, eat a meal, or walk into a meeting—with the intention to be open, flexible, and kind. Then we can proceed with an inquisitive attitude. As my teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche used to say, “Live your life as an experiment.”

At the end of the activity, whether we feel we have succeeded or failed in our intention, we seal the act by thinking of others, of those who are succeeding and failing all over the world. We wish that anything we learned in our experiment could also benefit them

St. Anthony Today

Recycle Day at St. Anthony Catholic School- PLEASE recycle today!

Paul Away all day

Michelle Obama: Girls, don’t hold back in school

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — First lady Michelle Obama has some advice for teenage girls: Don’t shy from being the smartest kid in the class. And never mind what the boys think.

“Compete with the boys. Beat the boys,” she told about 1,000 schoolgirls and young women Tuesday at an event aimed at publicizing her “Let Girls Learn” campaign to expand girls’ access to education in developing countries and encourage American girls to take advantage of their opportunities. But the first lady also gave some impromptu, personal pep talks on handling the pressures of adolescence.

On dealing with the frustrations, embarrassments and slights of high school: “I know being a teenager is hard,” but it’s temporary and not a template for the rest of life: “Half these people, you’re not going to know when you’re 60.”

And on whether being brainy comes at a social cost: “There is no boy, at this age, that is cute enough or interesting enough to stop you from getting your education,” the water pump operator’s daughter-turned-Harvard-trained lawyer said. “If I had worried about who liked me and who thought I was cute when I was your age, I wouldn’t be married to the president of the United States.”

(To her point, the Obamas met well after high school, while both were working at a law firm.)

Mrs. Obama has made girls’ schooling one of her signature issues during her husband’s second term, particularly after the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls in April 2014.

After she and the president unveiled Let Girls Learn in March, she traveled to Japan, Cambodia and London to promote it and introduced an online offshoot Saturday at the Global Citizen Festival, asking concertgoers in New York’s Central Park to tweet photos of themselves with the hashtag #62MillionGirls. The number represents the number of girls worldwide the U.S. Agency for International Development has said are not in school.

Let Girls Learn involves hundreds of grassroots projects aimed at countering economic or cultural pressures that spur many girls to drop out — pressures such as early or forced marriage, fear for girls’ safety as they travel to and from school, the expense of school fees, or societal beliefs that it’s less important to educate girls than boys.

And for American girls, “we want this to spur and inspire you to not take your education for granted” and to use it to help the cause, Mrs. Obama said at Tuesday’s discussion at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. Academy Award-winning actress Charlize Theron, who founded an AIDS-prevention charity in Africa, and former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard joined in the discussion, sponsored by Glamour magazine.

Firdaws Roufai, a 15-year-old sophomore at New York’s Central Park East High School, appreciated hearing the first lady acknowledge that being a teenager can be stressful.

“It encouraged me to keep going,” she said.