Thanks to Nora and Sandra for all the great work they put into Terry Fox Day yesterday – it was a wonderful day! Our first great student event to the year!
St. Anthony Today
Boys Soccer – Nora away all day.
Directors Conference – Paul away 10:00 am today – rest of week – Geraldine designate
Wastefree Wednesday
Getting Ready for United Way Launch
Pledge sheets going out – at staff meeting October 4th (PM) (Google Doc coming out soon)
Opening Event – staff social at the Prescott Thursday, Oct 6 3:45 PM – ?? – snacks and first drink provided – a donation to the United Way (prior to the event is appreciated, but not mandatory – please drop off your donation at the office)
I will be featuring maps from the study over the next week so we can all see the need that exists in our community – your donations will help with some of the issues here. This year, we will be going for 100% – I will make sure to talk to staff who do not return their pledge sheets.
A great story to read when you think of some of the kids you have all worked with who started out rough, but finally made it – we all know some!
Paul
This is the story of a young rebel 14 year-old-kid from Aylmer, Quebec who was known for his bright red mohawk, who sang and played guitar in a punk rock band, who lived in a foster home, was expelled from school and who had been written off by society because he wasn’t like everyone else. That kid, was me. One day, that young man met a world strong man named Ginaud Dupuis who taught him to believe. He taught him that the body was our temple and that infinite strength and power could be generated from within. At the soul level. And by harnessing the power of nature, anything was possible. And so this is that story. My blueprint. My most personal story that very few people are aware of. This is the answer to the question of how I do what I do and why I am the way I am. This episode is dedicated to all of the kids (and their parents) out there that feel alone in the world. Because they’re ‘different’. Because most of the world doesn’t quite make sense to them. Because no one wants to deal with them. Well, know this: Being ‘different’ is your greatest gift and your most meaningful asset. Trust your heart. Be who you are. Believe in the im-possible. I proudly present you: Unclimbed – Episode 3 – Cold Feet
I hope you enjoy it.
At 8,000 metres (26,247 feet), the death zone doesn’t have enough oxygen to survive. Gabriel and Elia begin training for the deadly combination of exertion and high altitude that awaits.
In partnership with Jeep® UNCLIMBED: Reaching the Summit follows the intense training and planning of Gabriel Filippi, one of Canada’s foremost mountaineers; Elia Saikaly, Canadian high-altitude videographer; and Pasang Kaji Sherpa, Nepalese mountain guide and climbing partner, as they prepare to summit two unclimbed peaks.
Can you plot a course for Elia – see where he is here
St. Anthony Today
Terry Fox Day
I just heard back from the principal at Notre Dame and he has confirmed that he will be bringing Sam around 9am.
We will meet in the gym around 9am and have a little pep rally – celebrate Sam and present him with a little gift from Staff and students. (we will make an announcement to call everyone down when we are ready)
We will then head out….see last update for the rest…
We will be extending the last recess. people on duty will do their duty and Nora and I will relieve them and stay out for the extended recess.
Looks like the weather will be good – a little cool in the morning so might want to make sure the students wear their jackets…
Nora and Sandra
Green Club meeting with Andrew Harvey in the Learning Commons – 11:35
What are paper slides? The purpose of this strategy is for students to explain a concept in their own words and with illustrations they create. “Retelling does not mean memorizing—it means recounting the story in the child’s own words.
This is a screen shot – to find the SOS Strategy, please log in to Discovery and use this link
Mathletics has been reinstated – please see my e-mail from yesterday. Discovery will be reinstated today.
Girl’s Soccer Tournament – Paul away, Sandra away
St. Anthony Superstars Assembly – 2:00 PM
Wastefree Wednesdays – Start today
We discussed Wastefree Wednesdays at our Green Club meeting and all students voted to continue this St. Anthony Catholic School tradition.
Please start tracking who has containers/water bottles for snacks/lunches. The students from the Green Club will continue to lead monthly assemblies. Thanks Maria for helping with this.
In essence, the active processing theory rests on a principle of “use it or lose it” (Kaufeldt, 2010). This means that students must be actively involved in what they are learning. This strategy leverages the use of Interactive Student Notebooks. These notebooks have a “left-side” (output), “right-side” (input)orientation to help students actively record, organize, and process new information. By completing half the picture, students are actively engaged in their learning and can have an opportunity to share what they’ve learned in anInteractive Student Notebook.
Materials: video segment (2-5 minutes), image, blank paper, and writing utensil
1.Find a video and an image that demonstrate the big idea of your unit of study.2.Copy only ½ of the image so that students can not see the entire picture. 3.Distribute the image and have students glue it into their interactive notebooks. 4.Explain that they will now watch a video segment about the concept and they will use information gathered from the segment to complete the picture, label it, and add supporting information. 5.After viewing the segment, provide time for students to draw, label, and add supporting details. 6.Have students work in pairs or small groups to compare their completed picture and examine similarities and differences.
SUM UP
By completing half of a picture, students are actively engaged in their learning. They have to sum up what they’ve learned as they fill in the other half of the images and take notes on the information. Using Interactive Student notebooks encourages students to process what they’ve learned and present it visually. Here is an example of what a student notebook entry might look like:
Additional ideas
•Have students find additional images that support the concept studied, and add those images to their notebook. •Have students open their notebooks and leave them on their desks. Provide three sticky notes to each student and have students circulate to leave positive feedback and/or ask questions for classmates by posting sticky notes on the notebooks. If a notebook has three sticky notes it is “closed,” so all students receive feedback.
Alone… momentarily paralyzed from the waist down with a broken back, lacerated liver and broken foot, stuck in a roof half way across the world with one mission: Survive the ordeal and find my way home. This is that story and more!
No events planned for today – girls’ soccer tomorrow.
Some good news – we just won a $9000.00 environmental grant from the City – thanks to School Council!
Finally – please use Mathletics and Discovery Ed as much as you can this week – the board is threatening to take both programs away and we need to show they we are using both programs!!
My views on homework have changed and evolved over my 20+ years of teaching. I’ve arrived at the conclusion that traditional homework has done nothing to improve my students’ academic performance or their ability to think and learn. In fact, I believe it’s had somewhat of the opposite effect. When homework piled up, stress increased and students came back to school tired, overwhelmed and burnt out. I also found that students who had little support from parents or guardians with their homework (whether it be assisting them or encouraging them to get it done) tended to come back with it incomplete. This created a large gap in learning for my students who weren’t able to complete their homework.
Today, homework has evolved to home ‘share’. My students are now tasked a couple times a week to share a piece of writing with a parent, solve or explain their solution to a single “real math” problem or create one of their own. Parents are encouraged to write comments on their child’s work and initial it after their child has shared it with them. The result? Home ‘work’ is getting done much more consistently by all students within my classroom. Parents say they feel more involved in their child’s learning and the stress level within households has diminished. I’ve also found that creating a section in my blog for parents (Parent’s Page) with links to their child’s learning has done much to improve communication and engagement.
Today, after viewing ‘Homework in America vs Homework in Finland’ I created the above Home ‘work’ assignment and a form where my students can track their progress and reflect on their home ‘work’ after each week. I’m wondering what the implications may be.
The PDF version of the above two visuals can be downloaded! Click on: Home”work”
St. Anthony this Week (a busy week!!)
Monday, September 19
Maria out – block one Susie in
Glitter bug arrives Gr. 1/2
Geraldine away all week
Tuesday, September 20
Wednesday, September 21
Wastefree Wednesdays
We discussed Wastefree Wednesdays at our Green Club meeting and all students voted to continue this St. Anthony Catholic School tradition.
Please start tracking who has containers/water bottles for snacks/lunches. The students from the Green Club will continue to lead monthly assemblies. Thanks Maria for helping with this.
Girl’s Soccer Tournament at McMaster School – Sandra away – Kirsten in
St. Anthony Superstars Assembly – 2:00 PM
Thursday, September 22
April away all day Victoria Tegano in
Natalie away – Marie in
Elementary’s Principal’s Meeting (all day) Paul
Friday, September 23
OECTA meeting in Room 8 with Maria and Teresa – 8:00 am
Annual Fall Cleanup- City of Ottawa- Please see schedule
Presentation by representative of Terry Fox Foundation, All grades, LC – 2:00 pm
Work hard for what you want because it won’t come to you without a fight. You have to be strong and courageous and know that you can do anything you put your mind to. If somebody puts you down or criticizes you, just keep on believing in yourself and turn it into something positive.
Paul, Maria and Nora away at math mentors workshop (AM)
planning meeting on the new play structures – 12:30 – Paul and Andrew
School Council – 6:30 – Paul and Teresa
People I’ve Never Met That You Might Follow
Article by Dean Shareski of Discovery – helping me with my workshop plan for this Saturday! @shareski – you really need to follow Dean!!
My friend Paul McGuire is doing a session at our upcoming Day of Discovery event in Ottawa and asked me for some people I’d recommend to follow on twitter. I was hesitant to respond because I feel it’s a fairly personal choice. So rather than giving handles via twitter, I thought I’d blog about it to also show that the this is likely a better medium to have more contextual conversations.
In addition, I thought I’d challenge myself to share the handles of people that I’ve never met, yet still think are worth following on twitter. It’s easy for me to recommend folks I know because I read them in context and understand their voice. Twitter is a hard space to figure that out without significant time investment. Here are a few people I think have something to offer that I’ve not met but know after reading them for some time.
@wmchamberlain I’ve known Will for a long time but only online. I’m not sure if he’s ever spoken on a big stage but I would consider him a thought leader. He’ll challenge you as well as encourage you. Personable and wicked smart.
@sylviaduckworth Sylvia has become a go-to person for sketch noting. She captures big ideas in a very digestible, elegant way.
@jesslahey Jessica is a wonderful writer and thinker. She writes and shares some of the most prolific thoughtful articles.
@daveowhite David is the creator of the visitor vs resident idea. He’s helped me rethink many ideas around digital citizenship. I also like that he’s not from North America.
@mrrobbo The PE Geek is your follow for all things Physical Education and technology.
@cultofpedagogy Jennifer is a very giving educator who shares and connects in multiple platforms. I like her conversational and approachable nature.
@Super70sSports As I’ve mentioned many times before, my time on twitter is not entirely professional, in fact, I’d say it’s more for social and giggles. This follow is wonderful if you’re a sports fan and grew up in the 70’s. It’s nostalgic and funny and often inappropriate so beware.
Discovery Education’s Board Builder tool allows students to synthesize and showcase their work. Boards are unique representations of learning and can be shared with select groups and communities. This course dives into Board Builder and its features.