Friday's News

Happy gobble gobble to our friends and followers in the US. As you recover from your Turkey hangover, or as you prepare to stand inline for when Target opens, I entrust that you had a great, short week in the classroom.

Back here we've had a fun and exciting week. There was a full moon and well I don't think you need me to get too in depth as to how that worked out in the classroom. One of the great ways to get out those bursts of energy is through Go Noodle. Jeff's class was learning to Pop See Kow!

Jeff's class also concluded their Habitats and Communities unit and wrote their quiz. He added a bonus questions and apparently his kids think he might be part Yeti. 

His class is also working on a passion project which you can follow here.

We are currently working on completing a health unit for grade 4 based on the new Ontario health curriculum. Jeff was testing it out with his students. Here is a sample photo of the kids using it. 

So how when you stopped eating turkey and finally got that new laptop you waited in line for tell us how your weekend went. 

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Friday's News

Happy Friday!

Another week is complete in the books. Both of us work in special education and sometimes those students need a voice and too often they are ignored. This video came across our timeline and made us really think about those students in our rooms or that we work with individually.

It is time to let them stand up and be heard.

Do you have any of these students in your room?

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Friday's News - Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day is always a tough one to address with our younger students in class. The concept of war to them is what they get to do on their PlayStation 4 or Xboxes when they get home from school. They can luckily turn those things off and get up the next day and do it all over again. However, the men and women that took up the cause of World War I and World War II weren't so lucky.

So how do we go about explaining the war to our students? Do we tell them the truth that greed got the best of a few men and it led to them making bad choices and thus the loss of life for hundreds and thousandths of people? While it seems simple enough to explain it this way the war was much more complicated. So it is alright, to be brief about the war because as our students get older they will have the chance to study the history behind the war. What we really need to teach our younger children is the concept of Remembrance.

I am a proud Canadian and for this upcoming Remembrance Day my class will be looking at the concept of Remembrance and what does it mean. We will be looking at those true heroes of Canada and remember their great sacrifice so we could learn about them 100 years after they fact. We will also be doing it with our Remembrance Day package that we recently created and put up on our site. Please take a look at it and help also teach this concept we need to have so many of our students learn.

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Friday's News

Does anyone else feel like this?

Yeah it's been one of those weeks but non the less it has been a fun week. We have to applaud a show we grew up with as kids and that is Sesame Street. I am not sure if you are aware but late last week they made a monumental announcement but introducing their viewers Julia, their first autistic character. Jeff decided to use this teachable moment in his class and had a discussion with his students about the significance of it. You have to love when that happens. 

Tell us how your week went. AS well good luck surviving the sugar rush. 

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Friday's News

Well another week is in the books. If your are here in Canada it was a short week due to Thanksgiving. If you are our one of our neighbours to the south you might have celebrated Columbus Day. This week I was reminded how important it is to have a nice supportive staff when I walked into my classroom yesterday and this was done. Sometimes being paired with the right teaching partners can make the difference. Remember to share that with them because sometimes they might need the reminder. 

My classroom has also caught some Blue Jays fever. Only cure for it is winning!!

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Friday's News

Happy Friday!

Today I am thankful for coffee.

This weekend Canadians will be celebrating Thanksgiving.  How have you and your class celebrated for this up and coming holiday?

One of my favourite ways to celebrate Thanksgiving is to remind my students that we need to remember to be thankful for all we have each and everyday. 

Here are a few activities to get your students in the Thanksgiving mood. 

How will you be celebrating Thanksgiving with your class?

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Friday's News

TGIF!

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Well the first official full week is in the books in our neck of the woods. It's been a great week of new routines and getting to know one another. The honeymoon is over and now it is time to see what our students are made of and what we need to teach them.

Jeff has been exploring some new software in his classroom, which is called Seasame Snap. It is an app that helps make andeotal notes and assessments through pictures and videos. So far he likes it but is still trying to get use to it.

In one of our writing classes we had students give us a retell about their summer. They where engaged and loved going through the process of writing.

Jeff is also trying the "Passion Project" idea with his class. It's also known as Genius hour and 20 time. Here are some things from his Bad Idea Factory. He also asked his class what Passion means to them. Here are some of their great responses.

We also love this poster