Friday 22 April 2016

Friday's News

Another week has come and gone and in an instant you feel like you can see the light at the end of the tunnel or the finish line of this long race we call school.

It's been a fun and fast week with lots of things coming at us.

Personally, our house is very excited for the addition of our new puppy Bailey who will be coming home in another two weeks. He is an English Bulldog.
In the classroom Jeff has been testing out a great app for use with Google Apps for Education. It's called Kaizena. Kids can record things like reading, jot notes, and respond to feedback orally as well as written. Here are some kids using the app. 


Jeff was also using his other favourite app Ed Puzzle has his students are starting to learn about gears. 

How did your week turnout? Let us know. 


Friday 8 April 2016

Friday's News: The various phases of the teacher week...


The various phases of the teacher week...

Monday:
Remind me why I love to teach cause...
girl beach kid tired sleepy

Tuesday:
Returning home is like...
arrested development michael cera wednesday monday morning funny

Wednesday:
Happy Hump Day!
HEY, DO YOU KNOW WHAT TODAY IS???   hump day

Thursday:
The only way to survive is more coffee
tv coffee monday gilmore girls iv

Friday:
Celebrating that you survived the week.
Teachers on TV Land funny dancing lol comedy

Saturday:
Weekends are amazing... I love my job.
coffee paul rudd funny face i love coffee tastes good

Sunday:
I am not ready for Monday!!!!!




Wishing everyone a great week.







Friday 11 March 2016

Friday's News

Well, spring break is upon us. Finally!! Not sure if your students have been as off the wall as some of ours but it has been a week similar to the week before Christmas holidays. Anyhow here is how our week unfolded.

Students in Jeff's health class started doing research on their anti-smoking campaigns. 
It's amazing some of the facts they are finding and recording. 

His class also had a special quest visit with the Humane Society. 

As you can tell the students loved it. The dog well he was pretty tired from all the attention the students gave him. 

Jeff conducted his first Readers Bistro to a roaring success. The student had the most engaging book talks they have conducted all year. 

He also started Pulleys and Gears and had his class build some pulley systems that could lift 200 grams. Here are some videos of there attempts. 


Finally, Jeff had one of his students build a robotic arm just for the sake of building something fun. Have to love students like that. 
Tell us how did your week go? 

Friday 4 March 2016

Friday's News

It's another week in the books and one more week closer to the warm, sunny spring days that make outdoor classes possible.

It's been a pretty eventful week in both of our classrooms but in particular Jeff's class as he started a lot of new things with his class. His class and their passion projects have really started to his their full stride. One of his groups hosted a cupcake sale within the school for the Humane Society and it was a great success in that they raised a little over $1,000.

He also started his new Pulleys and Gears unit in Science. This is what his students seem to know already about Pulleys and Gears with their Mind Map.

He also started his new anti-smoking unit in health. It's a personal favourite of his as he gets to see how creative his students are as they create an anti-smoking campaign to encourage people to either quit smoking or to never take up the habit. He lets them do it an any form of media they would like.
Finally, he created a new project for his class to connect with their class read aloud of "Hatchet". The students are going to create a movie trailer for the book to practice their summarizing and media literacy skills.

How did you survive the week?



Friday 19 February 2016

Friday's News


Hope everyone is having a great Friday.  I came across this mug at chapters and it just "spoke" to me.  

As some of you know I am in the beginning stages of trying to learn the ins and outs of clip art.  Needless to stay it makes my head hurt.  I have a whole new respect for clip artist.  Here is a picture of my computer and my tablet, I was really struggling trying to get my tablet and my computer to mirror image.  After two days of trying my husband kindly asked if he could help.  After two minutes he had everything up and running perfectly.  Thank goodness we are a team. 


School has been crazy this week.  Our students seem to sense we are weak due to the exhaustion of report cards.  Each day has seemed like a struggle. 
 Then I came across this quote.  Kind of puts everything in perspective.  

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend. 



Friday 12 February 2016

Friday's News



Happy Friday all!
'
So I have to share my excitement.  I recently signed up for a course to learn about clip art.  I'm not sure where it will take me but I'm pumped. A big thanks to the 3amteacher for sharing her knowledge with us. 


I think the biggest hurtle with clip art will be learning how to use Photoshop cc.  Is there really not a more friendly version of this program for beginners?  

Hope everyone else is having a great week.



Friday 22 January 2016

Friday's News

Well, another week is in the books. Things have been pretty busy lately with report cards coming around the corner for some of us. While others are dealing with final exams. Then of course the rest of us, are just trying to survive the snow and drudge of January.

Jeff's class participated in a Google Hangout with another school in the area and then also did one with a school from another country. It was a great experience for some of the kids to participate in.

I big movement at Jeff's school is the Growth Mindset wave. Jeff had his class think of something that they want to accomplish during the rest of the school year and create these colourful posters in his classroom. Each time they accomplish part of their goal get a "Thumbs Up" sticker placed on their poster. The goal for the class is to have a wall full of thumbs. 

Finally, Jeff has had his grade 4's working on procedural writing and instructions. One of the ways they are practicing this skill is by writing procedures for grade 1 and 2 students at his school on how to log into Google Apps for Education. As well they are also providing them with instructions on how to use their favourite apps. The students have been really enjoying being mini teachers. 
Tell us, what you did to breeze through this week?


Friday 15 January 2016

Friday's News

Another week in the books and up here it was a bit of a snowy one. OF course even with our PJ's on inside out and a spoon under our pillows we couldn't muster a snow day. Don't get us wrong we love our job but hey who doesn't love a snow day here and there.

Jeff has been working his way through his light and sound unit with his grade four science classes. Here are some pictures of the classes performing some of the experiments laid out in the unit.







Jeff also started teaching his students the lost art of cursive writing. This has been a big hit in his class and when the students have free time they've been using this booklet to practice. They loved the idea of signing their names at then end of the letters that they wrote to famous people. 



How did your week go? What tricks of the trade did you use to make it through the week?