Parent Engagement With ESL/ELL Families
I’ll be a guest on next Wednesdays #PTchat on Twitter to discuss: strategies schools can employ to partner with ESL/ELL families It will be on on Wednesday, February 17th at 9PM EST. You can learn more about it at Joe Mazza’s blog.
Dream Snow
Our latest art project was inspired by the book Dream Snow, written by Eric Carle. The book has beautiful illustrations and uses plastic overlays to add snow to many of the pictures. We started by creating our backgrounds with shades of blue and purple and then painted our snowmen. We added details to our snowmen [...]
A Very “Animated” Friday
Yesterday we only had 7 students in our class! Several of our classmates got to go to a special First Nations performance in Fort Rupert and so we decided to do something special too. In the morning we did a round of Daily 5 and then we went to the computer lab to create ToonDoo [...]
Real Snow!
After dreaming about snow for weeks and weeks, we finally got some this weekend! Monday was an In-Service day and so the students had an extra day to enjoy the snow. Here’s what they did: Gwen-Trista and I were playing out in the snow with our sleds. We went down a big hill and crashed [...]
Happy New Year!
We had a wonderful break and are happy to be back at school. During our two week holidays we did a lot of exciting stuff. Here are some of our favourite things about our Christmas holidays: Karin-My favourite part of the holiday was when we went down island to see our friends. Sophie-My favourite part [...]
New Tools and Apps
Today was a day to experiment with a new tool and to try out a new app. This morning we used our Livescribe pens for the first time. We have two pens and special paper that lets you record what you are writing and also what you are saying if you like. Several students had [...]
Literacy Day
Today we celebrated Literacy Day with the whole school. We were divided into four different groups and each group focused on a different country. Students in kindergarten to grade seven worked together to learn more about India, Egypt, Kenya, and Vietnam. In our groups we used books from the library and information from the internet [...]
Skype with Our Friends in B4
On Thursday we Skyped with our friends in B4. It was the last day of the school year in New Zealand and we were so glad that Mrs. McKenzie and her class could squeeze in a Skype call. Mrs. McKenzie and B4 were a part of the Our World, Our Stories project. We also have [...]
Polar Landscapes
We started this art project last Friday and finished this week. The funny thing was, that the very next day the snow started and it actually stayed around for a whole week. We may need to do winter themed art more often! The first week we painted the sky and the ice. We added salt [...]
Student Post: Fish Friends by Kennedy
The students did a wonderful job blogging about our visit from Tracey and the delivery of the salmon eggs we raise each year, and so it seemed only fitting that one of them had their post published on our class blog. You can read all the other wonderful posts about the salmon by following the [...]
Untitled
In November we were treated to a special visit from Bardo the Barred Owl and Ross and Rosemarie from the North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre. Ross and Rosemarie taught us all about owls and then we got to do a pellet dissection! Somehow Mrs. Watson forgot all about posting the video …better late than never! [...]
What A Tragic Mess In Los Angeles
I’m sure most readers of this blog have already heard about the L.A. elementary school where two teachers have been arrested on molestation charges, and the District’s decision to remove all of the teachers at the school. Parents are justifiably upset about the danger their children were in, and now many appear doubly upset at [...]
“Parent Communication Tips For….Younger Teachers”
Class Dismissed! Parent Communication Tips for ….. Younger Teachers is a very good article by Roxanna Elden, one of the best writers around. I’m adding it to The Best Sources Of Parent Engagement Advice For Teachers.
Go To Parent/Teacher Conferences Or Get Your TANF Benefits Cut-Off, Says D.C. Council Member
In yet another bizarre and punitive effort to force increased parent involvement, a Washington, D.C. City Council Chairman has announced plans to introduce legislation that would cut-off TANF benefits to parents who didn’t attend parent/teacher conferences and PTA meetings. He attempted unsuccessfully to do the same thing in 2008. I’ve previously written many posts and [...]
This Week’s “Parent Teacher Chat” On Twitter
In January , Joe Mazza wrote a guest post about Parent Teacher Chat on Twitter. Joe has accepted my invitation to write a short post on this blog regularly to announce future topics for these chats: Next #PTchat – 2/8/12 “Most Innovative Family Engagement Efforts by Classroom Teachers” This Wednesday’s #ptchat is a great opportunity for K-12 [...]
Video On Florida Craziness
Here’s a video from The Huffington Post about some unwise parent involvement efforts in Florida that I’ve previously posted about:
“Education Fairs Reach Out to Parents in Spanish”
Education Fairs Reach Out to Parents in Spanish is the title of a blog post at Latin Ed Beat. It describes an organization that helps School Districts around the country organize events geared towards Spanish-speaking parents. The post also contains several good links to other articles.
Parent Involvement Issues In The UK
An Interview with Carol Vincent: Parental Involvement in Education recently appeared in a United Kingdom newspaper — Carol Vincent is a professor at the University of London. It’s not interesting enough for me to add to The Best Resources On Parent Engagement In Countries Other Than The U.S., but it might be worth a quick [...]
“Parent trigger not on the top of parent-involvement expert’s list of best practices”
Parent trigger not on the top of parent-involvement expert’s list of best practices is the headline of a column at the Tampa Bay newspaper in Florida (where an attempt is being made to pass a trigger law). It quotes parent involvement researcher Joyce Epstein, who says: “That would not be first on our list of [...]
“Bad idea to grade parents”
Bad idea to grade parents is the headline on a Florida newspaper columnists piece published yesterday. It refers to the….bad idea I posted about a couple of days ago.
Research Studies Of The Week
I often write about research studies from various field and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies … Continue reading →
Parent Engagement With ESL/ELL Families
I’ll be a guest on next Wednesdays #PTchat on Twitter to discuss: strategies schools can employ to partner with ESL/ELL families It will be on on Wednesday, February 17th at 9PM EST. You can learn more about it at Joe … Continue reading →
Send An Xtranormal Valentine’s Day Greeting Without Having To Register
Xtranormal, the relatively well-known site that lets you create animations with audio, is letting anyone send a Valentine’s Day greeting — no registration required. All you have to do is go here, make your choices — including if you want … Continue reading →
“The Educator’s Guide to Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons”
The Educator’s Guide to Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons is a must-read post by Ronnie Burt over at The Edublogger. I’m adding it to The Best Resources To Learn About Copyright Issues.
Arne Duncan Supports Using Student Portfolios To Evaluate Teachers?
I support using alternative methods to student performance on standardized tests to evaluate teachers. In fact, I have a long list of “tried and true” alternatives at The Best Articles Describing Alternatives To High-Stakes Testing. One of those alternative measures … Continue reading →
I Tried One Of Robert Krulwich’s Ideas In Class Today…
Yesterday, I posted NPR’s Robert Krulwich Provides Another Excellent Idea For A History Lesson. I didn’t try that idea out today, but tried another one that I had previously posted (“Let’s Play ‘History As A List’” Is A Fascinating Idea). … Continue reading →
Cool “Front Pages” On Key History & Science Events
Hold Ye Front Page is a cool site from the British newspaper “Sun” where they produce online front pages about events in world, science and sports history. The articles are fairly accessible, and they typically include videos from The History … Continue reading →
Creating Fake “Stuff” For Learning
I’ve just updated The Best Tools For Creating Fake “Stuff” For Learning. Additional suggestions are welcome.
This Week’s “Links I Should Have Posted About, But Didn’t”
I have a huge backlog of resources that I’ve been planning to post about in this blog but, just because of time constraints, have not gotten around to doing. Instead of letting that backlog grow bigger, I regularly grab a … Continue reading →
“Round-Up” Of Good School Reform Posts & Articles
Here are a few recent good posts on education policy issues: Getting Real About Turnarounds is by Diane Ravitch. I’m adding it to The Best Posts About Attrition Rates At So-Called “Miracle” Schools. New Hope for the Obama/Gates School of … Continue reading →
Amazing Northern Lights Video
I’m adding this video to The Best Sites For Learning About The Northern Lights: Aurora 2012 from Christian Mülhauser on Vimeo.
NPR’s Robert Krulwich Provides Another Excellent Idea For A History Lesson
Last month, I shared a column written by Robert Krulwich at NPR about talking about history “as lists” and how I was planning on using his idea in class. Today, Krulwich wrote another fascinating column titled ‘Rasputin Was My Neighbor’ … Continue reading →
Google Starts TED-Like Talk Video Collection
Solve For X is a series of TED-like talks that appear to be sponsored by Google. It’s described as “A forum to encourage and amplify technology-based moonshot thinking and teamwork.” Here’s a sample. It’s a talk by Nicholas Negroponte on … Continue reading →
Authentic Audiences For Student Writing
I’ve recently completed revised and updated The Best Places Where Students Can Write For An “Authentic Audience.” Additional suggestions are always welcome.
Intriguing Video On Telling Good Stories
I’ve heard/read about Nancy Duarte’s perspective on telling good stories before, and generally thought it was a bit convoluted and not helpful. However, either because I was feeling a little more patient (maybe I was also more willing to hear … Continue reading →
Here’s A Video That Demonstrates Perseverance
Here’s a video of someone who wanted to become a professional skier, but broke his back on the slopes while doing a backflip and became a paraplegic. Eight years later he became the first person to perform a backflip on … Continue reading →
“Ways To Help Our Students Become Better Readers”
I’ve just published the first post in a four-part series on “Ways To Help Our Students Become Better Readers” over at Education Week Teacher. This column includes contributions from Stephen Krashen and Richard Allington. It should be an excellent series. … Continue reading →
The Best Education Articles From “The Onion”
“The Onion,” the satirical news site, can often times be mean-spirited and in bad taste. But sometimes it can sure be funny, too! Here are my picks for The Best Education Articles From “The Onion.” Please let me know which … Continue reading →
“Facial Coding For Super Bowl Ads”
CNN ran this video today discussing the use of “facial coding for Super Bowl Ads.” It’s a process advertising agencies use to determine emotional responses to commercials. Each year after the Super Bowl I have my IB Theory of Knowledge … Continue reading →
When Were Your Students “Utterly Absorbed” In Their Learning Task?
Adam Simpson will be the host of the next ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival on March 1st, and has written an excellent post describing its theme of “Flow”: What I’m looking for in your entries for the next blog carnival are those … Continue reading →