Kelly.McLaughlin Assessment and Evaluation, Before School Starts, Curriculum Planning, Start of the year

How to write long range plans

Creating long-range plans can be a complex but essential part of effective teaching. I find when I write long range plans using these steps, it makes my year flow much easier and helps me feel organized daily. 

    1.Understand the curriculum:

  •    Read and understand the curriculum documents for your subject and grade level.
  •    Identify the key expectations, big ideas, and specific learning goals.
  1. Know the assessment and evaluation guidelines:
  •   Understand the assessment and evaluation strategies outlined in Growing Success.
  •   Integrate assessment for, as, and of learning in your planning.
  1. Set goals and timelines:
  •    Define what students need to know, understand, and be able to do by the end of the year.
  •    Break down the overall expectations into manageable units.
  1. Create a timeline for the entire year:
  •    Outline the entire school year, marking key events, holidays, and reporting periods.
  •    Allocate time for each unit, ensuring a balanced distribution of content.
  1. Plan the units:
  •   Organize content into units or themes that align with the curriculum.
  •  Ensure that each unit builds on the previous one and prepares students for the next.
  1. Integrate with as many other subjects as you can:
  •    Look for opportunities to connect your subject with other subjects.
  •    Plan activities that incorporate literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking skills.
  1. Diverse instructional strategies:
  •    Plan a variety of instructional strategies to meet the diverse needs of your students.
  •    Include whole-class instruction, small group work, independent activities, and hands-on learning.
  1. Use a variety of inclusive resources
  •     Identify and gather resources that will support your teaching.
  •    Plan for the use of technology, textbooks, library resources, and community connections.
  •    Make sure these resources represent students from all lived experiences
  1. Plan assessments:
  •    Develop assessment tools that align with the learning goals and objectives.
  •    Include formative assessments to monitor progress and summative assessments to evaluate learning.
  1. Review and reflect:
  •     At the end of the year, review your long-range plan to evaluate what worked well and what needs improvement.
  •     Use this reflection to inform your planning for the following year.

Doing all these steps will help you but also, make sure to be flexible and remember that some groups of students can take longer to grasp subjects/move quicker so your plans may not follow the exact timeline you create for them. Also, you may want to do this with your teaching team if you team- teach or work closely with another person. That way, you can incorporate each other’s ideas into the long range plans. By following these tips, I always feel so relaxed at the beginning of the year and it helps as well with preparation for Teacher Performance Appraisals (TPAs) as well as if you have a student teacher – you can show them where you are at when they arrive. 

Hope these tips help you with your planning!

 

For ETFO’s Tips and Advice on preparing for TPAs check out this podcast and website.

Kelly.McLaughlin Constant Learning, General, Music, self reflection, Wellbeing, Year End Reflection

A Farewell to Grade 7/8 and a Journey into Motherhood

As the school year draws to a close, I find myself standing at the threshold of two profound journeys: one into motherhood and another into the realm of teaching music. Packing up my classroom, filled with the laughter and learning of my grade 7/8 students, stirs a mix of emotions—excitement, nervousness, and a hint of sadness as I prepare for maternity leave.

Saying goodbye to my students is never easy. Their eager faces, the buzz of discussions, and the moments of revelation when a concept clicks—all these have filled my days with purpose and joy. Yet, as I gather lesson plans and organize materials, I find solace in knowing that while I embark on this new chapter of motherhood, the classroom will patiently await my return.

The anticipation of becoming a mother is a rollercoaster of emotions. Nervousness about the unknowns mingles with excitement for the miracle unfolding within. Will I be a good mother? How will I balance this new role with my passion for teaching? These questions linger in my mind, yet I am buoyed by the support of family, friends, and colleagues who assure me that this journey will unfold naturally.

When I return, I will begin a brand new journey as a music teacher! The prospect of teaching music brings with it a fresh canvas—a chance to introduce my students to the world of melodies, rhythms, and harmonies that have always been my passion. The notes may change, but the joy of teaching remains.

Teaching music offers a unique opportunity to inspire creativity and foster a love for expression through sound. I look forward to sharing my enthusiasm for music with my students, guiding them as they explore the intricacies of instruments, composition, and the emotional power of music itself.

As I look forward to all of these new chapters, I am grateful for the experiences that have shaped me in the homeroom classroom and look forward to what is ahead. So here’s to embracing change, to the excitement of new beginnings, and to the melodies that await us all. Although this is almost the end of my time blogging, I look forward to sharing in a different way in the future and reading the blog posts of the teachers that will come after we at Heart and Art. I am so grateful that I had this experience and await the new stories of teachers to come.

 

Kelly.McLaughlin 2SLGBTQ+, Health & Safety

Teaching Health for the first time

I just had my first go at teaching health class, and let me tell you, it was quite the adventure. Now, I know what you’re thinking, health class can sometimes bring up topics that may make others uncomfortable. But, diving into topics like healthy relationships and sexual health was actually pretty interesting and such an important topic for our grade eights to explore.

One of the strands we delved into was all about gender expression, gender, sexual orientation, and your sex. We talked about how each of us expresses ourselves in unique ways and how important it is to respect and celebrate those differences.

One of the coolest parts of our discussion was all about making others feel included and supported, especially when it comes to gender-related topics. Whether someone is questioning their identity or just needs a friendly ear, being there for each other is key. It’s all about building a community where everyone feels valued and loved for who they are.

And you know what? The timing couldn’t have been more perfect because guess what month it is? That’s right — it’s Pride month! 🏳️‍🌈 So, we took a moment to reflect on how we can make our school a place where everyone feels welcome and included, regardless of who they love or how they identify.

To spread some extra positivity, we decided to get crafty. Students partnered up and created posters with a positive message about embracing diversity and celebrating Pride month. Then, we plastered it all over the school, spreading those good vibes far and wide. These lessons I took from the OHPEA Health Lessons which are what we are using to direct all of our health lessons and to keep us on track.

I look forward to exploring more topics and connecting them to relevant topics for our students.

Kelly.McLaughlin Language Learning, Literacy

Word Study using a fun game

The Fun Way to Ace Spelling: Playing a spelling game using “Reading Rods”

Hey there, word wizards and spelling enthusiasts! 

Today, I want to share a super fun and effective way to improve your student’s spelling skills, especially those tricky high-frequency words we use every day. Using this game is a great way to get your students spelling. I find my students are asking me “Is this a word?” when creating different words so they still need practice identifying words. 

Why Spelling High-Frequency Words Matters

High-frequency words are the building blocks of our daily communication. Getting these words right is crucial because:

  1. They enhance readability: Misspelled high-frequency words can make your writing hard to understand.
  2. They build confidence: Mastering these common words boosts your overall confidence in writing.
  3. They improve literacy: Strong spelling skills contribute to better reading and comprehension.

But let’s face it—drilling spelling words can be a bore. That’s where using “Reading Rods” comes in! Using “Reading Rods”  is a game designed to make spelling practice both fun and interactive. The game can be played solo or with friends, and it’s perfect for classrooms or at-home learning. Here’s how it works:

The Basics

  1. Materials Needed:
  •     The actual game which comes with snap cubes for: vowels, consonants, common word endings (ex: ing, in, le, ed…) and common word beginnings (ex: sh, ch, th, sn…)
  • Paper to write down the words they created on with a spot for the score on the bottom
  1. Set Up:
  •    Provide students with a few cubes from each category

How to Play

  1. Students create words using different combinations of cubes for example:
    1. Round 1- Create as many words as you can using the green word beginning cubes and the yellow word ending cubes (set timer for one minute)
    2. Round 2- Create as many words as you can using the red vowel cubes, the consonant cubes, and the word ending cubes (set timer for two minutes)
    3. Any combination of the above 
    4. Students pass their paper to me at the end and I count up their score (one point for each word)
    5. I always make sure I have students who are the same level playing at the same time so nobody is spelling 100 words where their friend has spelt three.

Why this game works

Not only are you getting your daily word work in for the day in your literacy program, this game isn’t just about fun—it’s rooted in educational benefits:

  • Engagement: Turning spelling into a game keeps you engaged and motivated.
  •  Hands-On Learning: Using blocks adds a tactile element that can help with memory retention.
  • Competition: Friendly competition (even with yourself) encourages quick thinking and reinforces learning.

Feel free to share your word work experiences or any other fun spelling games you love in the comments below. Let’s make spelling fun together!

 

Kelly.McLaughlin 2SLGBTQ+

International Day of Pink 2024

This year, our OPHEA team (teachers and students) planned some events to celebrate the International Day of Pink. Although it fell on April 10th, we moved it to April 19th to not conflict with the celebration of Eid. Teachers could share videos and explore activities in their classroom on Pink Day (April 10th) as well as wearing pink on both days.

 

We met several times before our event to plan out exciting activities for our students in grade K- 8. Before selecting activities, we browsed the Home (2023) — Intl. Day of Pink website and watched videos, read ways to be involved and explored the themes for the year. This year, there were some key anniversaries to celebrate:

  • The 50th Anniversary of the Brunswick Four
  • The 25th Anniversary of the Trans Flag

 

After our planning sessions, we came up with the following activities in the gym for April 19th:

  • Photo Booth with Day of Pink back drop 
  • Colouring with Pride- Coloring pages provided by the day of pink website Colouring with Pride — Intl. Day of Pink
  • Visibility Rainbow- writing on a sticky note what it means to be visible 
  • Face painting- students received a rainbow or heart on their face at the facepaint station 
  • Pink Day Pledge- students put a thumb print on the pledge to sign their agreement with the pledge DoP_Poster_EN.indd (squarespace.com)
  • Positive fortunes- we had some students in the middle of the gym providing positive fortunes to students 
  • Friendship bracelets- each colour standing for a specific personality trait

 

The day ran smoothly, starting with a group reading of the pledge and then students could transition between each activity with their classmates. At the end of the day, the OPHEA student leaders cleaned up the gym. The day went well and students had a great time planning and carrying out the event. I look forward to seeing what they come up with next year! 

 

Kelly.McLaughlin General, Inquiry, Start of the year, Student-led projects

Display Case Ideas

At the beginning of the year, it was decided that the display case in the front of the school would be designed each month by a specific grade or class. They would determine what they would present for the month to focus on a specific thing happening that month. April was our turn and I left it up to my class to determine what we should do. 

A few students took the lead by researching prominent holidays, events in our board as well as awareness that was occurring during the month of April. They came up with a long list and presented it to the class. They did a bit of math to determine that the display case could be easily divided into five sections (four corners and the middle area) so they allowed each student to vote for five of the topics. The five topics that received the most votes were:

  • Autism Awareness Month 
  • Ramadan 
  • Easter
  • Earth Day 
  • International Day of Pink

After the results, it was time to get to work. My students were asked to work in groups of five to collaborate and come up with a display section for the topic of their choice. Each group was asked to come up with a creative way to display some visuals, research and ideas to celebrate/reflect on each topic. They had about 120 minutes and did a great job. They created posters with relevant information about the topics as well as eye-catching visuals for all students and staff that will be walking by the display case. For Earth Day and the International Day of Pink, students generated lists of ways our school will be celebrating/that they could celebrate. Then, one student from each group came down to the display case to hang their work. See photo of finished product. 

Does your school have a display case? Consider allowing a class/grade team to decorate the case each month for the next school year. 

(IMAGE: Photo of display case with student work as described in blog.)

Kelly.McLaughlin Celebrating Success, Inspiring Students, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Outdoor Education, Outdoor Learning, physically active, Student-led projects, Wellbeing, wellness

Winterfest

Our school is an OPHEA certified school- which means, “Healthy Schools Certification gives your school the tools to promote and enhance the health and well-being of students, school staff, and the broader school community.” More information about being an OPHEA certified school can be found here

Last year, our focus was on physical activity and this year, our focus is on wellness. So, our OPHEA team (which consists of ten teachers and over 40 students) planned a day called “Winterfest”. This day ran during school hours and was planned completely by our OPHEA student leaders. They planned activities indoors and outdoors for the school- students in grades 1-6. The intermediate students ran each student or led a group around the school to each station. Stations included:

  • Bobsleigh: students on a mat guiding their way through a course of pylons
  • Biathlon: a fake skating activity where students have to bowl to hit some cones at the end
  • Hot chocolate: students enjoy some hot chocolate while a fake fireplace sparks in the background
  • Ring Toss: an outdoor activity 
  • Directed Drawing: a mindful activity indoors
  • Box Igloo Building: students compete to build an igloo against other students with boxes 
  • Cooperative games: students work with their classmates to reach a common goal (silent line up, octopus, parachute)
  • Spoon & Egg relay: students race again their classmates to not drop the ping pong ball off the spoon
  • Obstacle Course: students run through a ground ladder and around pylons to race to the finish 
  • Capture the flag: class vs. class style, two classes play a game of capturing the other teams flag 
  • Ball Hockey: students compete against their classmates to score goals outdoors in a Canadian favourite

These activities were 25 minutes long in length and were a combination of indoor/outdoor games. The day went off without a hitch as intermediate students received compliments all day long for their excellent leadership skills! Thankfully, it was 8 degrees so the weather was not a negative factor. We look forward to doing another wellness day similar to this in the Spring. Try it out with your school!

 

Kelly.McLaughlin Curriculum Planning, Language Learning, Literacy

MVP of 2023

Every new year, I start a writing assignment where students have to brainstorm to decide who their MVP of 2023 will be. We generate lists based on possible categories such as:

  • Actors
  • Musicians
  • Athletes
  • Educators
  • Political Figures
  • Doctors
  • Youtubers
  • Citizens
  • Environmentalists

Then, I teach my students how to write a five paragraph essay. They start off by identifying the three main reasons that they think their person had an incredible year. This is usually a challenge as some of the main ideas are based around the same reasons such as they are generous, kind and charitable. We then talk about how our three main ideas should be very different from each other. I then approve the three main ideas before students start to research their person.

Students are encouraged to search through various sources to find quotes to prove their point- why their person should be the MVP of last year. They are encoruaged to find relevant, recent ideas that would make their person a stand out citizen. Then, they work on explaining their proof with their own ideas. I created an essay organizer which they filled out during their research stage to help with organization and flow. After that, they could start to type their first draft.

So many of my students were excited to see how long their first essay was. They were so excited to be able to write about a role model of their choosing and were excited to share their choice with the class. They also learned about proper citation format as well as thesis writing. Many of my students are in grade eight so this is something that they will be doing lots of this time next year. One of my old students came to me halfway through his grade nine English course and reminded me of how important the MVP assignment is that we did last year because it teaches all the necessary skills needed for high school English. I was very glad to hear this as I know it helped prepare him.

At the end of the essay assignment, students are able to read their peer’s essays and review them with our success criteria. Students are assessed based on:

  • developing ideas
  • organizing ideas
  • voice
  • word choice
  • revisions

After marking all of their essays this year, I was very proud to say that everyone excelled at developing and organizing ideas. I am wishing I had done a word choice lesson with similes, etc. before the writing process started as that was the area students needed to work on.

We also had a bracket tournament where everyone’s MVP was listed on the board. Students had to read their thesis for the competition so classmates could vote for the MVP of 2023. The final two canditates were one of the student’s moms vs. Cristiano Ronaldo. The winner for this year was…”My Mom” as it is hard to compete with a mom.

I look forward to doing this assignment again in the future as their are many present and future applications for it and students get to look for role models and reflect why they are important to them and to our world.

Kelly.McLaughlin Constant Learning, Design, Financial Literacy, Math, Thinking Classroom

My Math Program, Ten Years in the Making

After ten years of teaching, numerous PD courses, books and online documents, I have finally hammered down my math program. When introducing a new math concept, students can feel overwhelmed or confused. I like to break down each math expectation with a weekly focus on each one (giving extra time if needed). Ten years later, this is the structure that I have enjoyed the most and find my students enjoy the most:

 

Monday- introduce concept with key terms, videos and 1-2 examples on the board 

Tuesday- practice questions on whiteboards where students ask for help if needed

Wednesday- “Thinking Classroom” collaborative task where students work on 1-2 problems with a group of 3-4 students 

Thursday- math task with 3-4 questions, one bonus with an extension into further concepts 

Friday- math games to further the concept on gimkit, kahoot or knowledgehook

 

Their math mark is based on a combination of observations, conversations and a weekly product. My favourite day by far is Wednesdays where I randomly assign groups with numbered popsicle sticks. Students meet their group mates at their wipebook and get started on their question. I will post the most recent questions we solved and some of their solutions. Before each lesson, I ask students “What makes a great collaborator?” Student answers vary but often include:

  • A great listener 
  • Someone who includes students who are not involved 
  • Someone who listens without judgement 
  • Someone who does the work

 

Then, I walk around and look for evidence of the student-generated collaboration criteria. I also ask them questions about their math responses, never telling them they are on the wrong track but asking them about their process. After they have found some solutions, I pause the groups and ask them to walk around the room to view the other solutions. Sometimes I ask them to point to the wipebook that had their favourite process or the most organized process. We never take up the answers or I never correct their boards. Students often correct their own once the view the other boards. At the end of the class, I call students out into the hall and have them comment on the student who they thought collaborated the best in their group. 

 

That is my version of the “Thinking Classroom” in math with a focus on collaboration. 

Question and Student Responses:

 

 

 

This question was created using ideas from openmiddle.com. 

Kelly.McLaughlin Curriculum Documents, Curriculum Planning, Language Learning, Literacy, Small group instruction

Word Study meets Novel Study

My students just recently took a trip down to our learning commons to select a novel that they will read for the next month or so. With their novel, I like to do many activities that relate to reading such as comprehension, word study and fluency. 

In the past, I have put a few questions on the board that students can connect to such as:

  • Connect the part you just read in your novel to your own life. How was it similar or different?
  • How does the part in your novel that you just read contribute to the overall storyline?
  • Summarize what just happened in your novel 
  • Why does the author spend so much time describing certain parts of the text?
  • Identify a time in today’s reading that you had to use imagery
  • Why do you think the author selected the title for your story? Use evidence to support your answer
  • How would your story be different if a specific character was changed in some way?

These questions I would have my students answer in their language book or sometimes orally in a small group. 

However, since our annual plan and school focus is on small group instruction with a focus on decoding, I am incorporating the word study from the new language curriculum into my novel study this year. I will save the comprehension for when students have finished their novel. 

This week, I worked with students in groups of six and had them read a specific section of their book to me. I told students that we would be focused on suffixes today. I had them guess what a suffix is which few knew. Then, I asked students to bring their whiteboards and to copy this chart on them:

ed ing ly s

These are some of the most common suffixes I explained. Then, students were asked to find words in the page of their novel that they had just read and fill them in on the chart. Students found many words and were able to do this. However, when asked to underline the root word, many students find this part challenging as some words that they put under “s” were words that ended in yes but did not have a suffix (ex: yes, us, his). They then found out that the “s” was added to singular words. They did not have as much trouble with the other three prefixes. 

Next lesson, we will try prefixes. Once again, this lesson and related concepts are from the resource from our reading specialist team that I will cite again here:

“Teaching phonics & word study in the intermediate grades” by Wiley Blevins.