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Celebrate Earth Day with joy and laughter about the natural world! 

Here are two books that will make children laugh while they learn. I have had them in my possession for a few months now and I keep rereading and sharing them with different classes. Both books can integrate learning in language, science, and the arts. Content warning: both of these books use either the word poop or poo. When a silly word like this is in a book, I usually have a conversation with the class before reading. I do not tell them the exact word but do let them know that there is a silly word that we don’t usually use in class. This actually causes them to hone in and really focus on the story as they anticipate the silly word coming up. Once they hear the word and the initial roar of laughter happens, I remind them that we still find that word too silly for use in the classroom. Some words cause a lot of distraction, and this is one of them!

Both of these books can be used around Earth Day with the purpose of encouraging students’ curiosity about the creatures on planet Earth. When we help students realize that everywhere on Earth is a habitat for some creatures, they will be motivated to help with action projects.  A favourite project is a community clean-up but there are other possibilities listed at EarthDay.org

10 Shocking Facts About Capybaras by Melanie Watt

Melanie Watt, Canadian award-winning author of both Chester and Scaredy Squirrel, is back with the adorable capybara as her main character. She lists off 10 truthful facts about capybaras but as she writes the tenth fact the capybara begins to interrupt. The critter is embarrassed about what she wants to tell the world. Similar to Chester and Scaredy Squirrel, the capybara speaks up for himself and makes us all laugh.  What a wonderful author study topic! Melanie Watt’s books have a strong element of humour but they also demonstrate empathy and perseverance.

I would also use this book to:

* introduce a study on animal characteristics;

*examine point of view as the story switches from third to first person;

*use this example to have students create their own research about an animal;

*go beyond the story and learn about the capybara habitat;

*use this as an example for students to create cartoon style animal drawings;

*encourage critical thinking to decipher fact versus fiction;

*encourage acceptance;

*develop a love of reading, especially books that use humour to engage readers;

*begin an author study on Melanie Watt.

“You’re Called What?!” written by Kes Gray and illustrated by Nikki Dyson

This book can be an excellent follow-up to the capybara book because it offers 13 animals with silly names that will definitely grab your attention. Another content warning: this book uses the words snot and booby in the animal names. As I already mentioned, prepare the class for some silly words to come up in the story and them when they have a good chuckle you can remind them that we don’t want to have these words being overused in the classroom because it can be disruptive. When students stop laughing this book can be used to:

*continue a study on animal characteristics and the descriptive names they have;

*encourage students to find facts such as size, food, habitat, number of young;

*dramatize the story with students performing the roles of the animals;

*map the locations of the various animals around the world;

*write a fictional tale about the lives of these animals in first person “My Life as a ___”;

*draw a self-portrait and re-name themselves with a funny name;

*paint or draw one of the animals in the book;

*take students outside and have them create names for the natural things they see: birds, trees, smaller plants, waterways, or even rocks;

*discuss fact vs fiction in this book;

*develop a love of reading, especially books that use humour to engage readers;

*have a discussion or debate about changing animal names.

On April 22nd read these books and kick off some fun ways to learn about animals.

Happy Earth Day!

Brenda

One day I had the privilege to spend the morning in a colleague’s classroom (let’s call her “Nara”, for anonymity), where her main focus is supporting students in English Literacy Development (ELD) programs. Students in this program have missed 2+ years of learning and may have significant gaps in numeracy and literacy. Because those years of school may be a result of coming from a country where there is political conflict, social unrest, or environmental disasters, these students may have experienced significant trauma.

Nara’s support classroom is cozy and neat, with literacy resources organized carefully on the shelves. As students walk into the room to receive support, they are full of excitement and smiles. It is clear she has built a strong sense of community in her learning space.

One student walks in and sits down quietly. Nara senses his mood and gives him some space to adjust to his surroundings. As the students introduce themselves to me, the visitor in the room, my colleague uses Google translate to let the student know he does not have to participate in the introduction. He still introduces himself to me, and it’s wonderful to hear him use the English he is learning.

At one point during the lesson, the student gets up and moves toward chart the teacher has on the board. The chart is laminated and has “Check-In” written at the top, and below it, “I’m Great”, “I’m Meh”, “I’m Struggling”, “I’m having a tough time and wouldn’t mind a check in”, and “I’m Not Doing Great”. There are hand-drawn emojis that add meaning to each phrase.

Beside the chart are magnets are student name tags and students can place their name tag to show how they are feeling. The student places his name beside “I’m Meh”. The bell rings and the other students exit the room. The teacher brings out the translator and starts “checking in” with the student.

I observe Nara ask some simple questions: did something happen today? Are you feeling well? Do you feel ready to go to your class? Do you want some time alone here?

As the translated conversation unfolds, it becomes clear that he was experiencing difficulty focusing and self-regulating that day. Though he had only been in the school for a short while, his complex family background was known to staff thanks to a detailed report from the board’s Welcome Centre and ongoing conversations with the family. The student had an incredibly traumatic and eventful journey to Canada, and was living with relatives while his mother was in the hospital. School staff and administrators understood that he expressed his emotions through outbursts and aggressive behaviour.

Working with students that come from complex, traumatic backgrounds is a major challenge for educators. Elise White Diaz, writer of Discover, Connect, Respond, provides a useful framework for educators working with students that, as she describes, “come from a hard place”. Nara, who expertly brought the student from a place of distress to a calmer mood uses some of Diaz’s strategies to create a trauma-informed practice that supports students in the ELD classroom. As the book’s title suggests, discovering is the first step: having an emotions chart or a “check in” system where emergent speakers of English can self-advocate is one way to do this. It can be frustrating for students to not be able to communicate their emotions as clearly as they would in their home language, so having a simple chart like hers can help educators to discover exactly what is going on when a student is having a bad day.

The next step, connect, is intuitive and easily facilitated with a translation tool on hand. With a few easy clicks, you can provide students with the opportunity to communicate without a language barrier. If the student is not literate in their home language, use the voice tool to translate or choose an app that has voice-to-voice translation, like Microsoft Translate.

And finally – respond. In this case, the student ended up wanting to return to class as lunch was happening soon. Knowing that the student was having a tough day, the teacher called the classroom teacher and administrator to let them know what had transpired so they could be prepared for a potentially sensitive situation.

In a previous post I shared insights to how I stove to establish and build positive relationships with students at the start of the school. When I wrote that post, I thought it would be a stand-alone piece because I had yet to seriously consider how nurturing positive relationship with and between students involves similar but different approaches than simply building or establishing them. Additionally, as the school year progresses, I’ve been reflecting on the ways that I’m nurturing positive relationships with and between students to continue supporting their learning. Therefore, in this post I’ll share five ways that I’m striving to nurture positive relationships with and between students in the hopes that the ideas I share will provide insight or guidance to other educators. The five approaches below are in no specific order or hierarchy but they do follow a basic structure where I briefly describe the approach, why I use it, and how I have seen that it works to nurture positive relationships in the classroom.

1. Find time to meet with each student 1 on 1

Each term, I make time to meet with each student 1 on 1 so that I can provide individualized instruction, check-in on their progress related to given tasks, provide feedback, gain insight to their learning strengths and needs, and just generally see how they’re doing. I find that students who may be reluctant to share knowledge and experiences in whole group or small group settings are much more open to sharing in a 1 on 1 setting. I also find the 1 on 1 meeting shows students a certain level of interest and care that they seem to value and appreciate; I say this because I have yet to experience any student who is reluctant to meet with me or engage in some level of conversation during our 1 on 1 meetings. To ensure I can meet with all students within a reasonable timeframe and obtain the information I need, I keep the meetings brief, set clear meeting goals for myself and students, and take notes for future reference.

2. Start and end each week with check-ins

To begin and end each week, I pose three questions for students as way for me to quickly check-in to see how their doing. The questions are usually what I perceive to be low-risk questions that avoid asking students deeply personal information in a large group setting. For example, in the past I’ve asked students about a highlight of their weekend, how they would spend their day if the weekend was extended or whom is the first person they like to share positive news. I ask students these questions to signal to them that I care and I am interested in their lives beyond the classroom in addition to the questions being a way for me to gain insight to their experiences so that I can find meaningful ways to include them in assignments and activities. Since I started this practice, if for some reason I forget to pose the questions students will remind me that I forgot to do the check-in; their reminders signals to me that they appreciate our weekly check-ins.

3. Compliment and offer words of encouragement

Whenever I provide any feedback to students whether it be oral or written, I begin by recognizing the things that they are doing well. I do this to remind students and myself that they have valuable knowledge and skills that are working to support their learning and they need to continue using to leverage their strengths to further support their learning. I also actively look for opportunities to genuinely compliment students whether it be for a new haircut, helping a peer, or showing growth and improvement in their learning to ensure that they know that I see and recognize positive things about them. I have found that these words and gestures work to create positive relationships and a positive learning environment fueled by positive energy.

4. End the week with fun activities

Each Friday, I end the week with a period where students and I engage in large and small group games. Some of the large group games that we play include, BINGO, Silent ball, and Around the World, while some of the small group games we play include, Uno, Chess, and Jenga. I implemented what my students and I call Friday Funday or tech free time, as an intentional pause from content-focused instruction to prioritize skill development that supports student learning, such as collaboration, communication, and relationship building. Since implementing Friday Funday or tech free time, I’ve noticed that students are more open to working with peers whom they may not consider their friends and they engage in more positive peer communication.

5. Model respectful communication

Whether I am speaking to students in large groups, small groups or 1:1, I practice respectful communication using a calm direct tone. For me this sounds like, when asking students to do something, saying please and thank you. Asking them questions instead of making assumptions or accusations and reminding students that I am here and available to support them in being successful in their learning. I find modeling respectful communication works to create a calm respectful climate conducive to learning that students seem to appreciate. Some of the ways that I have witnessed students appreciating my approaches is that they speak to me respectfully, they avoid wondering the halls during lessons, and I have fewer behavioural issues or concerns.

Have you ever been walking along the sidewalk and then come to the place where you’ve got to cross the road?  You may have noticed that the curb is cut, usually meaning a mostly flat ramp has been created to enable an easier crossing. You might have been pushing a stroller, pulling a wagon or suitcase, using a wheelchair or even a bicycle and this small adaptation made your life so much easier. This is called the Curb Cut effect – where the accessibility features designed for people with disabilities ends up benefitting many others as well. 

Like me, I’m sure you can think of a number of other accessibility designs that benefit many people, for example, doors that open automatically in a store and closed captioning.  All of these accessibility features were not designed with me in mind, but they have improved my ability to navigate the world.  I’m thankful they exist when I need them, such as ramps and elevators, but I also acknowledge that they don’t exist everywhere yet. 

Universal Design for Learning, often referred to as UDL, is a framework that meets the needs of learners from different backgrounds, with different abilities, and learning styles. In classrooms, we see how this framework promotes better accessibility for everyone.  For example, a posted visual schedule is helpful for those students who need predictability and routine, but it’s also good for all students to know how their day will go.  Using a timer can help to chunk work for some students; however, everyone (including myself!) can benefit from this strategy in class.  

The UDL framework encourages educators to think about three main principles in their planning: 

Multiple means of representation:  Providing learners with multiple ways to access information and content. This includes presenting information in different formats such as text, audio, and video, and offering different modes of interaction such as visuals, audio, and text.

Multiple means of action and expression: Allowing learners to demonstrate what they know in different ways. This includes providing options for students to express themselves through writing, speech, or other forms of communication.

Multiple means of engagement: Providing learners with multiple ways to engage with content, activities, and assessments. This includes offering choices in how they approach and interact with learning materials, as well as creating opportunities for motivation and self-reflection.

(from: Universal Design for Learning (UDL)- Digital Accessibility Toolkit)

How do we design lessons with these principles at the forefront of our planning?  Admittedly, it takes time, experience, and intentionality. When I first started teaching,  this was a big part of my learning; thinking about how I learn and learning how others might learn differently.  I started observing students, talking with them and their families about what helped them learn best, reading about different accommodations and learning about strategies that were new to me and ever changing with advancing technology.  I asked colleagues for suggestions and feedback; I referred to a lot of documents and research to get ideas and examples. 

Much like The Curb Cut Effect has benefitted so many people by making the world more accessible, Universal Design for Learning has a similar effect on the classroom.  Educators have the power to build “learning curb cuts” into a lesson or unit in a variety of ways, from ensuring slide decks are visually accessible to offering assessment options, such as writing an essay or recording a podcast. These ‘Curb Cuts’ may help students with disabilities, as well as make life easier for the student who is anxious about public speaking, the student learning English, and the student who needs additional processing time.  That seems like a classroom cultivated so that everyone can learn.

Please note: You may also read more about UDL in the Ontario Ministry of Education document entitled, Learning for All.

Over the last 5 years, I’ve had the opportunity to work as a centrally assigned educator in my board. And while the job has certainly had its share of ups, downs, stressors, and successes, one thing I know I will walk away with is the ability to plan a professional learning session for staff.

If you are in the position of planning a staff meeting, lunch and learn, or professional learning activity for your school – and are feeling a bit nervous or unsure about it – keep in mind that it is completely normal. After all, you are presenting to your peers, who can sometimes feel like the most challenging audience to “teach” no matter how long you have been teaching in the classroom. These are the same people you probably not only work with, but have lunch with and perhaps even socialize with.

Here are some tips for getting your first professional learning presentation off the ground.

1. Focus on What Matters to Educators

While you may not always get to choose what topic you will present on, you should try to tailor the content you select to what matters to staff. Send out a survey, talk to your colleagues to find out what challenges they have in their classrooms, or connect with your administrator to see what they are noticing. What you want to avoid is presenting information that does not speak to their work, as they will disengage quickly from your session.

2. Avoid Reading off Text-Heavy Slides

This can be tough, but a presentation is always more engaging when you are speaking and connecting more with the audience than reading off a slide deck. A slide deck is there to provide a visual element that supports the information you are sharing, to highlight key ideas, and add a multi-modal dimension. When slides are overly text-heavy, the information becomes to overwhelming.

3. Drive Engagement through Interaction, when Possible

There are presentations where you may have to simply “stand and deliver”. However, building in points of interaction, however brief, can make the learning more engaging and memorable to your audience. Just as with kids, adults also benefit from being able to interact and engage with their learning in pairs or groups. If time does not permit for this level of interaction, do not hesitate to provide points of provocation or reflection that give learners an opportunity to “take in” and absorb what you are sharing.

4. Give “Real Life” Examples

When we are providing professional learning, we are often helping our colleagues to enhance their workflow or improve their teaching. Sharing authentic examples of student work or practical application goes a long way in getting your messaging across, since teachers can start to imagine how whatever you are sharing will look like in their classrooms.

5. Remember that you Don’t Need to Know Everything

It can be easy to feel stressed about not “knowing everything” about what you are presenting. Remember that you don’t need to know it all (in fact you will probably never know it all). If you get questions you can’t answer with certainty, you can always say you don’t have the answer. Someone else in the room may have the answer or a perspective, or you can always find out and share the information later.

6. Do a Run-Through of Your Presentation

If possible, do a practice run of your presentation before it actually happens. You will probably find that there are pieces that you need to practice parsing, or information you want to add on after you go through it. Even just one practice run can do wonders for your confidence prior to presenting, and you will feel less compelled to read off your slides and more ready to add emphasis and expression to your speaking.

I was standing at the front of the class, in the middle of my history lesson.  I was a new teacher, and in those early days it didn’t take me long to notice the distinctive energy that characterized a lesson going well. It was marked by easy flow of conversation, focused attention, interaction …  At times such lessons seemed to sail along by themselves, with questions, and answers, and more questions propelling the learning forward. Time would slip away like a stream, completely unnoticed until the bell suddenly announced the end of the period. But on one particular day, things were not going as planned.  Stilted energy. Halting flow. I was distracted by something important, and every sentence I uttered seemed to drop like a stone in front of me.

One student could not understand my lesson, and I knew it.  She had joined our class that morning and was new to English. After introductions, welcoming, and community-building games throughout the morning, we found ourselves in afternoon history class. History can be a challenging subject at the best of times, with abstract concepts and events removed hundreds of years from current experiences. But now this bright student was sitting in front of me, knowledge and skills encoded in a language I was not speaking. She was so eager to learn, wide eyes watching me hopefully …  and my heart sank.

I did not know what to do.

Although I had just returned from teaching ESL abroad and was knowledgeable in ESL instruction, the context here in the Ontario public school system was entirely different. Overseas, the students I taught were studying English as a separate rotary subject, much like students in Ontario study core French. “English” had its own designated period, and the sole goal was linguistic acquisition. Moreover, everyone in the class had the benefit of speaking the same first language, allowing full discussion and explanation of the language material. But here in Ontario, in a class full of English-speaking students, my new student had none of those advantages: she was not learning English for the sake of learning English; she was using it to learn math, science, history, art, health …  How was I supposed to teach her all of these curriculum subjects when she was just beginning to learn the language? When she had no same-language speaking peers with whom to ask questions and clarify material? When she was in a culturally and linguistically unfamiliar place and school community?

I looked back at those hopeful eyes once more.  I am not teaching in a way that she can understand, a loud voice was ringing out in my head. On repeat. Knowing very well what it was like to be in a roomful of people and be the only one not understanding what was being said, I had to switch gears.  I hurriedly finished my lesson, and went over to work with her, re-teaching the topic as best I could and scaffolding language. But there were 25 other needs in that classroom as well, and only one of me. I couldn’t give anyone the time they needed like this. I needed to find other ways to include my new student in whole-class learning.

And that’s where PWIM comes in.

Ah, PWIM. I even like saying it that way. When sounded out it is almost onomatopoeia, a zippy word for a technique that gets your lesson going instantly. The acronym stands for Picture Word Inductive Model, and it is a tried-and-true strategy for teaching vocabulary and curriculum content simultaneously – in a way that is accessible to everyone in the class, including beginner MLLs. And the most amazing bonus? It requires almost zero prep time. The only thing you have to do is find a picture of whatever unit you are teaching … Canada in the 1800s. Desert Ecosystems. Healthy Eating. Or, in this case, the Life cycle of a Bird:

Projected in front of the class, this single image becomes a tool of engagement, with vocabulary learning, activation of prior knowledge, and curriculum teaching all rolled into one. Once the picture is up, the teacher invites students to name anything they see in the picture. In this case, students might say things like bird, nest, babies … The teacher writes the words as the students provide them, labelling the whole-class visual on the spot and even leading the class in chorally repeating the words for emphasis:

During this interaction, teachers also become aware of words students are not volunteering and may not know, and can then introduce them … perhaps words like chicks, down feathers, or talons …  Great for building vocabulary they will need for the subsequent lesson and unit. And of course, let’s not forget translanguaging:

Including students’ languages in learning has immeasurable benefits, in terms of equity and inclusion, language learning, and overall academic performance. Research tells us that students who maintain and develop first language acquire English faster and do better academically than those who do not. In addition, a multilingual classroom creates a new, inclusive space for students, in which their linguistic repertoires and identities are recognized, reflected in the school environment, and integral to learning.

And this is what would have made a difference in my ill-fated history lesson. With vocabulary now pre-taught using the Picture Word Inductive Model (necessary for the MLL but great for everyone), the teacher now has a giant labelled visual to refer to as they teach the main lesson, pointing to items and visuals as they say them, reinforcing vocabulary, and enabling greater access to curriculum content than a purely verbal-linguistic lesson would have allowed.

At some point, we all look back on our beginning years in education and think, I wish I could go back and re-teach this lesson or that …  Well, the history lesson I described earlier is one of mine. But I learned quickly, and have never stopped learning to be honest. There’s always more to consider, more to add to instructional approaches. Hoping this one, or an effective variation that you have discovered, becomes just one more way to include all students in your learning community.

This year, I’ve had the privilege to attend and participate in professional learning focused on literacy practices in the classroom. One of the things that has stood out to me in every session was the intentional way facilitators asked us to self-reflect. 

At the beginning of each session, after sharing the learning goals, they would ask the following : Are you a seed, a seedling or a tree?

• Seed … beginning the learning journey, curious and open to ideas
• Seedling … someone who has built some roots, experimented, explored new strategies, and looking to learn more
• Tree … someone who has built strong roots (and will continue to), feels confident in their knowledge and understanding and can share or support others

I appreciate this seed‑to‑tree analogy not only for individual growth but because, in many Indigenous worldviews, plants and seeds are teachers with cultural and relational meaning (embodied in works like Braiding Sweetgrass), which explores how plants teach about reciprocity, relationship, and learning. This approach reminds us that growth is holistic, relational, and generational. The seed, seedling, and tree represent more than stages of personal development; they reflect the continuity of culture and knowledge. 

In relation to professional learning, this subtly highlights that as educators we all are at different points. Growth isn’t linear and there isn’t a single “end” goal. Some days we feel like seeds, absorbing ideas, while others we feel like trees, grounded in our understanding and practice.

This reflection process made me think of my students as well. We often focus on identifying the learning goals, and the success criteria. Giving space for our students to consider where they are in the learning journey can help improve their self-esteem as learners and foster a growth mindset. 

How do you incorporate time for students to self-reflect?

Across Canada, the groundhogs and lobsters have made their predictions for the start of spring. Now we can read a picture book celebrating the arrival of spring, Spring’s Miracles, by Indigenous author Kaitlin B. Curtice. Ideal for kindergarten to grade 3, this story explains how Dani, a member of the Potawatomi nation, celebrates the new year when spring arrives. The Potawatomi are Anishinaabe whose traditions include celebrating the new year with food and getting outside to appreciate the gifts of spring. 

Before Reading – New Year Celebrations and Seasonal Changes

Ask the class about the ways people celebrate the new year. They may mention January 1st with fireworks and parties and also Lunar New Year celebrations in February. Also look at the illustrations on the cover, does this cover look like early spring? Why or why not? We can use the students’ observations to talk about climate in different parts of North America and that early spring will look different depending how far south or north we are. Just thinking about this has me humming the chant from Bill Nye the Science Guy, “The reason for the seasons is the tilt of the earth”. It is possible to make an entire science lesson about seasonal changes just based on this story, but we can also include social studies, language and the arts.

During Reading – Relating to Students’ Experiences

The story takes Dani up a challenging climbing rock and she has to overcome her fears if she wants to reach the top. She remembers that,  “Even when she is scared, she can still do great things.” Students may wish to give examples of times when they were scared but found the courage to complete something frightening. 

Dani’s family has a celebratory meal, and we can use this opportunity to ask students about  favourite foods for the New Year. Are they the same or different? 

After the meal, Dani’s family share their hopes for the new year around the campfire. Again, students may wish to relate their ideas and wishes for the new year as well.

After Reading – A Spring Walk and Creative Response

Looking for signs of spring is a beautiful way to celebrate Spring’s Miracles! We can take the class for a walk around the schoolyard or into the neighbourhood*. It’s very rewarding to take photographs of the signs of spring on your walk.  Another exciting task is to bring along peeled  crayons and paper to take rubbings of tree bark. If we did this walk in my area of southern Ontario we might find: melting snow and ice, mud, puddles, running water (creeks), plants pushing through the soil, buds on trees, pine cones on the ground or on the branches, a variety of birds (listen for their calls), insects, squirrels or other small mammals, animal scat, and people enjoying warmer weather in a variety of ways in their spring clothing. 

Follow-up Suggestions

Once students have been outdoors and made observations of the change in seasons, we can ask students to reflect on the new growth they would like to see in their own lives. What changes do they hope to see? Is there something new they could try, even if it requires courage?

Creative Reflections

– use photographs to create a digital collage of spring’s miracles;

– draw or paint a garden of spring flowers such as trout lilies and trilliums;

– work together to create a Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring class book similar to the one in my Winter Solstice Blog;

-take crayon rubbings of tree bark and cut pieces of the rubbings out to create cut and paste flowers or a spring scene;

-dramatize what is happening to the snow or the plants in early spring;

-any of these ideas can be accompanied by a written statement in which the student shares an area of growth that they are working on;

More Experiences to Consider

-visit a farm to see what is being done to prepare for the coming season. How is life changing on a farm in the spring?;

-have an outdoor education experience focusing on spring changes in the forest;

-visit a sugar bush and observe maple trees being tapped for sap that is boiled into delicious syrup.

The Potawatomi Nation

As Treaty People we benefit from learning Indigenous perspectives. Since author Kaitlin B. Curtice is a member of the Potawatomi nation, we can take time to listen to their stories and learn about their communities. This nation crosses the Canada/U.S. border, with communities in both countries. Studying a map and reading from the community websites, or even better, having a guest speaker, helps us work on research skills while learning about the Potawatomi.

I hope spring brings you growth and change in the most rewarding ways!

Brenda

*Please check your school board’s policy on neighbourhood walks. I also recommend checking weather conditions, especially with the spring thaw causing flooding in some areas.