Beverly Papove Inquiry, Inspiring Students, Learning in a Real Life Context

Fall Gardening with Kinders

Because we have made it part of our timetable to spend the first and last block of every day outdoors with our SK students, we have become pretty regular weather watchers. So when we noticed that they were calling for 20 degrees on a Thursday in November, we decided to plan for a full morning of activities outside.

 

The first thing we did was brainstorm what learning opportunities we could provide that were a little different from the regular. Then we let the parents know of our plans, reminding them of the importance of dressing their children appropriately for a day of exploring outdoors, a day that included a filled water table. We also included the principal in our communications and were very happy when she had no objections or concerns.

 

With 2 ECEs, 2 teachers, a parent volunteer and a Child and Youth Worker placement student, we were able to put together a good variety of activities 2 days ahead of time. Besides the climbing structure which is always a big draw any day, we had cooperative games on the pavement; a reading area under a tree with a basket of books on a tarp; and a water table and Lego ship building. We also provided metres and metres of mural paper attached to the school wall for painting on; dump trucks, watering cans, shovels and pails for digging and building with; and a chance to do some gardening in the raised vegetable garden beds.

 

I was in charge of gardening. I brought some gardening tools from home (trowels, sequiturs, forks, and cultivators) which the students could easily manipulate. We set about pulling up the dead plants in the vegetable garden, trimming the perennial herb garden plants (lots of great things to smell and taste), planting about 20 bulbs of garlic, and covering the four raised beds with leaf mulch from the school yard. We had so much fun! We dug up a small Rosemary plant to overwinter in the classroom and a small maple seedling that was out of place growing in the middle of the vegetable bed. The students decided that we should dig the seedling up, bring it into the classroom and look after it until spring, at which time we could plant it in the school yard.

 

The students were so enthusiastic about the plants, but even more so about the bugs they discovered in the garden. Although many of them were hoping to find worms, we found slugs, grubs, potato bugs, and spiders, all of which they handled gently for closer inspection. One student asked if we could bring one of the slugs into our classroom. Since we already had a small aquarium set up for observing worms from the vermicomposter, we discussed whether we could use it as a slug habitat. Now we have worms AND a slug in our classroom. I mentioned in last month’s blog what great class pets worms could be. Slugs are even easier!

Beverly Papove Inquiry, Learning in a Real Life Context

Everybody loves worms (in our class)

We have worms. Actually, there are three senior kindergarten classrooms with worms. Our parent council very generously paid for the vermicomposters and 2 pounds of Red Wrigglers which eat fruit and vegetable scraps from student lunches and snacks. If you don’t mind worms, they are a great class pet – fascinating, easy to handle, quiet and odourless (when fed properly). Setting each vermicomposter up and settling a few hundred worms into their new home is pretty straightforward, but I recommend following the instructions provided in the kit – the worms will be much happier, sooner.

To help with the settling in process, the students used authentic writing to make posters and signs so that visitors to the classroom would be aware of the worms at work. Also, for the first five days, the lights in the classroom needed to be on all the time because if the worms think it is daytime, they will stay in the dirt, otherwise, if they think it is nighttime, they will go out crawling. Signs were made NOT to turn off the lights, tape was placed over the light switch in case it was accidentally turned off, and the custodial staff were alerted and kindly asked to change their evening routines for a few nights. Despite all the warnings and signage, sadly, one classroom wasn’t so lucky with their worms as the light was turned off one evening….The morning I went to check on the Wrigglers , I was shocked to see the floor covered in dried worms scattered in a 5 foot circumference around the vermicomposter… Luckily, there were one or two worms who stayed put and will have to carry on all the work on their own for a while. In time, we will introduce some worms from the other 2 vermicomposters to increase the colony (if that’s what you call a collection of worms), however, the lights-on routine will have to happen again to make sure another exodus is averted.

We have big plans for the worms. So far, we’ve read the Diary of a Worm, made a poster of what they like to eat, and a mural of the underground world of worms and insects, using lengths of brown wool as worms that can be easily glued into squiggly tunnels. After a Knowledge Building Circle, we collected a host of intriguing questions the students have regarding how the worms live, eat, why they are the colour they are, etc. and so we will be guiding the students through this inquiry with the help of books, collective knowledge in our group, and observation. What’s fun is that the questions about worms are leading into wondering about other creepers and crawlers in our world – spiders, centipedes, beetles. And although winter will soon be upon us and the bug world out in our school yard will be covered in snow, the Museum of Nature in Ottawa has just begun a major show on insects which will run until the spring and which many students will be thrilled to attend. Myself included.

Mike Beetham Building Inclusion, Classroom Management, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning in a Real Life Context, Resilience, Students as Teachers

The Power Of A Story

Story is a magical tool that can bring to your students exactly what they need or want at any time in your day, week, month or year. When my students need to laugh I find a story that brings us to belly laughing. When my students need to understand empathy, a story helps them look beyond their own needs to the needs of others. When my students need to learn a lifelong lesson, I find a story where we learn from the positive or negative choices of the characters. Story, whether it is bound with a beautiful cover or comes from the mouth of an 8 year old captivates all of us.

I want to share with you how a young, heroic young girl named Maya has helped change my students and I. Several years ago I met Maya as she entered our school in Grade 1. Maya has had to deal with the effects of a brain tumour all of her life. She has encountered the ill effects of chemotherapy and made hundreds of hospital visits that each time involved some kind of painful treatment. She has lost some mobility, has limited vision and struggles with learning new concepts. Yet despite all of those barriers to living a regular life she is this magical, bundle of positive energy that lights up a room. When you are around Maya you can’t help but smile and enjoy life.

I teach some very challenging students who have learned how to use aggression and violence as a way to deal with the struggles they face. Our first unit in our class this year was looking at heroes, both fictional superheroes and nonfictional everyday heroes. We established some criteria as to what makes a hero and have been examining a variety of characters and real people to determine if they will make it to our hero board. I told my class that they were going to be able to meet one of my heroes. They were all excited and made multiple predictions as to who that hero might be and what made them a hero to me. So on one quiet Thursday morning the call from the office came that our guests had arrived. I went down with our class receptionist and welcomed them. As you would expect, the excitement was at a peak as to who would walk through our classroom door. As Maya carefully and slowly made her way in to our circle area there was an absolute look of shock. How could this young girl be Mr. B’s heroine?

Over the next hour, Maya with the help of her Mom shared her story. The group was captivated as they went through a spectrum of emotions listening to the courageous story of Maya. Despite my knowing and hearing this story many times, the students noticed the tears in my eyes. By the time Maya was ready to leave, the boys had embraced her and made her an official part of our classroom.

Needless to say, the letter writing we did that afternoon was some of the most powerful I had experienced with this group of students.There are so many stories out there that can and need to be shared to help all of us become better people.

 

Photo of Mike Beetham
Mike Beetham Before School Starts, Building Inclusion, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning in a Real Life Context, Making a Difference Through Education, Planning, Student Ownership

Service Learning Projects

Service learning projects are a form of project-based learning in which learning outcomes are accomplished through community service. It is a powerful approach to teaching that provides students with authentic learning experiences in real-life contexts. The outcomes of a quality service-learning project are endless (citizenship, responsibility, character, teamwork). Service learning projects are timeless and can be used at any time of the year.

I have used a service-learning component in my yearly plan for over two decades. In that time, my Junior students have worked with seniors, redesigned local parks, multiple environmental projects with the municipality, projects within our own school community, work at local outdoor education facilities, assisting local charities or community organizations and international projects with Sierra Leone. No matter what the project, the outcomes have been very consistent. First and foremost my students are able to start to look beyond their personal needs and develop a global awareness.

The goodness of all children just shines through like beacons when they know they are helping others. For my current teaching assignment I work with students who have reputations as aggressive, ego-centered individuals who do not care about the people around them. They rapidly lose that bravado when they know that they are making a difference for other people. Throughout this year we worked with our local education centre stacking wood for the upcoming maple syrup program, replanted trees and helped keep their site litter free. The experience of knowing they were making a difference for others created an outcome that was palpable. I am sure that I could see their self-esteem grow in front of my eyes.

My most memorable service-learning project occurred several years ago where my Grade 4 class worked with a group of seniors in a program called ‘Walk A Day In My Shoes’. The end result of our year-long work together was two fold. My students developed both respect and understanding for seniors and for many of the seniors, they found a new purpose in their life. As for me, I was reminded how much I love my profession and the difference teachers can make.

 

 

 

Photo of Lisa Taylor
Lisa.Taylor Classroom Management, Differentiated Instruction, General, Inquiry, Learning in a Real Life Context, Literacy, Math, Year End Activities

Keeping Lessons Engaging to the End of June

It can sometimes be difficult to stick with the curriculum until the end of June. The sun is shining, you hear kids outside your window playing soccer-baseball during gym class, the room is sweaty, it is just time to be done! Resist the urge to abandon the curriculum for recreation, unless you can combine the two!

There are lots of fun ways to keep kids engaged until the very end of the school year. In my experience, the last month of school is the best time to do a big, whole class project.

One year, when studying Ancient Civilizations, we wrote a poem about some of the major battles in Ancient Greece. Then we drew on the Arts curriculum and made a set, props, and developed acting cues for the poem. We worked with the Media Literacy curriculum and marketed our production to the rest of the school and families. We did some math around how many showings of the play we would need to do if we had room for 35 seats in the classroom. We talked about what it would be like if we charged money for the show, what would we use the money for, how much would we get if we charged $0.25 per seat, $1.50 per seat, etc. What if your ticket included popcorn, how much would it cost? We purchased popcorn, popped it and measured how many servings we could get out of it. Then we did the math on how many bags we would need and how much we would need to charge for it. They worked out the math on how long the show was, how much time would be required between showings to get organized again, and then looked at the school schedule to see how many showings they could fit in during the day. They wrote reviews of the play for the newspaper, they wrote ads to go on the announcements, they even filmed commercials! They made a program to hand out, worked out how many copies they would need, they did it all.

The learning in this project was incredibly rich, and it was all culminating in the final 3 days of school when they presented their play multiple times throughout the day. This kept them busy, engaged, and connected to the curriculum for the last month of school. The last few days which can be chaotic, were a breeze. They ran the whole day, bringing classes to and from their play, presenting, and keeping the set organized and ready to go.

There are so many different ways you can plan for this last month to ensure the learning is rich, the students are engaged, and the days fly by! Inquiry Based learning is the perfect way to finish out the year. I had a grade 2 class that was very interested in restaurants. So we incorporated the social studies of food from around the world, and we turned out whole class into a restaurant that served dishes from different places around the world. Again, we did advertising, signage, lots of math around how much we would need of different supplies, etc.

Pick a topic that you know will hook your class. Then turn it into something big and run with it. You will be surprised at how much learning they get out of it and how quickly it takes over!

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Beverly Papove Diverse Learning Needs, General, Learning in a Real Life Context

Water Day, Earth Day and Poetry

The ideology of an eight year old can be inspiring and heart warming. In the form of a poem, it is also honest.

For International Water Day (March 22), my students researched and experimented outdoors to see what they could find out about water. We turned this project into Water Week by creating a bulletin board in the main hall sharing water facts written on large paper raindrops. In preparation for Earth Day (April 22), students looked for signs of spring in and around the school yard. They found helicopter seeds, worm castings, clumps of moss growing in dirt and on bits of tree bark, early dandelion leaves, and trees and shrubs in bud. From the school yard, they also heard and learned to identify birds and their songs; Cardinal (easy to locate from his song and brilliant red plumage), Chickadee, Canada goose, Robin, and Mallard duck (we observed a couple, male and female, as they waddled around the schoolyard one rainy day across from our portable).

Sadly, Earth Day was no celebration at our school. Ironically, it was the day the city decided to cut down all the trees lining the sidewalk along the school fence as all of the trees had become victims of the Emerald Ash Borer. Seven trees were limbed, their branches tossed into the hopper for chipping, and the trunks sawed down to the ground in chunks, right beside our portable. Some of them were 45 years old. The fact that the city and the school board will be replanting 16 new trees in and around the school yard was a bit of a consolation to the students, however, they pined for a tree they named, “Hug Me” which grew outside the school yard gate a few metres from our classroom.

The students were brimming with questions and thoughts about what they had recently learned and witnessed.With April being Poetry Month, what better way to express yourself than in poetry? We had already explored many different forms of poetry, but to consolidate their thoughts without the constraints of a rhyming scheme (a thrill and challenge for some, a cause for deep anxiety for others), the students could share their ideas in a repetition poem that began, “Je veux vivre dans un monde où…” (I want to live in a world where…). This turned out to be a great form for a poem because everyone had something to say and by repeating the phrase, their poems took shape while their thoughts filled the page; I want to live in a world where trees don’t get sick and die; where you can hear bird songs instead of machines; where everyone has clean water to drink; where there are no iPads or iPhones; where people are nice to each other… Some students ended their poems with a rallying call, “Help me make this world!”

Their poems, written in colourful letters and decorated with drawings and images cut from magazines, will be proudly displayed for the school community at our Literacy Café in May. They are not all talk, either, for along with their proclamations for a better world, students have organized a school yard clean up and sprouted seeds for our school garden. Some have asked for help writing letters to the government to ask for protection of the Blue Whales in the St Lawrence Seaway and the Blanding’s Turtle in a wetland that was recently paved over and build up for a convention centre. In an effort to raise awareness, other students in the class have prepared messages for the morning announcements sharing what they have learned about water and about the Earth, and others still want to help out by having a class garage sale to raise money to protect the Great Lakes, “the last great supply of fresh drinking water on Earth” (quote from Waterlife, National Film Board of Canada, 2009). And so the inspiration continues and the stewardship begins.

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Mike Beetham Assessment, Before School Starts, General, Learning in a Real Life Context, Planning, Student Ownership

Zipper Club

I truly admire and hold deep appreciation for all of you who teach Kindergarten or Junior Kindergarten. You establish the foundations that will support a child’s academic life and that will allow the rest of us to build upon.  I had to share this great concept that I watched evolve from one of my colleagues who teaches Kindergarten. It is called the Zipper Club. The premise is that he is trying to develop and foster independence in his children (which can be transferred to all aspects of school life).

As his children grow from an academic, developmental and gross motor standpoint they are provided with success that fosters a belief of “I can do anything’. So as each child masters the famous jacket or hoodie zipper, he posts their picture in a public display in the hallway. This is then shared with our school so that all can see and celebrate. His students start to feel all grown up and this new found independence fosters many additional side benefits to his class such as less time dressing equates to more on task time.

I have adapted this style of setting targets and working toward those targets with exemplars of what success looks like, sounds like and/or feels like. To this point I have enjoyed many types of both individual and group success. By far the most beneficial has been in my understanding of how important targets and success criteria is.

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Alison.Board Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Equity, Learning in a Real Life Context

Technology and Social Media for Communication

For years I have maintained a class website. I found as parents became more tech-savvy, they enjoyed seeing the photos of student learning and reading about what was happening in the classroom. This seemed more timely, environmental and cost-effective than a monthly newsletter (as I was in a community that all parents had access to a personal computer). It also allowed parents the option to log on to the site at any our to find information or revisit an earlier post. Websites allow for documentation of the learning and growth of students.

This year I wanted to try Twitter. It was a new learning curve for me, but I could see the benefits of its immediacy. So last fall I started a Twitter account for our grade 6/7 classroom and invited parents and students to follow. Students created a logo contest in the class and selected a piece of student art to represent our account. I have found many benefits to Twitter instead of a classroom website. They include:

  • Timeliness – I usually take a photo and send a message once a day from my classroom. It is so quick and simple from my smartphone that my posts are more frequent than logging into a website and writing a post for a class website.
  • Focused – I find that my tweets are focused and meaningful. For example, I select a specific moment during math or science and take a photo that makes the learning visible. When I would write posts for my website, I often felt overwhelmed in covering all the subjects and providing enough detail.
  • Connections/Information/Networking – Sending tweets and using hashtags from our classroom has created dialogue with other educators, students, and interest groups, that would not be possible through a website. For example, my class was excited to be retweeted by Bird Studies Canada when we shared a photo of one of our students feeding a chickadee from his hand. This introduced us to information about the Great Backyard Bird Count, an accessible activity that interested students could learn more about. It also initiated an environmental leaders project to make and maintain bird feeders at our school.
  •  Reflection/Assessment – As a daily activity, tweeting from the classroom provides me with a purpose to capture learning and document it. I am then able to review my tweets weekly and reflect on the highlights or areas of need as assessment for learning.
  • Social Media Etiquette – Tweeting with my students allows for authentic discussions about how to conduct ourselves with appropriate image use. We also review our messages and discuss what they can convey.
  • Accessibility – Although my school is recognized as higher needs due to lower family incomes, some students have access to smartphones that they can use in the classroom with our Bring Your Own Device program. Others can share the iPads and netbooks that are available to our class.
  • Engagement – Each month, more students get their own account or encourage their parents and become excited about our classroom tweets that are retweeted by the Principal or the board to an even wider audience. We have participated in tweet chats with other classes, using a visual display of the tweets so the whole class can be involved in the discussion.

I have found Twitter to be an effective tool for increasing engagement and communication. I can use it to feature student voice and reach a community larger than our classroom or school. It also informs my own practice as I follow educational posts to inspire me!

Photo of Lisa Taylor
Lisa.Taylor Communication Tools, General, Learning in a Real Life Context, Literacy, Resources, Use of Technology

Using Twitter in the Classroom

Sure, Twitter can be used to find out what Kim Kardashian had for lunch today, but it can also be used to connect classrooms, teachers, and school communities.

Today I am going to talk about connecting with your families and students through Twitter.

Twitter is a powerful tool if used properly. The first step is choosing a “handle” (or name) that isn’t already taken. Remember there is a limit of 140 characters in a tweet, so don’t make your name too long! You might also want to make your name somewhat generic and not directly related to the specific class/school you are at, as that may change next year! Go with something that is specific to you – @TaylorsClass @LearningRules @ClassroomFun @EduFun. Choose something that you can take with you to your next class, your next school, your next experience. It takes a lot of work to build followers and to develop a good collection of people to follow, you don’t want to have to start from scratch each year.

If your goal for this twitter account is just to post stuff to the parents and students in the class, it might be wise to make it a “disposable” account and make it specific to that class and year so you can change it up each year. You might wand a more specific handle: @TaylorGr2_2014 @learning2015 @gr2FI14 – again, be creative!

Once you have settled on a handle, you need to get followers. You don’t necessarily need lots of big name followers for this account – your goal is more to connect your classroom community, possibly connect to other classrooms, share what your class is doing with your school, board, and PLCs. You can do all of this by sharing our handle with those who you think would benefit from seeing the information you are sharing.

Before you tweet, double check the guidelines in your school board around posting student work, names, pictures, etc. Don’t post pics or names of students or their signed work without parent consent.

Even without pics of students, you can still share lots of valuable stuff on your twitter feed. You can tweet text explaining what you are doing, questions that parents might want to ask their kids about what they learned today, agenda messages, reminders, etc…..the list goes on!

Twitter can also be used to connect to famous people. We used to write letters to authors, but now we can tweet them! I have had students write stories in the style of Mo Willems and then we tweeted them to Mo (@MoWillems) and Pigeon (@The_Pigeon) for them to see what we had been working on! We sent Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) tweets from each of our grade 2 students the day he left space, thanking him for everything he did to educate and inform us while he was up there! Twitter really does make the world a lot smaller!

As a teacher, I have tweeted what my class is doing and it always feels great when parents, other teachers, admin, or anyone really, comments on what we are doing! We often share questions we have, the “I wonder” questions that come out of inquiry – Twitter is an excellent resource for expert knowledge.

If you decide to use Twitter in your classroom, make a point of tweeting at least once a day. Even it if is just to say that everyone is having fun today! I like to print pages that have 140 boxes and teach my kids to write “tweets” about their day and then I will type them in at the end of the period, day, etc. We also post those 140 box sheets on the wall on our “twitter feed” so other classes can see what we are up to!

Twitter seems to be sticking around. We might as well embrace it!

Photo of Mike Beetham
Mike Beetham Assessment, Before School Starts, Learning in a Real Life Context, Planning

But Why? Part 2

Why I have chosen a video? Why I have allowed them to work in groups? Why am I allowing my students to have choice in their learning?  Why have I assigned homework? This is the question I start with for every instructional unit (and in practice, every classroom decision that I make). Why am I doing what I am doing? What is my desired learning outcome? How will it move my student’s learning forward?

My change to using a backward planning model has been one of the most significant improvements to my teaching practice. I now start all of my instructional planning with the following question:

What do I want my students to know, be able to do and value at the end of this instructional unit?

 Of course my answer always starts with the Ontario Curriculum and the overall expectations of that subject area. The next phase on my planning is where I try to visualize what does that learning look like in the life of a 10 year old (or 15 year old or 7 year old etc…). I try to find the context for the learning so that it becomes real for my students. That context increases the level of engagement, which in turn bolsters the intake of learning.

A caution I always have to remind myself of is that I am viewing the learning tasks and content through an adult focussed brain. To be more effective I have to train myself to screen my teaching through the developmental age of my students. When you know why you are teaching something, the actual teaching becomes so much easier.