One Teacher's Adventures

My Grade 7s  are finishing up their poetry unit this week.  As I was going through their poems, a few stood out for me.  Of course, I was the subject in each of them! Haiku Limerick - First Draft Limerick Limericks just are so much fun! I like to think these have nothing to do with report card season (which is upon us all), but there might be some flattery for a purpose going on.  Regardless of their motives, they are a sweet group and I'll miss them next year.

Part of the BC Career Ed Curriculum for Grade 7 is project management skills - defined as "taking an idea, creating a plan (including timeline and resources), putting the plan into action, and reflecting on the process." To satisfy this curriculum outcome, my students have been working together on Project Management Team Challenges! Taking an Idea This week's challenge was to make the longest paper chain possible using only one piece of printer paper. Creating a Plan I gave the class a 30 minute timeline and the limit of one pair of scissors and one glue stick per team. Before I handed out supplies, each team of 3 or 4 students had to decide and agree on a plan of action. Some teams decided on a strategy quite quickly, while others spent half their time trying to coordinate with each other. One team decided to split apart when 3 of the students agreed on the plan, and the other one refused.  I let the single student manage the project alone. Putting the Plan In...

I have been working closely with the literacy support teacher at my school recently.  She and I have been co-teaching a Grade 8 Social Studies class and today I'd like to share an activity that she introduced me to: Collaborative Place Mats.  This technique is especially helpful at the beginning of a project or inquiry to help groups start to brainstorm about their big idea, topic, or question. Before we began the activity, we talked as a class about what behaviours we wanted to follow as we worked in groups.  Students offered ideas, and they were recorded on chart paper. From their criteria, I created a self-assessment checklist for the students to use as a reflection after the activity. Once we had established the guidelines, we explained the place mat activity.  Here's how it works: Each table received a piece of chart paper with our project question in the middle.  In this case, the question was "How would you provide for people in a comm...

This term, I've partnered up with the Literacy Support teacher in my school for my Social Studies 8 class.  For two blocks each week, she comes into the classroom and we co-teach lessons for the Grade 8s. She has more experience and so many more ideas than me, so it's been amazing getting to work with her in the classroom and learn from her. One idea that she had was to do an artifact study to explore culture and to spark critical thinking. This is what we did over the course of 4 days. Day 1:   As a whole class, we had a discussion about artifacts.  My co-teacher, Laurie, is Ukrainian and brought in a Ukrainian headscarf from her family.  She didn't tell the kids a lot about the scarf at teh beginning of the lesson.  Instead, she asked them to observe it, ask questions, and arrive at conclusions about it.   For example, one student noticed it was made from wool, and concluded that the people who made it must have had access to sheep to col...

I've been working on this unit for awhile and I'm so glad it's ready!  This unit has biographies, reading comprehension questions, maps, and puzzles for five Early Explorers to Canada - John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain, Martin Frobisher, and Henry Hudson. In it, you'll find:   I've also included answer keys to all the questions and puzzles (except the Cartier maze).  Download the unit here ! Are there any other explorers you'd like to see in this unit?  Let me know in the comments below!

I've just finished my newest French unit for TpT.  This unit is designed for beginner students (Grades 4-7) and would be a great way to start off your year!   This complete unit includes reading, writing, speaking, and listening activities.   You'll get: -Vocabulary list -Create your own flash cards activity -Vocabulary crossword with answer key -Vocabulary quiz with answer key -Fill-in-the-blanks activity with answer key -5 pages of être activities (present tense, positive and negative formation, with answer keys) -Place prepositions vocabulary (dans, devant, derrière, près, etc.) -Preposition listening activity with variation ideas for differentiation -Reading activity (dans mon sac a dos, il y a...) -School dialogue activity Click here to download! If you don't need the whole unit, you can buy pieces of it separately.  Click on the pictures below for more information.

I've been hard at work completing my Community Buildings Clip Art Set and it's finally ready! The set comes with full colour and black and white versions of 13 different buildings.  Buildings include: -2 different house designs -cinema -church -school -police and fire stations -apartment building -bakery and supermarket -gas station -post office -hospital Click on the picture below to buy!