Breakout Edu

Breakout Edu games are so much fun! They consist of a solid wood box along with different types of locks. The concept is easy enough...students must solve riddles and collaborate in order to unlock all the locks and find whatever is hidden in the box. Typically, there's a fun story to tie the whole thing together. We played my newly created game to test our knowledge of "les régions du Canada".

We learned that:
- "it's fun"
- "Collaborating is hard"
- "You have to read and follow directions"

Le bouclier canadien et les mines

Our very last inquiry touching on habitats and the regions of Canada will be on "le bouclier canadien".  This will be a whole class shared inquiry and typically it leads us to investigate mines and the mining industry. We will look at the environmental impact of mining but also on the flip side it's importance for the Canadian economy. This leads right into our next science unit, rocks and minerals.

December is always a busy month so I am hoping to wrap up rocks and minerals pretty quickly so we can do some Christmas/advent music.

Here is our rocks and mineral padlet.

Eco Schools

As part of our habitat unit, we looked at what St-Gemma's environmental footprint is. We noticed that we recycle (but not always correctly), that we are good at closing the lights when not in use and that we try to minimize paper usage. We also talked about what we could do more. We surveyed the teachers to see how many power bars were needed so the whole school can easily and efficiently turn off all their electronics when not in use. We mad bins to collect G.O.O.S paper (good on one side) to be reused. We learned that the dryer is more efficient than paper towels for drying hands and that shutting down the computer completely is more efficient than leaving it in sleep mode. We are also creating a visual reminder of what should and should not go in our recycling bins.

This year, St-Gemma is applying for eco-school status so as a class we are getting the ball rolling on being stewards of God's creation. More to follow!

L'écologie et la conservation à St-Gemma

Collaboration partie 2 - résoudre des conflits

We've been deepening our learning of effective collaboration and I realised I had been spending a lot of time coaching students to resolve conflicts during group work but also in every other aspect of school life (e.g. recess for instance). Thus, we spent some class time talking about conflict resolution but specifically how to talk to people so they will listen. Here are the main points we discussed:

1. I need to be calm. Anger, frustration, sadness etc.  are all normal reactions to conflict and we need to learn how to return to a calm state in order to solve the problem. We already knew quite a bit about returning to a calm state because of our focus on self-regulation at the beginning of the year. Some strategies we use are deep breathing, exercise, take a short walk, squeeze a stress ball.

2. Tell the person what you expect/need from them. Ever get told not to do something? Logically we know we should stop but being told not to do something just makes it irresistible doesn't it?! Also, simply telling the person to stop or not to do something might not tell the person what they SHOULD do instead. It's a tricky skill to learn but we practiced telling the person what we want from them instead of telling them what not to do. For instance, instead of saying stop pushing me we can say keep your hands to yourself.  The person is much more likely to listen if we tell them what to do.

3. Avoid general labelling/name calling. When reolsving conflict we want our langauge to be constructive, it should help us solve the problem. Telling the person they are being rude or that they are mean isn't helping to solve the issue. It goes point to point #2 tell the person specifically what they need to do.

I strongly belive that students are able to solve conflict themselves and that if we as adults constantly solve problems for them they never learn to do it themselves. Of course at the end of the day if students have tried the strategies above there's always the option of seeking some adult help.

Collaboration

Now that we've got a good grasp on self-regulation we are moving on to an equally important learning skill, collaboration. Collaboration is one of the global competencies or 21st-century skills that every learner needs. Our Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectations state that each student should be A Collaborative Contributor who:
(a) Works effectively as an interdependent team member.
(b) Thinks critically about the meaning and purpose of work.
(c) Develops one’s God-given potential and makes a meaningful contribution to society.
(d) Finds meaning, dignity, fulfilment and vocation in work which contributes to the common good. (e) Respects the rights, responsibilities and contributions of self and others.
(f) Exercises Christian leadership in the achievement of individual and group goals.
(g) Achieves excellence, originality, and integrity in one’s own work and supports these qualities in the work of others.
(h) Applies skills for employability, self-employment and entrepreneurship relative to Christian vocation.

For our part, we have just started discussing what it means to be an effective collaborator. We used this progression from the deep learning framework to come up with our own ideas of how to collaborate, where we think we are (the blue highlight) and where we need to go. Some of our big ideas where:

• having a clear common goal 
• making a plan
• making decisions as a group
• having each member contribute equally
• using each members strengths
• conflict resolution when problems/disagreement arise
• understanding (and eventually appreciating) points of view other than our own 

Les habitats et les régions physiques et politiques

We are finally starting our first science and social studies units. Normally, I teach one unit at a time but these two have a lot of overlap so it will allow is to go deeper with our inquiries by integrating the subject. On our padlets below you will find overall expectations for both units along with links to games, articles, videos and whatever I can find that would spark student interest in the subject matter (good for review and exploration at home).

This week we will:

• start to build our vocabulary tied to these subjects

• practice describing pictures

• draw animals in the style of totem art

• keep practicing looking for or listening for les mots-amis (words that are similar to English) and les mots familiers (words I know)

• naming and finding provinces, territories and physical regions of Canada on a map 

Les habitats

Régions physiques et politiques du Canada

Calme, alerte et prêt à apprendre

Now that we have gotten to know each other a bit we are going to work on getting to know ourselves. We will be talking about several deep questions such as;

How do I learn best?
What stresses me out and how do I deal with that stress?
How do I get my mind and body ready to learn best?


Essentially, we will be talking about self-regulation. According to Dr. Shanker (an expert in this field) Self-Regulation refers to how people manage energy expenditure, recovery, and restoration in order to enhance growth. Self-regulation skills have been shown to be one of the factors that best predict academic as well as overall success in life. Thus, this week we will really focus on defining self-regulation as a class but also trying to know ourselves and what strategies we need to work on to better be able to self-regulate and be calm, alert and ready to learn!

Want to know more check out The Mehrit center as well as Conscious Discipline.

Je me présente

Our learning goal last week was to answer a few questions in order to introduce ourselves. Check out how well we did on our voicethread. Also, in agendas today, you will find a sheet with a self-reflection as well as an evaluation from Mme on last weeks learning goals. Most students had the same opinion as Mme on what they did well and what they could work on which shows good self-reflection skills. This week, we will continue to work on je regarde et j'écoute (so if it wasn't perfect then they can certainly keep working on it this week).

Meet the teacher

Here is the link to tonight's presentation. Glad to have met so many parents and family members!

Je me présente

This week we are learning to introduce and talk about ourselves.




At this center, students are encouraged to create visual art to demonstrate who they are.

Here, students are practicing greetings, saying their name, how old they are and describing their physical selves using a fun game found at languages online.

Memory games and board games are fun ways to review le verb avoir and être au présent which students will need to master to talk about themselves.

Students are also using a cool tool, Voicethread, to answer simple questions about themselves. They can hear what others have responded and then record their own answers.

Finally, when students feel ready they may present themselves to Mme Oliver or to the whole class if they so choose. 

Getting back into the groove

I may be the only one who finds this time of year thrilling but it's happening ready or not...back to school!!!

Students should have received a September newsletter this week. (hopefully, that's how you found this blog). From now on all our classroom updates and info will b found here. No paper newsletters will be sent home (unless specifically requested). This week we are working on learning routines and procedures. 

Next week students will be working on learning classroom routines and procedures (e.g. recess, eating, bathroom, seating, materials etc.) We will also be working on one overall goal, je peux me présenter. Students are working at different centers to practice talking about themselves and answering simple personal questions. 

p.s. J'aime beaucoup Star Wars!