Hockey Checks (in at) School

If you've been following us on Twitter, you're already aware that our school received Regina Pats in the Memorial Cup Draft back on January 26, 2017.  The WECDSB drafted teams from the WHL as Windsor, our home town hosts the Memorial Cup this May.

Immediately, we connected with The Pats Regiment through Twitter.  We learned of their prowess on the ice. Not only were they dominating in the Western Hockey League, they were ranked #1 across Canada for a while this past winter.  This draft could bode well for the 5/6  and 6 classes!  Maybe we'd be going to see a game if our team gets through the WHL playoffs!

They sent us a box of swag.  Complete with a key chain and deck of hockey cards for each student! 

We sent them a poster of inspirational quotes.  It was kinda long!

The Pats graciously hung the poster in their locker room and tweeted about it to their #regiment (followers).

In middle February, our school received a visit from Windsor Spitfire, Logan Brown (OHL and hometown hosts) but all we could do was ask if they were worried about how well the Pats were playing.  We were focused in our good wishes and encouragement of this team we had adopted.

First round of playoffs, the Pats swept their opponents in 4 straight games.  We were elated!  One step closer to Windsor.  One step closer to Memorial Cup.

Currently, the Pats are struggling against Swift Current in the second round.  Their captain is injured.  They are down 3-1 and find themselves in a do or die situation for Game 5.  We'd been working on a Stomp routine for about a month, hoping to send it when the Pats were making their way to Windsor.  We sent it via Twitter the other night as they were battling their way through Game 4 (which they eventually lost after 4 OTs!  A crushing blow for team members and fans alike.

When the kids heard of the loss, one student said, "Don't count them out!  Look at Chicago Cubs in the 2016 World Series.  They were down 3-1 against Cleveland and pulled it out".  So that was a baseball comparison that made me wonder what hockey greats found themselves in the same boat.

• 2004 Montreal Canadiens against Boston Bruins in Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals
• 2003 Minnesota Wild against Canucks in Western Semi-Finals
• 2003 Minnesota Wild against Colorado Avalanche in Western Quarter-Finals
• 1987 Detroit Red Wings against Toronto Maple Leafs in Division Finals 

There are many more.  The point is, it CAN be done and HAS been done.  We're not counting OUT Regina Pats.  We're counting ON them to continue to make us proud here in Windsor.  Thank you for allowing us to get behind you this year and become invested in the Memorial Cup!

#Let's Go Pats

#Memorial Cup Dreams Still Alive 🏒

#Windsor is Waiting

#Panther Pride

~MissBrooks

WEcdsb Day 2017

This week, the grade sixes were presented with the opportunity to attend our local school board's WE Day event, held at the St Clair Centre for the Arts.  After hearing the messages of the various presenters, it was impossible to leave that venue without being more inspired to become a changemaker than when you'd entered.  

With gratitude to the organizers, sponsors, presenters, volunteers!  Here are some of the highlights from our perspective...

• Quinn Meawasige of Serpent River First Nation fired up the crowd with his message "Water Is Life" which the some 1200 audience members chanted as he streamed on Facebook Live.  

• Lauren Carlini, a Gr 10 student from St Thomas of Villanova choreographed a moving dance routine.
• Carson Reaume, a 13 year old who can be seen in the upcoming movie "The Shack", sang covers of Justin Bieber, Niall Horan and Ed Sheeran.  MANY were "fan girling" when he hit the stage!  

• Abbey Neves, a student of Walkerville and a talented singer who has tried out for the Voice this past January, shared a powerful message of God's love.  
• Krislyn Bell, an 11 year old student of St John the Baptist, wowed the audience with her powerful voice as she sang Demi Lovato's "Warrior" and Andra Day's "Rise Up".
• Spencer West is a man who climbed Mt Kilimanjaro...without legs because he had them removed when he was a child.   He spoke of finding your voice, finding your team and climbing your own mountain.  So very powerful.   

Our own Gabriella and Madyson auditioned and were invited to present their talents to the crowd of changemakers.   Gabriella belted out Adele's "Hello"....

Madyson shared her Irish jigging talents.  Despite falling towards the end of the routine, she proved she has the heart of a changemaker by getting back up and finishing what she started!

When we returned to the school, I asked the students what they thought the purpose of the day might have been.  Why did the WECDSB invest the time and talents and treasure to hold an event like this, on a school day and invite students at the elementary school level?

My heart bursted with shooting stars and filled with love and pride! 

Once they saw past the entertainment factor and had picked themselves up from swooning over Carson Reaume, they believed WEcdsb Day was an opportunity to prove that young people CAN make a difference and this event would encourage them to do set about doing so!

And so begins a renewed vigour to make a difference, beginning in our community, with our first ever CAN-aval Film Festival that we will hold the Friday before the March Break.  The students will be selling popcorn for $2 (recipient of proceeds to be determined) or 2 canned goods (which will be donated to Goodfellows).  The CAN-paigning has begun with posters in the halls and continues with announcements over the PA.  With a population of around 290 students, we CAN potentially collect almost 600 cans of food in one day and make a difference on Friday!

WE are learning to become changemakers.  How can you?

~MissBrooks

NEW Class Pet

The students were introduced to our school's adorable addition which has lit up our lives since we met yesterday.  There were "oohs" and "aahs" when he (?) performed a trick or listened to commands.  The kids spent the better part of the morning chasing him around the gym, picking him up and carrying him around. He has lots of energy for about 60 minutes but then needs a nap to "recharge".  

The kids want him to become our class pet even though he belongs to the whole school. They're even thinking of teaching him some new tricks like delivering attendance to the office.

His name is *Sphero® and we met at a Tech Summit hosted by our neighbouring high school, FJ Brennan.

*I am in no way affiliated with the Sphero® company or founders and am not being compensated for this post.  I'm just blogging the observations I had, as an educator of 12 year olds, on the particular day that they were introduced to this technology genius.  Sorry!  I'm trying to present an unbiased view...maybe failing?

Although Sphero® is a robotic toy, he seemed to provide many of the same benefits as an actual pet.

1.  Builds Family Bonds:  We often refer to our class as a family.  When working with Sphero®, the kids were focused on activities they could do together.  They collaborated and shared creative ideas.  Towards the end of the day, a group of 5-6 kids revisited Sphero® in the hopes of programming him using MakeyMakey®.  That was taking everything they had learned at the Tech Summit and bringing it to the next level!

2.  Helps with Learning:  Enough said!  Like a pet with paws, Sphero® is non-judgemental and this is encouraging to students.  Every student had an entry level into the technology of this robot.  How it performed was limited only by their imagination.

3.  Encourages more Physical Activity:  Kids are using a computer device to make Sphero® go.  When first introduced to him, they wanted to see how fast he could move and so, spent time, chasing him around the gym.  Like "pet parents" in the dog parks, while running around after their own Sphero®, these kids did ask about other groups' Sphero® so it was a bridge between less social students because they were communicating!

*added bonus?  no clean-up required!

After exploring with Sphero®, yesterday, one of the students is trying to spark a movement to convince our principal that a 12-pack of Sphero® ($1700 CDN) would make a top notch investment.  I see persuasive writing, campaign writing, poster propaganda, ads written for announcements as an attempt to win her over!

Are your students on the ball? 

~MissBrooks

Making Connections

This class (well, teacher) has had a blog since forever, joined Twitter and YouTube in 2014 and has been using Remind App since that same time.

We are social media embracers and have been embraced.  Here are some of our stats:

• Our YouTube channel has 75 followers and 20, 935 views.  Interestingly, about half of those views (12,244) are for a video we made called "Canadian Kids Try Swedish Candy" after having a Google Hangout with a classroom in Sweden and receiving some treats from them though the mail.
• This blog has had 3,493 visits since it went up in late 2015.
• This year, most parents (18 of my 21 students) have opted for Remind App notices over traditional agendas.
• We've tweeted 543 times on Twitter.

But, have we really connected?

The world is a big place and what we do in the classroom has the potential to affect others and make a positive impact on different people.  The student should NOT be writing or creating to impress the teacher.  With that in mind, we've set out to make connections with people we're meeting through Social Media or using Social Media to connect with those we'd like to meet. 

We are currently involved in the MasterCard Memorial Cup Draft with other Windsor schools from across all three boards.  We drafted Regina Pats and connected with them on Twitter on Thursday, Jan 26.   The following Monday, we received a package filled with Pats' swag!

The students, in a way to connect with our adopted team, each searched Google for an inspirational quote that would be included in a poster that we mailed out today.  We hope that Regina fulfills their dream of making it to the Memorial Cup this May because it's being held here, in Windsor!  

The poster was too big to get in one shot!

Just the other day, our vice principal handed me a signed copy of "The Secret Path" by Gord Downie with illustrations by Jeff Lemire.  

I already owned a copy and the students had studied "The Stranger" poem/lyrics while watching the video. We had used it to springboard conversations about residential schools in Canada and writing from a native child's perspective; namely, that of Chanie Wenjack.  

Why did this treasure came into our hands?   

The VP walked into our room the same day that I challenged the kids to decide who, in the real world, would be interested in hearing their Chanie Wenjack stories.  They decided that Jeff Lemire and Gord Downie might be interested to know that their work ("The Secret Path") had made an impact on students and also Chanie's sister, Pearl may be happy to hear that his story continues to be shared so many years after his death. We excitedly explained that we were writing letters to one of these three people and sharing our own stories with them.  The VP let us know that she was a friend of the sister of Jeff Lemire (he's from Windsor-Essex originally and his sister works for our same school board) and that she would try to get his autograph.  Which she did! 

These are only two examples of the positive impact social media has had on our classroom in the last month.  The biggest evolution has been the students approaching assignments with a bigger purpose.  If a student is no longer trying to create to please a teacher but because they are authentically engaged and wishing to share their ideas with the world, imagine the impact they will make!

How are you connecting with others in your classrooms?

~MissBrooks

Electrified by SeeSaw

Five days into 2017 and our learning is absolutely electrifying!  It might be because we are studying electricity in Science but let's pretend that's not the only reason...

Beauty school or science class?
Combing hair to charge a *comb for an experiment

*combers were given individual combs--no sharing in this science experiment

Being a 1:1 Chromebook classroom, the students have had some epiphanies about having a computer at their fingertips for the duration of the working/school day.  The biggest is that a computer allows them to document their learning much more efficiently than paper and pencil and without the added of headache of losing work.

So, when I presented these tech wizards with our first science experiment, as is the norm, I sent them a document through their Google Suites accounts.  After making a copy, they filled out their hypothesis and we read the procedure.  I emphasized the necessity of writing down/drawing their observations (Google Drawings or images).  

MULTIPLE HANDS RAISE

Not in the "Amen!" or "Raise the roof" this is gonna be a blast kind of hands in the air.  

More like, "WHOA Teach! We got somethin' important to say so answer our hands" kind of way.

Student A:  Couldn't we just film ourselves doing the experiment using our SeeSaw app?

Me (The teacher, in case you're wondering who's running this show):  Umm...

Student B (with some chiming in from the rest of the peanut gallery):  Well, it would be faster than finding clipart and labeling on Google Drawing and it would still show the setup of the experiment. 

Me:  Uh....

Student C:  AND we could add captions after to explain what we saw

Me:  I guess that would be OK...

Student D:  Well, could you make a science folder for the class feed so that it gets into the right folder?

Me (in my head, cuz I'm beginning to wonder):  Who's got a B.Ed. here?  

Me (aloud to the kids):  Great thinking!  Grab your partner, the science materials and your Chromebook and get to work.

WHY this is so surprising is that we had not used SeeSaw for about 4 weeks because of Christmas activities and Winter Break.  We also had never tried the video feature.  They did not care, flinch or hesitate as evidenced in the above video.

Next day, we excitedly tried SeeSaw's new update:  labels with recording.  We eventually realized this was currently available only on iOS and not Chromebooks.  We do have access to iPads which I sent a couple of students to fetch.  While they were gone, another student asked if it wouldn't be easier to just use our Chromebooks with the Screencastify extension and then upload to SeeSaw so that the class could see our work.

Absolutely easier!  Return those iPads, open the Web Store, download Screencastify and get down to business.  In the video below, these 11 year olds explain how easy it is to use SeeSaw and how using Screencastify enables them the same secret powers on their Chromebooks that are available on iOS--WITHOUT waiting for updates!

#NewYearNewYou was a popular hashtag as 2017 rang in.  How are you using technology to bring your students' learning into the 21st century?  Take a page out of these kids' book:  Have no fear!

~MissBrooks

The LAST Day Before Christmas

Today, we ran our annual Christmas Loonie for License.  Students were able to purchase 1 license for $1 or get all 3 licenses for $2.  Bargain shopping for the holidays!

In our room, the three licenses offered were 1) eat with friends = no lunch room monitor in primary classes 2) games and 3) movie in the afternoon.  Ha-ha-happy to report that every student purchased all three licenses.

Just before pizza lunch, the bosses treated the entire school to a Christmas show performed by a local talent, Matthew Romain.  Lots of smiles and singing filled the gym and our own Brent and Gloria became part of the show!

On the last day before Christmas my teacher gave to me

A popcorn snack and movie.

In the afternoon while munching on SmartFood popcorn and enjoying chocolate milk (courtesy of the snack program and less messy than hot chocolate but equally as yummy), we watched "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever".

1983 movie adaptation of the book

We got to see the Herdman's cat (a class favourite character), meet the Herdmans and other characters but missed the show and tell incident with the cat.  The movie stayed fairly true to the book and was less than an hour so it gave the kids a chance to play some games on their devices, listen to music and play a class game of Kahoot that Gloria created for Christmas.

These last five days before Christmas Break were ones filled with a true spirit of Christmas.  The students experienced cookie baking (some for the first time), singing Christmas songs, giving and receiving, wrapping presents and making them, packing our school's gifts for the Downtown Mission, attending Mass and spending time together.

In the words of Gladys Herdman as the Angel Gabriel, 6B leaves you with this message:

"HEY!  Unto us a child is born!"

Merry Christmas!

~MissBrooks

See you in 2017

The 2nd Day Before Christmas

Today was a day of community and prayer.  The entire school headed over to our neighbouring church to attend Mass right after morning bell.  I decided to give the students an M&M Christmas poem as their second to last gift before the break to coincide with that prayerful look at the season.

Someone is certainly clever to have come up with this one!  Some kids even had M&Ms left at the end of the day.  Simple but great message!

In the afternoon, the school gathered again; this time in the gym for assembly.  The grade 2s treated everyone to a Christmas dance they had prepared.  This was followed up by the big kids' number that they had practiced with the dance coaches.  Here is a clip that shows some of the girls from 6B:

The purpose of the assembly was to award a student from each classroom with a certificate for being representatives of the pillar of Gratitude.  Congratulations to Katie from our class!

With only one day left before Christmas break, I'd say we've covered many traditions of Christmas.  What could tomorrow possibly have in store?

~MissBrooks