No Gym? No Problem!

6B enjoying some "Cheese Ball"

With three weeks behind us, the grade sixes of MissBrooksHasClass have to consider themselves blessed thus far.

You're not in the new school!  How could you possibly consider yourselves "blessed"?
While the staff and students and parents and neighbours of St Teresa of Calcutta continue to await the GRAND opening of our new building, we remain housed in the former St Bernard building with former St Jules students.  This "house" is full up!  Which includes our gym which is currently home to 3 classes with another on the stage.

Exactly!  So your kids haven't had gym for three weeks!  {SCOFF:  "Blessed" she says!}
Hold on ...

Blessing #1:  In the last years of St Bernard we didn't have any neighbours in our Gr 6 wing.  It could get lonely down that hall.  Now, we aren't the only ones responsible for the volume!

Blessing #2:  #nogymnoproblem
On the first day, as the kiddies were heading home, I reminded them to pray every night for NO RAIN as we now had to get used to an "open air" concept gym until we move into the new building.  Who says God doesn't answer prayers?

While we may have had some rain, we have yet to be rained out of gym class which is first period in the morning...EVERY morning (except Wed when we walk to Mass).

Sept 6:  "Caterpillar Challenges"

Sept 7:  "Throw Up"

Sept 8:  "Bench Ball"

Sept 11:  "Cheese Movers"

Sept 13:  "Swamp Ball"

Sept 21:  "Long Ball" renamed "Cheese Ball" (by Cora) as it seems to be a mix of Cheese Movers and Kickball

Maybe you're thinking, "LIAR!  See how she skipped days!" but, those are simply days I left my phone in the classroom!

So far, we have not repeated an activity.  Our focus the first two week was cooperative games.  Since the school soccer season is upon us, we're building on cooperation and incorporating some soccer skills in our activities.  

With the help of GOOGLE, I found mrgym.com and physedgames.com which has helped make PhysEd planning SO! MUCH! SIMPLER!  I've linked the games above to full instructions (some include videos).

Welcome back to school.  And routines.  And gym classes!

~MissBrooks  

CHL (Can Hockey Learn)?

Excuse the bad grammar in the title since "Can Hockey Educate" doesn't fit the Canadian Hockey League acronym!  Since January, we have been involved with CHL in preparation for the MC Memorial Cup which is being hosted in our city of Windsor, ON May 19-28, 2017.  Here is a playlist of some of the life lessons we learned from our involvement!

*DON'T STOP BELIEVING
Don't stop believin'
Hold on to that feelin'
~Journey
*By the way, if you're "born and raised in South Detroit" isn't that Windsor, ON?  Check a map.

Many schools across the three school boards in Windsor, drafted a team on Jan 26, 2017.  Two months later,  only a handful of those schools had a vested interest in the CHL as their teams progressed to the playoffs.

Our team, the Regina Pats, won round one 4-0.  Expected.  They had been #1 team in Canada for most of the 2016/17 hockey season.

Round 2 was where the Pats' determination and grit would be tested as Swift Current would, by game 4,  take a 3-1 lead (after multiple OT losses).

One of the kids said the Pats were in good company like the CUBS who pulled it out

*LOSE YOURSELF:
"Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity 
To seize everything you ever wanted.  In one moment
Would you capture it, or just let it slip?"
~Eminem
*We only used the hook, but being Eminem, there are graphic lyrics (which we did not use)

The Pats' playoff journey fueled conversations in our hallways.  We had chosen this song to create a STOMP routine to encourage the Pats through their playoffs.  We admired their ability to play each game as a single "shot" and how well they captured their opportunities.  How inspiring to watch this team soak up the trials, the praise, the fans, the experience.  A real lesson on how to live in the moment.

NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP:
"Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down,
Never gonna run around and desert you"
~Rick Astley

Relationships take work.

Our friendship with the Pats began on Jan 26.  We tweeted a shout out; they sent some swag.  We sent our thanks; they invited us to watch them play via a link.
This was the early stages of the relationship.

Fast forward....

Feb 14--Already in our hearts!
Meet a Spitfire and ask if his team is worried about
facing Regina Pats in Memorial Cup

April 28--Still thinking about our Pats as we travel to other places
like Gr 6 day at the middle school.

One student even created a Kahoot to challenge the rest of the class' level of knowledge about the Regina Pats!

GRACE, TOO:
"Armed with will and determination
...
Armed with skill and its frustration
And grace, too"
~The Tragically Hip

We engaged in a friendly rivalry with our former VP, now principal of St Peter, whose school had drafted Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Mr McMahon showed us GRACE, too!

Despite having the will and determination and skill to take themselves to the Memorial Cup, we were sorry that our beloved Regina Pats did not make their way to Windsor this week.  In Game 6 of the WHL finals, Seattle Thunderbirds defeat them.  How your handle defeat says a great deal about character.  This is one classy team!

Bonus Track:

On Wednesday, two days before the MC Memorial Cup opener, we received a phone call that let us know the CHL wanted to donate 84 tickets to our kids for their support and enthusiasm of the Pats throughout their season.  I think they even expected we would be coming to the Cup to meet our Pats.

We attended the Spitfire vs St John SeaDogs game on Friday night.  

Thanks CHL!  For the experience not only last night but throughout the hockey season!

~MissBrooks

Eggs-citing Day of Learning

Jelly Bean Prayer waits at each child's table as a wee Easter gift

The day after Easter weekend (Easter Tuesday?) is one where I've traditionally (for about 5 years) followed a theme of sorts to get the kids back in the swing of learning after having been off for 4 days.  Bring on the eggs-plosion of   

             eggs-tremely   

                       eggs-citing   

                             eggs-periences!

Enjoying an egg hunt in gym class

GYM:

Students were divided into teams of 4.  Plastic eggs had been hidden under the pylons that were scattered around the gym.  Time for a little eggs-ercize during this Easter egg hunt in gym. 

For each round, the students had to find the right coloured eggs in the right order.  We did Yellow, Blue, Green for the first round.  The first students for each team set out to find the yellow eggs.  They were only allowed to check under one pylon.  If it had yellow, they took the egg.  If it didn't, they left the egg under the pylon and headed back to their team so the next person could go.  

We played a few rounds, broke a couple plastic eggs but definitely got up and moving first thing!

My favourite tradition is Resurrection Rolls

RELIGION:

When food is involved, especially after gym, the kids will buy in EVERY SINGLE TIME!  This lesson is simply delicious.

Materials Needed:

• Large Marshmallows (White represents Jesus' purity and His body)
• Butter (melted in microwave represents oil placed on bodies during burial)
• white sugar mixed with some cinnamon (represents spices used in burial)
• Crescent Rolls or Grands Biscuits (represent the linen wrapped around the body)

Preheat oven to 350 F

Students took a marshmallow, dunked it into the butter until covered and then dropped it into a baggie containing the cinnamon/sugar mix.  They then took a roll and worked to get it wrapped around their marshmallow, taking care to cover completely by pinching the dough shut.  We placed ours into muffin papers so that the kids could write their name on the roll that they actually made, ensuring that they were eating their own germs!

10-12 minutes later... 

MATH:

After licking the sticky goodness from their hands (and then washing them), I had the kids grab a pencil for some Easter Math.  

NRich Maths had some interesting information about the largest Chocolate Easter Egg so I created a worksheet which allowed the kids some practice at estimating and calculations.

After lunch, we tried eggs-perimenting with Egg Drop Engineering.  No, we are not talking Chinese food here.  We're talking about honest to goodness, raw eggs and designing, building and testing a contraption that allows the egg to survive without eggs-ploding.  FUN!  Here are some of the designs...

Each group was given the same materials (brown bag, Solo cup, smaller plastic cup, 1 pipe cleaner, 2 large paper clips, 3 popsicle sticks, 1m of tape, 1 sandwich size Ziploc, 1 paper towel, 4 bendy straws) and 25 minutes to design, build and test.

We then headed back to the gym so that we could set up a drop of 2m.

There were seven teams.  

1 egg survived.

You do the math!

~MissBrooks

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