In a Grade 6 Classroom

My grade 6 class has been very busy wrapping up the end of this year. We have had a chance to do some pretty cool projects that I thought I would share with you. Last month we finished up our Science unit on Electricty and our class had the opportunity to build Robo Critters. They created the circuits themselves, wired up the controllers, soldered it themselves and then had a chance to design whatever creature they wanted.  Most of them turned out quite wonderfully (a few got their wires mixed up so when they moved the controller forward it went backwards or when they wanted it to turn left it turned right but c'est le vie!) After the Robo Critters were complete we held our own Robo Critter Olympics with the other Grade 6 class. We had relay races, Robo Critter soccer, a maze, a cup push and a balance  station. For the most part it was a lot of fun.

Now we are studying Space which has been a blast. We started off by writing our own Constellation stories. Students came up with their own myth and then created a picture of their constellation to go along with it.

While we were studying the stars I thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce my students' to the painting A Starry Night. We created our own versions of this painting using oil pastels and the hatching technique. I was impressed at some of the work my student's produced.

The Original by Van Gogh

Then we looked at the size of the planets to scale. Here is some art we produced while studying the planets' sizes. And yes we had a few good laughs when students were looking at pictures to copy from and asking the colours of each planet (What colour is Uranus? Can I see Uranus?).  haha I must admit I was laughing along side them.

Today we went outside and drew the distances of the planets from the sun to scale using sidewalk chalk.  It was a great way to visualize just how far apart the outer planets are. It also wasn't a bad way to get outside on such a gorgeous day.

In Social Studies students completed their own "Decades Project". Each student selected a decade from the 1900s to the 1990s to study and present to the class in the format of their choice. We had a lot of Power Points and Prezi presentations, a game show, one skit and a couple dioramas. This was probably the most unique presentation of facts done for the 1910s. This student discovered that the NHL started during his decade so he made a model of an NHL rink and then added his facts for each topic around the boards.  This was his end result:

Well 3 weeks left of school and it will be a busy three weeks. Field Day, a talent show, Grade 6 Farewell, Fun Mountain, a picnic in the school yard as well as a few other activities to finish off the year.  Kind of sad to see this group go and to have to say goodbye to them but two months of summer holidays will help console me :)

Evaluations

Being in my second consecutive year of teaching I am up for my permanent contract at the end of the year.  This is it...  Either I get permanent next year or they kick me out on my keester and I am forced to either search in a different division or choose to sub.  Now I say "my second consecutive year" but really this is my fifth year teaching.  I've somehow managed to be swindled out of this permanent contract thing before and so now I am finally up for it this year.

Now my principal needs to write up an evaluation for me this year and this will be used to recommend that I be hired as a permanent teacher in the division.  So in order to do this my principal must of course come in and observe me teaching.  No pressure or anything...

So my principal emails me on Friday and asks to come in to watch 3 lessons the following week.  I need to send him my lesson plans by the end of the weekend and tell him which periods will work.  Needless to say I was a little stressed that weekend.  I must say I don't typically write out oober-detailed lesson plans anymore and I wanted them to be perfect.  But I managed to do it.  I was super pumped about the three lessons I came up with and sent them off on Sunday afternoon.  Well that week I ended up getting him to come in for 2 lessons.  The third lesson needed to be moved a couple times because of extra music practices for the spring musical, a trip to Wheelies I didn't find out about until that Monday and some meetings my principal needed to attend.  So my third lesson was postponed until this week.  My principal came in this afternoon and observed me in action for the final time.  

And the results...

Well all three lesson plans went well.  I did a math lesson on ratios to start, a social studies lesson on the Great Depression and then ended with an art lesson that tied in to fractions, percents and ratios as well.  My students were really good for the most part (today was the only time they were a little unfocused but I managed to rein them in quite easily).  My principal seemed to love the lessons I did and was super impressed by my class.  He will be writing a very positive evaluation I'm sure.

Afterwards we had a talk about my chances for getting a job at that school for next year.  I learned nothing new really but it was good to hear him tell me that if he has his way he wants me back there next year.  Now the problem is all those permanent teachers requesting transfers, coming back from medical leaves or needing a new spot for one reason or another.  My position is up for the taking by any of these teachers and there is nothing my principal can do about it.  If a teacher is requesting a grade 6 position they will say, "Oh ya there is one over at that school that is open.  Enjoy!" and I'm out of luck.

Now it's simply a waiting game.  I must wait until the meetings take place in May and then I can find out if I can stick around for another year at my school and get that illusive permanent contract or hope another school picks me up and I can get that permanent contract that way.  I would love to stay at the school I am at but if I can get permanent I won't be crying if I have to move yet again.

Well wish me luck in the month ahead and hopefully I have some good news to share at the end of it!

Right now just letting out a huge sigh of relief that my observations are done and that they went well.  The rest is up to fate.

My Classroom

A quick visual tour of my classroom.  There's still a few more things I need to do but so far this is what it looks like.  Oh ya and I still need desks!!!!  Just a minor detail.  I hope my principal will have some in for me the next time I go in so I can start arranging the room the way I want.

Here is my room standing on the side closest to the door (the door is to my right in this picture.  The front of the room is also to my right with a white board and another chalkboard.  I did not take a picture of this as it still needs work and is currently where my pile of things are.

This is my reading corner which I love!!  The bulletin board will have some things on it, just don't have them up yet.  I painted the words on the back of the bookcase but the giraffes are decals.  All of the decals on the wall are from Dollarama.  I hope it's not too busy or distracting for the kids.

I have super cute labels for my book bins I need to get laminated first.  The chair was one I found in the states and painted and the bookcase was a pamphlet stand from St. Vital Museum they were giving away.  After replacing a couple boards and painting it, I think it looks pretty cool.

My Daily 5- Work on Writing Bulletin Board.

This will be for my Diversity of Living Things bulletin board.  I still have more to do obviously and some things are getting laminated so it's not much.

My fish tank with rocks I stole from Winnipeg Beach.  Shhhhh. Don't tell!  The fish will be taken from my parents pond but I'll wait until after the long weekend to bring them in.

My cupboards for storage.  More decals from Dollarama...

 My door and calendar.

Well that's the five cent tour.  I will possibly post some more pics after everything is complete.  

Art Study for Next Year- O'Keeffe

An idea for an art study next year.  A couple years back I did a short art lesson and activity on Georgia O'Keeffe.  I recently came across this quote from her while looking on Pintrest and it reminded me of the activity I did.  Thinking I might do an artist study next year and focus a few lessons on O'Keeffe.  Below are some of her works of art and then the exemplar I used for our class art activity (I found this idea online).

We talked about the use of warm and cool colours and some students used cool colours for their pictures while others used warm colours.  This lesson allowed us to talk about warm/cool colours, line and abstract art.  After looking at some other ideas online I'm excited to try out something different and a little more creative.  I've never been really creative when it comes to art but love some of the ideas I have found online and that my teaching partner last year showed me.  Hoping to have a much better art program for my kiddos next year.

Here are some more interesting art activities based on O'Keeffe I found:
http://www.artforsmallhands.com/2009/09/in-style-of-georgia-okeeffe.html

http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2011/10/31/okeeffe-flowers-art-project-for-kids/

http://littleblogfish.blogspot.ca/2012/03/our-schools-georgia-okeeffe-art-lesson.html

http://thecraftyninja.com/georgia-okeeffe-art-lesson/

Well there are a few ideas I can use for next year.  I'll try to plan out a few ideas for some other artists and put them together as well.  Not sure which of these I will use but it's nice to have some options.

Rocking Stripes

I bought this rocking chair for cheap during my last trip to the states with the hopes of painting it and using it for in my classroom.  It took two coats of white paint and then several hours to draw on and paint the zebra stripes but I am very happy with the end result.  Now I just have to plan out the rest of my reading corner.

The Circle of Courage

Today I attended a PD entitled "Reclaiming our Youth" with speaker Dr. Martin Brokenleg.  He was such an amazing speaker and although the session was over 6 hours long I was captivated by him the entire time.  He spoke about working with At Risk Students but according to him all of our children are at risk today.  I was shocked to hear the average child watches 7 hours of TV a day.  That is the average, meaning that many children watch far more than that.  The average mother spends 3 minutes a day having a real conversation with her child (not including giving directions, yelling at her child or making demands of them but actual back and forth conversation).  The average dad spends 40 seconds a day having real conversations with their children.  According to research most juvenile delinquent acts take place between 3:30 and 6pm.  The time between when children are done school and parents arrive home from work.

It is so important for parents today to be there for their children, encourage them, talk to them and let them know they are important, valued and belong.  Every child should have an adult that makes them feel special and believes in them.

Dr. Martin Brokenleg spoke about the Circle of Courage, a model that encompasses 4 core values: Belonging, Mastery, Independence and Generosity.  Children who live in an environment that promotes courage  (which contains these 4 values), can be reclaimed and find success in life.  

I am so excited to be attending a two-day PD next month for a program based off of the Circle of Courage model. I look forward to hearing more about this model and how I can use it to make a difference in the lives of the children I work with every day.

If you are a teacher or a parent you might be interested in checking out the website www.reclaiming.com and search the journal section for some research based strategies for working with today's youth.


It is not enough to teach the mind but we must also teach the heart!

A little Me time!

So I've been making a point of trying to find a little "me" time every day.  Sometimes this simply involves sitting back and getting cozy on my couch with a good drink (quite often a warm cup of tea not pictured below) and one of my shows or a girly movie.  As you can tell from below I'm guilty of following Y&R quite religiously.  Darn you mom, for getting me hooked at an early age!   I also haven't been doing nearly as much school work in the evenings and on weekends as I used to and I'm finding that the world has NOT ended.  I do still stay late at school working but I try not to take anything home with me at the end of the night.  I do, from time to time, but quite often I bring stuff home now and never bother getting to it, which is okay (or so I keep trying to convince myself).

long island iced tea

strawberry smoothie

jones pear tree soda

Some Buddy's Been Sleeping in My Bed...

And he's still there!!!!

So I have a house guest again tonight. :) Buddy is spending the night and I get to babysit him all day tomorrow.  I'll see if Buddy will help me take down my Christmas decorations tomorrow, or maybe we'll have another movie day.  With this beautiful weather, maybe he'll even let me take him for a long walk.  Last time he chickened out after only 5 mins because of his cold toes.  

My dinner party went very well tonight.  Everything turned out fabulously and I was very happy with how everything tasted. All the food was ready on time and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  What great company I had tonight.  They really are a wonderful group of people.  Two of the three teachers I invited were able to make it.  The one teacher brought his wife and 2 month old son with him and the other brought her husband.  They are both such amazing couples, not only the teachers I work with but their spouses as well.  Just all around easy to get along with and very kind people.  When I found out the other teacher was not going to be able to make it I quickly called up Olena to see if she would like to join us.  I was so happy when she said she could.  She was my "date" for the night. :) Everyone got along really well and it was a great night of conversation.  It's always nice to spend some time with the teachers I work with outside of school.  

Olena was fabulous as well, as she helped me clean up, wash dishes and serve coffee, tea and dessert to everyone.  She is always so helpful.  Since she has Ukrainian Christmas tomorrow I offered to watch Buddy.  I love having him around. It kind of makes me want a dog in my house.  I miss having Kea around, but I know he's better off at my parent's place.  So for now I just have to get my fix of Kea and Buddy whenever I can.