Here is a fun and engaging way to share the Growth Mindset message with your students. Who doesn't like Seasame Street?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLeUvZvuvAs

BIPSA

What impact will collaborative teaching and learning that focuses on closing the gap for students with urgent learning needs, have on student engagement and student learning K-12?

AIM

AIM is the document that guides our actions each school year. It aligns with Ministry of Education priorities and connects to the Board Improvement Plan for Student Achievement and also to School Improvement Plans for Student Achievement.

Our 3 goals remain:
Success for each Student
Employee Excellence
Community Connections

This year's plan contains the following 5 priority areas:

Reaching High Levels of Student Achievement
Promoting Well-Being for Students and Employees
Supporting Employee Growth and Learning
Optimizing Organizational Effectiveness
Communicating with Families and Communities

Each priority is integral to the others and has focused, measurable actions and success criteria which will be carried out during this school year. 

Please visit the following link to take a closer look at each component of the AIM.

http://www.hpedsb.on.ca/ec/directorsOffice/documents/2014_2015_priorities.pdf

On Friday, September 26th, I participated in a community Terry Fox Walk with Queen Victoria Public School. Students, Parents and Educators wore school colours and/or red to acknowledge Terry Fox and each person indicated on their sticker who they were dedicating their walk to.

If $2000 is raised, Mr. Harvey has agreed to have his beard shaved and Mrs. Sutton has agreed to shave her head! Go Royals, Go!

It made me so proud as a parent and an educator to see the following:

Minecraft

Minecraft in schools? That is the question! And one that is being explored in a Gr. 6 classroom at Queen Victoria Public School and around the world!

What is the game and the addiction all about? 

Minecraft game that doesn’t rely on earning points or mastering levels, It doesn’t even come with instructions or have any rules at all. And that, right there, could very well be the secret to its appeal. Minecraft has been called the ultimate sandbox game. It allows players to take 1x1 cubes of different materials and build anything they want, from Roman cathedrals, to roller coasters to imaginary jungle worlds, and make the game what they want it to be.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/minecraft-why-are-kids-and-educators-so-crazy-for-it-1.2006975#ixzz3EL82guvJ

Minecraft - Is it the Ultimate Educational Tool?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI0BN5AWOe8

Is it the ultimate educational tool? YOU decide!

LLI comes alive at Queen Victoria Public School!

Students use whiteboards 

to work with words and 

word patterns through 

intense, small group

 instruction. 

Students use their word charts to select words that represent the word patterns they are learning about. Increased confidence and skill development was evident while sharing the learning with 3 students and their teacher!

Picture Books & Paragraph Writing

What is a paragraph? How many elements are required in order to draft a concise message that communicates one key idea to the reader? This is the focus in Gr. 5/6 and Gr. 6 at Queen Victoria Public School. 

Students engaged in small group conversations to recall what they already know about paragraph writing before sharing their thoughts back with the group. As you can see on the right, 6 important elements of paragraph writing were highlighted and determined the success criteria for paragraph writing. 

As a follow up lesson, I worked with students to continue furthering their understanding about paragraph writing. This time, students entered into a "think, pair, share" to figure out the appropriate order of a mixed up paragraph that I had created about my family summer fun. They also needed to figure out if all elements of a paragraph were identified while reconstructing the paragraph.

Next, I read students the True Story of the Three Little Pigs and through conversation, we created a web on the smart board (see photo up above, left side) to provide examples of the main idea, the topic sentence, the closing sentence as well as the supporting details connected to the story. 

Last but not least, students were asked to use the organizer we had created as well as the class generated success criteria to develop a paragraph about the picture book. 

Hands-on Learning

Students in Mrs. Walker's 3/4 class at Deseronto Public School are learning how to compare and order numbers. They began by deconstructing the learning goal to understand what will be focusing on during their math lesson. 

One way to explore numbers is by using a number line. The task was to order a set of numbers on a number line and compare which sets of numbers were larger or smaller. Students were also expected to explain their mathematical thinking when sharing their responses.

As a follow up lesson, students participated in a Place Value game in which students turned over 3 random numbers and organized them on the place value chart. When these numbers were correctly added up, the students with the highest number received a point. Team work, collaboration and problem solving were necessary skills to support their mathematical thinking. 

At the end of this lesson, students were asked to fill out an "exit card" in which the classroom teachers will use the information elicited by students to identify next steps for lesson planning.

Making Learning Visible

Co-constructing the learning is evident in Mrs. Rankin's J/SK at Queen Elizabeth Public School, Belleville. 

Children were actively engaged in helping one another to understand "Work to Learn, Listen to Learn and Play to Learn" in their classroom. Their thoughts were captured by the classroom teacher and DECE and students volunteered to print and draw pictures to produce a classroom anchor chart. WOW, IMPRESSIVE!

The Cafe

Many teachers that I support in the Moira SG who have implemented the Daily 5 are also exploring the CAFE model. This is the writing structure that supports the Daily 5 written by the same authors and is widely used in elementary classrooms. 

Assessing young readers involves more than determining a reading level and moving them onto the next. We developed the CAFE Menu to help students understand and master different strategies used by successful readers.

CAFE is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary, and the system includes goal-setting with students in individual conferences, posting of goals on a whole-class board, developing small group instruction based on clusters of students with similar goals, and targeting whole-class instruction based on emerging student needs and fine tuning one on one conferencing.

If you are interested in learning more about this CAFE model, 
visit http://www.the2sisters.com/CAFE.html

Daily 5

As I move between school buildings and classrooms in the Moira SG, I have noticed that some primary and junior teachers have implemented the Daily 5.

The Daily 5 model is a structure that can be embedded into the literacy block to promote student's development of life long habits of reading, writing and working independently. The idea is to "work smarter not harder -Gail Boushey and Joan Moser"

The Daily CAFE is the writing structure that supports the Daily 5 written by the same authors and is widely used in elementary classrooms. 

How does it work?
Students select from five authentic reading and writing choices, working independently toward personalized goals, while the teacher meets individual needs through whole-group and small-group instruction, as well as one-on-one conferring. These choices include

• Read to Self,
• Work on Writing,
• Read to Someone,
• Listen to Reading, and
• Word Work.

Teachers tell us their Daily 5 classrooms produce productive, highly engaged students who are developing a true love of literacy.
The benefits of The Daily 5 for teachers and schools include the following:

• students develop independence, stamina, and accountability
• less time consumed by classroom management leaves more for GUIDED instruction
• improves schoolwide literacy achievement
• behaviors of independence transfer to other content areas.

If you are interested in exploring this resource, check it out at http://www.thedailycafe.com/daily-5

"I love MindUP! It is a way to focus your
mind, calm down and reflect on a situation
when you need to make a choice."

- Tyler G., Seventh Grade Student

Founder, Goldie Hawn collaborated with neuroscientists, cognitive psychologists and educators to create MindU), a program that fosters a classroom-learning environment where a child’s ability to academically succeed and personally thrive is maximized and directly linked to their overall state of well-being.

Research on MindUP has been proven to reduce stress, improve academic performance, strengthen abilities for concentration and help children and educators thrive in a setting that becomes a community of learners.

MindUP nurtures optimism and happiness in the classroom, helps eliminate bullying and aggression, increases empathy and compassion, while resolving peer conflicts in schools.

MindUP prepares teachers with the instructional shifts needed to achieve maximum academic performance using the Common Core academic standards.

MindUP also aligns with the Marzano Framework for dynamic educators.
MindUP serves thousands of children globally each year, preparing children to be able to navigate 21st century challenges while maximizing opportunities for success in life.

Click on the link below and listen to Goldie Hawn!

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/mindup/video.html

MindUp

Growth Mindset

In HPEDSB, fixed vs. growth mindset continues to be a focus in our system. As an educator, I continue to wonder how to encourage my colleagues, students, families and school community about the importance of developing a growth mindset. I believe it begins with each one of us believing in ourselves, a willingness to take risks, accepting failure as a corner stone to future successes, embracing personal reflection into our daily practise and finally, giving ourselves permission to welcome new challenges and opportunities with confidence and resiliency. 

If you are interested in understanding more about the difference of a fixed vs. a growth mindset and the impact is has on our lives, please explore the following links. 

The Power of Belief - Mindset and Success: Eduardo Biceno at TEDx Talks
The way we understand our intelligence and abilities deeply impacts our success. Based on social science research and real life examples, Eduardo Briceño articulates how mindset, or the understanding of intelligence and abilities, is key. When students or adults see their abilities as fixed, whether they think they're naturals or just not built for a certain domain, they avoid challenge and lose interest when things get hard. Conversely, when they understand that abilities are developed, they more readily adopt learning-oriented behaviors such as deliberate practice and grit that enable them to achieve their goals. But this belief is itself malleable, and there are clear actions we can all take to establish a growth mindset and enable success for our children, our peers and ourselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN34FNbOKXc

Dr. Carol Dweck: Fixed vs. Growth Mindset
Dr. Carol Dweck, one of the leading researchers in the field of motivation, explains why being smart and talented doesn't always add up to success. What is a fixed mindset, and why should you avoid it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTsF2TaEaJA

Pedagogical Documentation

The following are a variety of research based strategies to support the implementation of pedagogical documentation. 

Making Learning Visible Through Pedagogical Documentation by Carol Ann Wien, York University
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/childcare/Wien.pdf

Capacity Building Series K-2 Pedagogical Documentation
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/CBS_Pedagogical.pdf

Shelfari

I am exited to highlight and share a variety of  picture books on my Shelfari book case.

Often times, picture books are associated with primary students but as an experienced intermediate/junior teacher, I am passionate about exposing students to picture books as mentor texts connected to a specific focus as well as personal enjoyment.

DON'T FORGET...

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.”

- Emilie Buchwald

“It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations--something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.”

- Katherine Patterson

Leveled Literacy Intervention by Fountas and Pinnell

Prompting Guide
-Designed for teachers to notice each student's precise reading and writing behaviours and provide teaching instruction that supports what can be need to meet the needs of their students. 
-As the teacher observes the how a reader or writer is building a system of strategic actions, he/she can make effective instructional decisions. 
-Fountas and Pinnell has compiled a comprehension collection of precise language to use when teaching for, prompting for, and reinforcing effective strategy action. 

When Readers Struggle Teaching that Works
-is a comprehensive resource on struggling readers. It’s filled with specific teaching ideas for helping children in kindergarten through Grade 3 who are having difficulty in reading and writing.
-focuses on small-group intervention and individual interactions during reading and writing. Pinnell and Fountas also illustrate how to closely observe readers to make the best possible teaching decisions for them as well as how to support struggling readers in whole-class settings.

Continuum of Literacy Learning
-Sometimes when assessment is administered and the results were recorded, but then the stops. 
-The continuum series is a bridge between assessment data and the specific teaching that students need. 
-It has been designed to help classroom teachers create a shared vision of learning that informs curriculum and daily lessons.


**These texts are suggested resources that will also support the identified areas of need reflected in the QPASS data**

**All of these texts are apart of the LLI kits located in schools. The ISRT's DO NOT need these resources to work through the prescribed intervention to support 3 identified students through small group work. 

Walking In My White Shoes

"Stepping into Kindergarten" after reading Pete the Cat, I Love my Groovy White Shoes! There is never a dull moment classrooms when children listen to stories about Pete the Cat and his hilarious adventures!

What a great way to begin a child's first day at HJC in Mrs. M's JK/SK :)

Learning Together

During the first week of school, I was sharing one of my favourite picture books, The Stamp Collector in Gr. 5/6S QEB. After discussing the role of stamp and the relationship between the two main characters, we co-constructed a model class response. 

The three different colours used in the co-constructed reading response represents: topic paragraph, evidence from the text and a concluding statement. 

The classroom teacher created a bulletin board with a learning goal, co-constructed class response and then student samples who have gone back to their initial reading response and "bumped" up their work. 

Be proud of your efforts, Gr. 5/6S!