Interesting day

I didn't really mention it the other day, but Monday was like a lot of days following a long weekend. The children were full of energy and had quite a "busyness" about them. And yesterday was pretty much the opposite with a good balance of activity and concentration in the classes. Today... well today was a rainy, cool almost cold day. I went out with about 50 students for the lunch break and when I got back inside had a number of quite small fires to put out ... I think the majority of children love that fresh air for their breaks, but do stay in on optional in-days. Confined spaces like classrooms with wandering supervisors sometimes make things a bit more difficult. Of course you that have large play days might have an idea what I am talking about. All part of life and learning and getting to the point where we understand expectations takes some children longer than others. An old friend and retired teacher was in subbing today for the morning and he chose to stick around at lunch with the grade 4s and 5s in the gym.

There was some talk about the use of technology in schools at the all-candidates meeting for those interested in getting elected to the Board of Education for our district. I think some of them would have liked to see me working with some of our children today using Photo Booth. The teacher needed some tech help from me to make the bottom menus show up on the screen so after showing how that is accomplished, I introduced them to so far unknown features ... one of which is to make videos. I took this as a still photo, but the video was of me and the student having a conversation. It was a good experience for both of us - and yes, I do need a haircut, but that can wait until after Movember.

I thoroughly enjoyed observing one of the classes led by our Aboriginal Education teacher, Ms. Haavisto. Today she introduced the lesson with some drumming and dancing. Ms. Kennedy commented on the energy it took to complete the exercise and the students loved it.

Afterwards, they sat in a circle and I really liked the way she used an Umbrella analogy to bring the native cultures in Canada into focus for the students.

She also introduced them to a different kind of talking stick and as the student chosen implement was passed around the room, students made a brief comment, if they chose to, on what they valued in life... a nice thinking activity.

Grade 7 artwork with a real 3-D look and feel