Why I Love This Place

This has been an amazing week. So many wonderful things come out of our school!

• I am amazed at what the talented people here can draw out of kids. Seriously! That was one well put together production (again). Watching otherwise timid children sing their hearts out makes my heart swell and makes my eyes leak.
• I love it when I come to school and a silly early hour (oh the swimmer parent's life!) and find maintenance guys here before me, building who knows what they're building, to pull off just what we need to make sets work. Who squeezes in an extra task like that?! Guys that are willing to start working at 6:00 am, that's who! They were in an out before anyone even knew.
•  I love how we celebrate everyone's birthday. Birthdays are a big deal to kids and that seems to even spill over to adults. It is nice to take time to let people know they are special to us.
• I am continually amazed at the organization it takes to pull off a day like today: schedules, equipment, creative games, volunteers.....seriously. No one does "sports day" like we do.
• I love it that we aren't afraid to cry when someone says good bye. There are some deep friendships in this place.
• I love it that the superintendent takes time to come watch our kids perform. I never saw a superintendent at any of my or any of my kids concerts.....ever.
• I love it that everyone here works so tirelessly. I can't believe how much people in this building can squeeze into a month. Sometimes, when I mention things happening to my husband, he reminds me how much gets packed into this place. I love it that I work with people who are just willing to go and go and go and go. There is no end to the talent/energy in this place.
• Every time we have something happen (birthdays, assemblies, concerts, ever active day) there is a long thread of compliments and thank you's. People don't always do that. I love that about this place. Everyone here thinks to thank.
• I am amazed at how assembly after assembly never gets old. They are always are so touching. They warm my heart. Whoever thought a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds could pack a message with such punch? The things those kids are learning and sharing are really the most important things in life. If only every kid in this world got to spend time focused on such important things. I wonder how that would change the world?
• I love it when someone comes up with some hair-brained idea like a book tournament in the middle of plays and assemblies and getting ready for Trickster, everyone just says sure, grabs the books, and plays along.
• I love being able to see my students in different situations. I see them in a new way when they perform and when they play all day. Sometimes I think we should do these things earlier in the year. Why didn't I know this about that kid until now?
• I love it how when something weird comes up (no courtyard Monday?!) there is a quick and easy plan and it really is no big deal. No grumbling. No fuss. Everyone just rolls with it.
• I love how parents are so involved and so supportive: In the middle of all this craziness today some parent thinks to bring us samosas. What a nice treat after a long day!

....and that is just a start.

My heart is full. I work with some amazing people.

There's something magical about this place.

Team Building

Our school has spent a lot of time and money learning how to use Kagan. I have never really been a pro at it and so I set a goal this year to do more of it.

One thing I plan to do more of is team building. Today we did a Kagan activity called My Life in Film.

They had to write or draw something about their family, about their favorite subject, and what they like to do after school and on weekends. The trick was one of them had to be a "fib".

We did "Stand up,  Hands up, Pair up" to share and guess which were the fibs. It was a big hit. It was a fun way to get to know each other a little better.

The funny thing was they all thought the antennae on the TV were legs for the TV. It only came up because someone asked, "Why would a TV have legs, anyway?" (Many TVs hang on the wall or sit on a stand in their world).

Oh how things have changed!

Spring Concert

The people who work in this school are absolutely brilliant. Every year when we have our Spring Concert I am amazed at what they pull out of these children. This year the show was called Bugz.



Our grade 3 students sang a beautiful song. It was mellow and lovely. I was so proud of them. They sang beautifully.



At the end, everyone joins in the final number, even the children who have gone back to the auditorium seats after performing.

Like Good Canadians Should....

Playoff fever has taken over: 

Watching hockey with their free time

Writing In The New Age

We are working on a new writing project. We have a short deadline, so I decided we would try doing our writing in Word to save having to do a rough copy and a good copy and to make editing easier. I made a template with all the parts of the story we have learned through Barbara Mariconda writing. They then worked on their own stories.

There was some serious teaching going on! We learned how to use word suggestion (no more, "Mrs. Ackroyd, how do you spell....), what the red squiggly lines mean ( there is a word there to correct), how to use the undo button to get back mistakenly deleted work, to save every few minutes (we used a timer to remind ourself), what the save icon even is (did you know none of the have ever even seen a floppy disk??), that you need to put a space after punctuation, green squiggly lines reminded us to put capitals in some places, how to save your own version of a document, and more!!

It was an incredible day of learning!

This was the timer tool we used. Every 5 minutes it would ring and remind us to save what we had written so far.