Christmas Cards

This Christmas Charity Inquiry has by far been one of my all time favourite inquiries. I asked students to think of a way to raise funds for a charity of at need. The only limitations were we had no money and we had to get the whole school involved. 

After a lot of brainstorming and pitching ideas students decided we could have a Christmas Card Contest for each grade and feature the winners on cards that would then be sold back to the school.

Students divided into groups based on their talents. Some focused on writing to students and making posters/school announcements and a letter that would go home to inform everyone of the contest. Others wrote to parents convincing the to buy. And the third group researched, phoned/emailed businesses that printed cards for donations and prices. 

I want to thank Toronto Printing House with being so supportive and patient with our students as they learned how to write clear emails, perfected speaking on the phone and a million other real life skills. From start to finish the students in my class created this initiative and saw it through. Spending countless hours of recess, after school sales and more. The students were able to take the lead and worked through more math, language and Social Studies than I ever could have imagined.

By the end, they were able to raise funds that went to helping students in the Hospital over Christmas. The funds went directly to supporting Sick Kids.   

Be The Change

For over a month we have been studying Global Issues affecting Canada and the world. We have studied very heavy issues that have left students at times sad and frustrated about the world. Children are not content and complacent in the world; they spot the problems and challenge it.
Lately, we have been moving into a place of asking; we identify the problem and ask what is the world doing. We have been studying NGOs and looking at various not for profits. Going forward students will be creating their own mock charities based on an issue they are passionate for.

To make our learning real, we spent the morning google chatting Diana from Masaya Mission. She shared her inspiring story and the mission of Masaya Mission. The students asked great questions and learned a lot about the in and outs of running a charity. The most important thing we heard from Diana was to lead with your heart.

I want to Thank Diana for inspiring the students and sharing the morning with us.

We Refuse to be... voiceless, speechless, deaf to Global Issues

Students created beautiful art work showing what we've been learning about in Social Studies 

Biodiversity Book: Call to Action

Students have been learning about a number of different environmental issues and have been becoming strong ambassadors for this earth. Their studies have taken them from the depths of the seas to flying high with the birds. They have become poignant activists for issues such as deforestation to oil spills.
As part of our Language we have been looking at text features and the elements of a short story. Students used looked at Elements of a Story such as Plot & Conflict. All the stories and picture books the students created had very touching themes and messages. The themes were woven into their stories giving the reader a deeper meaning and understanding of the book. After creating a Success Criteria for the pictures books based on our learning students used the rubric to help them evaluate their books before handing them in.

Biodiversity Picture Books & PBL

Brainstorming ideas for the newest project. After a basic introduction and a quick video explaining biodiversity students. Students created a KWL chart (Know, Wonder, Learned) and using that we decided on our Driving Question, "How do you design the perfect habitat?".

We started with vague ideas and expectations that the students felt would need to be included to be successful and show their learning. I needed science information, we decided to write a story (comic, picture book, iBook, etc) and the students wanted to be creative (art). The students created the following chart we will use as our Success Criteria.

Once we had a preliminary vision of our questions (Driving Question & Wonder questions from the KWL) we could form our mini lessons based on where the students are coming from. We created a Project-based Learning Wall with our Driving Question, N2K (Need to Know lessons that we added to as we went through) and the new vocabulary from the curriculum (that will help us form the mini lessons for the unit). Quizlet is an awesome website to help students learn new vocabulary. 

I will update once the projects are done and we will hopefully have lots of cute photos reading our stories to our kindergarten inquiry buddies. 

Library Field Trip

Inspiring a love of reading is one of the most important things we can do as teachers. With such a diverse collection of texts out there for students, there really is a book for everyone.

One of the first field trips I like to do is walking to the library. Students get to see all the re sources from books, computers and even fun after school classes they can take part in. Here are some pictures from our visit.

Social Justice for Home

Students rush home, speed through their homework and glue themselves to the TV or computer. As an alternative to this we must harness the students interest and give them purposeful and meaningful work to do at home. I've discussed the power of gamification and in-depth Inquiry/Project based Learning, but a power purpose and compelling the students to impact the world can be the perfect engagement piece for students.

Resources like FreeRice are a fantastic way to teach students multiple lessons. Students are asked basic questions on math, geometry, language and others while at the same time earning 10 grains of rice for the World Food Organization for each correct multiple choice answer. 

Another fantastic website is Change.org that allows students to browse local and global petitions. Students can read up about issues that they care about and also write their own petitions for get their voice across.

1000 Paper Hearts for Sick Kids

TCDSB Catholic Graduate Expectations

This week the grade 6 students travelled to Senator O'Connor High School for a day celebrating Student Leadership. The students heard from representatives from Share Life, Megan's Walk & Angels of Hope. Students heard from these inspirational charities and made personal connections with their message of hope and the Catholic Graduate Expectations.

Students came back to school feeling compelled and wanting to make a change in the world. Students wanted to learn more about Megan's Walk School Hug and the story about Sadako & the Thousand Paper Cranes.

The night before Valentines Day, the news had a small piece about Sick Kids Hospital. Feeling touched by the students want to make a difference I was inspired. I quickly sent a text and email to all the teachers in the school to bring in old wrapping paper. By the next morning I had spoken to the teachers at the school and had organized a plan to have my students create and teach other classes to make paper origami hearts. Our goal was to make 1000 paper hearts as a school to send to the children at Sick Kids. The students picked up the idea and ran with it. We had the whole school collaborating together to brighten the day of others. Students folded hearts from grade 2 all the way to grade 8, putting personalized messages in the hearts.

By last recess I was ready to rush to Sick Kids and deliver the hearts in time for a Valentines Day parade. The final numbers came in and we were just over 100 shy of our goal. My students worked quickly to make the last 100 hearts. A count down erupted as the last few came in.

The students worked together to bring a smile to children they didn't know. Listening to the children inspired this idea, but the students picked it up and made it their own. They taught others in the school and were a example of what can happen when a school comes together as a community.

Classroom Economy

One message I try to instil in my students, is that it does not matter how they score on one random math test, at one moment in time. Test scores will fluctuate and do not capture the students as a whole. What matters most are those big ideas we define as "Learning Skills". Self Regulation, Collaboration, Initiative are among the most important things we can help foster in our students. These competencies are integral to becoming a mature and responsible individual in society.

To promote these learning skills and help cultivate a student centred classroom we decided to create a Classroom Economy. The idea drew upon incorporating real world problems that are tangible and familiar to students. We started with looking at each students existing responsibilities in the classroom -do their homework, show up prepared, keep desk clean, participate, etc. Then we looked at releasing some of the responsibilities of the teacher, custodian, etc. Students kept their original student responsibilities, but also took more ownership in the class by acquiring a job -homework police, shoe tidier, board cleaner, end of day sweeper, banker and even a classroom Prime Minister & Vice Prime Minister. Most jobs started with the same pay with exception of a few which were democratically voted in and offered a premium for the added responsibility. All students knew they would earn a weekly salary, but had to manage their expenses carefully -Savings account, rental of desk & chair, renting any forgotten materials (pencil, calculator, protractor, etc). After all expenses, the students were then able to save or spend their take money at a classroom store full of small candies. 

The last item students had to contend with was fines if they were not responsible and fulfilling their duties. Counter to that they could also receive a bonus or raise if they were consistently performing their jobs well. 

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Update:

Many great discussions and heated debates have been occurring due to the classroom economy project. We have had a fascinating formal debate about the results of missing a weeks work due to illness-Should they still be payed or not? Also, during a philosophy circle grade 5 & 6 students discussed notions of equal pay for all jobs or pay based on effort & responsibility. They also pondered if soccer players and pro athletes should be payed the amounts they are. Great riveting class discussions, stay tuned for the big surprise to come in the class economy at the end of the year!!! 

Christmas Around the World

To celebrate the Christmas season we will be having a classroom party that brings together all our unique cultural traditions. As Catholics we rejoice in this special season together; we are a community linked together to share and celebrate the birth of our savior.

Our similarities establish a bond, but our unique differences strengthen us as a community. Christmas is a season rooted in traditions, special customs, unique foods and much more. I encourage (not mandatory) all families to make a traditional food with your child and sharing with them a family custom. Thursday December 18th will be the day of our party. I will be bringing in some Greek sweets, plates and plastic forks. All food/snacks are welcome, but please do not feel your child must bring something in or you must make something, as I know this is a busy time of year. As a reminder, all food must be peanut free.

Thank you,
Merry Christmas

-Mr Butler



Update:
Photos from our Christmas Party

Showing Off

Just wanted to quickly share the work my Holy Spirit's Helping Hands group has done.
Click here to see the student created blog to help raise funds and awareness for those affected by Yolanda in the Philippines.

Butler's Toy Build Off Grade 6 Science Flight Project

Creative Thinking skills and Persistence are two of the hardest lessons, but also two of the most important for us to teach them. We must give students the opportunity to reflect and revise. The project will not only assess the final product, but the knowledge construction and problem solving during class time.
Answering, what you learned should not be exclusively science focused -we are multi focused.

Click here to print

Science Projects Grade 5 Butler's Big City Build

The latest round of Science projects are here!
How can we prepare students the future? It is our responsibility to ow students there are more jobs out there than mathematicians, gym teachers & scientists. Give students real problems, bring in real professionals using skype and have them feel they are contributing to solving real world problems.
This latest project is inspired by the natural disasters plaguing the world and how to find ways to avoid the catastrophic fall out of the events.
Click here to print off the form

21st Century Competencies

This past Friday I was able to swap classes with a friend and go back down to grade 2. My Grade 5 & 6s were treated too a much better art lesson than I could have ever done and I was able to share with the grade 2s one of my greatest life journeys.
I had the fortune to travel to Kenya several years ago and teach in a rural school in Pimbinet. The region had no running water, no electricity, but was home to the strongest community of people I've met. The people in the community showed my love, kindness and hope. The teaching in conditions, that at first seemed devastating and bleak, was revealed to be creative, hospitable and caring.
Below is a small video I had made a year ago to commemorate this experience and the 21st century competencies that can exist in even the most extreme places.

Great mini documentary: Water bottles

What do you think? This affects our world. We need to start examining the problems that our present in our world and look for new ways to solve them.

Lets make this world a better place