Building Project Update
Kindergarten Hallway
Having had the most time to be worked on, the kindergarten hallway has progressed nicely. Most have already witnessed the changes, but things are near complete. Once the cubbies have been put in and lighting in the restroom, these rooms will be complete. The hallway walls are complete.
Grade 1 Hallway
Grade 1’s hallway is only a few steps behind kindergarten’s. The walls are complete and the restroom as well leave the lighting fixtures. The hallway walls have been finished except for the painting.
Grade 2-3 Hallway
Things in the grade 2-3 hallway are much more rudimentary. While the hallway walls are up and complete, they are not yet painted. The bathrooms have form, but do not have fixtures nor tiling. Ceilings, both in the classrooms and hallway, have not yet been put up.
Grade 4 Hallway
In the grade 4 hallway, the walls are still going up. The ceilings still need to be put into place.
Specials Hallway
There are still two walls that need to come down, but this hallway needs less work than most of the others. Crystal’s wall is in the process of going back up and Emily’s bathroom is framed.
Pool
The pool has been had been partially filled last Friday as to make sure that it held water. Based upon the masonry crew working outside of the office, I’d have to say that the test went well. Things are going to now progress into getting tiling in to the pool.
The locker rooms are coming along fast. All of the lockers are in along with the tiling. We are only waiting on the fixtures and doors.
Good Read of the Week
Awesome Teacher Summer: PD bingo choice board by Matt Miller
Summer is a time for rejuvenation and relaxation. It’s a time to focus on our lives outside of education and recharge.
It is also the perfect opportunity to focus on ourselves both professionally and personally. So many of us, as educators, look forward to summer as a time to do the things we didn’t have time to do during the school year. That includes learning some new tips, tricks and ideas for the next school year.
Whether it’s through a conference, online course, reading, or catching up on all of those podcasts you haven’t had time to listen to yet. The long break can leave us time to focus on our own learning.
Ditch That Textbook Summer PD BINGO
That’s why we created this interactive summer PD BINGO board. Each of the links takes you to a the PD resource. Many even have certificates of completion or badges that you can earn!
You may want to just try some short tutorials to learn about a new app or tool or you may be looking for a full online course. Whatever you’re looking for, we’ve got you covered!
In this bingo board, you’ll find a mixture of edtech tools, Google tools, Microsoft tools, and non-tech resources. We tried to vary it as widely as possible to reach everyone — and to help you broaden your horizons.
Read more at Ditch That Textbook
Another Good Read of the Week
Engaging Online Learners Part 1 by Steve Wheeler
Engaging learners can be difficult in any context. Engaging them in online environments can amplify the problem. You’re not in the room to intervene, and behaviour management is much more of a concern when you’re separated from your students. It’s not as if you can run down the corridor and bang a few heads together. All you have is your voice. And perhaps your social presence, if you know how to invoke it.
From my experience in traditional classrooms lack of engagement, and its cousin, low-level disruptive behaviour, are often the result of boredom. When it has happened in the past, I have asked myself how I can make my sessions more engaging. There are many, many ways to do this of course, and in this series of blog posts I will aim to explore a few methods that I have tried with success in engaging my own students. Let’s start with collaborative online spaces.
Below is an extract from a book chapter I wrote several years ago. It relates to critical writing on wikis, but it can be applied to just about any collaborative online learning space:
There is a spectrum of wiki activities that can be used to encourage critical thinking in writing. In order to rationalise activities within such a collaborative space, it is prudent to identify a framework within which activities can be defined. Perhaps one of the most useful frameworks is offered by Gunawardena (1995) in which five phases of knowledge construction within shared collaborative learning environments were identified:
Phase 1: The sharing or comparing of information
Phase 2: Discovery and exploration of dissonance and inconsistency among ideas, concepts or statements by different participants
Phase 3: Negotiation of meaning and co-construction of knowledge
Phase 4: Testing and modification of proposed synthesis or co-construction
Phase 5: Phrasing of agreement, statements and application of newly constructed meaning.
Read more at Steve-Wheeler.co.uk
