Category Archives: Learning

Heritage Fair 2009: Celebrating Canada

What an exciting few weeks we’ve had!

We participated with Mr. Bridges’ class in the school-based Heritage Fair. The Heritage Fair gives students an opportunity to explore a topic that relates to Canadian history, culture, or heritage and that is of personal interest to them. We have learned about bannock and the Avro Arrow, Sarratoga Speedway and Tim Horton’s, the SPCA and Niagara Falls. Seven students researched family members and in the process learned about whaling, war brides, homesteading and Lo Han Jai or “Buddha’s Delight”. The slide show below gives a little taste of the event.

Voices of Experience

Here is great advice from Huzzahnians about how to complete a successful project:

  • choose a project that fits you, that you care about, and that pulls the reader in  (Daniel W., Kristopher, Michael G. )
  • don’t copy and paste info! (Sophie)
  • research your topic well (Catie)
  • if you are presenting your project on food, bring samples! (Austin)
  • choose a topic so you can ask family & friends for information (Michael T.)
  • add lots of colour and pictures to make your board visually interesting (Haley)

Sharing Like a Pro

The most challenging aspect for many was doing an oral presentation in front of classmates before we presented publicly in the library. It can be nerve wracking to stand up in front of a group like that! Students received great feed back from each other.

  • think of really strong openers and closers and choose one (Sam)
  • if you forget what to say, just say what you know (Daniel W.)
  • prepare! (Boyd)
  • use your model in your presentation (Kris)
  • be brave, try to relax, don’t be tense (Dom, Blake)
  • point out things on your display board (Chelsea)
  • tell stories about the person and link them together (Michael T.)

The experience of this event will help us to create even better projects next time. Many students found that presenting in the library was satisfying (and not as scary!) because it was more like a conversation, and that because they had presented to the whole class and had received feedback they knew how to improve. Where you were in the library and the age of the students who visited also made a difference.

Here’s what the Fair looked like:

(The slide show takes a little time to load–be patient!)

Many thanks to Catie’s mom for sharing her pictures with us, and to all the parents, students, and teachers who visited our projects and asked us about our learning.

***And special thanks to Chelsea for giving me feedback about how to improve this post!

Image credit Happy Canada Day! by Ian Muttoo

Alert! ~ Alert! ~ Alert!

(This guest post is written by one of Huzzahnia’s students. Thanks for sharing this with us, Chelsea!)

Hey Guys and Gals. It’s Chelsea.

I have something very important to tell you. I am speaking live from my house right now…(dramatic pause)… No just kidding. Well, anyways, that very important thing I have to tell you is “The Alert Program”. You might not know what this means, but don’t worry, you will understand everything after. I am going to explain what it is, what it taught us and what it helped us with.

What Is The Alert Program?

Well, it’s very simple. The Alert Program is two people who came to teach us, how to regulate our bodies. Those two people who came to our class are Mrs. Prager & Mrs. Williams. They taught us everything we needed to know on how to get our bodies and minds just right for learning.

What the Alert Program Taught Us!

The Alert Program taught us how to regulate our bodies when they are hyper or sleepy or as Mrs. Prager would say it, Low, Just Right and High

When we need to get from low to just right we can: do a chair push-up, use a chair band, do a hand press, or a head press. A chair push-up is when you use both hands to push your body up off of the chair. A chair band is just a plastic band that goes around the two front legs of your chair, then you push the band forwards with both feet as you have your feet behind the band. The hand press is simple, all you do is push both hands together as hard as you can, with out hurting yourself. The head press is JUST as simple, this time just press your head with your hands.

When you need to get from high to just right, you can: do the Egg, use a fidget tool, or again the head and hand press. The Egg is easy, all you do is make your self into a ball. A fidget tool is something you play with that does not make noise or distract others.

We also learned what Cognition, Sensation, and Emotion are.

Cognition

Cognition is thinking. When you need to get to just right from high, you can just think of something to regulate your self. Once when I was in a small contest at recess, I used cognition to put all the pressure away.

Sensation

Sensation is about your senses in the body. When your engine level is low you can eat some fruit to calm you down. Once when my Mom made cookies, for dessert, I could not get to sleep, because it had chocolate chips in it, chocolate chips is sugar so…I went hyper.

Emotion

Emotion is feelings. When your engine is low, you need some one to cheer you up, that’s when emotions kick in.

Did you see how they all got our engines to just right?

It is important to know all this, because if our engines are just right you will be able to focus…ON THAT MATH TEST YOU HAVE TOMORROW… No just kidding, but still, remember all this and you can focus, and  get a good report card!

Image By: The Allieness

(Almost) Ready for Prime Time

We have connected.

Having started conversations via commenting with people in other countries as well as in our own, we really want to get our student blogs launched. The Student Blogging Challenge started by Tasmanian teacher Miss Wyatt has given us inspiration and ideas to get us going. We have a bit more learning to do (this is especially true of me as a teacher) before we can plug in completely.

The energy source.

Probably the biggest incentive for bloggers is their audience. When we take a look at this blog each day, the first thing we do is look at our ClustrMap. Watching the dots pop up as people visit us is a such a thrill. Then seeing the names of other communities and flags of other countries roll past on Feedjit gives us another boost. But comments–WoW! Comments really charge us up.

What’s holding us back?

There is the wonderful distraction of Tribune Bay Outdoor Education Center where we will be camping for three days next week. We have been getting prepared, which takes time, of course. But we’ll have stories to tell about our adventures when we return, and we will blog them, of course.

If you comment and we don’t respond, check back after October 1st.

So be patient with us: our student blogs are coming soon.

In the mean time Division 16…

Take a look at the participants list here, and continue READING and commenting. Remember to save your comments in a Word document.

And get some good sleep before camp!

Image by ChrisB in Sea under a Creative Commons license