Category Archives: Classroom Life

Hello, it’s Us!

Hello, bloggers we haven’t met yet!

We are a friendly, curious, and crazy group of grade 6 & 7 students in a classroom in a school in a small town on the left coast of Canada. We invite you to read our About Me and Where I Live pages on our student blogs, listed in the sidebar.

Find out who is into kickboxing, skiing, VR, reading, hammer throw, basketball, tennis, YouTube, scootering, gymnastics, writing, hockey, gaming, soccer, cooking, robotics, unicorns, snowboarding, dance, geography, horseback riding… I think you’ll agree that we are a very interesting crew.

We look forward to meeting you on your blog, so please leave your url with your friendly comment.

Meet the Class of 2017-2018!

We have been living and learning together for over a month, but this is our first blog post on our class blog.  Here we are!

Sunglasses on or off–what do you seen in your future?

You might look years ahead to a career you’re thinking of, to travelling you wish to do, or the place you hope to live. Perhaps you have plans for future learning–what do you want to explore? Or maybe you are think of your near future: is something coming up in the next few months that has you curious or excited? Are you in the process of creating something you hope to complete?

Please leave a comment and tell us about your future, and if you are from beyond our class, leave your blog url and we will visit you.

 

A Little Alphabet Soup

Welcome, new visitors from this year’s Student Blogging Challenge!  To help you learn more about us, Huzzahnians are starting to publish their ABC of Me posts on their blogs.

[Missing links are from unpublished posts.]

Follow the links to find out who…

  • thinks artichokes look and smell weird;
  • is a fan of Messi from Argentina;
  • has driven in a Mustang convertible;
  • absolutely loves playing the guitar;
  • is a master of DIY;
  • knows what a katana is;
  • likes the colour of eggplants but not their taste;
  • is a Ravenclaw;
  • thinks Umbridge and Voldemort are jerks;
  • knows something about the octopus that I didn’t know;
  • hates zombies;
  • traps her brother at the top of the teeter-totter;
  • loves hashbrowns;
  • doesn’t like vanilla ice cream;
  • hopes to visit Italy one day;
  • thinks that the Xenomorph looks both creepy and cool;
  • knows that quail eggs are quite small;
  • has a unique collection of a certain reptile;
  • is a fan of bacon;
  • hates how onions make it look like you are crying when you chop them;
  • has held a baby kangaroo;
  • would love to meet a quokka;  
  • likes the quality of Rawlings baseball gloves;
  • knows sign language;
  • has seen elephants in Florida;
  • likes opening presents at Christmas;
  • thinks the Hubble telescope is mind-blowing;
  • is interested in a new gadget called Popsockets;
  • is curious about zebras: are they black with white stripes or white with black stripes?

Aren’t we an interesting bunch? Please follow the links, read the posts, and comment with a few ABCs of your own.

Happy blogging!

Photo Credit: Leo Reynolds Flickr via Compfight cc

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We Need a (Pumpkin) Hero!

Just before Halloween, I presented my students with our first Destination Imagination instant challenge of the year:

Challenge:    Carve a pumpkin and use it as a character in a performance.

Scenario: Your team will come up with a pumpkin design that represents a new super hero—a hero that helps people in our school community with a pressing issue.

During a DI challenge we use and develop the following core skills:

   Critical Thinking
  • Identify and clarify problems.
  • Ask questions.
  • Plan and manage time and responsibilities.
  • Explore a variety of solutions.
  • Analyze, synthesize, interpret, and evaluate information.
   Communication
  • Use various media and technologies in different ways.
  • Share ideas and information to solve problems.
  • Listen carefully and respectfully to the ideas of others.
  • Follow directions.
  • Encourage others to expand their ideas.
   Creativity
  • Use strategies, such as brainstorming, to generate ideas with the group.
  • Apply prior knowledge to develop new ideas.
  • Experiment with different solutions.
   Collaboration
  • Take an active part in the challenge.
  • Be flexible and willing to compromise.
  • Share responsibility for completing the task.
  • Learn from other group members.

Students attacked the challenge with enthusiasm as you can see in the video below. We laughed a lot during the skits!

Huzzahnians, think back on this challenge and your group’s efforts. Describe the hero you created. Using the language of the four C’s, above, what were your strengths? Use specific examples from the challenge. What is a next step to work on to develop your skills. What suggestions do you have for me as a teacher to help you learn and grow at critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication?

Blog visitors, have you ever done a DI challenge? If so tell us about it. If not, what ways do you use creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication in your life and learning?

I look forward to hearing from you!

Something Old, Something New

Our year is coming to an end. Not old exactly, just complete. Full of satisfying memories and great learning.

One treasured memory of the year is the writing, composing, and making a video/slideshow of our new school song. With the help of our talented music teacher, Jenn Forsland, and local (Juno Award nominated!) musician, Helen Austin, we wrote a song that we leave as a legacy to our school. We are pretty proud of it–please give it a listen. But a warning: it is a bit of an earworm:

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