"One Thing/Fun Thing" for Fri. Feb. 14

This being Valentine's Day, I thought I would try to post something about that. But you can't force "funny" and I'm not sure there's too much that's funny about Valentine's Day.

Instead, I'm posting 4 links to fake/real websites. I have used these sites in the past to ask my students to think about what they are reading (and assuming is real) on the internet. Ask questions, be critical. Figure out if this could actually be real.

1) Exploding Whale
http://quietube6.com/v.php/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vmnq5dBF7Y

2) Spaghetti Harvest
http://quietube6.com/v.php/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27ugSKW4-QQ

3) Dog Island
http://www.thedogisland.com/

4) All About Explorers
http://allaboutexplorers.com/explorers/

Only one of the events in/on these sites is real. Which one is it? Leave a post/comment below if you like.

"One Thing" for Wed. Feb 12 and Thurs. Feb 13

I'm going to blame it on being out of my blogging routine, having missed Monday due to Family day and then also Tuesday due to it being a Professional Development Day, but I missed my first blog post for a school day since I started this. Or I could blame it on the fact I just turned forty and have lost my memory. But I don't think so.

Enough excuses. Onto the blog.

With team Canada's hockey teams playing (the Women defeated the USA yesterday and the Men beat Norway this morning) the Olympics are officially in full swing around here. Obviously, the "Buzz" is nowhere near what it was four years ago with the Olympics being here in Richmond and Vancouver. It is neat to see random people and know that as Canadians we are cheering for our athletes to do well.

It is also neat to see the students at school getting involved and learning about some of the (lesser known) winter sports (some of which Canada is even good at)! In my French class, we have been studying sports, winter sports, various countries and most recently the winter Olympics to prepare ourselves for the big event. Some students are actually getting exposed to an aspect of being Canadian that they might not have known about. For instance, how seriously we take our hockey! I think that's great and one of the great benefits of the $42 billion dollars it costs to run the Olympics.

And here at Diefenbaker, we're doing it all "en français because we are a Late French Immersion School.

Here are some of the sports:

Our Billboard:

And the medal count. Canada's in second according to my researchers!

"One Thing/Fun Thing" for Fri. Feb. 7

So, it's my 40th birthday today. I set my alarm for 6:24 (because 24 is my favourite number) and then put it on the radio (I've been using the buzzer for most of my life, but figured why not)... The radio went off, I hit snooze and then sprung up. I turned the radio on again to check if the song I thought I heard was actually the song that was playing. It was. The song? My least favourite of all time. "Mr. Jones" by the Counting Crows. Not because it's a bad song, just because it was sooo overplayed "back in the day."

In honour of that moment, here is a musical "Fun Thing". It's a parody...

If you don't like One Direction, you'll love this. And if you do, then I'm sorry...

"One Thing" for Thurs. Feb. 6

Here is Richmond parent, RYBL basketball coach (my son is on his team) and the first person I began following on Twitter, Chris Kennedy, giving a Ted Talk about his wishes for his children's teachers. Oh, I almost forgot. Chris is also the superintendent of West Vancouver.

Highlights for me from this talk?

• That he'd like to see less homework for homework's sake so that time can be spent asking your child about their day and actually interacting
• that it would be great (especially for parents that can't get to visit their child's school due to work commitments) to be able to see more students work online-posted digitally where possible. Videos, pictures etc being put up on social media so that a parent can be connected to their learning
• opening up more time and space for students to work on longer activities/projects/learning new things instead of in blocks of time in the school day. Something, perhaps, like "genius hour". 

Something, or really, "some things" to think about.

"One Thing" for Wed. Feb. 5

Tonight at the school, local author, Dan Bar-el was visiting and shared some of his stories with us.

Here's Dan:

And some of the crowd.

It was great to see so many people in attendance tonight. The first thing Dan did was to call any parents up to sit with their son/daughter to listen. That was a neat touch. He then talked about the lost art of storytelling. 

The first story he shared (by memory) was this one. He did so with great voices and enthusiasm. Some people are just born storytellers. Most teachers are good storytellers too. Just ask one!

 The next story he told was this one. The kids (and adults) loved his voice of the "Babba"/lady in the forest (who was also the narrator of the story.

For a finale, he read this one.



Thanks to the PAC for putting this event on as part of our February read-a-thon and book exchange.

Finally, here is Dan's website: http://danbar-el.com/

"One Thing" for Tues. Feb. 4

I picked this up from the "Twitterverse" today while I scan my phone for recent educational commentary and watch my son at basketball practice on Tuesdays as a part of "TwitterTuesdays" here in this space:

5 tips on How to Raise a Reader: http://delightfulchildrensbooks.com/2014/02/03/raise-a-reader/

 I've seen lots of these types of articles, but this one is really good, in my opinion.

Especially, #2 and #3:

2.  Do not bribe your kid to read. No pizza. No toys. No extra TV time.
3.  Create spaces where kids have books available and nothing else to do. 
(I love the picture of the kids with the books in the car. Why not?)

My son, like the author's son, is a bit of an anomaly in that he is a boy that really likes to read. I am lucky that he is this way, but it's not by coincidence. Mrs. Rollins spent many (in fact most) nights fostering a love for reading with both of our children. It paid off. I'm not sure how good his comprehension is, but I'm pretty sure that he reads more quickly than I do. I sometimes can't believe when he has finished the book he's on.
One thing that we like to do after the kids get their report cards is head (sometimes with a gift card) to Chapters and pick away. One day, he wanted the Origami Yoda series (above) and I got it for him, read it myself (as I'm a Star Wars fan) and ended up enjoying it so much I read it to my grade 6/7 class (and they loved it too)! Go figure.

My next goal is to lend him my favourite book of all time (a fantasy Epic titled "Wizard's First Rule" and see how he does with it. I just have to wait to get it back from my overseas teaching partner, Mr. Out...

"One Thing" for Mon. Feb. 3

Well, we are into February. To me, even though it includes my birthday and Valentines Day, February has always been a bit of a bleak month with days being dark after school (due to Daylight savings) and typically, poor weather. Not so today, however. Maybe this coincides with the fact that we are running a "Friendly February" theme in our daily announcements. each day, our Me To We group has made up mottos/axioms to try and follow for the day/month. All of these are centred around the theme of friendship.

What a great idea. Perhaps this February will look a little brighter. I feel that it already has.


In addition, I think this video shows that depending on the words one uses, an entirely different perspective on things can be seen. Maybe as we are thinking about being friendly to others or making a difference, we will think carefully about what words we use when we say something to our friends (or those who aren't yet friends)...Watch and see if you agree.

I'm not sure it's February in the video, but maybe it is...