Monthly Archives: October 2013

I Love Math

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I am in my third math class today, and I am loving it.

I’ve noticed over the years that many students in grade 6 and 7 give me a strange look when I say I love math. I think they think I’m weird. That’s ok. I don’t mind. I do find, however, that there are often students in the classes who also love math, but are not always comfortable telling people. That’s too bad. We should help our students develop a love for math, as well as a love for learning in general. This is our challenge.

The grade 6 English class is working on estimating and measuring angles. Estimating angles is quite a challenge for some students. Many of them appear to be worried about getting the estimate wrong. They want to skip the estimating step and go right to the protractor and measure.

It is important that our students learn to become comfortable with estimating. I thought about writing this blog about the importance of estimating, but then found several sites that have already done this:

Ms. Gill has moved on from Math to Journal writing now.  I will go look for another math class soon.

Take care.

Homework Wars

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I recently (a few minutes ago) wrote the following email to my staff, and I thought parents would be interested in some of the articles I listed below.

One of the web sites I track regularly is Mind Shift. Recently there have been articles about homework, and they have compiled the links on a page called The Homework Wars.

Here are a few other pages from this web site I found interesting:

How To Create Effective Homework
Why Kids Take On Adults’ Math Anxiety
Inquiry Learning
Creating Classrooms We Need
Classroom Redesign
To Foster Creativity…

The Future of Tablets (a series)

There are a number of other interesting articles on this site, but I will stop now.

Take care.

The Flying Fox

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Today at Big Recess I spent time on the East Playground, watching our students at play. Big Recess is what the students call our lunch break.

From 12:15 to 12:50 pm, the playground is quite full of energetic and active children. There are soccer games, tag games and children swinging on swings. Some children are just sitting out in the sun, while others are hanging upside down on the bars. My attention was drawn to the Flying Fox. For those of you who don’t know, the Flying Fox is a playground structure that is very popular. So popular in fact, that it is really hard to wait your turn. Rules have developed over the years for this play structure:

  • One person at a time
  • No grabbing the person on the Flying Fox
  • No pass-backs
  • Line up on each end
  • Wait you turn
  • No lifting up other children so that he/she can reach the Flying Fox (they have to reach it on their own)
  • Don’t run underneath the Flying Fox

There were a few “Look at me, Mr. Beveridge” calls, and I looked. There are many techniques to go across. I saw two-handed attempts, swing your legs wildly attempts, one-handed attempts, one-handed backwards attempts, and even one child tried to do a one-handed attempt while tossing a ball in the air.

A few reminders were needed to take turns and not do any pass-backs. For the most part, things went quite smoothly.

It was a nice day on the playground for all the children.

Take care.

Integrity Assembly

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This afternoon we had an assembly focusing on one of our seven virtues – Integrity. Thanks to my grade 7 helpers (Makena, Thomas, Bronwen, Tara, Georgia, Michelle and Audrey), as well as one grade 6 piano player (Kristina), our assembly was quite the success.

I read Horton Hatches an Egg, bu Dr. Seuss, and Mr. Lebrun (music teacher) led a sing-a-long with the whole school.

I have included the messages shared by our grade 7 students (see below). They always do such a wonderful job leading assemblies, setting up the gym and cleaning up. Thanks grade 7s.

Ask you children about the assembly.

Take care.

 

This year at Cleveland, we continue to focus on virtues. We expect to see students in the school demonstrate respect, integrity, tolerance, patience, forgiveness, assertiveness, compassion, and love for one another all year.

How can one show integrity? Thanks to the students in division E04 (Mrs. Korsch and Mrs. Pearson’s class), we have the following suggestions:

  • I can show integrity by not cheating in games and being fair.
  • I can show integrity by showing people they are special just the way they are.
  • I can show integrity by not making someone feel left out.
  • I can show integrity by standing by my word.
  • I can show integrity by making things even and doing what’s right.
  • I can show integrity by being fair to everyone.
  • I can show integrity by waiting my turn because I know it is right.
  • I can show integrity by being truthful and being myself.
  • I can show integrity by always doing my best.
  • I can show integrity by standing up for what I believe is right.
  • I can show integrity by being honest and sincere with others and myself.
  • I can show integrity by making sure my words and actions match.

 

Why practice integrity?

  • Without integrity, no one would be able to trust each other to do what they say they are going to do.
  • Integrity helps us to listen to our conscience, to do the right thing, and to tell the truth.
  • Integrity gives us self-respect and a peaceful heart.

 

How do you practice integrity?

  • You don’t follow the crowd. Instead, you think for yourself.
  • When you make a mistake, you fix it.
  • You do the right thing, even when no one is watching.

 

As we bring this assembly to a close, we ask that you think about 2 quotes on integrity:

“Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.”

~ W. Clement Stone

That concludes our assembly this afternoon. Please look to your teacher and get ready to return to class. Thank you.

Is No a Bad Word?

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I find myself wondering about the word no and how people respond when they ask something and the answer is no. How do I respond to no?

It may be just me, but it seems that more and more people are not willing to accept no for an answer (i.e. some Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives). It can be hard to teach children accept no for an answer if we adults can’t model this.

There have been many articles and stories about children hearing no far too many times in their lives, and we need to look at others ways to help children learn instead of saying no. I agree with using the word less, but no will always have a place in my teaching.

I think no is still a very good word. There are times when no is the best and only answer that I feel like giving. For instance:

  • A child asks, “Can I go on the roof of the school to get my ball? My response, “No.”
  • A grade 7 boy who is finished his work, “Can I do whatever I want now?” My response, “No.”

I do sometimes use words other than no for some student questions:

  • A student asks me at 10:30 am, “Can I go home?”, My response, “Why yes, but after 3:00 pm.”
  • A student asks me, “Do you know how to spell antidisestablishmentarianism?” My response, “I’m not sure. Let’s look it up.”

I think it is good for us to hear no every once in a while. I also believe that there are many situations where the no answer needs to be explained to help people understand why no was the answer. For the two no answers above, I would not have stopped at the word no. I could have added:

  • “I will ask the custodian if he can go on the roof to get the ball.”
  • “If you are finished, please select from one of the options I have already given you.”

For such a short word, no is quite powerful. When I googled the phrase “How often do children hear the word no?”, I found 128,000,000 hits. Some of the links I found are below (I did look past the first page of the Google results):

Is no a bad word? No, it is not. I will try to be mindful before I use no as an answer. I will try to think of words other than no.

I have to get ready for recess now. No more time to write for today.

Take care