by Amy Park As the school year began, I was excited not only to be teaching at CSS again and teaching a new grade, but to wear the moniker “mentor.” I thought, albeit naively, that I had a great deal to offer my new teaching partner, who with just one year under her belt was… Continue reading Community of Practice
by Deirdre Bailey The start to my day today was hectic at best. Snowy roads, a forgotten laptop and a first class full of glue and tissue paper. I asked the kids if they could do their best to be purposeful and respectful as they shredded piles of paper and painted white glue onto massive… Continue reading This Is How Its Supposed To Feel…
In a recent post we shared an example of podcasting as a powerful tool for students to demonstrate their mathematic thinking. Here’s another example of students recording their mathematical thinking, this time by a grade 4 student. We believe that this is one of the most powerful uses of a 1:1 laptop program – how… Continue reading More Math Podcasting
Here at the Calgary Science School we build our understanding of inquiry-based learning around the Inquiry Rubric developed in conjunction with the Galileo Educational Network. To help unpack how the Galileo Inquiry Rubric is lived out in specific projects from our school, we’ve compiled the following list of projects tied to particular elements of the… Continue reading Illustrative Examples of Inquiry-Based Learning
One of our grade 4 teachers, Greg Neil, is presenting next week at the GEOEC conference in Canmore Alberta. Greg’s presentation is going to focus on the Galileo Inquiry Rubric, and then use a Grade 4 project he designed on endangered animals as a case study of inquiry in action. The purpose of the project… Continue reading Grade 4: Endangered Animals and their Habitats
One of our Physical Educadtion teachers (Tammy Berry) is delivering a presentation this weekend at the Annual Conference for the Health and Physical Education Council of Alberta. Tammy is delivering a one-hour session on her grade 4-6 football unit, in which she strives to incorporate both inquiry-based learning and technology. In the past, when Tammy… Continue reading Inquiry, Assessment and Technology in Phys Ed
We recently had our first student-led conferences of the year. Like many schools, this is a time when students walk their parents through some of their learning over the term, as well as reflecting over the first 3 months of the year and setting goals for the next term. This term a couple of our… Continue reading Student Led Conferences: Using Podcasts
Two of our Grade 4 teachers are presenting at the Elementary Science Symposium hosted by the Calgary Science Network on Sept 30th. Our teachers are offering two 90 minute sessions on the Light and Shadow unit of grade 4 Science. They have some fantastic hands on material ready to share.You can find more information about… Continue reading CSS Teachers at the Calgary Science Network Symposium
