Linden Meadows and Coding on CBC

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-school-division-charts-new-territory-in-computer-coding-for-kids-1.2877119

The Question is the Answer to Understanding

Dear parents of 5A students,

 “Questioning is often thought to be an innate skill, right up there with eating and walking. If you think about it, though, eating and walking are nurtured skills. So it is with questioning. Children arrive in kindergarten bursting with questions of “why?” and “how come?”, yet by the time they are in middle school many have lost this delightful and valuable curiosity. They are so used to answering teacher questions, worrying about marks, and giving the ‘right’ answer or the expected answer that they are stuck in answer gear.

These questions are necessary components of teaching students how and when to question. The goal of inquiry-based learning is not to let go of the ‘spoon’, rather, just putting the spoon in the hands of the student and seeing what happens. It is not so difficult to turn the tables and teach students how to develop real questions, those that uncover personal understanding for them. Allowing students the exhilaration of learning in an environment where their questions are valued and celebrated will reap rich rewards. When students have some ownership of their learning experience, enthusiasm, effort and efficiency is generated.

Motivation is part of the rationale for teaching students how to question. Students cannot be expected to think critically and creatively about ideas and knowledge unless they possess the magical ‘ingredient’ – the question – to kick-start the process. Educating students for the 21^st century requires that educators teach students how to be critical and creative users of information. Neither attribute can be accomplished unless students are also effective questioners.”     

                                                                         

Q-Tasks: How to Empower Students to Ask Question and Care About Answers

Carol Koechlin and Sani Zwann

 

Students in 5A have been working on building their questioning skills and are learning to take a more critical and creative approach to learning. The inquiry-learning model generally follows a ‘cycle’ that begins with students ‘connecting’ and ‘wondering’ about a learning area. Students then learn to construct and evaluate quality questions that will help foster quality research. The next step involves students actively engaging in their investigations. This is where 5A is now. This is also the reason for this letter. With student ownership of learning in mind, our class has been divided into two separate inquiry groups for our first project. By democratic vote and student voice, two areas of investigation have been identified by the students themselves. The first will be focused on the “Bermuda Triangle”. The second is on a very interesting, but potentially powerful area - the events surrounding 9-11 and the tragedies in New York City.

With the sensitive nature of the events surrounding 9-11, there may be some potential concern for parents having their children independently researching this topic. For this reason, I am asking all parents of 5A for their input. If you are uncomfortable with the topic or would like to meet to discuss the project further, please indicate on the form (see below). While students in the “Bermuda” group will not be actively pursuing research on the 9-11 topic, they will be exposed to the content via other students research and presentations. For the record, please be aware that our new read-aloud for the class (a 9-11 based story written by celebrated children’s author Eric Walters) was determined AFTER the students had chosen the 9-11 topic, not before. Therefore, I believe there was no teacher influence in the decision-making process when determining possible topics. It is an excellent (and grade-level appropriate) book that I have read to many previous classes.

While students are learning to take greater ownership of their learning, please understand that this project is not unstructured. All learning and expectations will be framed and monitored.

Students in 5A will be given an agenda message directing parents to this post. Once read, parents will sign and return the form handed out in class.

Thank-you for your time on this matter. I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Mr. Alcock

Two New Initiatives!

Hello parents!

Just wanted to let you know that the kids received two new projects this week. Both will be completed in class (mostly), but they may need your support at times at night.

Math: Vacation Destination!

 

 

Students in 5A will be using their newly minted estimation skills to plan and budget a trip to Florida! The assignment will require researching online costs including flights, hotel and attractions. Students will be required to use a variety of estimation strategies taught in class to complete the assignment. Class time will be provided to complete all elements of this assignment, but many of the kids will want to work on this at home as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ELA: Personal Narrative

Our hard work building proper sentences and strong paragraphs has now moved us to the point where we are ready to write our first personal narratives! Strong authors always write about what they know best -- so our students will be writing about--- THEMSELVES! I have broken down the assignment into manageable steps with a concrete plan to complete. I will also be giving students class time to work on the project, but some student may need additional time/support at home with re-writes or edits. I am hoping to have the kids share their narratives on their blogs as well! A fun writing activity!