Category: Important Reminders

Social Media Safety

Dear Parents:
I wanted to let you know that many of our students are out there trying social media websites, and we need to be aware of their activity online.
As you are likely aware, we have a class Twitter account. Please note this Twitter account is only accessed by children when I am in the room – they don’t have the password. Before they tweet (hit send) I always check to make sure that the tweets are: kind, helpful, or interesting. Tweets are always monitored for safety, too.
I have been made aware that several students have Facebook accounts already, and some are creating Twitter accounts. This is fine, but we need to be aware of student activity online. While I respect the many different kinds of decisions families make about internet use at home, I believe it is very important to ensure children are safe online – at school and at home. If your children have email addresses please make sure their full name is not in use. Many students use their first name only while others use nicknames or their “handles” from gaming platforms. This is the same for children who use Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus.  
Here are some handy tips I found from this website: Tips for Parents
  • Commit all passwords to memory. Never write them down or carry them with you
  • Adopt an attitude of healthy skepticism toward websites that offer prizes or giveaways. Chances are, all that’s been “won” is the opportunity to buy something you didn’t want in the first place.
  • Choose a commercial online service that offers parental control features.
  • Tell your children never to give out their address, telephone number, password, school name, or any other personal information.
  • Make sure your children know to never agree to meet face-to-face with someone they have met online.
  • Tell your children never to respond to messages that have bad words, are scary, or just seem weird.
  • Tell children never send a picture of themselves to anyone without your permission
  • Soon all children will be expected to be blogging on this site. They will be given a login name and password from the school board and only their first names will be in use. Here are the guidelines we follow in Burnaby Schools: GUIDELINES-Ss-SM-2014-06 You can also find this document in the page above titled, “schedule and docs”.
  • Please ensure your children are not using their full names on Twitter, Instagram, Google platforms (Gmail and Google plus), and know to not divulge personal information (where they live, study, etc.)

    Do let me know if you have any questions! Thank you, and have a good evening!

 

 

 

Email, Blog, and Communication

Hello Everyone,

Just to let you know, the Burnaby School District has been having some difficulty with email. We sent a notice home on Thursday, but just so you are aware, if you have been trying to reach me and did not receive a response within 2 days, then I may not have received your mail.

Also, for students, please be aware of and think about a few things as regards our blog usage and communicating with Ms. D:

  • Blog vs Email: A blog is for discussion around a particular topic. If you need to communicate with me or a classmate directly about something that involves just you, then email is probably the best way to communicate. How do you know the difference? Think about how we would handle it during a group discussion in class. A group discussion would involve things that benefit everyone, while a one-on-one discussion at my desk would be just between you and the teacher and only involve something you need.
  • Tone and Audience: When you write on email or a blog, your tone is important. How would you ask for something in person? What kinds of words do we use to be polite? Why are we polite and how will it help us get what we need? Any of the words you use to be polite in person are even more important on email or a blog. The person you are talking to cannot see your face or body language, so all they have to work with are your words. A good rule of thumb is to take a good, long pause and think before you press the send button. Think about how the person on the other side would look at your email. If you received this question, would you respond well? Who are your talking to, as well? Is the question for a friend or a teacher? Do you talk differently with a buddy than you would with an adult? 
  • Blog Post Approval: All posts or responses you submit go through Ms. D for approval first. If your posting does not fit within the discussion or does not have the appropriate tone, then it may not appear. I don’t want you to be afraid of posting, because this is a safe environment to do so and to learn. Please do be thoughtful about what you put up there, because it is good social media practice and it will help you in the future as you use sites like these for education or otherwise.
  • Response Time: I will respond when I have time, and unfortunately, I can’t always be on the site. Thus, if I don’t respond, please don’t take it personally or keep posting to ask me, “Why are you not answering?” It is because I am just taking time to do other things. Use email for a more direct response. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

Please take some time to talk or to think about these things so you can be the best communicator possible in the future.

I hope everyone enjoyed the cold but beautiful weather today. The chickadees, redwing blackbirds and flickers were all having a grand time flying around in the sunshine behind my house today. See you on Monday when we will finish Rube Goldberg and take a look at the fuel cell cars with a partner. Three more weeks until the holiday!

Random Notes: PAC News & Scholastic

A notice is going home tomorrow, but if you are interested there is a PAC General Meeting this Wednesday November 18th from 7-8:30 PM in the library. Part of the discussion will be playground expansion and there is a presentation from Burnaby Parks and Recreation.

The Purdy’s Chocolate Fundraiser is going on, and catalogs were sent home. For every $50 you order your name is entered in a draw to win a free box of chocolates. Deadline for ordering November 25th. Chocolate Pick Up on December 11.

Gift Card Sale is currently going on. Deadline is November 24th and Pick Up on December 8th.

Scholastic Orders from our Division are on their way. Received notice they were shipped yesterday, so they should be here soon. Thank you for your support, as it raises some money to purchase new books for use in our classroom.

Reminders on October 29th

Happy Birthday to Ella! Thank you for bringing in some great cupcakes for us. If anyone missed getting one at the end of the day, we have saved them for tomorrow’s party.

Today we continued to work away on unit projects using laptops and iPads, had a session of French online, played Deal or No Deal using mean and probability and Ms. DeTerra’s secret excel document that automatically plays the banker (ask your child tonight!), and had music class with Ms. H. It was a busy day and everyone is also excited for tomorrow.

Tomorrow students may come in their costumes, or if they feel more comfortable, change later in the day before the costume parade and party. We will be starting a movie before lunch and then having open activities after music class. Pumpkin Carving is first thing in the morning, so please bring your pumpkin cut on the top, scooped out, cleaned, and outlined with a face for the carving activity.

Tuning In Booklets are due tomorrow. Projects are due on November 2nd, EOD. Tonight everyone identified in their agenda a specific task to help with their project work at home. If students do not have a USB, they should get one, as it will allow them to better do work on the computers at school.

Have a lovely evening and I look forward to seeing the costumes tomorrow! There is a contest, so top two costumes will get a prize. 🙂 Ms. D promises not to vote for herself.

As a side note: If for any reason you don’t celebrate Halloween, that is okay, please join us anyway for snacks, as that is part of community building. During our movie there can be alternative activities such as iPad, quiet reading, project work, games, etc. See you tomorrow!

Blog Posting Safety

Hello everyone!

Just a reminder that posting on the blog is a public forum, meaning what you write can be seen by everyone. Any comments written first are sent to me, I review them, and then I approve them if they are appropriate. Some things to remember:

  • Be careful of what you say — it is public
  • Only use first names, never first and last, for yourself and other students
  • Don’t put identifying, personal details about yourself such as email addresses, phone numbers, the place you live, etc. in any comment or post
  • Be respectful and appropriate, or your comments will not be approved

For students: I have a specific email address, user ID and password for you to use the blog as subscribers and/or authors. I will be providing these to you soon!

Thank you and get outside and enjoy this lovely, sunny day! I know I am going to right now!

Goal Setting, Learner Profile, and the Brain!

This morning, we talked about note taking and how to do it effectively. This is a skill students need to do their independent research. We practiced this skill by taking notes during student presentations about the systems articles we read yesterday. As each group presented about the article they read, other students who had not read the article took notes on important ideas and vocabulary. Words students should be able to explain to you include: diagnosis, symptoms, injuries, infections, and conditions.

As one of the systems was the nervous system, students practiced being neurologists by doing diagnostic tests on a partner. This included tests of reflexes, balance and overall mental awareness. We did a brainstorm of the types of diseases these tests might help a neurologist diagnose. For homework they were asked to read the article Brain Parts and then to look for games or puzzles designed to test brain function.

This was our first day for Library Book Exchange. The librarian, Ms. Ho, explained the rules of the library and gave us a tour of the book collection. Students are allowed to check out 4 books. Each week they need to bring these books back with them to the library. If they want to renew them, they can do so, but she asks that they come back each week to renew in person. Everyone left with a variety of new reading material, whether chapter books, graphic novels, magazines, or non-fiction resources. There is an open book exchange after lunch each day from 1-1:20 PM in addition to our regular time on Tuesday from 10:05-10:25.

I also asked the students to make some S.M.A.R.T. goals for the coming year. I will be having one on one conferences with them about their goals, and I also look forward to meeting parents in person to discuss. They have brought home their goals sheet to be signed by you tonight. Smart goals are simple and specific, manageable, attainable, realistic and reasonable, and timely. Making goals is an area of learning, and we will work together on these as the year progresses. They also had to identify what part of the Learner Profile they would like to work on. To be an effective learner, one needs to be an inquirer, thinker, risk-taker, and communicator, and he or she also needs to be knowledgeable, balanced, principled, caring, and reflective. We defined each of these and they chose one to focus on for now.

Please remember Scholastic Orders due Friday and Terry Fox Money is being collected this week. Continue to work on Reading Around the World and finish the Body Systems packet by Friday. Have a good evening!

Ms. D’s Calendar

Please see attached in Notices and Forms a copy of our class schedule. You will note that the schedule has large periods for UNIT WORK, and this is because those are our large, open times reserved for unit work related to the integrated subjects of science, socials, language arts, art, and sometimes math or French. Schedule is always subject to change, as sometimes we have special events, holidays, or unfinished class activities or projects that may mean changing a subject to a different time.

Library Exchange Day (bring your books in for this day) TUESDAYS

MUSIC Thursdays and Fridays after lunch

PE IN GYM Tuesdays and Thursdays end of the day

COMPUTER LAB TIME (if needed) Mondays and Tuesdays after recess

Talk with students about assessment

Many of the students have asked, “What is different between MACC and a regular class?” In my opinion, one of the things that will be different is that in MACC, students will have more input into their own learning environment. For example, students were encouraged to share essential agreements around behaviours that will provide them with an effective learning community. Today, they were also asked to think about what it means to be a good contributor to a MACC class.

We discussed how activities are more rich when active participation happens. How will we measure this active participation in MACC?

Students were given a rubric with the letter grades A, B, C+, C and C-. We discussed what those letter grades generally mean, based upon students’ past experiences or what they have heard.

Then, I asked them to draft on a blank rubric what participation would look like at the “A” or “B” level. In groups they came up with measurable criteria, and then we shared the criteria aloud. I recorded their responses and collected their drafts, which I will use to make a rubric on participation. This rubric will apply to all subjects and MACC 4/5 activities, and I will ask students to do self-assessments, based on their criteria and mine, as we continue during the term.

Learning how to assess your own performance is an important, lifelong skill, and students will be encouraged to answer their own question when they say, “Is this good enough?” or “Is this what you want?” I often answer by saying, “Does it fit the criteria?” or “What do you think based on what we agreed would be quality work?”

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