Friday, December 18, 2015

When Reading and Research Share....

I love it when the way I teach is supported by research. Below is a summary of the research done by Ivey and Johnson:
Engagement with Young Adult Literature: Outcomes and Processes
Gay Ivey and Peter Johnston
Reading Research Quarterly, 48, 355-375 (2013)
They are talking specifically about books to have the engagement in reading where I used technology to get the same results.   
  • Engaged reading. Students reported (and the researchers and teachers noted) deep engagement with books and book characters not only during class, but also outside of class—students said they were getting in trouble for reading during other classes and after bedtime. Others even reported reading instead of watching television and playing video games.
  • Talk through and about books. Students said they talked more about books, both in spontaneous conversations with their classmates, and with friends and family outside of school.
  • Relationships. Students described changes in their personal relationships that they attributed to their engagement with reading. They often used the books they read as a way to make new friends, deepen existing friendships, and grow stronger and more complex relationships with teachers and parents.
  • Identities/selves. Many students saw themselves in a new light as a result of engaging deeply with reading. For example, one student identified herself as a bookworm; another student commented that his reading had improved to the point that he no longer considered himself a “slow” reader.  Other students’ comments reflected a similar shift from a fixed performance mindset to a dynamic view of learning.
Agency. Many students in the study reported an increase in agency—the sense that they have the power to make positive changes in their social relationships, academic and personal lives, and in their communities.

December 18 2015

I have been able to prove this in my Grade 5 classroom over the last two years. I have documentation of improved reading levels. Behaviour problems were minimized. Intellectual discussions and explanations from the students increased. Student confidence increased dramatically. My shyest and weakest students were able to participate as equals with their peers. I look forward to another successful year this year using SOLE as the only way to have the students learn.


A New Primary Education

Convert the curriculum into questions

Preferably, questions to which no one has an answer

Change assessment from factual recall to creative expression of ideas

Look for methods of problem solving rather that the application of memorized procedures

Use SOLEs as a major pedagogic method where children find their own answers

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

May 25 SOLE

What Makes a  Flower Smell?
-      By: Heaven, Grace, Jorje and Jenson

        Some plants produce scents from petals, other plants are different. Like orchids, they have smelly organs just to attract their pollinators. Pollen makes it smell good. The petals there are essentials oils. When there is warm weather the oils combine, and they evaporate producing scents. Pollen makes flowers smell good. The bees pollinate flowers. The compounds behind the aroma is complex. When flowers bloom they produce a fragrance. Seeds are made microgametophytes.

How do trees produce oxygen?
Emily, Marlene and Braydon

As a tree grows it takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it as wood fiber. The trees convert carbon dioxide into clean water and oxygen is released back in the atmosphere. Trees have leaves that have little green chemical factories. Trees are able to use energy of the sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into chemical compounds like sugar. By the product of the chemical reaction, oxygen is given off. There is no other chemical reaction in world that makes so many tons of stuff in a minute. The oxygen molecules we are breathing right now are made by green plants somewhere on the earth. A chemical reaction is building up and driven by light and called photosynthesis. A tree absorbs carbon dioxide through its leaves and after puts it out into clean air.  
Facts
We need oxygen to live. Humans need oxygen to live because it is an ingredient used during respiration to convert glucose into energy. In one season a tree produces as much oxygen as 10 people inhale in a year. There are 23,000 different kinds of trees in the world. A trees leaves have many coloured pigments such as yellow, green, red and brown.  A tree can absorb as much as 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. Every state has an official tree. Tree bark is an arrangement of living, dying and dead cells. All trees and plants produce oxygen. If we had no oxygen, our cells would only make limited quantities of energy.

 HOW DOES A RIVER TURN INTO A RIVER ?

By Kiera, Keely, Lindsay and Jumah
Rivers are found in high places such as hills and mountain.  Every rivers has a source ( places) where it comes from.  Rivers starts by small streams.  Rivers grow bigger when tributaries.  The streams in the gullies become big enough to form a river. 
A gully is a landform made by runny water.  Some rivers only get water during such as epheneral rivers.  Rivers form when water is precipitation. 

       WHY CAN’T ANIMALS TALK?
By: Harper Matt.P. Peyton, Tye

They are a different species then us. They talk in their own language that we don’t understand. They make noses that make sense to them not to us. They don’t understand us and we don’t understand them. Parrots can talk but they don’t understand what it means. Because that is the way god made them. We are animals because we are the same in a way. Pets understand a little. Humans have a different language then animals. We aren’t the same as them. We made languages in our way. Human evolution and growing smarts. These are talking animals gorilla koko yak.

Why Do Cats Dislike Having A Bath?
Mason, Ben, Josh and Cody

Not all types of cats hate having a bath. Some cats don’t like it because their fur gets waterlogged. When their fur gets waterlogged it weighs them down. Cats are sensitive to odours I the tap. They don’t like smelling tap water so they don’t like baths. It depends on the breed of cats some like baths some don’t. They clean and groom themselves so they don’t need a bath. Domestic cats love to take baths. Tigers take baths a lot. Some cats from dry places like to soak in baths for a long time. Cats like normal clear water. If you put bubble bath in the tub they won’t get in. there is something for cats to bathe them in its called cat shampoo. Use your hands to wash them don’t use a sponge it will pull their fur. Turkish van cats like to take baths
Ways to get your cat to bathe!!!
-Don’t call them
-Gently lure them into the bath
-Give them a treat if they bathe
-Let them test the water first
-If they don’t like it don’t force them
-They will bathe themselves
-Put cat toys in the bath

WHY DO HOCKEY PLAYERS GET INTO FIGHTS?
By Tyson

- FIGHTING IN ICE HOCKEY IS AN ESTABLISHED TRADITION OF THE SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA WITH A LONG HISTORY INVOLVING MANY LEVELS OF AMATEUR AND PROFESHIONAL PLAY INCLOUDING SOME NOTABLE individual fights.
- FIGHTING IS Ususually PERFORMED BY ENFOSERS OR GOONS PLAYERS WHOSE RULE IT IS TO FIGHT AND INADIMATE IN MINIOR PROFESINAL leagues IN NORTH AMERICA DO NOT EJECT PLAYERS OUTRIGHT FOR FIGHTING BUT MAJOUR EUREPON COLLEGTE HOCKEY LEAGUES DO AND MUILTI SUSPENSHIONS MAY ADDED UP TO THE EJECTION. THEREFORE THE VAST MAJORTY OF FIGHTS OCCUR IN THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE AND OTHER NORH AMERICN PROFESHIONAL LEAGUES.
- PHISCYAL PLAY IN HOCKEY CONSITING OF ALLOWED TECHNEQIS SUCH AS CHECKING AND PROHIPETED TECHNEQUIES SUTCH AS ELBOWING HIGH STICKING AND CROSS CHECKING is inextricably linked to fighting.
-is inextricably linked to fighting Although often a target of criticism, it is a considerable draw for the sport, and some fans attend games primarily to see fights.

Why Do People Have Different Eye Colours?


More melanin means a darker eye colors. Different pigments give off different eye colors. Lots of pigments gives brown eyes. It is possible for someone two have two different color eyes. Our eyes have different color patches. Lack of pigment results in blue eyes. There is a pigment found in the front part of the iris. Iris means a flat colored membrane behind the cornea of the eye. Eye color is the result of variations in the amount of melanin. Different eye colors happens genetically. The human eye has huge color variations. Many gene combines can lead to green eyes.

Why Were Traffic Lights Invented?

Before Cars?
Traffic lights were invented so that people can walk across the street. The first traffic lights were invented in 1868. J P Knight invented traffic lights. J P Knight was a railway signalling engineer. The first traffic light was installed outside Houses of Parliament. First traffic light exploded and killed a policeman.


SOLE May 15

How Do Broken Bones Heal?
 By:  Jorja, Anya, Alison, Peyton
·         The Bone healing has 3 stages. Bone production. Inflammation. Bone remodeling. Our Bone are strong. Location of the fractures bones and produces new cells. Also Blood vessels. They rebuild the bone. Cells cover both ends of the broken body part and close the brake until as good as it was before the accident.


Step 1: Inflammation. Bleeding, will caused the factored area to swell this stage lasts about a month. Step 2: The swelling will go down. Step 3: Bone remodeling. This stage is basically just getting the bone back to normal.   
·         -Bone healing has 3 stages
·         -Bone production
·         -Inflammation
·         -Bone remodeling
·         -bones strong
·         Location of facture bones produce new cells
·         -and blood vessels
·         That rebuild bone
·         Cells cover both ends of broken part bone and close the brake until as good as it was



How Do People Go Deaf?

By: Matt. P and Emma (the dinosaur)

Deafness and hearing loss have many causes and can occur at any age. People can go deaf suddenly as a complication of a virus, or lose their hearing over time because of disease, nerve damage, or injury caused by noise. About 3 in 1,000 babies is born deaf, often because of genetic factors. If you listen to really loud music for a long period of time, you can go deaf because the sound is too loud for our ears. Hearing loss is when the ear does not take in the sound waves. Sound waves are a wave of sound that bounces off of walls and other objects and then into our ears, but for someone that is deaf (of suffers from hearing loss) would not hear the sound waves. At the age of 20 and older, our hearing starts to decline. If you are deaf, the bones in the eardrum might still be working but the electrical impulses aren’t able to reach the brain. Cleaning your ears with a Q-tip is NOT a good idea. If you clean your ears with a Q-Tip you could by rupturing the tiny bones within the ear drum, which could result in becoming deaf. If you are going deaf, you could get hearing aids to help your hear better. Although hearing aids don’t cure deafness. There is no cure for deafness. If you are born deaf, it could be because your mom or dad are deaf. Some drugs can cause temporary deafness. If you have trauma such as a fractured skull, this can cause hearing loss or it could even cause you to be permanently deaf (but only in the most extreme of cases). Other loud noises besides loud music can include: firecrackers, gun shots, concerts, someone that is screaming right next to you.

Why Is There An S For A Dollar Sign Instead Of A D?
By Tyson

No one really knows how the Dollar sign came about. There have been many theories. It is believed to have developed from a Spanish handwritten P for peso, the Spanish coin. It is also thought to represent the Spanish piece of Eight coin. The word dollar itself is from a German word Daler or a Czech word Thaler.
While a D would make more sense in today’s world, it is a historical word and therefore developed before modern English.











What Is Child Abuse?
By Grace, Heaven, Marlene Kiera and jumah 
 

One of the things of abusing is sexual interferences (raping). A million children are abused every year just in America. Abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional, financial, and verbal. The meaning of physical means pinching, hurting, slapping, pushing and etc. Child abuse effects behaviour. They may feel trapped and they may feel like they can’t speak up and if they do they will get abused. Sexual is where they get forced for sex (rape), insisting on sexual acts and assaulting on breasts or genitals. The farthest is goes is death. Those that survive suffer and live with emotional scars. They are also most likely to think of suicide or suffer depression. The most abusive is physical and sexual (rape). Child abuse can also affect your learning. Girls and boys can abuse kids.


What Is The Holocaust?

It was the mass murder of the Jewish people when they were under all of the Nazis control. The Nazis killed 6 million Jewish people. The Jewish people were killed in camps such as Auschwitz. The Jewish people were living in concentration camps. The Nazis over ran the Jews in world war two. The Nazis also killed people such as Gypsies (fortune tellers). A lot of Jewish were found after the holocaust. It killed 2 out of 3 European Jews. The world war two stared in 1939. The were 9 million Jews and ^ million of the 9 million were killed. In the final months of WW2 the ss guard moved the camps inmates. The information about the concentration camps till the 90’s. WW2 ended May 7 1945.





Thursday, June 11, 2015

Students Art Choices For Their Best Work.



As an end of year activity I had the students search through their art for their five best pieces to be included as part of a book of their work for this year. Below are some of the better works of art they chose.





























Tuesday, May 26, 2015

SOLE May 19

What Is The Most Popular \ Bestselling Book?

By: Jorja, Anya

Top 5 adult books, A Tale Of Two Cites, Lord Of The Rings, The Hobbit, The Dream Of Red Chamber, And Then There Were None. Top 5 children books, Where The Wild Things Are, The Giving Tree, Goodnight Moon, Green Eggs And Ham, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. Top ten books for teenagers, The Heir, A Court Of Thorns And Roses, Saint Nothing, Red Queen And An Ember In The Ashes. Top 5 books for pre-teens Ella Enchanted, Ink Heart, Harry Potter (Series), The Giver. Some famous books that have been made into movies, Harry Potter, Charlottes Web, Hunger Games, 50 Shades Of Grey. Popular books for pre-teens to young adults, Twilight, Warriors (Warrior Cats) Divergent, Hunger Games. Popular books in general, Don Quixote, A Tale Of Two Cities, The 3 Musketeers, Les Miserables, Pride And Prejudice, The Adventures Of Pinocchio, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. The Guinness World records has over 5 billion books sold. The Bible is the biggest selling book of all time.         

Where does water come from?

By: Heaven, James and Harper

The amount on earth never changes. Water builds up as condensation and turns into precipitation and eventually rains. Rain falls onto the land and whatever doesn’t get absorbed runs off into our rivers etc. Plants, humans and animals use our water. An average Canadian only uses 330 litres of water a day. During the summer a pine tree consumes 20 litres of water, Beef cattle need about 45 litres a day .Water comes from the water cycle, the water cycle has steps, Evaporation is when the sun heats up water and rivers until it turns into vapour and it leaves the river or lake and goes into the air. The water vapour in the air gets cold and turns into liquid again which is condensation. 98% of the water comes from wells. Water is a colorless, transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid that forms the seas, lakes and river. In the most developed countries we spend 35 billion on bottled water. We get water from rain. When water falls back to the earth it goes to our rivers or lakes and the water cycle continues. 97% of water on earth is salt water, 2 % is ice glaciers, less than 1 % is fresh water. This is how you turn salt water into drinking water. Get salt water or put salt in water and put it in a bowl, then put plastic wrap and put a small rock and put it in the middle, put it outside and wait several hours and take the plastic off and taste it. It won’t have any salt in it.         

How Do We Get Split Ends In Our Hair?

Emily, Alison, Keely and Kiera

There are a bunch of different types of split ends. The use of curling irons and other heat products can cause split ends. The use of hair products such as pert and hair colouring may strip protective layering off outside the of the hair shaft and weaken hair. You can get rid of split ends by cutting them. You can prevent split ends from coming back by cutting your hair every 6 weeks or so. If you ignore the split ends more of the shaft of hair will split. You know when have split ends if a lot of tangles are in your hair when you brush it. If your hair is zig zagged at the bottom, you likely have split ends. Some products can prevent split ends. Some of The best products include har vokse and groeri360. Cutting your hair often doesn’t make it grow faster. Colouring your hair, makes the condition of your hair worse. Rubbing your hair with a towel is worse thing you can do to cause split ends, so use a hair dryer or comb to dry your hair. Rubber bands and many hair accessories can cause damage to their hair because rubber bands pull out your hair. If you are going to wear an elastic in your hair, when you pull the elastic out, unwrap it slowly instead of just pulling it out. Egg helps with split ends. Too much brushing of your hair may cause split ends. Some people freak over split ends but it is not a big deal, you can just cut your hair, but not by yourself.  Split ends happen when the protective cuticle is destroyed at the end of the hair.  The hair cuticle is the outermost part of the hair shaft and is a hard shingle like layer overlapping cells. The hair cuticle is formed from dead cells that form scales and gives the hair shaft strength to do the best job providing protection. The hair shaft is a thin strand of hardened cells and is above the scalp. Hot products sizzle the ends of the hair and split the hair making split ends.  Every day, about 100 hairs fall out of your head.

WHAT IS A LOGO By Tyson

A logo is an emblem or symbol commonly used by commercial enterprises . It is used to identify sports teams and companies.
      
Why Does Are Nose Fill Up With Gross Stuff?
By: Matthew, Peyton and Jumah

If we didn’t have mucus in our nose we would not be alive. Mucus traps the dirt and pollen in your nose. We swallow a quarter of snot a day. Snot is mostly water. We have snot in our nose because we need it to live. It helps us keep our lungs clean.

Why Does Hockey Equipment Stink?

Mason, Emma, Jenson, and Matthew

The Equipment is like a sponge it absorbs the sweat into the equipment. The Bacteria feeds on your sweat. People Equipment stinks because after they are done a practice or a game they don’t dry there equipment. Let the sweat dry out of your equipment. Never use Febreeze. it makes your equipment smell bad and it is bad for your body.