This Week At School

It's official everyone... we're on summer vacation over here!!

And... on my last week of school I worked on 4 different days!... so pretty much every day I could (because no one is going to book me to come in and substitute teach when the kids aren't even there!).

How'd it go?

I had one teacher tell me that if she were a sub she wouldn't book herself for these last 2 weeks because the kids have checked out already (and lets be honest, a lot of the teachers have as well).  Luckily, the kids I taught in elementary school this week (which was one day) were not checked out yet and still eager (for the most part) to work... and it may have helped that they were having a class party in the afternoon that the teacher told me to bribe them with.  

Other than that this week at school I...

Watched a lot of movies (Despicable Me and The Incredibles, and one other that I can't remember what it was).

Gave students A LOT of time on the iPads (which I'm kind of on the fence about... I mean, they may as well stay at home if they are getting free time on the iPads since that's [likely] what they would be doing at home).  

Did TUSC... and students got to decide what role they wanted to have this last time so there were a lot of "angry chefs" which meant a lot of sugary treats being passed around.

Took my classes outside.

Had a "gym riot" that was neither in the gym or rioty in the slightest (it was outside and very well organized).

All in all it was a pretty swell last week of work... and now I get to switch gears to "this week off from school" and enjoy some much deserved time off!

Psst.. I've got my next month worth of posts planned (for the most part) so you can expect regular posting to happen throughout the summer.  Enjoy!

Agenda Book

Last week I talked about ways to keep student supplies organized but there are definitely other ways to keep students organized and on track. One of those ways is through the use of an agenda book. Some schools use them but many do not... I'm definitely a part of the camp that thinks they still serve a valuable purpose. In fact, if I had a class of my own I would be having my students write a couple of things that we did during the day whether it was homework or not (and of course I would also have them write in their actual homework too). Then I would sign it each afternoon before my students went home and have someone at home sign it to indicate that they've read it.

I think agenda books can be such a good tool for students that even I, as a substitute teacher, still use one today

Substitute teacher agenda book

I pick mine up from the Dollar Store at the beginning of each year... I'm even fussy as to which one I get because I need one that has a calendar view page and the weekly pages to keep me organized.

As a teacher I also found myself way more organized the times I used a day plan for myself. When I was teaching French I spent some time after work each Thursday to update my day plan for the following week and put things into file folder boxes that they students would need each day. Of course my plans would often change as we actually did the lessons but it required a lot less prep time during the week if I spent a bit of time doing it one day after school.

One of the divisions that I work in is striving to use less paper and so they use Showbie instead. The teacher just goes over what their last period class did throughout the day and any homework they have and updates it for them. They can view it at home and their parents get alerted when something gets posted.

What Parents Need to Know About Youtube

This summer I'm doing a series on What Parent's Need to Know about *insert some type of online thing here*... because it's not just parents that need to know these things but teachers too AND if there is one thing we all know it's that online stuff changes so often it's hard to keep up (especially when you aren't even using that app/program)!

Today I'm talking about Youtube

If you haven't I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to find someone who went on Youtube to look up one thing on how to change their cars windshield wiper blade and an hour later is watching videos of cats being scared by cucumbers. It happens to the best of us and it is SO easy to spend way to much time watching videos.

This poster is available as a free download from National Online Safety

Here are a 3 take aways from this poster...

1) You can restrict what your child watches online (if you enable this it means content that has been flagged as mature shouldn't come through... of course there are likely many flaws to this though)

2) Survey a class of students and at least one of them will say they want to become a Youtube star when they grow up. So, it's not even them watching content anymore.. it's them creating content. You can place restrictions on who can view their videos and *I think* can turn off comments (to help with cyber bullying).

3) Be aware of what your child/student is watching and what they are taking away from that video. Remember the cinnamon and Tide Pod challenges? Not the greatest of ideas but people still watched them.

Last week I talked about what you need to know about the app store.

This Week At School

I found this on the board in one of the classrooms I subbed in (at the beginning of the week).  Only 3 more days of work for me (and 4 more days of school until summer break for the students - teachers have another 5).

You know what grinds my gears as a substitute teacher?  When a teacher doesn't put it into the online notes (which I know for a fact is a very simple thing to do) that we will be doing things outside for the day.  Sometimes it's hot *ahemJUNEahem* and sometimes it's cold... hello all winter long.  Just do me a solid and let me know in the online notes if I'll have recess duty or be spending the whole day outside... please?

Anyways, rant over.

One of the days this week we spent outside with a kindergarten class for aboriginal activities day.  The kids had a lot of fun (it was pretty draining otherwise).  Luckily not ALL the activities were outside so it was a bit of back and forth.

Another day this week I was a middle school teacher where not too much happened... I worked my way through almost another entire YA novel (I'll finish it next week when I'm back in that classroom).

And another day I was a French Immersion teacher... which got me thinking... French Immersion is very popular here.  So popular that most (if not all) school divisions in the province will have at least one school with a French Immersion option.  We also have Spanish, Ukrainian, and I think Cree and was wondering what other places of this world have for Immersion schools?  

3 more days of work for this substitute teacher!  

Student Organization

Something I've noticed is that a well organized classroom often runs just a smidge better than a disorganized one and I think this could be said for any situation/place... including students (a well organized student operates just a bit better, usually, than the disorganized one) so we need to find ways to keep our students organized throughout the school year.

Here's what I saw that one teacher did to try to keep her students just a bit more organized.

Student Organization

This teacher had desks in her classroom so her students could have easily kept all their supplies and books in their desks but we all know sometimes those desks become disaster zones and they can't find anything in there anyways so I liked that she had a spot for each group of students to keep some of their books. This way when she said "everyone take our your Science duotang" everyone would know exactly where to find it. I also liked that she had this set up at every grouping of students rather than one spot for all the duotangs because this way she doesn't waste as much time passing things out and taking things in all the time. 

I'm not sure how I feel about the 2 crates stacked on top of each other.. it seemed to be working out well for this class and she does have them zip tied together but I'm curious as to why she didn't just use a small book shelf at each group (were they cheaper, fit the materials better?).  I also liked how the bottom crate was recycling (and not garbage because we should always try to recycle more than we throw things out).  It would come in handy when doing my Interactive Math Journals as there is a lot of cutting and pasting involved with those!

Anyways, what are some things you do in your classroom to keep your students organized?

What Parents Need To Know About The App Store

This summer I'm doing a series on What Parent's Need to Know about *insert some type of online thing here*... because it's not just parents that need to know these things but teachers too AND if there is one thing we all know it's that online stuff changes so often it's hard to keep up (especially when you aren't even using that app/program)!

Today I'm talking about the App Store

What parents need to know about the app store

You can find this free to download here and here are 3 of my take aways from it:

1)  Restrict in app purchases.  This one seems obvious.  You don't want to wait until it's too late and you've got an extra $200 on your Visa statement for a bunch of in app purchases you didn't approve.  You can make it so that every in app purchase requires you to put in a passcode.

2)  Use family sharing.  This is something I wasn't aware of... but using family sharing will allow you to monitor what your child is doing on their device better and you can use it to need your permission before an app is even downloaded.

3)  Avoid other app stores.  I had no idea about this one either... there are other app stores out there?  But I guess if you really, REALLY want something you'll put in a Google search for it and eventually find what you're looking for.. even if you are downloading something from a different app store. Devices aren't cheap and we want them to last a long, LONG time so maybe just explain that to your child and why we only use the app store associated with their device.

Last week I talked about what we need to know about age ratings.

This Week At School

This week at school...

-  I was in a new to me classroom again!

-  I, once again, was a dance teacher

-  I subbed for my last day ever at the school of only 9 kids as it is being shut down at the end of the year (understandably so).  To celebrate my last day there we went to McDonald's for lunch, went swimming, and went rock climbing (or it was also their very last swim and gym as well).  I'll be honest, I'm gonna miss that place!

-  I subbed for the principal (at a school larger than just 9 kids).  For my first duty I promptly sent the teacher down to the office (because he was the teacher in charge) and then I told all the kids that if I could send their teacher down to the office I could easily do the same for them.  Just kidding.  It was a well behaved class.

-  I subbed, from what I can recall, my first day ever while taking the students on a field trip (where I was in charge of more than just 9 kids... because lets be honest that's fairly manageable when you are used to classes of 20+ students).  I took them to an all day ultimate tournament.  The weather was hot (but not too hot) and one of the EA's had the good idea to bring a tent covering thing so I got to sit in the shade all day (and sometimes the sun when I thought I could use some).

It was a busy week!

2 weeks left 

(or 6 days - I managed to pick up a few more since the last time I talked about the number of days I have left).

Quote Scroll

A little while ago I posted this picture

Inspirational Classroom Quotes

And said that I had noticed that the teacher changes the quote every week.

Well, the reason she changes it every week is because she also prints it out for each student (on a small piece of paper) which they glue into their "Weekly Inspiration" Journals to reflect on. 

What I like about this...

1) It inspires them (hopefully)!

2) It gets them thinking... what might this inspirational quote mean?

3) It gets them writing. And it didn't have to be anything long or elaborate... most just wrote a couple of sentences and that was perfectly okay.

Here's another post I wrote about inspirational quotes.

What Parents Need to Know About Age Ratings

This summer I'm doing a series on What Parent's Need to Know about *insert some type of online thing here*... because it's not just parents that need to know these things but teachers too AND if there is one thing we all know it's that online stuff changes so often it's hard to keep up (especially when you aren't even using that app/program)!

Today I'm talking about Age Ratings

This is a UK age ratings poster (which I actually didn't realize any of this stuff was from the UK until just now when I didn't recognize the ratings... but still good information for those of us that live elsewhere too)

If you are in the USA click here to see your film ratings

and if you are in Canada click here

My take away from this, be aware of what you are showing kids (or what games kids are playing - more on this in a later post) because they are likely not all playing age appropriate game (which you may be okay with and that's your prerogative). 

Also, be aware of what the different ratings mean and check to see why it's rated that way. Maybe you're okay with a little foul language but not violence - the film will say what it was rated that way.

I'm not sure what Netflix is like in other countries but here we can view what the rating of a show or movie is before watching it so check for that... but I'm not sure what other services are like.

And finally, games and music have ratings too... I feel like sometimes we forget about that (especially if you are like me and didn't play video games growing up).

Want to know more about this kind of stuff? Last week I talked about a big one... screen addiction.

This Week At School

We started the week off with a bang (literally) with a thunder storm. If you're wondering if the kids were super excited and ran to the window with the first loud boom... they did.

They also got super excited this week when we watched a Bill Nye video. If you're wondering if they all still sing the intro song (like I know all my classes did growing up when we would watch it)... they did this too.

What else did I do this week at school? 

I took some kids to swim and gym at one of the universities here. 

I took my students outside to read in the hot, hot, HOT weather (it's been hovering close to 30 here and on Friday it was more like 40!)

I played some Snake with some grade 6 students 

I was a dance teacher (but I'm a pro at teaching what I do not know (guitar, violin, dance, more dance, Spanish, etc).

Played some Just Dance in said dance class (which if you didn't know you can just dance along to from playing it on Youtube - but this teacher had the actual system to play it on)

Survived a power outage (on the +40 day of course)! Luckily it only lasted a short time but unfortunately it also happened while the kids were writing an assessment and not supposed to be talking. So I calmed them down and lowered the blinds just a little bit more so that it wouldn't get too hot in the room (if you're wondering the kids were complaining about the heat in about 2 minutes). Like I said... we survived... barely (apparently).

Missing Teacher

I was in a kindergarten class recently and the students were discussing where their teacher might be...

Sick one student thought.

Maybe a meeting another one said.

Then came the best idea of all... maybe she had a magical spell put on her!

Yes, maybe she did have a magical spell put on her to cause her to be away today.

What Parents Need to Know About Screen Addiction

This summer I'm doing a series on What Parent's Need to Know about *insert some type of online thing here*... because it's not just parents that need to know these things but teachers too AND if there is one thing we all know it's that online stuff changes so often it's hard to keep up (especially when you aren't even using that app/program)!

Today I'm talking about Screen Addiction

I'm sure we've all been there when we realize we've wasted the day away (okay, hopefully not the ENTIRE day) watching tv, playing on our phone, using social media, etc.  In my opinion it's a real problem these days with technology so readily available.

What Parents Need to Know About Screen Addiction

I found this and it's available as a free download from National Online Safety

Here's 3 take aways from it:

1)  Screen time can mean a loss of sleep.  To help with this don't allow screens in the bedroom after a certain hour.  I've found that the nights when I read an actual book vs read the news online or watch a video before bed are the nights that I get a better sleep.
2) Screen time can mean a lack of interest in other activities.  Watching a video may be easier than reading a book but it lacks using your imagination.  Playing hockey on tv may seem super cool but it lacks physical activity.  Chatting with your friends via text may be convenient but it lacks developing different social skills.  It's important to realize that for everything you replace with a screen you give up something too.
3)  If you do it... they might follow.  It's important to realize that kids are impressionable and look up to the different adults in their lives.  If you set a rule that there will be no devices at the dinner table for your kids but you're over there checking your Facebook it won't seem fair. Whether your a parent or teacher it's important to display the behaviour that you wish to have reflected back at you.

In my opinion the most staggering statistic on that page is that 99% of kids aged 12-15 spend almost 21 hours attached to a screen a week!  That`s nearly an entire day lost to the screen and in this bloggers opinion we should probably be doing something about this.

This Week At School

This week at school....

- I was in 3 new to me classrooms!... AND... I already booked a 2nd day in one of them!

- I had 4 preps in one of the classrooms I was in this week so I nearly got through reading an entire book (I'm going back in a couple of weeks so I'm hoping the teacher still has the book sitting out somewhere that I'll see it and I'll finish it!

- I was in 2 crazy 1/2 split classrooms (at the same school). At the end of the day I put on Storyline Online for one of the classes and we finally experienced what quiet was like!

- I was doing some outdoor education... which meant the class was outside all day. The thing is I REALLY wish the teacher would have disclosed this in the online notes when I booked it as I would have come better prepared with a hat, sunscreen, and shorts.

- I was in a classroom that is growing tomatoes and strawberries. 

They say they've already had 2 strawberries on the strawberry plant that they've ate and their tomato plant is over a meter tall!

My goal was to get at least 10 days of work in June and I've already got 12 days pre booked! So potentially just 12 more days of work for me!