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!