Teacher Extraordinaire - Portfolio of a Teacher and Lifelong Learner

What better way to celebrate the week before Christmas vacation than with a fun and educational activity? Grade 2 students recently read "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and designed set pieces for the story's various locations.  From Mount Krumpet to Whoville, students collaborated on creating visual representations of the story's world. Through this process, students also honed their problem-solving skills, considering how characters and props changed throughout the story and how to accommodate those changes in their designs.  The day of the performance allowed each group to showcase their work and practice their storytelling abilities.   This activity provided valuable opportunities for collaboration, planning, and problem-solving, while also allowing students to flex their creative muscles in visual arts and drama. In addition, students practiced important literacy skills such as story sequencing, reading, speaking, listening, and writing. What a wonderful lead...

 For our Unit of Inquiry about "Earth's Changes" we did many different activities and experiments related to learning about the internal structure of the earth, tectonic plates and natural disasters. We also briefly inquired into climate change and actions we can take to mitigate climate change.  When we were learning about the interior of the earth, we watched two different videos, one of which was the SciShow Kids  video "Could I Dig a Hole Through Earth?"  After watching the two videos, I paused on a segment showing the different layers of the earth and we reviewed the names for the different layers. Then came the fun part! Students got to use clay to create their models of the earth, in pairs. When students were done, they placed the earth models to the side to dry. Of course one might then ask the question, well what good is a model with layers when you cannot see the layers inside? Well, the next step, after the earth models were dry, was to take students ...

The Unit of Inquiry for "How We Express Ourselves" in grade three was "Art Appreciation". Students always have a lot of fun producing and experiencing a variety of different art forms. They enjoy becoming artists themselves and trying to express emotions and ideas through their work. The Central Idea for this UOI was: People have different ideas, feelings and opinions which can be expressed through various art forms. The lines of inquiry were as follows: ● different art forms (form) ● perspectives on art (perspective) ● how people know what artists try to communicate (reflection) The first assignment students had in this Unit of Inquiry was to find examples of a variety of different art forms in ICT class on the internet. After they were aware of many different art forms, they had the opportunity to choose one that interested them and create a representation of that art form. Below are representations of a mosiac, architechture and henna. Students also h...

Earlier in the year, students had an opportunity to create their own setting from Dr. Seuss' The Lorax.  We were studying setting at that time, and at literacy centres they had one period to finish their diorammas. This was an opportunity for students to transfer their knowledge of the book, the story and the colors into a beautiful piece of art. Not to mention, students were given a certain amount of play dough and one piece of cardboard to mount it on per group, so they had to talk about what they wanted to do and compromise. All of them chose to do the more pretty/colorful settings, as opposed to The Onceler's House , which I think just speaks to the settings that appeal to them as young learners. If there was more time, we could have done paper theatre plays within the settings where the trees were upright. Of course the book also ties in beautifully to themes of environmentalism, and thus could be used in science or social studies units about the planet and impa...

In my first practicum, I created a book based on  Don't Need Friends by Carolyn Crimi. Since it was the first I'd ever created, I feel I learned a lot from it. Creating a unit involves flexibility, time management, organization and an ability to interpret what your students need to be successful. While going through the unit, I found that I frequently had to adjust to students and different situations arising. Since one of my peers was doing a unit based on the same book, we shared a lot of ideas. Our approach sometimes overlapped, however we designed our lessons with our teaching styles, and students in mind. In remaining responsive to students, I was best able meet their needs and teach to those.

One of the Grade 5 Social Studies Curriculum Ancient Civilizations strand objectives is that students compare and respond to myths and legends from two or more early civilizations. To achieve this end, the class was separated into six different groups for paper theatre. Six creation myths were chosen from The Big Myth, including creation myths from Ancient China, Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Babylon, Aztec and Maya. Given that students had only done two introductory classes on Ancient Civilizations, and many were not knowledgeable about the individual civilizations, I also included short descriptions of them. Myths were paired, if they contained three or more similar elements/themes/events/characters. The day the activity was launched, students were given instructions, put into groups and given an envelope containing their myth, and a props/backdrop/characters graphic organizer. Before students could receive their art kit, they had to read through the myth and fill...

At my Grade 1 practicum, I taught several lessons that were a part of a drama, art and language unit for the book Don't Need Friends by Carolyn Crimi. This book took place in a junk yard, so at the beginning of the unit I asked students to start collecting their garbage wrappers. As the culminating task was to perform a puppet show, three art lessons took place over the course of my practicum. Students made paper bag puppets, while exploring different textures. Next they drew their reactions to garbage and art made out of garbage. Those reactions were then pasted onto a three sided piece of cardboard, which they then got to make into their personal garbage dumps. The garbage dumps were used as their stages (or what they hid behind) for their puppet show. The lesson I am going to discuss, is the one that surprised me the most. During the art lesson where students drew their reaction to garbage dumps and garbage art, students surprised me with their knowledge about the environment,...