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Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Pearson Higher Education Presents: Inclusive Teaching
Why Daily Physical Activity (DPA) is Important for Children
Daily Physical Activity (DPA) is essential in the physical development and mental health and wellbeing of children and youth. The Ontario government created the Daily Physical Activity policy, which requires school boards to ensure that all elementary students have a minimum of 20 minutes of sustained moderate to vigorous physical activity each school day. There are many health benefits to daily physical activity that will benefit children, some include:
Boost of energy
Build of strong bones and muscles
Physical health
Reduce symptoms of anxiety
Controlled weight
Reducing the risk of health conditions
There are also negative impacts of lack of daily physical activity which can include but not limited to:
Obesity
Risk of heart disease
Risk of diabetes
Poor mental health
Increase in anxiety and depression
Low self-esteem
Body dysmorphia
Risk of high blood pressure and high cholesterol
Although elementary students go out to recess and for lunch a total of 3 times pre day, children spend the majority of their time sitting inside at their desks. A minimum of 20 minutes of DPA can make a difference in their overall mood and physical health. There are many ways to incorporate and implement DPA in the classroom, some to include are:
Exercise YouTube videos
Student-led exercise circles
Yoga
Playing a sport outside like soccer, kickball or basketball, etc..
Obstacle races (outside)
Just dance
https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/health-topics/health-promotion/physical-activity/dpa
Brought to you by EmmaD@NU
Pros and cons to using Kahoot!
Kahoot is a game based formative assessment tool used in the classroom. Kahoot games are multiple choice quizzes created by the teacher or student(s). It is timed questions where the faster you click the correct answer the more points you get. Kahoot is a tech tool used to make studying/ learning more fun and engaging. Studies show that kahoot has several positive benefits in the classroom. Most if not all students are engaged in this way of learning as it is interesting and has an innocent competitive edge to it as well keeping more students intrigued and increases learning. Kahoot is a good tool to open up discussion about topics in the classroom and for teachers to see where a majority of the class may be struggling based on common wrong answers and can then later take some extra time to review those areas before summative assessments.
Pros:
Can be done in person classes and virtually
Can be quick (does not have to be too many questions)
Enhance student engagement and learning
Create an interest in the topics
Teachers can see topics students are struggling with/ succeeding in
There are free versions you can use
Students can also create the quizzes
User friendly- this is a tool that is simple and easy to use by most
Cons:
Students will focus on answering quickly/ correctly to win versus understanding and thinking about the answer (they also may just guess)
No time to discuss in between questions
More than 20 students there is a paid version
Requires wifi to use: if connection goes out or students do not have at home it can be inaccessible.
Can become distracting/ class get out of hand
Becomes more about a competition over a learning tool.
Brought to you by: HannahV@NUO-OTECC
eSports Programs in Schools
6 tips to help start an
elementary esports program in your school |
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The benefits of esports are well documented. A significant body of research has found that students who participate in scholastic esports programs benefit from increased emotional regulation, academic achievement, and graduation rates. These benefits only scratch the surface of the positive consequences for students participating in scholastic esports. Thus far, conversations around esports have centered on collegiate and secondary levels, however, a recent change in the winds has shifted the conversation to elementary esports. My question: Why haven’t we started this conversation sooner? |
Brought to you by Friends of OISE
Monday, January 30, 2023
ABCya - Resource for Educators
'ABCya' also pronounced as A-B-C-Y-A, is a website that provides over 300 educational games and a variety of activities for elementary aged school children. The online platform organizes activities into grade levels, individual subjects and is organized in a professional manner. The platform encourages use from students Kindergarten to Grade 6.
The link to the technology tool can be found here: https://www.abcya.com
There is also an app that can be downloaded in the app store 'abyca' (for Apple users) which allows parents or guardians to make use of the resources offered, at home.
A number of resources are available on the website. Each of them can be used for different reasons. For example: families who wish to print worksheets at home, if teachers would like to do a class game such as BINGO, they are able to do so in a collaborative fashion. Each child will have a mutual login, if their teacher sets up an account.
A standout for me, from personal experience, is that the website has fun sound effects and read a louds for students. If there is a child for example that is not a strong reader, they can click on the 'language' activities and read along with sound effects, repeating words and the sounding out of letters, at their own pace. This helps students to develop their oral and written language skills, at a rapid rate.
There are a variety of memberships available to educators and parents. Interested individuals can either purchase monthly, 6 month or annual subscriptions. If you are an educator it is suggested you purchase the annual subscription so your students have access to it for an entire school year. Free subscribers don't get access to all of the perks but they are able to play all regular games on a desktop, save their top three favorite games and gain access through one selected device.
The app has been recognized on platforms such as 'The New York Times,' 'Scholastic,' 'Fox News,' and 'USA Today.'
ColleenD@NU
Video Editing with CapCut
The first time that I came across CapCut a few months ago was when I came across my 9 year old daughters who were making these super cute videos of themselves, their siblings and stuffies with some amazing technology, music and filters. I was blown away by how professional and put together it looked and immediately wanted to know more. I mean if 9 years old could do then so could I right? I downloaded it and got to work "playing". CapCut is a fantastic FREE video editor that can be downloaded for windows computers, apple or Google Play, there is also an app that you can download as well for when you are on the go. Their tips and tutorials are very intuitive, informative and user friendly just like the program itself. Want to make a cooking video? An exercise video? a video for a school project? Need subtitles and catchy music? Capcut can do it all!
And of course for those who are social media darlings you can use Capcut on your Instagram, YouTube and TikTok videos.
Have fun with it, you'll be glad you did!
Brought to you by the letters OTECA
StephanieB@NU
Technology-Based Classroom Management Tool: Bouncy Balls
This is a great tool for teachers that are tired of telling their students to constantly lower their voices. Bouncy Balls is a classroom management tool that is used to measure sound levels within the classroom in a fun and engaging way. It can support students in building self-regulation skills and help them stay on task.
When students in your class are speaking too loud during group or independent work, the sensitivity meter will pick up the noise. As sounds increase, the plastic balls, emojis, bubbles or eyeballs shoot up from the bottom of the screen and bounce until noise levels decrease. In addition to the visuals, the site will make an alert (beep or shush) when the noise levels are too loud. The site provides you with an option to adjust the sensitivity and number of balls that appear on the screen.
Bouncy Balls is also known to be a great way for students to get their giggles out! If students are getting too loud during a work period, the teacher can instruct students to stand up, move and make noise to move the balls on the screen.
"This is a fun tool that offers a silly but possibly effective solution to managing noise levels"
Want to learn how to use the site? Click on the instructional video below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mszWeWaaVb8&ab_channel=LarissaAradj
OliviaB@NU
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Math Makes Sense with GeoGebra
Math is the most common subject that students fear in the classroom and those who fear it more, are the teachers. With a tool like GeoGebra, it provides explanations and questions that can be utilized within the classroom to help simplify all the complexities and fears that come with math.
For instance, the image below depicts a lesson going over the area of a triangle which has a formula of Base x Height divided by 2 ((b x h)/2). But as an elementary school student learning this lesson for the first time, I was quite confused as to why this equation was the rule to finding the area of a triangle. Later on in life, it was explained to me that if you take a right-angle triangle, for example, copy said triangle and line it up along the hypotenuse, it will create a square or rectangle which has a formula of Length x Width (l x w) or rather Base x Height (b x h). This, in turn, relates back to and explains the formula for finding the area of a triangle.
This theorem can also be used in explaining how to find the area of a parallelogram, trapezoid, rectangle, rhombus, or any other quadrilateral shape. With GeoGebra, there are many tools at one's disposal and it makes it super easy for teachers to find appropriate resources for their own classrooms.
Here is the link for GeoGebra: https://www.geogebra.org/?lang=en
Mishel(OTECC)@NU
TVO Learn
As a teacher, a great learning resource for students in grades K-12 is TVO Learn. TVO Learn has lessons and activities for every subject lining up exactly with the Ontario curriculum. For teachers that are ever struggling to create a lesson plan this is a great help. It can even assign it as homework for extra learning. It is free to use and extremely accessible.
DanielC@NU
IXL Comprehensive Curriculum for Math and Language
IXL is a website that teachers and parents can use with personalized learning with a comprehensive curriculum for K-12. It has individualized guidance and meets the unique needs of all learners. IXL only offers math and language curriculum but provides many skills and activities that learners can work on under the curriculum.
On the website, IXL has the Ontario curriculum provided for grades 1-6 and breaks it down into different strands. It has a chart of the expectations for the different strands and beside the expectations they provide a skill and activity to get a better understanding of what the expectation is. This will help parents understand what their child is learning but will also help the parents get a better understanding of how to help their child.
Under each grade, IXL breaks down each strand and has many activities that both teachers and parents can do with the learners. This website is great for educators because if a student is struggling with a certain strand of math or language these activities and skills will provide extra support and guidance for the student and this can also be done at home with their parents as well.
Brought to you by Kaitlin(OTECC)@NU
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