Creating a Safe Learning Space

A factor in motivating students to take risks and control their learning is creating a safe learning environment. Children are often cautious when meeting new adults. When they do not trust you, they are not willing to take the necessary risks to learn and improve in the areas they are struggling in. Creating a safe space can include engaging in conversation with lots of open-ended questions (e.g. Do you have any pets? What TV shows do you like to watch?), being open-minded, and reassuring that everyone makes mistakes. 

In my experiences, I used to feel guilty when I did not spend every minute of my tutoring sessions doing educational activities. I soon found that the moments we spent talking about our interests and catching up on the past week made me a better tutor. For instance, I would tailor activities towards her interests. She loved crime and mystery shows (as discovered through our talks about "Riverdale"), so I would bring mystery stories to our sessions to strengthen her reading comprehension skills. Her engagement and participation in our sessions grew substantially. Those "wasted" moments ended up being the most valuable time together.

 

Here are some of my favourite ice-breaker games to get to know your students: 

2 Truths and 1 Lie: Players tell two truths and one lie about themselves in any order. Everyone has to try and guess which statement is the false one.

Acrostic Name Poem: Each player writes their name on a piece of paper and jots down words or phrases that describe their interests and personality using the letters of their name.

Memory Game: Share ten things about yourself and see who can remember the most things about the other. You can include incentives or prizes for winning.

All in all, I found each of these ice-breakers help start the conversation and break down barriers to create a safe space for students and enhance their learning.

EmilyR@NU (OTECA) 

What Makes Us Unique?

LINK TO VIDEOBOOK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OgYf8hDlcQ 

I believe reading books to children as an educator is essential as it can help them learn new sounds, vocabulary, and speech, as well as improve their early reading skills. Through this, they learn to appreciate books and stories while also aiding the development of their brains, concentration, social skills, and communication abilities!

This book is available on Amazon (approx. $20) ... click the link to check it out: 

https://www.amazon.ca/What-Makes-Us-Unique-Diversity/dp/1459809483

It can be difficult to know where to begin when explaining physical, cultural, and religious differences to children. As to why this topic is extremely important to teach. The question children often think about is: What distinguishes us? This children's book "What Makes Us Unique" helps provide a simple overview to children about the concept of diversity. This book educates children on how to appreciate and embrace people's differences and that, in the end, we are all much more similar than we are diverse. As a future teacher, promoting diversity in classroom settings will be my main priority. This will include both educating children to feel positive about themselves, their families, and their community members and exposing children to disparities, unknown aspects, and perspectives outside of their immediate lifestyles.

Brought to you by Amanda @ NU (OTECA)

Teaching Resources

There are some great printouts on this website that can be great resources to have as a teacher in the classroom.  Some you have to pay for, but they are not that expensive.  

Click the link here to the website:  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/

Rachel Breen @ NU

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5 Minutes Count Explore this week's 5-Minute worksheet, game, and activity. WORKSHEET   2nd Grade |  Reading & Writing All About Jane Goodall In this reading comprehension worksheet, children read about the inspiring life of Jane Goodall, then reflect on what they have learned. Download Now GAME   2nd Grade |  Math Identifying Shapes by Attributes In this interactive, quiz-style game, children must select the shapes that best match the clues. Play Now ACTIVITY   2nd Grade |  Social Emotional Learning Positive Reminders Children are reminded to look for the goodness in themselves and others in this thoughtful affirmation-writing activity. Download Now

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The Only One

Brief Overview:  'The Only One' talks about the challenges an only child, Rosemary Sadlier, faces, and how she's eventually learned to be comfortable with who she is as a person. When you are the only one who is conspicuous because of being an only child, being the only one with allergies, and being the only black kid in your neighbourhood, then you are bound to face many conflicts and problems, which is what this book highlights about Rosemary Sadlier.

An interview with Rosemary Sadlier:  

https://www.cbc.ca/life/culture/an-interview-with-rosemary-sadlier-on-this-particular-moment-in-black-history-1.5910295

By Shiam @ NU

French Head and Shoulders Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVbbLXPdJKQ

Tête, Épaules, Genoux, Pieds | Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in French | Toffee TV Mes meilleurs amis! Relevez ce défi! Cela pourrait être difficile, mais je suis sûr que vous pouvez le faire! Bonne chance! Si vous voulez les paroles, visitez notre site Web: https: //toffeetv.com REACT - COMMENT - SHARE Subscribe and Ring the bell: http://bit.ly/ttvyt-subscribe Follow us: http://fb.com/toffeetv Log onto https://toffeetv ... www.youtube.com

Learning a second language can build on children's problem solving and communication skills. This song is a good way to teach children french words. Afterwords children can play simon says (instead simon dit). They can then learn how to spell the words and have a vocab test on it. 

Jennifer Wales at NU 

Easy Zoom Games For Kids

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXI_kpLvBJ0

EASY ZOOM GAMES FOR KIDS - YouTube Hi My name is Jenn and I am an early childhood educator. Here are some easy zoom games for kids. Here are the games I mentioned down below: https://jeopardyl... www.youtube.com

These are some zoom games you can play virtually with your class. A lot of them would work in person as well for example Jeporady. 

Jennifer Wales 

Exercise for Kids- Moving while Learning Online

Online learning has become a new way of learning for many students in our current world today. Who knew that this type of learning would be implemented in our schools as we go through a pandemic? Technology has now become the main source to the way children learn and has become important in their everyday lives. It is essential that children have balance and get opportunities to move around, where technology-based learning can lead to less movement during the day. There are many fun and online interactive videos that children can follow and use to take a brain break from thinking and sitting all day, and still get in some movement while learning. During the school year recess was implemented into the children's school schedules, so it is recommended that children get at least 60 minutes of movement or more every day. If children cannot be supervised outdoors while they are learning at home, teachers can use this tool to get children moving indoors. This will also help with their learning, as movement is known to help stimulate the brain which can assist with the ability to focus, concentrate, learn, remember and handle stress. To take a moment and get the kids moving at some point during the class to get a mental break is very important for physical and mental health. It can improve the moods of the children, especially if they are having a bad day. 

 

1.     Freeze Dance -Teachers can play some fun music and encourage children to dance and do whatever movements they would like, to get them moving. When the music stops everyone freezes and whoever is still moving is out. 

-I did this with my summer camp kids and they loved it. I will include the links of two specific videos they enjoyed following. These videos come from The Kiboomers YouTube channel and I find that they have many educational and fun videos for children to follow along to. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbNAiN8FTfc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UcZWXvgMZE

2.     Just Dance- This is like freeze dance, but they follow the moves on the screen as there are many different themes and songs to pick from. 

                                   

                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52pdktAMDe4

3.     Cosmic Kids Yoga- This is another great way to get children moving in a different way. They have engaging and fun ways to do yoga which will keep the children participating, as the instructor tells stories and uses backdrops, costumes and many themes that children can relate/connect with to make yoga enjoyable for them. 

 

 

                                               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FgZ-uP9Axc

 

4.     Go Noodle- Is a free kids exercise app that features songs, dance, yoga, stretching and mindfulness that keeps in mind the importance of active learning. It also has a lot of different learning opportunities tied to the curriculum such as English language arts, math, science… etc. A lot of my kids in my summer camp loved "go noodle" and always got excited when I mentioned we are going to add that into our day.

 

                                                   https://www.gonoodle.com

 

Alysha.C @NU (OTECA)

CBC Kids News

CBC Kids News Link:

https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/

CBC Kids News is an interactive and informative website that sets out global daily news for kids. With plenty of visuals and a simplistic writing style, CBC Kids News is a great and trusted source that reports hot topics such as Covid-19, pop-culture, sports and more! 

I find this to be one of my favourite links to use with my students as it allows them to keep updated on what is going on in the world around them, in such a fun and engaging way! What I also love about this resource is that it is solely run by kids themselves! My students are intrigued by the fact that kids just like them are reporting relatable and interesting topics. CBC Kids News articles are a great way to encourage a joy for reading, discussion, and reflection in the classroom.

Feel free to take a look at this resource using the link above.

Alyssa M. @ NU (OTECA)

Motivation Beyond the Classroom

Motivating students is a key factor in educating and engaging students, but it can be a challenge for educators to reach each student. While some may believe that motivation is intrinsic, there are many ways to motivate students who struggle to stay engaged with learning. For an educator, it is important to identify what motivates and engages the students. For lessons in the classroom, an educator should plan and provide a variety of lesson types and strategies; differentiated instruction. Facilitate various lessons/tasks that are interactive, collaborative, consultative, traditional, technology based, or a hybrid. Educators should review the data by identifying which lesson types their students respond to most and try to implement those lessons as options in their lesson plans and routines.   

Some may argue that in-class motivation is an easy task as teachers can gage and adapt their lesson to the students' engagement level, but the real challenge is students' motivation to work through the process and complete a task or produce a final product. Consolidating skills and practice work, helps keep the students active in lessons and gives them the opportunity to practice and apply what they have been taught at school. After a long day of school and additional work to be completed at home, or practice work at home, how can teachers keep their students engaged? In my own personal experience, many of my own teachers would turn to incentives to keep students engaged beyond the classroom.  

From personal experience, a French teacher used the incentive of a sticker grid to keep students actively engaged in reading or watching french programming at home. This incentive was open for the whole class to participate in. Parents would sign off on the students' agenda to confirm their child did the practice work and the time allotted to read or watch French programs. Every hour the student spent would earn points to get a prize. Students could either choose to collect their prize after the row or column, or work towards filling the grid for the big prize. This kept the students engaged in their extension activities and practice for several months, but once the participation from students began to decline, the teacher added two new incentives to engage them. The practice work and activities provided were inclusive and gave all students the chance to participate, regardless of the level of support by parents at home.  

While some may agree or disagree with the use of incentives as a classroom/home motivational tool, it is a positive way to engage and inspire, giving students the positivity that comes from a task completed well, or the learning of a new skill. As adults enter the workforce they are motivated and rewarded by a paycheck, possibly a promotion or the gratification of a job well-done. Our society thrives on incentives and avenues that keep people motivated. Educators should be mindful of the different and inclusive ways to motivate their class in the classroom and beyond, by providing different methods and strategies to motivate and engage. It is important to be open to a variety of strategies and with the goal of student engagement and learning as the focus.  

Juliana. L @ NU

Education.com - Writing

 

Writing                                               Explore Cursive

Cursive Handwriting: "C" is for Caterpillar Worksheet Cursive Handwriting: "D" is for Duck Worksheet

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TeacherTube

TeacherTube is an online community where educators post educational tools, videos and resources for their peers to use in the classroom. TeacherTube is also a resource that will help to benefit those who are homeschooled and those who are looking for professional development. 

TeacherTube can be accessed by anyone and at any time, if they have access to a computer, smart device and internet. Not only can users post educational tools on the site, they can also comment on each tool to better describe their experiences as well as help to guide the future users. 

What is also great about this service, is that it is free of charge and it is policed by its members, so there is less "sensitive" content floating around throughout its interface.

Please see the link below to view this amazing service.

https://www.teachertube.com/

Brought to you by Jimmy@ NU

Hands-On Learning

Throughout my life, trial and error has led me to realize that hands-on learning is the most effective learning style I have come across. Individuals who struggle with listening and sitting still for long periods of time have found that hands-on learning is an extremely useful tool in their educational development. Learning by doing keeps a student engaged in the subject matter, counting with blocks, science experiments, card games, and writing a story, are all different ways this teaching style encourages learning via hands-on experiences.

                                         

As most learning styles involve sitting at a desk for hours listening and trying to understand concepts, hands-on learning does the opposite. It combines elements of visual and auditory learning with the opportunity for children to try and problem solve or put something together on their own. The trial and error method encourages individuals to think outside of the box with their peers and teachers' assistance if needed. This method tends to motivate them to want to learn and stay interested in what they are learning as they feel like they are completing the task on their own. Overall hands-on learning is a very effective learning style that most individuals enjoy.

                                           

Courtesy of: Hayley @ NU (OTECA)

Education.com - Word Study

 

Word Study                                             Let's Review!

Scrambled Words Activity Long and Short Vowel Review Worksheet

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You're Not Alone

     It was never taught in schools 15 years ago. Never talked about in health, gym, science; it was almost like adults did not want their children knowing what the world was really like. To talk about it was a form of weakness, like something was "wrong" with you. You had to deal with it and just toughen up. Adults felt it, children felt it, so why are we just starting to talk about it now?

    Mental health is defined as a condition that affect humans emotional or psychological state. Like people, it comes in many different forms. Could be invisible like anxiety or depression or have a visible effect like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Everyone who suffers from a mental health disorder, suffers differently. Some embrace who they are and are open about it, while others have trained themselves to hide it from the world. 

    Today there is an emphasis around mental health, especially in children. As educators it is our job to help promote their voice and encourage them that it is okay to talk. Having this talk in our classrooms allows for children to ask questions about what they may be feeling. These conversations should be included in everyday lessons, as well as making it a core staple in our health curriculum. On top of educating our students we should also be educating ourselves on what to look out for in our classroom. Teaching about mental health does not have to be a scary topic, by making it interactive and informative to our students we are able to connect with them in ways we may never know. 

Olivia.T @ NU