Tips and Tricks to Reduce Stress!

Has this year induced anxious and negative feelings for you?

This magazine goes into some helpful ways to reduce stress and anxiety; let's give ourselves a break!

Alanah@NU

Symbaloo - Save, Organize and Share Online Resources Tool

With more time being spent online and communicating virtually, there is no better time for Symabloo. Symbaloo uses customizable, organized boards with tiles to store links, videos, web docs, etc making it easily accessible to share your educational resources with your students.

It's an easy way to bring gamification into your class or offer personalized online learning to your students. "Learningpaths" by Symbaloo allow you to create customized lesson plans for each student connecting them to their specific online resource and track their progress in real time. You can also access a repository of premade lesson plans from other teachers! 

Learn more about Symbaloo by visiting www.symbaloo.com 

Sabrina@NU

Using Technology with Purpose - Annual Christmas Concert!

HO HO HO!

It's that time of year again!

Top Notch School is proud to present the Annual Christmas Concert. The ticket is attached and discloses all necessary information.

We hope to see you there!

Merry Christmas!

Alanah@NU

EDU498 - Winter 2021

Welcome to my blog!!!

Chi@NU

ASCD - Articles for You to Read & Stay Informed

ASCD

http://www.ascd.org/

Supporting Students Who Learn Differently (More Issues)

For students who learn differently, including those whose needs rise to the level of receiving special education services, the pandemic has brought additional and varied challenges that many of their peers don't experience. Parents of students who have an Individualized Educational Program (or other additional education support) say they are twice as likely as their peers to be doing little or no remote learning and are at risk of falling behind on important life skills as well as academics. How must teaching and leading change to connect with students in a COVID-19 world? In partnership with Understood, this issue explores ideas for making classrooms—in person and remote—more accommodating to all students.
 
IEP Accommodations During Distance Learning
Amanda Morin
To make accommodations work in an online setting, you'll need some innovative thinking and an understanding of the available tools.
Co-Teaching During Distance Learning: Tips for Partnering Virtually
Brendan R. Hodnett
Some tips for partnering with a co-teacher in your online classroom.
 
How to Plan Online Lessons With Universal Design for Learning
Lauren Jewett
Whether you're new to UDL or have been using it for years, planning with UDL in mind can help you remove barriers to learning in your online classroom.
 
Co-Teach Your Way to Successful Inclusion
Sabrina L. Dawkins
When combining teaching styles and practices in inclusive classrooms, both teachers have to be open to growing, developing, and learning from each other.
 

Brought to you by Anne@OISE

Innovations in K-12 Education

INNOVATIONS in K-12 Education

https://www.eschoolnews.com/newsletter/

Here are a few issues to follow-up with ... Go to the website and search out any issue of interest.  Well worth the visit. 

6 ways to create a culturally responsive classroom
A culturally responsive classroom is an encouraging and nurturing place for diverse students with different backgrounds and experiences.

Sustaining curiosity, collaboration, and connectedness in a pandemic
Digital learning is a critical part of education in 2020 as districts navigate the COVID-19 pandemic--here's how one school keeps students engaged.

3 ways to actually promote equity in education
These key imperatives for moving forward in the fight for equity in education can help guide teachers and school leaders.

3 reasons social-emotional learning is of paramount importance
Teaching students  the skills to express their emotions and modeling healthy relationships helps shape a future of transformational leaders.

Liza@RU

How to Increase Higher Order Thinking

How to Increase Higher Order Thinking

 

Higher Order Thinking takes thinking to higher levels than restating the facts and requires students to do something with the facts — understand them, infer from them, connect them to other facts and concepts, categorize them, manipulate them, put them together in new or novel ways, and apply them as we seek new solutions to new problems.

 

Strategies for enhancing higher order thinking:

-       Help students understand their own higher order thinking strengths and challenges

-       Making sure students understand the critical features that define a particular concept and distinguish it from other concepts

-       Name key concepts

-       Tell and show

-       Teach steps for learning concepts

-       Go from basic to sophisticated

-       Expand discussions at home

-       Clarify the difference between understanding and memorizing

-       Use pictures

-       Teach concept mapping and graphic organizers

-       Encourage questioning

-       Reward creative thinking

-       Use resources

 

The important thing is not to stop questioning ~ Albert Einstein

 

Karina @ NU

Special Education & Students Who Learn Differently

 

Volume 16  |  Issue 5  |  November 12, 2020

http://www.ascd.org/

Supporting Students Who Learn Differently

For students who learn differently, including those whose needs rise to the level of receiving special education services, the pandemic has brought additional and varied challenges that many of their peers don't experience. Parents of students who have an Individualized Educational Program (or other additional education support) say they are twice as likely as their peers to be doing little or no remote learning and are at risk of falling behind on important life skills as well as academics. How must teaching and leading change to connect with students in a COVID-19 world? In partnership with Understood, this issue explores ideas for making classrooms—in person and remote—more accommodating to all students.

'Going Through Struggles Together': Family Connections in Tough Times

Kate Stoltzfus

Students in special education need teachers to communicate and collaborate with their support systems now more than ever, says Nevada Teacher of the Year Juliana Urtubey.

 

Working Toward Flexible School Experiences

Educators who work with diverse learners reflect on the resources they've found most helpful during the pandemic.

 

Don't Forget to Support Special Education Paraprofessionals

Kimberly Eckert

Let's arm all staff with meaningful opportunities to build their skills.

 

What Special Educators Want Leaders to Know About Remote Education

Andrea Golloher and Matthew L. Love

Individualization is the name of the game.

Decoding Autism in the Context of the Coronavirus

Barbara Boroson

Students on the spectrum need us to stretch ourselves in differentiated directions.

Courtesy of ASCD

Classroom Management Ideas for Teachers

The purpose of the marble practice is to aid a teacher in attaining good classroom management in a fun way. This exercise provides students with a visual goal that allows them to work together for a reward. Each week students will get a fresh start on trying to achieve their reward set by the teacher.

 At the beginning of the week the teacher will display an empty jar at the front of the classroom. If students display positive behaviour they will receive marbles which allows students to track and have a visual representation of their behaviour. If the jar is full by Friday, they are rewarded. If the students present poor behaviour the marbles can be taken away. It is important to display or review how each student can earn marbles. 

It is a great way for students to feel accountable and work towards something as a group.

Reward Examples:  free time, a movie, or games.  

 

Brought to you by: Gabriella@NU

   

Mental Health Ontario helping Students

 A Series of videos from Mental Health Ontario

Schools are an ideal place for mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention. Through an evidence-based and systematic approach, we can help students flourish.

1. Skills for students: What is social-emotional learning?

2. Skills for students: How your thoughts, emotions and behaviours work together

3. Skills for students: Managing the stress you feel

4. Skills for students: Persevering even when things are hard

5. Skills for students: Having healthy relationships with others

6. Skills for students: Discovering what makes you YOU!

7. Skills for students: Organizing your thoughts to help you focus

8. Skills for students: Social-emotional learning skills for life

Free Templates for Google Slides or PowerPoints

Visually appealing presentations are a great tool to help your audience stay focused, engaged and interested in what you are saying or teaching. Unfortunately, creating visually appealing powerpoints can take time- time that most of us don't have! 

Slidesgo is a website that provides you with free templates for all of your Google Slides/PowerPoints. You can customize each lecture, lesson, or presentation with the hundreds of free templates. This site has saved me many hours of "making my slides pretty" this semester and I am recommending it to everyone! 

Check it out: https://slidesgo.com

@TeresaNU

Classic Games - It's time for Family Feud

Classic Games – Family Feud

https://www.classicgames.me/family-feud-on-msdos.html

Are you ready to play?

Press the SPACEBAR

Number of Families? 1 or 2

Are you returning champions? Y (Yes) or N (No) … No … Type in your name

Press any key to start Round 1

Press SPACEBAR to select (push buzzer)

Follow the instructions on the board and have fun!

Brought to you by Chris@OISE

Diabetes in the Classrom

Type 1 Diabetes in the Classroom

Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disease most commonly found in children where the pancreas does not produce any insulin to the body, so insulin must be given to the person manually. Type 1 Diabetes is legally a disability, and should be treated with the same caution as such. More likely than not, there will be at least one student with Type 1 Diabetes in any classroom - 300,000+ Canadians have the disease, and the diagnosis rate increases by 5.1% every year. As a person who has experienced being a student with Type 1 Diabetes, I noticed that it was far too often that my teachers had no idea how to help me in emergency situations. This blog post is meant to act as a guide to prevent that from happening in classrooms. It is important to recognize the severity of Type 1 Diabetes. 

People with Type 1 Diabetes have to control and monitor their glucose levels. They have to ensure that their glucose level isn't too high (Hyperglycemia) or too low (Hypoglycemia). The risk of their glucose levels reaching either of those extremes can be extremely fatal. Some people are able to identify symptoms immediately and fix the issue, others cannot at all. It is important as a teacher to recognize the signs and symptoms of Hyperglycemia and Hypoglycemia, as well as how to treat them, in order to save your student from a potentially fatal outcome:

High Blood Sugar (Hyperglycemia) 

Symptoms:

• Drinking lots of water/Dehydration

• Frequent urination

• Mood swings (i.e., irritable, exhausted, tense, potential for outbursts etc.)

• Discomfort 

• Loss of focus

• Loss of appetite 

• Headaches

• Smell of ammonia on breath

• Tiredness

• Dry skin/mouth

• Rapid breathing

• Stiffness/aches

• Nausea/vomiting

 

Hyperglycemia is treated with the administration of insulin. Insulin will come in the form of  a pen needle, a syringe, or an insulin pump. For Type 1 Diabetics, insulin is always given after eating food and when glucose levels are high. There is a carb count that must be considered when giving insulin for food, which is dependent on each individual person. There is a correction factor that is also given for when glucose levels are too high - these factors would be something to discuss with the parent/guardian of your student. The ultimate goal when treating a high glucose level is to prevent Diabetic KetoAcidosis. DKA is a life-threatening problem that affects people with diabetes. It occurs when the body starts breaking down fat at a rate that is much too fast. The liver processes the fat into a fuel called ketones, which causes the blood to become acidic. Ketone levels are checked with a separate monitor - not many students will carry this around, so you MUST know the symptoms. If your student goes into DKA, call an ambulance immediately. If left untreated, it can lead to serious organ failures, or possibly death.

Low Blood Sugar (Hypoglycemia)

Symptoms:

• Dizziness

• Shaking

• Inability to move/function

• Weakness

• Slurring words

• Headache

• Nausea

• Loss of appetite

• Gain in appetite

• Mood swings (i.e., irritability, exhaustion, laziness, panic etc)

• Extreme tiredness/Desire to sleep 

• Slowed breathing

• Fainting/seizures

Hypoglycemia is treated with carbohydrates or sugars. This can be anything from glucose tablets, to juice boxes, to cookies, to candy, to sugary soda (nothing diet!). In my experience, the quickest and easiest way to bring up a blood sugar is with a juice box or two - this is helpful too if a person feels too weak to eat anything, which can happen. It would be wise to keep a set of juice boxes in your classroom in case the student doesn't bring them themselves. After administering the juice/sugary food, the students blood sugar levels must be tested every 15 minutes after consumption until their level is at a normal rate. In extreme cases where the glucose level does not rise, or the student is experiencing fainting, do NOT feed them! There should be a medicine in the form of a needle called glucagon on hand, which when administered will raise the glucose level. Extremely low blood sugars can result in fainting, and possibly seizures. If this happens, and there is no glucagon on hand, call an ambulance immediately. If left untreated, the student will have a lack of oxygen flow to the brain, and can potentially become comatose or die. 

Overall, students with Type 1 Diabetes have the full potential to succeed in every aspect of school just as well as regular students, however, it is so important that teachers are aware of Type 1 Diabetes and its symptoms, as well as know what to do in emergency situations. It is important to keep frequent contact with the parents as well as maintain regular check-ins with the student so that they know that they can feel safe in your care. 

Watch this short video about Cleo, a 10-year student with diabetes:

Watch this short video about Jasper, a 17-year old student with diabetes:

 

For more information about Type 1 Diabetes:

https://www.jdrf.ca/who-we-are/type-1-diabetes/#:~:text=300%2C000%2B,higher%20than%20the%20global%20average.&text=Although%20most%20people%20are%20diagnosed,T1D%20are%20diagnosed%20as%20adults.

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000320.htm#:~:text=Diabetic%20ketoacidosis%20(DKA)%20is%20a,the%20blood%20to%20become%20acidic

 Caitlin@NU

Classic Games: It's Jeopardy!

Play your favourite TV Game - Jeopardy online

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/jeopardy-bb/play-bb

Are you ready to play?

Press START

Answer questions to play

·         Number of players (1, 2, or 3)

·         Are you a returning champion ( Y or N) … N and then type in your name

·         Are you Male (M) or Female (F)

·         Would you like a new character? Yes or (Y) or No (N)

Controls are on the screen

SPACEBAR is what you push to answer a question

Brought to you by Erin@OISE

Classroom Concentration Tips for Students with ADHD

It can often be difficult for students living with ADHD to retain the same amount of key information as their peers. Many teachers become frustrated that these students are disruptive, distracted or uninterested in classroom content. How can we fix this? This website has 17 different ways to cater to the needs of students with ADHD without distracting any of their peers.

Click the link below for some helpful tips!

https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/17-ways-help-students-adhd-fidget

Alanah@NU

Classic Games - Classic Concentration

Classic Concentration online

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/jeopardy-bb/play-bb

Are you ready to play?

Press START

Answer questions to play

·         How many players (1 or 2)

·         Are you a returning champion ( Y or N) … N and then type in your name

·         Are you Male (M) or Female (F)

·         Would you like a new character? Yes or (Y) or No (N)

·         Enter your name

·         Ready to play

Use ARROW Keys to move around and ENTER to select a card

Can you solve the problem? Y (Yes) or N (No)

   If you say YES, you type in your answer and press ENTER

If you win, you play to win a car … use the ARROW keys and the ENTER key … you have 35 seconds

Brought to you by Kate@OISE

Books about Race, Cultural Diversity and Racism

Integrating books that teach about cultural awareness and diversity 

 

Books about race and cultural diversity are one way of integrating these topics into the classroom. Books can be used to relate to children's experiences, share a new concept or point of and begin conversations about race. Teachers need to have a collection of books to enhance their discussions about race and oppression however this collection should be rich and varied in stories, perspectives topics and issues related to race and culture (Gonser, 2020).  

Books like Antiracist Baby, Same. Same but Different, and Can I Touch Your Hair are some popular examples of books about race and racism. 

Find Books about race, racism and cultural diversity in the links below! 

Children's books about race and racism that can spark conversation https://www.womansday.com/life/entertainment/g32748133/childrens-books-race-racism/ 

18 powerful children's books about race and racism:

https://www.rebekahgienapp.com/childrens-books-about-race/ 

25 children's books about diversity: 

https://www.thebump.com/a/childrens-books-about-diversity 

Find ways to talk about race in your classroom below: 

How to start talking about race in the early elementary classroom: 

https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-start-talking-about-race-early-elementary-classroom 

Talking with students about racism:

https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/teaching/2020-06-18 

3 ways to start a conversation about race in your classroom: 

https://medium.com/synapse/3-ways-to-start-a-conversation-about-race-and-racism-in-your-classroom-f24520e2f97b 

Why conversations about racism belong in the classroom: 

https://rossieronline.usc.edu/youth-and-racism/racism-in-the-classroom 

References

Gonser, S. (2020). How to start talking about race in the early elementary classroom. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-start-talking-about-race-early-elementary-classroom 

Alexandra@NU