My instructions: Review, on the board, rounding numbers (to tens, hundreds, thousands)...

As the students were finishing up their silent, okay, silent-ish, reading, I approached each table and asked them if they had a favourite number.  Then I told each to put it up on the board, anywhere, in whatever colour.  A stir began to be created as the students noticed something happening... ooooh, I created a bit of a buzz, I did:)
Then I asked a series of questions to gather knowledge of what the students already knew and what some of them may need to review further:

• What's the smallest number?
• What's the biggest number?
• What's the longest number?

Next, I gave the instruction to group the numbers together...

• 1-digit, 2-digit, 3-digit, etc
• one with a decimal
• numbers ending in 0
• numbers already rounded
• numbers needing rounding

Then, I just randomly asked them to round certain numbers:

• What is _________ rounded to the nearest (ten/hundred/thousand)?
• How do you know?

We came up with the rules pictured in the top left of the picture:

• 5 or higer, round up
• 4 or lower, round down
• If rounding to the nearest ten, look at one's place
• If rounding to the nearest hundred, look at ten's place
• If rounding to the nearest thousand, look at hundred's place

I was able to ascertain that the students had a pretty firm understanding of the concept of rounding, which was further substantiated when I circulated around the room whilst the students were working on their task:

The Rounding Game (left by the classroom teacher):

• Roll 2 dice & round to the nearest 10; roll 3 dice & round to the nearest 100; roll 4 dice & round to the nearest 1000. 
• They were to do each 2 times, but I'm seeing how you could easily vary this, as some of the students told me they did (after having played in the last class).

Here's a brilliant website: ​http://studentvote.ca with lots of useful teacher resources!  We had a bit of a discussion about Canadian Political Parties... just let me say, that's interesting with a bunch of 4th graders!  Too bad we ran out of time before they had helped me who to decide who to vote for:(

WHAT IS STUDENT VOTE?
Student Vote is a parallel election for students under the voting age, coinciding with federal, provincial, territorial and municipal elections.

The purpose is to provide young Canadians with an opportunity to experience the voting process firsthand and build the habits of informed and engaged citizenship.

Since 2003, 26 Student Vote programs have been conducted across Canada. In the last federal election, 563,000 students cast ballots from 3,750 schools.
​

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Voter turnout in Canada has been declining for decades at all levels elections, particularly among young people.

Studies have also shown that habits of voting and non-voting persist over time, so if young people don’t vote now, there is good reason to believe that they won’t become voters later in life.

By practicing the habits of informed and engaged citizenship at an early age, students will be more inclined and prepared to participate in our democracy when they graduate high school.

​All the artists at the time were painting in the Impressionist style.  But not, Henri Matisse.  He used brilliant colours and made art like nobody else.  In fact, everybody made fun of Matisse and called him weird, and he said, "Thank you."  He did not want to be just like everyone else! What a brilliant way to draw a connection between a time in history to the students in today's classroom.

Seriously, (despite the purposeful blur) these kids were super into their artwork.  Each one of them did something different; and even the ones who were less sure of themselves, the ones who started copying one of the modelled ideas, ended up with something truly their own... creativity abound!

When the students bring me their finished, or in-progress piece, I ask:
What do you call your piece? - the answer tells so much (hitting communication and literacy curriculum expectations).  Students who love to tell stories have a chance to shine:)

A Journey Back in Time to First Snow of the season on Nov. 27, 2013…. I imagine this video shall become a series:) – created at http://animoto.com

Enjoy all the beauty that surrounds you!

INFOWHELM…. too much info!!!  There is a lot, like virtually an infinite amount, of information available to us at any given moment....

So, what can we do?  We simply educate ourselves and our families and friends — everybody, really! There are countless articles and videos available on the Web.  I've pointed out just a few to get you started.

NOTE! — It is important to realize that (once you know how) the actual mechanics of checking the credibility of information only takes a few seconds of clicking, copying & pasting, searching, and judging for yourself.  THE PART THAT TAKES THE MOST WORK IS LEARNING TO DO YOUR OWN JUDGING!!!!! - And it is vital that we teach our students about safe-gaurding themselves. 

While “surfin’ the Net”, whether it be for fun & folly, or for work or school,  ensure you have your ‘Crap-Detectors’ out – “Every man should have a built-in automatic crap detector operating inside him.”
—Ernest Hemingway, 1954

A good question to ask yourself, particularly if asked to download anything, is: “Might someone be trying to put one over on me?” — This could be anything from actual cash, to the more common phishing spam, going after your personal info.

For example, there is one going around Facebook about a horrific roller coaster accident… Never click on a link from a friend if you think it is not something they would normally send, post, or say.  Also, if you see numerous posts with the exact same comment, it is probably suspect. 
Here is a wonderful article explaining how these types of spam work, as well as what to do if you’ve clicked one of these:
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/04/10/theme-park-accident-video-used-as-bait-by-facebook-viral-scammers/

Howard Rheingold has written some excellent guidelines about basic information literacy that everybody should become familiar with, plus some lesson plan ideas to use in the classroom (if you are a teacher):
http://newstrust.net/guides/crap-detection-101
(He also provide many informative links.)
This website, too, has some great information for lessons… http://globaldigitalcitizen.org

Here are 2 videos about spam!

Happy Judging, Questioning & Critical Thinking, everyone!!


And, don’t forget to BUMP IT UP — DO BETTER TO BE BETTER:)

Enjoy 2.5 min of Spring (even though it may be raining out there)!…

Happy March Break, Everyone!

I had such high hopes of using this week wisely and productively…. I guess it depends, really, what your definition of either word is.  You decide.

On Monday, I awoke to discover a not-so-frigid refrigerator.  “What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?! (Seriously, Monday mornings are no time for such discoveries, even if it is March Break!)  I made a call to my father-in-law, who just happened to have a back-up kicking around.  With disaster averted, my Mom and I were able to get a little “Spring” in our steps with a visit to “Spring Tide” at Gage Park, in Hamilton, ON.

Tuesday involved a walk to the library to collect more books ready on reserve.  I MIGHT read 14 books this week!  I wrote a Blog and learned some things and stuff by reading other people’s Blogs.  And, I tried out a new recipe…

Secret… the Crunch comes from chips!  Perfect if you’ve got some stale-ish ones around, and they may already be seasoned.  Sea salt and Malt Vinegar works well with fish, as does cheesy ones.

That brings me to Wednesday, when I was going to get serious and do things.  I did.  I went to Lil’ Monkeys in Burlington with my dear friend and her 2 1/2 year old son.  We played and we played and we played!  This place is absolutely brilliant!  It is an adult-size playground, encouraging adults to play with their children.  Wouldn’t it be a great place for a school trip (if we could get past the insurance forms and whatnot)?!  There is a scooter section and large-sized, padded building blocks, air hockey and basketball. to name a few things!  Then I went home to do laundry and make cupcakes.

Tomorrow, is bill and budget day, oh yay… will the excitement EVER end?  I can’t believe that March Break is almost over.

Productive, or not so much?  That is the question. – Family… check.  Friends… check. Blog(s)… check.  Cooking… check.  Playing… CHECK!  Chores… check (some)

HAPPY GREEN BEER AND SHAMROCK DAY, EVERYBODY!!

Bump It Up – Do Better to Be Better

Well, it seems things are a little slow in my world of occasional teaching… not that I have ANY problems finding things to do. First, a little looksy on Twitter, then some exploring, and, finally, some sharing…

A GAME:

Kids love games, so here’s one that gets them to think…
Cool online social game where citizens compete to make their city the most energy efficient http://greenmyplace.net/ (Unfortunately, in 2014, this game no longer exists, but it was really cool!)

AN APPLICATION:

http://www.wordle.net/create

This is dead easy to use… 

1) Paste in a bunch of text: 
You can cut&paste text into the text box or write your own text.  I wrote my own text in this example.  It is a good idea to copy your text before you hit ‘go’.  That way, you can go back and alter it if you need to.  The program takes repeated words and makes those the largest.  Knowing this, I copied certain words and phrases a number of times each to get my desired result.

Then I use a Snipping Tool to save my wordle, or you can put it in the Gallery.

2) Enter the URL of any blog, blog feed, or any other web page that has an Atom or RSS feed.

3) Enter a del.icio.us user name to see their tags

Here are some ideas (compiled but not originally thought of by me):

Wordle your resume” (http://wordle.net) to see what keywords are most prevalent

Wordle 4 vocab? Appeals to “visual learners” years later, running across a word, “hey, that was the big word on my wordle!”

http://static.animoto.com/swf/w.swf?w=swf/vp1&e=1305689026&f=W90WyyN56mpNMW0PVcYZdg&d=149&m=a&r=240p&volume=&i=m&options=

https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_157dpbsg9c5

A VIDEO:

This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA’s Benjamin Franklin award.

Certainly, gives a lot to think about…

BONUS WEBSITE:
This guy knows stuff… http://sirkenrobinson.com/
(Plus, the accent is quite nice, really.)

HERE’S A VIDEO I JUST MADE, CALLED “DUNDAS – VALLEY OF DREAMS”

ANIMOTO IN 100-WORDS FOR A BRIEF SYNOPSIS. OR…ANIMOTO IN 500-WORDS FOR MORE DETAILS, AND…
http://animoto.com/education/ to see how you can use it in the classroom.

Just explore the site, already:)  You can try it out making 30 second videos, and so can your students.  I have gotten the yearly subscription for about $30 and I can make full length videos (10mb song limit).  I am going to upgrade (I believe you can do this on a monthly basis)… to get better DVD quality images… I have recently gotten married and plan to have fun making wedding videos over Christmas break.  A school I teach in often has used this program for a DVD yearbook and it looked FANTASTIC and the KIDS LOVED IT!!!