Month: March 2014

environmental-education, grade4, grade7, science1 Comment

Energy Diet- A student post

Deirdre Bailey

Our grade 4 and 7 classes are collaborating this year in the Classroom Energy Diet Challenge. The students have been assembled into small combined teams where each takes up the different challenges. Our grade 7 students have taken up these leadership roles, and below is a blog post written by a grade 4 and 7 pair. They could earn up to 15 points for their team! Energy Diet (Letter to the editor)By: T and P What are different types of energy sources? And which one is best for our environment? Sun Solar panels generate electricity from the sun. The old solar panels were made of … Continue reading Energy Diet- A student post

grade4, inclusive_practices1 Comment

An Inquiry into Words and Spelling

Deirdre Bailey

-by Abby Saadeh In an Inquiry based environment, we get excited and enveloped in our questions and ideas. At Connect Charter we want to take these opportunities to incorporate Spelling into our explorations and develop skills into our practice. Together with the Grade 4 Humanities team, we identified a need to develop some ideas on how to approach Spelling. I gave the students a Spelling Questionnaire that would give me more information about how they felt about Spelling and what they thought about themselves as Spellers. From the information gathered, I came up with the first discussion question, “What is … Continue reading An Inquiry into Words and Spelling

assessment, grade72 Comments

Inquiry and Assessment in Inquiry: Views from an Internationally Trained Teacher

Deirdre Bailey

By Joanne Eloho~ Werklund School of Education Bridge to Teaching Program It was quite the experience partnering with Ms. Pereverzoff at the Connect Charter School, (formerly Calgary Charter School) to teach her seventh grade class in my first practicum as a Bridge to Teaching student from the Werklund School of Education. As an internationally trained teacher, I expected to find significant differences in Alberta classrooms and there was no surprise there, however, I have found that learning through inquiry is such an extreme deviation from my more traditional practice of teaching. For the first time in my practice, I was … Continue reading Inquiry and Assessment in Inquiry: Views from an Internationally Trained Teacher

electives, grade6, grade7, technology1 Comment

Underwater ROV Elective

Deirdre Bailey

This term we offered students in grade 6 and 7 an Underwater ROV elective. In this elective students design, build and test an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle, or ROV. ROVs are used for a variety of reasons, including marine biology research, military applications, underwater archeological exploration and more. Students used PVC pipe, wires, 12 volt DC motors, batteries and other supplies to construct their ROV. Propellers were designed in Google Sketch Up and printed on our MakerBot 3D printer. In the end we found a propeller design online and printed several to provide students the best chance for success on … Continue reading Underwater ROV Elective