Month: October 2009

grade9, humanities, technology1 Comment

Canada: Your Story is My Story

Deirdre Bailey

Grade: 9 Subject: Humanities, Social Studies Teacher: Jennifer Woodard This grade 9 project centered around grade 9 students telling the stories of new immigrants to Canada. The project was done in partnership with the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society. The hope of this project was to engage students in the issue of Canadian immigration and citizenship in an authentic way. It was an attempt to use technology to have students make meaningful connections with what happens outside of school. Rather than just reading about the immigration process, students were able to experience immigration first hand. The power of the project lay … Continue reading Canada: Your Story is My Story

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What Role Does the Library Play at CSS?

Deirdre Bailey

by Donna Alden, Teacher-Librarian As CSS enters the second year of our full one-to-one laptop project, I’m curious about the changes in how students are accessing information resources for their research and inquiry projects. In years past, when students used the computers in the library, there was a natural movement between the print collection and online resources that was observable. It seems to me what’s observable now is the decline in students accessing information in print (books), and I’m wondering what impact this change will have on student learning. A number of questions about knowledge are starting to emerge: Is … Continue reading What Role Does the Library Play at CSS?

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Student Teachers Teaching Through Skype

Deirdre Bailey

by Jason Cooper, University of Calgary Student Teacher at Calgary Science School Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of being involved with both the Grade 8 and 9 Philosophy classes here at CSS and at Island Pacific School in Bowen Island, B.C. in their study of pre-Socratic philosphy. The classes have been studying the subject together, collaborating using various internet technologies. Because of my background in physics, and I was invited to speak with both classes about the perspective of modern science on the fundamental nature of the world. We discussed some challenging fields in modern … Continue reading Student Teachers Teaching Through Skype

grade4, grade5, grade6, grade7, grade8, grade9, math, school-cultureLeave a comment

Developing Numerical Literacy

Deirdre Bailey

As as team our Math/Science teachers are focusing on improving the numerical literacy of our students, from grade 4 to 9. During team meetings, teachers are beginning to discuss some of the foundational concepts that students struggle with in mathematics. After the team’s first discussion, Principal Darrell Lonsberry had this to say: I came away from the meeting with our math/science team absolutely energized and excited about our conversation. All of our teachers recognize that there are two fundamental, and very much related, concepts that our students consistently struggle with in math: proportion and number lines (number sense). Some of … Continue reading Developing Numerical Literacy

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Four CSS teachers at the AB Social Studies Conference

Deirdre Bailey

Next week four of our teachers are presenting at the annual Alberta Social Studies Conference. Jenn Woodard is giving two presentations: Canada: Your Story is My Story This presentation will cover a grade 9 project on immigration. Our school partnered with the Calgary Catholic Immigration Services and our grade 9 students interviewed recent immigrants to Canada. The students documented immigration stories, collected images and artifacts, and created iMovies that were then played back to the new immigrants during a celebration at the school. Your Dollar is Your Vote Jenn will explain the parts of this grade 9 project on global … Continue reading Four CSS teachers at the AB Social Studies Conference

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Grade 6 Water color Portrait Project

Deirdre Bailey

“I Used to Think I Couldn’t Draw”by Lorrie Emin, CSS Art Teacher Our grade six art students are currently working on a watercolor portrait project involving a number of steps and components- from developing life drawing skills, transferring the work onto watercolor paper, creating a background, learning about color mixing and painting techniques, to actually painting the portrait. When I decided to try this activity with them, I had very high hopes, but was a little nervous about whether or not my expectations were too high for them. In the past, I have done this project with older kids in … Continue reading Grade 6 Water color Portrait Project

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Collaboration with the University of Regina

Deirdre Bailey

50 of our grade 6 students are about to embark on a “Powerful Learning Opportunity.” Dean Shareski, education professor at the University of Regina, has a class of student teachers that he is partnering with various classrooms around the world. The purpose of this project is to: • Provide online opportunities for K-12 students to receive feedback on their classroom work• Allow student teachers a broader experience of teaching methods• Explore the possibilities of using technology to open up classrooms In light of this opportunity, we have decided to connect 50 of our grade 6 Humanities students with two student … Continue reading Collaboration with the University of Regina