Month: January 2011

professional_development14 Comments

“Connect through books”: Inquiry Book Study

Deirdre Bailey

We’re starting a new program – and a way for you to get involved! The Calgary Science School “Connect Through Books” is an online book discussion series – focusing on books that discuss inquiry-based approaches to learning and teaching. The book study will be conducted through this Calgary Science School Connect! Blog. Starting on February 8th, every two weeks there will be an introductory blog post written – and then the community will have the opportunity to comment on the initial post. The first blog post will be written by Neil Stephenson (PD and Outreach Coordinator here at CSS). After … Continue reading “Connect through books”: Inquiry Book Study

environmental-education, grade6, math, technology1 Comment

Boreal Math: Final Thoughts

Deirdre Bailey

Our grade 6 students have recently finished wrestling with the math problem: “Are there enough trees in Canada’s Boreal Forest to be the lungs of the earth?” The question came from research that one of the Grade 6 teachers, Erin Couillard, found which stated that the northern boreal forest now produces more oxygen than any other forest in the world. During the planning stage for this problem, our 2 grade 6 math/science teachers, Erin and Emily Brown, decided to structure it in a different way than they had previously. Building on the ideas of Dan Meyer, the problem was introduced … Continue reading Boreal Math: Final Thoughts

school-cultureLeave a comment

CSS helping Pakistan

Deirdre Bailey

How CSS helped Pakistan During the week of September 9th to 17th, 6.1 held a bottle drive to help the people in Pakistan. Students from the school brought some bottles, can and milk jugs each day and 6.1 picked them up from the each room and counted how many bottle each class collected. 4.3 brought in the most bottles so now they receive an ice cream party! They brought in over 1700 bottles! Here are some facts about the flood in Pakistan: · More than 3.5 million children are at risk contracting a deadly water borne disease. · 20% of … Continue reading CSS helping Pakistan

grade8, humanities1 Comment

Google Sketch-Up Expertise Needed!

Deirdre Bailey

We are looking for someone who can help us with the design of a grade 8 project using Google Sketch-Up! The Task:Our grade 8 students have just begun their Renaissance unit. Similar to last year students will be working through an examination of: (1) the conditions that allowed the Italian Renaissance to flourish, and (2) whether Calgary has those same conditions. While the project is starting in a similar manner to last year, this year the teachers are taking it a step further. After completing the Renaissance unit last year, the grade 8 teachers created a survey asking the students … Continue reading Google Sketch-Up Expertise Needed!

school-cultureLeave a comment

Gingerbread House Building Contest

Deirdre Bailey

Gingerbread House Building Contest – Grade 8/9 Leadership In December, the Grade 8 and 9 Leadership class held a Gingerbread House building contest for charity. After the contest was finished, we donated the houses to various organizations including the Mustard Seed, Avenue 15 – a homeless shelter for youth, the YWCA Sheriff King Home, and Woods Homes. Teachers were asked to work with their classes to choose 5 participants to represent each class. The houses were judged based upon their aesthetic appearance and overall build quality. The design and appearance varied, some were simple and minimalistic while other were very … Continue reading Gingerbread House Building Contest

community_post, grade9, humanities, technologyLeave a comment

Exploring Immigration: A Student Perspective

Deirdre Bailey

Over the last number of years, our grade 9 students have participated in a project called Canada: Your Story is My Story. This project involves students interviewing recent immigrants to Canada with the purpose of better understanding the immigration experience. After meeting and interviewing new Canadians, the students create multi-media narratives of the immigration stories – creating a documentary of each immigrant’s journey to this country. Here’s a perspective from two of our grade 9 students who recently finished the project: “Over the past three weeks, Grade 9 students had the pleasure of meeting immigrant students from the Calgary Catholic … Continue reading Exploring Immigration: A Student Perspective