Month: February 2011

community_post, professional_development10 Comments

Inquiry Book Study: Week Two

Deirdre Bailey

Welcome to week two of our inquiry book study! This week we’re looking at Chapter Two from “Making Learning Whole” by David Perkins. A huge thanks to Yvonne Denomy for being the guest blogger for this week! She’s written an amazing post… For those who missed it, you can listen to last week’s webinar by David Perkins here. Chapter Two: Make the Game Worth PlayingMy Bio: I am a literacy teacher in Saskatoon. Currently, I am on an educational leave while completing my final term in the Master of Education in Teacher-librarianship program through the University of Alberta. I am … Continue reading Inquiry Book Study: Week Two

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What is Service Learning

Deirdre Bailey

Alberta Education has identified three essential goals to be achieved by students within the framework of the Programs of Studies: Engaged learning Ethical citizenship Entrepreneurship These qualities are embedded in the culture of the Calgary Science School and are manifested through a variety of initiatives that emulate a humanitarian focus and social responsibility on local, regional, and global platforms. As a means of facilitating a wide array of student-driven projects, Service Learning blocks have been incorporated into the timetable for all grades. At the junior high grades, these periods share a time slot on the schedule to afford students and … Continue reading What is Service Learning

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Hands at Work Africa: Update!

Deirdre Bailey

As written before, one of our Calgary Science School teachers, Chris Dittmann, is currently on a one-year leave of absence from our school. During this year, he’s volunteering for Hands-at-Work in Africa, an organization that works with oprhaned and vulnerable children in sub-saharan Africa. Leading up to the Winter holiday, our school participated in a number of student-led fundraising and awareness building activities, as part of our annual Peace Festival. This student-led fundraising brought in over $13,000 for building projects in South Africa! What amazing and supportive families we have in our school community. Here’s an update from Chris Dittmann, … Continue reading Hands at Work Africa: Update!

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Learning Strategies: Reading Skills

Deirdre Bailey

This year, one of the significant changes we have made at our school is the inclusion of a regular block of time, called “Learning Strategies” into our schedule. This block is designed as a support to ensure that all our students are successful learners at CSS. The Learning Strategies time is available for teachers to provide additional support to particular students, or a way to meet the needs of students in different ways. Our grade 7 team started the year using Learning Strategies as a way to build reading skills across all the subjects. Working with the students, 7 reading … Continue reading Learning Strategies: Reading Skills

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Authentic Contexts for Learning

Deirdre Bailey

One of the key elements of inquiry-based learning at the Calgary Science School is embedding student work into authentic contexts. Our teachers spend a great deal of time designing work that bridges the program of studies and the ‘real world.’ This notion comes to us from our work with the Galileo Educational Network and their Inquiry Rubric. One such context at our school this year is a community garden. We applied for healthy living grant back in the spring – and we were awarded the funding necessary to begin a community garden on our school site. In addition to all … Continue reading Authentic Contexts for Learning

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CSS Snow Angels

Deirdre Bailey

For some residents of Lakeview, the first snowfall of this winter was met with the arrival of the CSS Snow Angels. This group of grade 9 students took up the idea of becoming snow angels for their service learning project this term. One local resident commented ” What a wonderful surprise to wake up to find our front sidewalk had been cleared”. No doubt this group will have a busy season ahead of them! Continue reading CSS Snow Angels

professional_development13 Comments

Inquiry Book Study: Week One!

Deirdre Bailey

Welcome to the first post of the CSS Inquiry Book Series! This series is free to open to anyone wanting to join in on our discussion of the book “Making Learning Whole” by David Perkins. You can get the back story on the series here. The format of this series is a new post every Tuesday for 6 weeks – followed by discussion using the comment feature. The only exception is next week, when we’ll have the opportunity to attend a free webinar by the author David Perkins. Info about the webinar can be found here. Thanks to those who … Continue reading Inquiry Book Study: Week One!

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Innovation in Education Discussion Series

Deirdre Bailey

The Calgary Science School is starting an Innovation and Education “think tank” discussion series. This initiative is designed to get a range of educational stakeholders together to discuss emerging ideas and possibilities in education, particularly around different technologies and their implication for the classroom. We have planned our first “Innovation in Education” event for Wednesday, March 23rd, from 7:00 – 8:30pm. A grade 8 teacher from the Calgary Science School, David Scott, will be the facilitator for our first event. David has become very interested the potential of digital publishing or ‘etextbooks’ – particularly as resource for teacher professional development. … Continue reading Innovation in Education Discussion Series