As you likely heard, I was out of class this past Mon, Tues, and Wednesday with two sick children at home. The boys both had fevers up to 102 (I teach the metric system in class, and yet use imperial measures when taking the temperature of my children...is that strange?) so that kept me around the house for the week, but the class was in good hands, with Saman leading them through the work I had planned for the group, and she left really nice feedback about the students as a whole. It was great to be back in class on Thursday, and we got things back on track, taking stock of a few projects we have on the go, and setting timelines for their completion.
Art on the go....We took a look at the Painters Eleven, a group of famous Canadian Abstract Expressionist painters, with a focus on Jack Bush in particular. We are borrowing inspiration from Bush's works, such as Down Down, and Across, or Big A, and similar works, to help us create part of the work we are producing in class that focuses on the use of colour and line. To this we are adding images that each student has personally chosen, using projections to highlight the important lines, and then to transfer the images onto our canvases in a really unique way. Keep posted to the blog this week to watch this project evolve...
Oral presentations...We started this project almost two weeks ago, with students choosing famous Canadians to research and write about. With me being away, we took a break from the work on this, but Monday and Tuesday we will dedicate chunks of our language block to writing and revising our work, so that some students will start making their 2-4 minute presentations on Wednesday. This means that Tuesday night students will either be working on the rewrite of their speeches, or they will be asking you to listen to their rehearsal of the speech/presentation. Students all have outlines of the project, and the rubric for presentation, but I have tried to paste them below so that you can see where we are going with this. There is a graphic organizer being used in class to develop the introduction and support sections of the speech, and we are working on that in class this week. Ask your child who they are researching to present about...
Famous Canadian Oral Presentation
You will be
given time in class to research a famous Canadian and then organize your
information into an oral presentation.
Basically you need to share your research with the class in a speech
that lasts between 2 and 4 minutes.
Like all
good writing, your speech will need to have a clear beginning, middle, and an
end. Your opening needs to grab your
audience’s attention and introduce, and your main talking points need to be
interesting enough to keep them focused.
Finally, your closing statements need to summarize the main talking
points (subtopics) and restate your overall opinion statement or thesis.
Part 1:
Researching your topic
Use a
variety of sources to collect information about the following;
Ø
When
and where they were born
Ø
Personal
background and family information, Childhood/upbringing, Education
Ø
Personality
traits and words that describe the person
Ø
Significance
– What is this person known for mainly?
(profession, awards, accomplishments)
Ø
Obstacles,
challenges, opportunities they benefited from, mentors
Ø
Important
quote
Lists of famous Canadians
can be found at the following sites:
Part 2:
Writing your speech
Use the
provided organizers to collect and arrange your information, and then write it
out in full on lined paper.
|
When and where they were
born
|
|
Personal background and
family information, Childhood/upbringing, Education
|
|
Personality traits and
words that describe the person
|
|
Significance – What is
this person known for mainly?
(profession, awards, accomplishments)
|
|
Obstacles, challenges,
opportunities they benefited from, mentors
|
|
Important quote
|
Part
3: Presenting your speech
-rehearse for an audience (family or
friends)
-try to remember what is coming
next, and have the speech written on small pieces of paper or cue cards
-focus on oral communication skills
like eye contact, volume, and clarity
|
Category
|
Level 1
|
Level 2
|
Level 3
|
Level 4
|
|
Fluency and
Clarity
|
-Voice is
not audible and not clear.
-Student
mumbles and cannot be understood OR mispronounces many words.
|
-Voice is
somewhat audible and clear.
-Speaks
clearly and distinctly some of the time, but mispronounces some words.
|
-Voice is
audible and clear.
-Speaks
clearly and distinctly most of the time, mispronounces a few words.
|
-Voice is
very clear and words are clearly enunciated.
-Always
speaks clearly and distinctly and does not mispronounces any of the
words.
|
|
Pace and
Flow
|
-There are a
significant amount of pauses/stoppages in the speech or the pace is too fast
or too slow.
|
-Pauses
and/or too rapid a pace interrupt the flow of the speech making it difficult
to understand.
|
-Pace and
flow of the speech is effective. There are no long pauses and the pace makes
it easy to understand the speech.
|
-Pace and
flow of the speech is effective. The pace and flow is adjusted purposefully
to improve the impact of the speech.
|
|
Eye Contact
|
-Eye contact
is not maintained throughout the speech.
|
-Eye contact
is maintained throughout some of the speech.
|
-Eye contact
is maintained throughout most of the speech.
|
-Eye contact
is consistently maintained throughout the speech.
|
|
Posture
|
-Poor
posture.
|
-Good
posture maintained some of the time.
|
-Good
posture maintained most of the time.
|
-Excellent
posture consistently maintained throughout.
|
|
Enthusiasm
|
-The speaker
is unsure during delivery and demonstrates a lack of enthusiasm.
|
-The speaker
tends to hesitate during delivery and shows some enthusiasm.
|
-The speaker
is comfortable with the audience and shows enthusiasm.
|
-The speaker
is confident, dynamic and shows excellent enthusiasm.
|
|
Length of
speech
|
-Speech is
extremely too long or too short.
|
-Speech is
too long or too short.
|
-Speech is
just under or over 3-5 minutes.
|
-Speech is
within the suggested time limit of 3-5 minutes.
|
|
Memorization
|
-Speech is
not memorized at all.
|
-Some parts
of the speech are memorized.
|
-Most of the
speech is memorized.
|
-The entire
speech is memorized.
|
IXL Math...I spoke with most of you during our 3 way conferences about the IXL math program. The school has purchased an account for each student, so that they can access curriculum linked online activities through a website that does not feature countless advertisements, and where we can monitor progress, and participation. This is not for assessment purposes, just an opportunity we are providing for students to work on their math skills. Week after week we get updates on who is accessing the program. If you think your child should be doing some work at home, this is a great task for them to work on. They should put in at least 20min a week. Some put in over a half hour a day on the program. If you need your child's access code and login, please let Ray know. All students know theirs, or have copied it down in a few places at school, but we can always make sure that you get theirs so there are no excuses if you want them to work on this. This past week Katey, Miranda, Jacob, and Gabby all put in some good time on the program, but Cayley put in more time than the whole class put together. Great job Cayley!
Skating...This week is a skating week. We can use all the volunteers we can get for lacing up skates. Our time is the 10 to 11 slot, but we need at least two volunteers to ride the bus over to the school with us. Can anyone make the trip? Let Ray know or we can't go.
Reading program....Thanks to Robin and Kayren, we are able to say that every students has read aloud at least twice, and we might make it three times for everyone by the break. This is a great step, as nothing builds fluency and language development like reading out loud. If you have time, at any slot of the day, and you can drop in to take a student out for 10 minutes to read, it would be greatly appreciated.
Book Sale, and Food Drive....This Tuesday is our annual book sale at Churchill, run through the library. Scholastics will have books at the school, and a portion of each sale goes to help fun our wonderful library program. If you are looking for books for the holidays, drop by, and please send in some money with your child if they are interested in picking up some reading material for the long cold Ottawa winter...And on a similar note...it is a tough season for those Ottawa residents, and students, who struggle to put food on their table. In class we have all shared our great plans and excitement for the holiday. We also spoke about students who will not be excited for the holidays as it means time spent at home without access to their friends, technology, books, or proper nutrition (all of which they receive at school). Our school is one third of the way to reaching our goal in the food drive. Please send in non perishable items with your child so that we can make the holidays more enjoyable for families in need.
Gift and Take...In response to students wanting to run Secret Santa activities I have traditionally organized a 'gift and take' activity on the last day before the break. This is where you bring in a wrapped gift (value under $7) if you want to participate. The gift goes into the pile, and then students draw numbers to choose gifts to unwrap. Each student can choose to take a wrapped gift, or to 'steal' a gift that has already been unwrapped. Those who enter into the activity do so in the spirit of the activity, and we all agree to some general rules about kindness, but also to the idea that this is meant to be fun and a bit of a bonding event. Typically everyone takes part in some way, and we all have fun. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Stay tuned, there will be more to come in the next few days as we get busy before the holidays....
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