tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18929925484080540402024-02-19T00:31:50.255-08:00Live & Learn!Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-81257926294862121732013-08-05T12:05:00.000-07:002013-08-07T12:52:50.313-07:00A Cure for RestlessnessAfter living and studying in India, the Canadian Arctic, Quebec and the USA, and living and teaching in Singapore, I find myself living in the cozy, clean, safe and environmentally conscious town of Okotoks, Alberta, Canada. I have two beautiful and healthy children and a lovely home. My husband and I have terrific teaching positions and yet, we found ourselves feeling restless. When living overseas, we had unlimited access to learning, seeing and doing new things; combined with helping others in need around us. We continue to be involved in helping others and service projects at our schools and with our children, yet miss being overseas. <br />
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Then the flood happened in Alberta at the end of June 2013. It ravaged much of our province, <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beginningof the flood 2013</td></tr>
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making thousands homeless, and destroying business, schools, professional offices, libraries and recreation facilities. It was a good time to dig in and help those in our own backyard. We assisted family and friends; we helped strangers and they helped us. Thousands came out to volunteer and support, expecting nothing in return. Out of this disaster, which will take some areas up to 10 years to rebuild, developed a stronger community. Although we were missing life overseas, Canada is an incredible place to live. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgClXxCLuAm37cSVSJqKp8mWYd7roRH5bqkHgHMdn7K3uCeJY8e6scjQaDLC1T38Rj20wyzx9PvJMbP9rFNCalWD9Bj5-yEBUWzqu85WNxB7NSWZTI_6BFsmsUbCFrZVaCtgmPpok2TFzE/s1600/Banff+2013.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgClXxCLuAm37cSVSJqKp8mWYd7roRH5bqkHgHMdn7K3uCeJY8e6scjQaDLC1T38Rj20wyzx9PvJMbP9rFNCalWD9Bj5-yEBUWzqu85WNxB7NSWZTI_6BFsmsUbCFrZVaCtgmPpok2TFzE/s200/Banff+2013.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Banff, Alberta, Canada 2013</td></tr>
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While it felt good to contribute to needs in our own province, it was also a pleasure to get out and re-energize, to see the treasures in our own area. Alberta is a beautiful province with a wide variety of landscapes to explore. Gratitude for where we live and a deeper understanding of why we volunteer and offer service to our community to keep it strong, were renewed with exploring our own backyard. Trips to Banff and Waterton National Parks reminded us of the stunning scenery accessible to us; and the need for us to actively be involved in taking care of it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAuJE5ut5ecUK_IrwGy04v30H5Atiw4h9YUZCOG7YwOGZ8ZEOtZmomBum4kO-imDgf0b82URi8VmDg25NxYtVXLgecsQgXKq9B2K5IfVqwttRO-Ut7nPDA5WTjcPfq_3Ks1X5dPsV3sDU/s1600/Cousins+Waterton.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAuJE5ut5ecUK_IrwGy04v30H5Atiw4h9YUZCOG7YwOGZ8ZEOtZmomBum4kO-imDgf0b82URi8VmDg25NxYtVXLgecsQgXKq9B2K5IfVqwttRO-Ut7nPDA5WTjcPfq_3Ks1X5dPsV3sDU/s200/Cousins+Waterton.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Glacier Lakes of Waterton, Alberta</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prince of Wales Hotel, Waterton, AB</td></tr>
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It's been a busy summer full of helping others, working for our children's swim team, and sharing time with family and friends.<br />
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This summer has reminded us of the importance of volunteering, looking out for our neighbor, and being stewards of the world's treasures around us.<br />
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And...the reward of an attitude of gratitude and getting involved in our community? ... Restlessness diminishes...<br />
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What's in your backyard that you are taking time to enjoy?<br />
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<br />Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-24750882772699310712013-04-10T18:28:00.001-07:002013-04-13T07:32:25.222-07:00Three Questions, an Attitude and a Smile<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Questions: </u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">With so much information available to our students, asking questions about what they find and read is becoming increasingly important. Recently, I've been looking deeper into what makes a good question. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In his article, <i>"What is a Good Guiding Question?"</i>, Rob Traver states that good questions:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. are open ended, yet focused on a specific topic</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. are non-judgmental, not value laden, and encourage the learner to think and ask other questions</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. contain an emotive force or an intellectual bite such as, "When are laws fair?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. are succinct, containing only a handful of words, yet demand a lot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To generate good guiding questions, look at the six queries that newspapers answer: <i>who, what, when, where, how </i>and <i>why. </i>Teachers often focus on the <i>what </i>and <i>how </i>of something; questions that are not easily answered and give educators and students room to explore. You can find Traver's <a href="http://www.learnquebec.ca/export/sites/learn/en/content/professional_development/workshops/documents/guidingquest.pdf">full article here</a>. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>The Three Questions</i> by Jon Muth</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I like to use literature to introduce concepts and make connections with students. With my grade ones, I used the book <i>The Three Questions </i>by Jon Muth; based on a short story by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1903. In this book, the main character, Nikolai, asks his animal friends to help him answer three important
questions: "When is the best time to do things?" "Who is the most
important?" and "What is the right thing to do?" A wise old turtle, Leo, helps answer the boy's questions through the boy's quick actions during a storm. The most important time is now, the most important one is the one you are with, and the most important thing is to do good for the one who is standing beside you. This book promotes asking deeper, good questions with your students.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Attitudes:</u> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But there is more to life than just questions; there is the attitude one has when one asks the</span><br />
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questions. John Maxwell, world reknown author of 70 Leadership and Teamwork books, writes in his book <i>The Difference Maker: </i> “Your attitude colors every aspect of your life. It is like the mind’s paintbrush.” He goes on to state many things are out of our control, but that "My attitude about the areas that I do control will be the difference
maker. In other words, the greatest difference my “difference maker” can
make is within me, not others." Attitude determines how we approach everyday and every situation, how we respond and also to what kinds of <span style="font-size: small;">questions we may ask <span style="font-size: small;">as</span> we respond. "It's not what happens to me but what happens </span>in me that matters mo<span style="font-size: small;">st.</span>"<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>And Smiles:</u> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yesterday, I read a blog posting by educator Katherine Sokolowski on <a href="http://readwriteandreflect.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-power-of-smile.html"><i>The Power of a Smile</i></a>. Here <span style="font-size: small;">she writes of consciously <span style="font-size: small;">choos<span style="font-size: small;">ing to be posti<span style="font-size: small;">ve <span style="font-size: small;">and watching <span style="font-size: small;">her atti<span style="font-size: small;">tude as i<span style="font-size: small;">t effects those around <span style="font-size: small;">her</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>. <span style="font-size: small;">Students (an<span style="font-size: small;">d others) can tell much about <span style="font-size: small;">us by our outlook or demeanor. </span></span></span>You can find Katherine on Twitter here <a href="https://twitter.com/katsok">@katsok</a>. Enjoy her blog posting where she <span style="font-size: small;">reflects on t<span style="font-size: small;">he <i><span style="font-size: small;">P</span>ower of a</i></span></span><i> <span style="font-size: small;">S</span>mile</i>. <br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">In summary,<span style="font-size: small;"> w</span>e wear our attitude on our countenance and <span style="font-size: small;">it is found i<span style="font-size: small;">n the types of questions we ask.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> So<span style="font-size: small;">, I encourage you<span style="font-size: small;"> today to help your students ask good questions with a po<span style="font-size: small;">sitive attitude and add <span style="font-size: small;">the power of a smil<span style="font-size: small;">e. <span style="font-size: small;">I think you'll find some answers you are looking for...</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">How do you encourage your students to ask good ques<span style="font-size: small;">tions?</span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">References: "What is a Good Guiding Question?" by Rob Traver <i>From Educational Leadership</i>. March 1998. ASCD </span>Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-55848790400640781852013-03-06T18:46:00.000-08:002013-03-06T18:54:43.993-08:00Encourage Students to Be Themselves<div style="text-align: center;">
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<i>"</i>“The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing
to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in
that position.”
~ Leo Buscaglia<span style="color: black;"></span> </div>
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Have you ever wanted to do something, but were afraid of what others might think? I'm sure many teachers and parents have had this conversation with their students and their own children, who were hesitant to stand up for someone or some ideal. I have. It leaves me wanting to make sure my students feel empowered to be themselves, be the best they can be and stand up for what they know is right. <br />
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One of the best ways for me as a teacher and parent to address issues that concern our children is through literature, and have them apply the wisdom found in stories to their own lives. I've found it gives children courage to do the right thing; when they know others have been faced with similar choices. And, these book suggestions are just in time for <a href="http://litworld.org/worldreadaloudday/"><b>World Read Aloud Day</b></a>...!<br />
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<u>Here are some books you may like to use with your students:</u><br />
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1. <span style="background-color: #93c47d;"><b><u><i>Andrew Henry's Meadow</i></u></b></span>: by Doris Burn. This is a classic book from 1965 reprinted in 2012. I first heard of this book from twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/ReadAloudDad">@ReadAloudDad</a> who posted a <a href="http://www.readalouddad.com/2013/02/Andrew-Henrys-Meadow-Doris-Burn.html">blog</a> on the wonder and creative thinking of character Andrew Henry. The book is an excellent spring board into a conversation with your students of what it means to be yourself and do the things you are best at; no matter the opposition you face. It is an admirable reminder to let others be who they are and not try to make them fit into the type of person you want them to be. Andrew Henry did not give up on the building and creating he loves to do, nor his journey to discover his own uniqueness. It opens the discussion of Virtues and PYP Attitudes of what it means to be <b>Confident, Creative, Co-operative, Determined, Enthusiastic, Flexible, Peaceful, Tolerant, Respectful </b>and<b> Independent, </b>among others. <br />
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2. <span style="background-color: orange;"><b><u><i>The Oak Inside the Acorn</i></u></b>:</span> by Max Lucado. This is a beautiful story about an acorn who does not know what he is to become and tries to grow oranges and flowers because that is what other trees/plants are doing around him. As he grows, he finds his own purpose and helps a young girl also have the courage to become herself. This is a wonderful analogy about growing up and discovering uniquely who you are meant to be, and not to compare yourself to others. Lucado's book opens up discussions of Virtues and PYP Attitudes of what it means to be <b>Confident, Creative, Curious, Confident, Independent, Tolerant, Thankful, Determined, Purposeful, </b>and <b>Patient</b>.<br />
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3<span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;">.<b><i><u>Wonder:</u></i></b> </span>by R.J. Palacio Many have heard about this fantastic nominated book for the 2013 Newbery Awards. It is an outstanding story demonstrating the Virtues of <b>Kindness, Caring, Respect </b>and <b>Assertiveness</b>; the PYP Learner Profiles: <b>Caring, Principled, Open-minded</b> and <b>Risk-taker</b>; and the <b>PYP Learner Attitudes</b>: <b>Respect, Integrity</b> and <b>Empathy</b>. You can read more of my reflections on this book from my <a href="http://lfrehlich.blogspot.ca/2012/10/wonder-what-is-essential-is-invisible.html">previous post</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.standupday.com/08/participants/index.php?target=pages&page_id=intro">International Stand Up to Bullying Day</a> was recently celebrated by more than 3100 schools and work places in North America by wearing pink to draw attention to the effects of bullying, and stimulate passive bystanders into action. In addition to stories to connect with our students, here is a wonderful song video by<i> Artists Against Bullying</i>, as seen at my children's school awareness assembly earlier this year.<br />
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Pablo Picasso stated, "<i>Action is the foundational key to all success.</i>" What books, short videos, and songs do you use with your students to explore and encourage them to be themselves, be the best they can be and to take action to stand up for what they know is right?<br />
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<br />Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-22342687577854526092012-11-19T14:07:00.001-08:002012-11-19T14:26:28.090-08:00Newbery 2013 Book NominationsAfter enjoying the book <i>Wonder </i>by R.J. Palacio, I realized it was a choice for the 2013 Newbery Book Awards. <br />
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Some libraries are inviting parents and students into the 2013 discussion. View the <a href="http://blogs.kcls.org/newbery/newbery-2013/all.html">complete list of books for the Newbery 2013 </a>Award found at the KCLS website. The King County Library System near Seattle, Washington, is encouraging people to see the list of choice books, read at least 4/6 top suggestions, and then <a href="http://blogs.kcls.org/newbery/">vote for your book of choice</a> to receive the 2013 honor. My son and I decided to read the six books and vote for our Newbery 2013 choice between December 2, 2012 and January 22, 2013. Here is what we discovered:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhIrSC5gjePZqsAe6c8SX-sqAcYof0V94yQL4nKBy1iNW-l5YZF1ECxtQukLOZ3husOQACKhK0LAEmASl9aE9UT3oSBHZnG_TKuTM6W6rnHH0QBZn4RPvspSFbN3CaMQ_WuNh_JMgiDe4/s1600/Wonder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhIrSC5gjePZqsAe6c8SX-sqAcYof0V94yQL4nKBy1iNW-l5YZF1ECxtQukLOZ3husOQACKhK0LAEmASl9aE9UT3oSBHZnG_TKuTM6W6rnHH0QBZn4RPvspSFbN3CaMQ_WuNh_JMgiDe4/s200/Wonder.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
1. <span style="background-color: yellow;"><i>Wonder</i> by R.J. Palacio.</span> A superbly written book on Kindness and the choices we make every day. This is a book you will not be able to put down. Although its reading level is Grade 3 and up, the lessons inside apply to all ages! This book makes us stop and look at ourselves; evaluate where we are on
the scales of kindness to everyone we meet. As Palacio quotes <i>The Little White Bird </i>by
J.M. Barrie, "Shall we make a new rule of life...always to try to be a
little kinder than is necessary?" Because to be kind, is a choice. This book is superb to read independently or as a Read Aloud to your family or students.<br />
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Please read my reflections on this amazing book from my <a href="http://www.lfrehlich.blogspot.ca/2012/10/wonder-what-is-essential-is-invisible.html">previous post</a>. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYyqU3PLhE6Ut5NgpVQkRWaWvpP54uil-YI0w8jQL62-sRSFMqjRZi-teVGdH89RvMLyrS-aWvwzIe7teN8xsvDrp0Hg0FdAUFsu4ZSKJd29z2Ig2ObMGD1DcfmAny-ZT3D6XGCfItKOA/s1600/The+One+and+Only+Ivan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYyqU3PLhE6Ut5NgpVQkRWaWvpP54uil-YI0w8jQL62-sRSFMqjRZi-teVGdH89RvMLyrS-aWvwzIe7teN8xsvDrp0Hg0FdAUFsu4ZSKJd29z2Ig2ObMGD1DcfmAny-ZT3D6XGCfItKOA/s200/The+One+and+Only+Ivan.jpg" width="143" /></a></div>
2. <span style="background-color: yellow;"><i>The One and Only Ivan</i> by Katherine Applegate</span>. "Kindness and its ability to change lives shines through...this book."- Kathi Appelt, author of <i>The Underneath.</i> This is a touching story told in First Person Voice of a Gorilla named Ivan who lives in a small Mall Animal Show. Ivan remembers his youth in the wild Rainforest of Central Africa. "Growing up gorilla is just like any other kind of growing up. You make mistakes. You play. You learn. You do it all over again." He remembers his father teaching him "how to be kind, be strong, be loyal." Read this book to emphasize the <b>Virtues</b> of Kindness, Respect, Gentleness and Trust. It may be used to support and inquire about <b>PYP Learner Profiles</b> Caring, Principled, Open-Minded and Communicators. <b>PYP Attitudes </b>to connect with may include Empathy, Curiosity, Integrity and Respect. This story may be used as a literature link to the <b>Unit of Inquiry</b>: <i>Sharing the Planet</i> or <i>How We Express Ourselves</i>. It's reading level is for ages 8-10, but all ages will enjoy the determination and kindness demonstrated in this book!<br />
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3. <span style="background-color: yellow;"><i>Three Times Lucky</i> by Sheila Turnage<span style="background-color: white;"> "...dreams are shape-shifters. Get close, and before you can lay a hand on them, they change." What a lovely book about community, family and where you belong. Mix it in with hurricanes, trying to find a lost mother and solve a murder mystery, and you've got a story for middle grade students. Read this book to emphasize the <b>Virtues </b>of Responsibility, Caring, Loyalty, and Reliability. It may be used to support and inquire about <b>PYP Learner Profiles </b>Inquirers, Risk-Taker, Reflective and Thinker. <b>PYP Attitudes </b>to connect with may include Commitment, Curiosity, Empathy and Independence. This Newbery 2013 nominated book may be used as a literature link to the <b>Unit of Inquiry </b><i>Who We Are</i> or <i>Where We Are in Place and Time. </i>It's reading levels is for</span></span> Grades 5 and up.<br />
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4.<i> </i><span style="background-color: yellow;"><i>Liar & Spy</i> by Rebecca Stead <span style="background-color: white;"> "It's normal to be a little scared..." This is a book about family, friendships and dealing with things that scare us. Read this book to emphasize the <b>Virtues </b>of Friendliness, Confidence, Forgiveness and Truthfulness. It may be used to support and inquire about <b>PYP Learner Profiles </b>Risk-Taker, Thinker, Principled and Open-Minded. <b>PYP Attitudes </b>to connect with may include Confidence, Integrity, Empathy and Curiosity. This Newbery 2013 nominated book may be used as a literature link to the <b>Unit of Inquiry </b><i>Who We Are</i> or<i> How We Express Ourselves.</i></span><span style="background-color: white;"> It's reading level is Grade 4 and up. As with any of these titles, they make terrific Read Aloud books for your family or class.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white;">This post reflects on 4 of the 6 books my son and I are reading before we cast our vote for the next Newbery 2013 Award. I will keep blogging about the last 2 nominated books suggested by the King County Library System, and other Newbery 2013 nominated books in posts to come. We'd love to hear what you think of these books as you read and share them too. Happy reading! </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span> Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-57643925028328453022012-10-28T15:54:00.001-07:002012-11-08T11:05:29.781-08:00Wonder- "What is Essential is Invisible to the Eye"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"We carry with us, as human beings, not just the capacity to be kind, but the very choice of kindness." <i>Wonder </i>by R.J. Palacio<br />
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Wow. That is the first word that ran through my mind as I started reading the book <a href="http://rjpalacio.com/index.html"><i>Wonder </i>by R. J. Palacio</a>. I love it when you see or read something that makes you stop in your tracks and reflect. This book absolutely does this; making one stop and ponder on choosing to be kind and often the price that one may pay in this decision. There's a knowing deep within you, that to #ChooseKind, is the right choice to make. What vignettes in your own life demonstrate a time when you purposefully decided to choose kindness?<br />
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Published in February 2012, I first heard of this book from International UWCSEA Teacher <a href="https://twitter.com/davecaleb">@davecaleb</a> on Twitter, who was encouraging others to read it. It is currently on the voting list for Newbery Awards 2013. The King County Library System near Seattle, Washington, is
encouraging people to view the list of choice books, read at least 4/6,
and then <a href="http://blogs.kcls.org/newbery/">vote for your book of choice</a> to receive the 2013 honor. You can view <u>all the book entries</u> for the <a href="http://blogs.kcls.org/newbery/newbery-2013/all.html">Newbery 2013, here.</a><br />
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<i>Wonder</i> is an excellent book to emphasize the <b>Virtues</b> of Kindness, Caring, Respect and Assertiveness; the <b>PYP Learner Profiles</b>: Caring, Principled, Open-minded and Risk-taker; and the <b>PYP Learner</b> <b>Attitudes</b>: Respect, Integrity and Empathy. <br />
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To get you and your students started, you can find <i>Wonder </i>discussion questions posed by the author <a href="http://rjpalacio.com/for-teachers.html">here</a>. Have your students also come up with their own "I wonder.." questions about the book and how different characters demonstrated behaviors/actions of caring or uncaring, respect or lack of respect, integrity or lack of integrity. How do you and your students judge a "book by it's cover" or a "person by the way they look"? Is there an example you can think of?<br />
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This book makes us stop and look at ourselves; evaluate where we are on the scales of kindness to everyone we meet. As Palacio quotes <i>The Little White Bird </i>by J.M. Barrie, "Shall we make a new rule of life...always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary?" Because to be kind, is a choice.<br />
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I think Antoine de Saint-Exupery stated it best in <i>The Little Prince, </i>"Now here is my secret. It is very simple. It is only with one's heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye."<br />
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Enjoy the wonder in this wonderful book! <br />
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Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-38408137479027723412012-10-14T18:26:00.001-07:002012-10-14T18:26:55.657-07:00Using Your Voice- Transforming from Me to We"Never doubt for a moment that you can change the world!" Two brothers, Craig and Marc Kielburger started a movement to <a href="http://www.freethechildren.com/about-us/">Free the Children</a>. Their work has expanded into humanitarian work and promoting the rights of children around the world. They have started a <a href="http://www.metowe.com/about-us/">Me to We</a> youth empowerment organization which encourages our young to volunteer and be active in making our world a better place. "Living <i>we </i>means walking softly, traveling lightly and making a difference in all your actions—small or large."<br />
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Recently, my middle school daughter has had the opportunity to apply for one of her school's spots to participate in the 2012 We Day Youth Conference. The entire school is excited about the possibility to attend such an event. This has only served to enthuse our youth to volunteer, serve others and use their voice to make a difference in our world! Here is a video showing what We Day is about:<br />
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Educators around the world are using their voices to promote Freedom.<br />
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@intrepidteacher posted a blog on "<a href="http://intrepidflame.blogspot.ca/2012/04/azadi-means-freedom.html">Azadi Means Freedom</a>" about stepping out and using our free voices to help others. This jumps out at me: "If you were living in an oppressed society, wouldn't you want the people who have freedom to use it for you?" Yes. Any person who lives freely- free to walk outside and feel the sun on your face when you want, free to write, read, study, practice your faith, go to school, learn, make mistakes... lives a privileged life; one which many in the world can only dream of living. We can take that freedom for granted and begin to focus inward on ourselves, maybe even grumble about things that are not perfect or didn't turn out just the way we wanted it to. Time for some perspective. It's time to use our voices for those who are restrained from speaking about their truths, their realities. <br />
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For the month of December 2011, @coolcatteacher also spoke out on an issue in our world in her <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.ca/2011/12/calling-all-bloggers-lets-free-slaves.html">blog: #endslavery</a>, which started a movement of blog postings/tweets and people using their "free voice" for those held in slavery in the world. I added <a href="http://www.lfrehlich.blogspot.ca/2011/12/getting-out-of-our-comfort-zone-end.html">my voice</a> to the blog movement. She posted again in <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.ca/2012/04/will-you-help-hope-for-slaves-project.html">April 2012</a>, speaking out against slavery. She knew we wouldn't "end" the issue of human trafficking, but the one power we do have is the freedom to use our voice to shake up the status quo.<br />
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Mother Teresa said, "If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out." You've got to use your voice.<br />
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And Margaret Mead stated, "A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." You've got to take action.<br />
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Can we step out of our comfort zone and into our free voice? Because at the end of the day, when we do speak out or take action however big or small, we are changing the world into a better place. One word, one action at a time. I am excited to hear about the We Day experience from the students at my daughter's school at the end of October 2012!<br />
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How does your school encourage students and teachers to use their voices to make a difference in our small world?Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-89620414473254670062012-02-17T08:00:00.003-08:002012-02-26T12:36:34.758-08:00At the end of the day...<div style="text-align: right;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Wy3UupzHEyPauBtqzhkZCoLfz6vDsHELFvYkm1Enfy7LFiyKXsoXvw955srgm3qeIDn7Zl7COwHSrUSs9mCHuAPrA-qQyMI2-plVAdc8LoGjXS7uAeWNQv2nzEDqunudRV4cpizD3gs/s1600/Philosphy+wordle+++respect.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Wy3UupzHEyPauBtqzhkZCoLfz6vDsHELFvYkm1Enfy7LFiyKXsoXvw955srgm3qeIDn7Zl7COwHSrUSs9mCHuAPrA-qQyMI2-plVAdc8LoGjXS7uAeWNQv2nzEDqunudRV4cpizD3gs/s200/Philosphy+wordle+++respect.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Education Philosophy</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“The object and reward of learning is continued capacity for growth.” –Dewey, 1916 </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">It is this reward of continued learning and growth that I seek for my students and myself. John Dewey was a promoter of thinking, reflection, community and interaction. As an educator, it is my privilege to ensure students know how to continue in their journey as life-long learners. I feel strongly that students who are involved in their education and are able to evaluate, reflect and grow from real life experiences, become better human beings with a richer life experience. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dr. Noam Chomsky talks about the purpose of education: to help children learn to learn on their own. He elaborates to include that our "higher goal in life is to inquire, create, search bridges of the past and internalize parts that are significant" to individuals. I write about this in my <a href="http://www.lfrehlich.blogspot.com/2012/02/meaningful-education-creates-better.html">previous blog</a> and there is a video of Dr. Chomsky to view. These are the foundation to my educational philosophy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibhk-RetCB4r8G0jLv2gdrnBlWSifoGtMSyQYRs_nvG4nwmPeqz8vPqt1Mq2TvIfGk40ZAlZDjvflPk6lHXeKE6wksILHF3kjmVjGDJM9EpHChQ0z0W5sYRvdl3og9vmtLf5lQdOGGHew/s1600/wordle-+service.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibhk-RetCB4r8G0jLv2gdrnBlWSifoGtMSyQYRs_nvG4nwmPeqz8vPqt1Mq2TvIfGk40ZAlZDjvflPk6lHXeKE6wksILHF3kjmVjGDJM9EpHChQ0z0W5sYRvdl3og9vmtLf5lQdOGGHew/s200/wordle-+service.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Service</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">In order to achieve the above growth and continuous learning, I need to come from a place of service. I believe that no matter what you do in life, whether you are a teacher, parent, business person, an engineer, carpenter, student, ... everyone, if you come from a place of service and helping others; you will achieve success.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">At the end of the day, I ask myself: "Did I make the world a better place today? What did I do to help others?" When I answer those questions I see continuous learning and growth. I see success. What do you do to promote learning and growth?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-46835857443627448962012-02-02T14:18:00.000-08:002012-02-02T14:18:05.216-08:00Meaningful Education Creates Better Human Beings<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPspI2mFr4VrhfL13S7vZNI5LbwkKyT1lB-rqGJCaDcW8zsJ9miwGzT2tH4h_Eb_uVv5vNDSUOl95kd90kEGXlZXDAX3V4GjJnYtjfilLUlCjlMds5gbXmhFM7uBiPqjFdOla-sxKJLH8/s1600/purpose+of+education.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPspI2mFr4VrhfL13S7vZNI5LbwkKyT1lB-rqGJCaDcW8zsJ9miwGzT2tH4h_Eb_uVv5vNDSUOl95kd90kEGXlZXDAX3V4GjJnYtjfilLUlCjlMds5gbXmhFM7uBiPqjFdOla-sxKJLH8/s200/purpose+of+education.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image posted by thefangroups.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Recently, I completed a course on <i>Administrating Level B Tests</i> for Learning Disabilities with Dr. Carter of U.B.C. It was an excellent course! Dr. Carter is passionate about meaningful education and careful testing that is done with precision so as to help a child, not hurt them. Discussion then leaked into what is done at the classroom level as well. He stated that all data we gather for assessment must be a valid reflection of what we teach. We must be thoughtful about our assignments, our projects, what we put into portfolios and in what we test. Valid tests are those that test what you teach, with no surprises and study guidance is given (it's not a guessing game). Testing is not about tricking our students. Then you have a reliable test. And further to that, testing is only one part of Educating a child. You can test a child, but ask if they took something away from the learning experience? Have they increased their understanding of the world around them, asked questions, made meaningful connections and discoveries?<br />
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Then I came across a video of Noam Chomsky talking about the Purpose of Education posted via @dcannell on Twitter. Thank you Darren Cannell. Wonderful! Dr. Chomsky talks about the <b>purpose of education is to help children determine how to learn on their own. </b>That our "higher goal in life is to inquire, create, search bridges of the past and internalize parts that are significant" to individuals.<br />
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When we use tools that are available to us (e.g. technology, testing) in this education quest, we must be able to question and evaluate if what we are learning and using are significant. Question: "Are we on the right path?" In the end, are the tools and methods we are using in Education creating better human beings? If yes, then we have progress! What do you think?<br />
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Enjoy this video of Dr. Chomsky below:<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DdNAUJWJN08" width="560"></iframe>Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-91869213486255070012012-01-19T17:49:00.000-08:002012-01-20T01:23:10.816-08:00Embrace Change, Thoughtfully<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>"Change is...to give up what we are...to become what we could be." </i>( unknown) </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig9rfMpwHy-a2NfH22YXLB9NM5Zaf7bJyNhyphenhyphenEz6HMaVdSnrMqtNEnhn65NwpYNL20rIpKGIJTTSiFpmTDI9Dq0jecTJFRCYhr1SqBatgzxhNSUvU7AU6W9iXiM-df36fQlPGEvuFRSv8E/s1600/Change.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig9rfMpwHy-a2NfH22YXLB9NM5Zaf7bJyNhyphenhyphenEz6HMaVdSnrMqtNEnhn65NwpYNL20rIpKGIJTTSiFpmTDI9Dq0jecTJFRCYhr1SqBatgzxhNSUvU7AU6W9iXiM-df36fQlPGEvuFRSv8E/s320/Change.jpg" width="320" /></a> Our world is moving at a fast pace where new technology is a constant instead of a novelty. Some are hesitant to embrace technology and changes offered to students in education, citing concerns stated in books like <i>The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains </i>by Nicholas Carr. Concerns definitely to ponder as we thoughtfully embrace our changing and fast paced world. In his book, Carr builds a case for the printed book as promoter of deep and creative thought, while the speed and efficiency of the internet promotes production and consumption; the later encouraging loss of capacity for concentration, contemplation and reflection. For myself as an educator and parent, initially in the 1990s, I was hesitant to learn technology with the non-stop demands on a teacher. I felt this was "adding" to my already full day. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now though, I'm embracing technology for my students as fast as I can learn it, seeing it as an engaging way to capture their interests. This is partly in response to keeping up to my own children and students who seem automatically comfortable with exploring and using technology, and partly my own discovery of learning how to do things more efficiently. I'm finding learning new technology fun! I like the process of publishing a newsletter, blog, word document, brochure, writing an e-book, or making a video or stop-motion movie. These are just a few options of how students can creatively demonstrate what they are learning and produce a product they are both proud of and fits into their individual learning style. I like that technology offers a variety of choices to students with quick editing options so students can be thoughtful about their learning and easily make changes as they discuss and present their work to others. Their work does promote deep thought and creativity as they edit and use a new technology tool to produce their final product!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I wonder what it is that makes some hold back in fear of change, stating caution and safety as their reasons, while others step out and move, ready to try something new; ready to lead. When <a href="http://www.apple.com/education/#video-textbooks">Apple came out with their new e textbook options for the iPad</a>, I and some others were excited, ready to move and try it! While some teachers claimed caution and that we need to move slowly (if at all) in this new direction as it may be harmful to our students deeper thinking. The cautious people encourage the risk-takers to be thoughtful; this is good!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When <a href="http://cfrehlichteach.blogspot.com/">@cfrehlichteach</a> posted this video on Twitter, I felt it captured the essence of both sides of change. Some are ready to move, embrace changes and lead; while others are cautious and slower to step out and try something new. Watch, as one character tries to embrace the new technology of moving from a scroll to a book, while another encourages him to be a risk-taker:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0Cd7Bsp3dDo" width="420"></iframe></div><br />
Now we can't imagine a world without paper books nor one where we were still reading from scrolls! We all resist some changes in our lives of some sort; I think that is human nature. But often, when we do make a change and it turns out for the better or makes an improvement in the quality of our lives, we wonder why we didn't do it sooner! If it does not work out for the better, we can always go back to the way it was done before - or at the very least, learn from the experience. I'm suggesting that we embrace change thoughtfully and boldly! Let's step out of our comfort zone and try new technology to keep up with our changing world; to keep up with our students. As educators and parents, we are preparing our students for future jobs that we can't even imagine. We need to be involved in the shaping of the 21st Century Digital Learning for and with our children. They will need to be able to step out, adapt and change.<br />
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Sometimes, it takes just one person to step out and lead a movement of change for the better. Sometimes, we need to step back and re-evaluate what works best. We can only find out if we step out and embrace change, thoughtfully.Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-87823659017746632102012-01-06T10:10:00.000-08:002012-01-17T13:39:17.526-08:00Run in Place or Move! The Choice is yours: 2012 Professional Development.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxLdn1WyAlP0ALcEoo-Vfc4hlfjPyMb0Dtqf1VENCSt5Bi1mO3hfzhtZu2YdS2ZtefY-a_T2dSJGqn5ssqOBPnQICE-1F1tNbKFTFjxeSrdopxbvvXgp5Z4XtEQ1XPpK9RySbl-TTpEg/s1600/Success-One-Step-at-a-Time.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxLdn1WyAlP0ALcEoo-Vfc4hlfjPyMb0Dtqf1VENCSt5Bi1mO3hfzhtZu2YdS2ZtefY-a_T2dSJGqn5ssqOBPnQICE-1F1tNbKFTFjxeSrdopxbvvXgp5Z4XtEQ1XPpK9RySbl-TTpEg/s200/Success-One-Step-at-a-Time.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Model posted by Art Petty</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="http://artpetty.com/2012/01/04/are-you-running-in-place-when-it-comes-to-your-professional-development/">Art Petty</a>, author of several books on Leadership, Management and Professional Development, inspired me to think about my Professional Development Goals this year. He offers this model of success where you keep on moving and keep on doing until you achieve success. When it comes to individual Professional Development, he states it requires a deliberate and consistent effort to improve; move and take action! Acquiring increasing skills and knowledge requires individuals to press on and fight the pull to do nothing and break away from the pack who may be running in place.<br />
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He offers <b>7 Quick Ideas to improve your Professional Development</b> this year: <u> Personal reflections</u>, <u>Ask questions</u> of yourself, <u>Look for truths</u> in your performance reviews, <u>Start small and build</u> from there, <u>Read!</u>, <u>Stay positive</u> and <u>Celebrate</u> all your victories- no matter how small. View a full explanation of his ideas by clicking on his name above, taking you to his blog posting. In addition, you will find a list of his books on his site.<br />
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When @megangraff posted a video on Twitter called, "MOVE", I thought of how this creative and impressive work was indicative of what we need to bring to our own Professional Development. Basically, this guy travels the world and takes a photo in each place. As we see the artist walk and 'move' through the video with a smile on his face, the background setting is constantly changing. Sometimes that's how we can feel about Professional Development! It is changing quickly and can be overwhelming.<br />
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However, if we face each new background (each new Professional Development opportunity) with a smile on our face, we are bound to learn more and enjoy the journey. The catch is: we've got to MOVE! When we move and try new ideas, we gain new perspectives, learn, grow and change. The scenery in the video reminds us to observe, question, reflect and take action. Each step and photo he takes in the video encourages us to start small and build. The cheering heard in the video reminds us to enjoy ourselves as we learn, stay positive and celebrate all accomplishments; no matter how small. View this video here:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/27246366?color=ffffff" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/27246366">MOVE</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/rickmereki">Rick Mereki</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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Art Petty says this is the bottom line: "If you are running in place, you're going to fall behind."<br />
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Let's MOVE in our 2012 Professional Development!Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-9196021180620817852012-01-01T08:10:00.000-08:002012-02-03T14:34:26.005-08:00Practice 9 Principles: On the Road to an Excellent 2012!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaJGEBNevp-CAtKkju9HuD5qDV4kheojEBmEdXpSIwbQjzOVku66BRPPik2JXgST4VQPo-BqKExNkfrzESqKva0nw9Uh6BsT85mRjC5G5WCwHoMSvEsbMlnv0PaX7AY9GZo6LW6Gpa7Rw/s1600/The+Road+Less+Traveled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaJGEBNevp-CAtKkju9HuD5qDV4kheojEBmEdXpSIwbQjzOVku66BRPPik2JXgST4VQPo-BqKExNkfrzESqKva0nw9Uh6BsT85mRjC5G5WCwHoMSvEsbMlnv0PaX7AY9GZo6LW6Gpa7Rw/s320/The+Road+Less+Traveled.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo By L. Frehlich 2011</td></tr>
</tbody></table>In reflection of 2011 and preparation for 2012, this sign I saw out x-country skiing made me stop and think of The Road Less Traveled. I realized that 9 principles that I had been applying to my life on a daily basis were on this road; some days a more difficult road to travel. However, I find the more I practice these principles, the better my life becomes. As a teacher, I heard we make up to 500 decisions a day. How was I to feel good about all those decisions and the implications for children and in turn, their families, and not question my every action? I found my answer; and you can too when you make a conscious decision to choose to practice these 9 Principles.<br />
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1. <u>Love:</u> When making decisions and interacting with other people, if you come from a position of Love for that person, then you are making good decisions. This is harder if a person you are dealing with is not coming from a place of Love for you! Shake the offense off and go on. Love is simply being good to people, keeping a good attitude and treating others well.<br />
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2.<u>Joy: </u>Joy is a daily choice and allows us to lighten up a little. When things aren't going the way you planned, make a conscious decision to hang onto your Joy. Once a day has passed, you never get that time again; so enjoy every moment. Get out of our own problems and help or give to someone else; it will jump-start your Joy.<br />
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3. <u>Peace: </u>One of the most important things we can have in life is Peace. No job, amount of money or success is beneficial without Peace. This requires a choice and using self-control not to let others steal your Peace. Live in harmony with others around you and choose not to get upset by letting your emotions control you. This includes keeping a positive attitude and watching what you say. Storms will pass, so be a model for others and teach them how to hang onto Peace by your actions. <br />
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4. <u>Patience: </u>Patience is not waiting; but how we act while we are waiting. It is something we have to choose on purpose. It is to remain stable and enjoy the journey because much of our life is spent waiting for the next thing to happen. If you find yourself becoming impatient, check your pride: do you feel you are too important to wait a little? You show tremendous Love for others when you are Patient with them.<br />
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5. <u>Kindness: </u>Kindness is being Kind to all you meet and especially those who don't deserve it. When someone is rude to you or maybe they did something that hurt you, be kind to them and watch what happens! Kindness requires self-control; it is a choice. It allows you to slow down and give people some time. By being Kind to someone who doesn't deserve it, you are not justifying their behavior nor taking ownership of their actions- only yours! At the end of the day, you can sleep well knowing your actions were based on Kindness.<br />
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6. <u>Goodness:</u> Take your mind off yourself and make a choice to be Good to people. It can be in the form of giving your time, a compliment, an encouraging word, opening the door for someone and using your manners voicing: "Please", "Thank you" or "Excuse me". It is a mindful way to be a blessing to someone else.<br />
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7.<u>Faithfulness: </u>Faithfulness requires sticking to something until you know you are finished. The way we grow is to stay with something. This involves integrity: people will know they can count on your word and depend on you. This also includes if your administrator asks you to do something, you are willing to do it. Be on board with your leaders; avoid strife at work, home and in your relationships.<br />
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8.<u>Humility: </u>Humility is defined as freedom to enjoy someone else's success. Humility is the opposite of pride. Pride is about "I" and is manifested in the form of impatience. Out of impatience comes pride and pride dries up compassion and sensitivity. Watch your thoughts and attitudes you have towards others; let go of judgements, as what others do is none of your business- and pay attention to your own actions. If you feel yourself puffing up, check your pride.<br />
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9. <u>Self-Control:</u> Self-Control is to live in moderation. All of the above Principles require conscious choices. To purposefully choose to act in these Principles, requires Self-Control and discipline of your thoughts, actions and words. You have it in you; it is a commitment which leads to excellence.<br />
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So, there it is in a nutshell. Practice these 9 Principles (Fruits/Virtues, Character Development), and you will find yourself on the road to an amazing 2012 filled with excellence. Some days you may think that you are somewhat alone on this Road Less Traveled and that implementing them is difficult, but as you stay on this path, your actions will speak volumes to others. For more reading, you can read <i>Secrets to Exceptional Living </i>by J. Meyer, or <a href="http://lfrehlich.blogspot.com/2011/09/learning-virtues-through-literature.html"><i>The Virtues Project</i></a> by Linda Kavelin Popov.<br />
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Enjoy your journey and best wishes to you in 2012!Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-75249262332644640772011-12-20T08:43:00.000-08:002011-12-31T10:33:52.210-08:00Getting Out of our Comfort Zone: End SlaveryHere is a topic that makes us feel uncomfortable. However, since living and traveling in Asia and seeing Human Trafficking up close, it has sat on my heart that we need to stand up against it and stop it. I'll never forget the time when visiting Siem Reap, Cambodia, I saw about a 12 year old boy dressed up as a girl standing in the Tourist market; waiting for a customer. My eyes met with his and his eyes displayed intense shame and pleading for help. Realizing that it wasn't safe for him or me to help him right there, I whispered "sorry" and left Cambodia determined to make some kind of difference for children being trafficked. I began to donate to different organizations in place to shelter and help stop human slavery.<br />
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Thanks to <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2011/12/calling-all-bloggers-lets-free-slaves.html">@coolcatteacher</a> on Twitter, she has inspired me to write about one of the Anti-human trafficking organizations that I donate to. Click on her Twitter name to see her Blog posting on ending Slavery and more facts about human trafficking. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwVUtCbDhUIFzss5incUMs2hEgsoNRyC6v_-IKNG4PdXf0QGIq7aAJwizH6pKCgUisFqAaZU2b0KDBPrgDATES-VVu1R5BAvEwar8Wfvbg2XeKL6Jgj-ojIgUkh4zyXU69WRhNPPySLUs/s1600/Hand+of+Hope.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwVUtCbDhUIFzss5incUMs2hEgsoNRyC6v_-IKNG4PdXf0QGIq7aAJwizH6pKCgUisFqAaZU2b0KDBPrgDATES-VVu1R5BAvEwar8Wfvbg2XeKL6Jgj-ojIgUkh4zyXU69WRhNPPySLUs/s1600/Hand+of+Hope.jpg" /></a></div><a href="http://www.joycemeyer.org/articles/hoharchive.aspx?tag=Human_Trafficking">Joyce Meyer Ministries Hands of Hope</a> supports Human Trafficking shelters and programs that are in these countries so far: (click on Joyce Meyer for a link to their Hands of Hope Human Trafficking page)<br />
<ul class="mediaRelationsList"><li>Funding support to construct Los Angeles Dream Center's human trafficking shelter </li>
<li>Support women’s homes in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia </li>
<li>Support Prem Kiran Transformation Center in Mumbai, India </li>
<li>Support the “A21 Campaign” in Thessaloniki, Greece</li>
</ul>Every 2 minutes in the world, a child is prepared for sexual exploitation. It is time to change that! An Ethiopian girl's story can be seen <a href="http://www.joycemeyer.org/HandOfHope/WhatWeAreDoing/HumanTrafficking.aspx">here</a> and view a video about a girl's story in India<a href="http://www.joycemeyer.org/articles/hoh.aspx?article=2010_kolkata_india_2010"> here</a>. Talking about Human Trafficking can make us, well, uncomfortable. It's time to face it and make a difference! For more information and how to make your donation, visit: <a href="http://www.joycemeyer.org/">http://www.joycemeyer.org/</a>. You can learn more about them and see how the funds are spent on their webpage.<br />
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Thanks @coolcatteacher. Together, we can get out of our comfort zone and make a difference to #endslavery!Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-32612689296069013832011-12-16T10:40:00.000-08:002012-01-10T07:42:39.758-08:00Giving- What Are We Teaching Our Children?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCecpDcApoP946gbi0YU9efn3WKofu0mBVanMR9lk8cijWY_lxcqZUixkiSlIoeFCAxI8ovmhTtW5qZKbuoGiYjrm6GfBKnnGQlR_j1fjDaOpOBzRb2BcRGC2yn-UuIDzd2SQtuPhnvXQ/s1600/Gifts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCecpDcApoP946gbi0YU9efn3WKofu0mBVanMR9lk8cijWY_lxcqZUixkiSlIoeFCAxI8ovmhTtW5qZKbuoGiYjrm6GfBKnnGQlR_j1fjDaOpOBzRb2BcRGC2yn-UuIDzd2SQtuPhnvXQ/s1600/Gifts.jpg" /></a></div>Christmas and Holidays are a time for families and friends to come together. It is a time of practicing generosity and kindness. A time to remember those less fortunate and take time to give back to the world. I'm so grateful for this time and hope that it extends in peoples' lives to give and be generous throughout the year, not only during Holiday celebrations.<br />
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It does make me think when I cross a situation of how parents, schools and business organizations are encouraging children to give. Our Health Curriculum includes a volunteer component and often when I ask others what their children do to volunteer or give back, they respond with surprise, "Oh, nothing...yet." I wonder why we think it is up to everyone else to volunteer their time, money and energy to give back to the world to make it a better place. I wonder why people leave it up to "someone else" to get it done; and assume that "someone" is or will do "it". By example, what are we teaching our children? Our children will grow up copying not only what we say, but even more likely, what we do.<br />
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Then I hear of students who are encouraged to volunteer or donate to a food bank for "extra marks" or "bonus points". I believe this teaches children to give back when there is something in exchange for themselves. A student will need to give a certain number of food banks in order to earn the points. Hmmm, this makes me wonder about the definition or meaning of <b>"giving: to present voluntarily and without expecting compensation, to bestow"</b> (<a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/giving">http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/giving</a>).<br />
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<div align="justify">If we offer rewards to our children for the gift of giving, then what are we really teaching them? If we, as adults, don't give back to the world to make it a better place by example, then can we expect our children to do any different? Christmas is a time to be generous, not only to people we know and love, but to others that we do not even know. It is also something we all need to be doing all year round to make our world a better place. Jewish Rabbi Hillel is famous for his quote: “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?”<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj31IHZIN4Z7ci_tgu8vP4DvFIsunORdFtf9AKJ6t7HqDGBVLea7K3wuyzitttC3mcvCyENFySEh6t2B7DGT775VNK0Ks4xI_RpwowVyKm_8gm6ETzOz0-sdhpmXprpSm9pQ_w7y6EeCrg/s1600/The+Giving+Tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj31IHZIN4Z7ci_tgu8vP4DvFIsunORdFtf9AKJ6t7HqDGBVLea7K3wuyzitttC3mcvCyENFySEh6t2B7DGT775VNK0Ks4xI_RpwowVyKm_8gm6ETzOz0-sdhpmXprpSm9pQ_w7y6EeCrg/s1600/The+Giving+Tree.jpg" /></a></div><br />
By writing this post, I'm not trying to place blame on anyone. I'm just reflecting on the examples and reasons we give to our children to give back to the world. To think about what we are doing to make our world a better place. What examples are we giving our children? Are we teaching them to give without expecting anything in return? Or, are we promoting an iGeneration; one where there has to be something in it for the individual before they will participate in the gift of giving?</div><div align="justify"><br />
</div><div align="justify">One of my favorite books to show children about the gift of giving (to give without expecting something in return) is Shel Silverstein's <i>The Giving Tree. </i>Maybe it's a good time to read it again! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.</div>Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-43641545467159815282011-11-25T17:13:00.000-08:002011-11-30T18:25:38.189-08:005 Reasons for Educators to Join Twitter Today!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKd22gVw4blk1xICwtDsby4a3oxQxOlANIb-FUPj80mXiUk_zkHKvprOFrUwhMxEnvgYRFuWJWBgO7EsBXEZ-bJFRtlvoUHfdQu2SQvvqBQc8ignscMGjfgJE7zvdvElv4JbbCL6s2Xpw/s1600/Twitter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKd22gVw4blk1xICwtDsby4a3oxQxOlANIb-FUPj80mXiUk_zkHKvprOFrUwhMxEnvgYRFuWJWBgO7EsBXEZ-bJFRtlvoUHfdQu2SQvvqBQc8ignscMGjfgJE7zvdvElv4JbbCL6s2Xpw/s200/Twitter.jpg" width="121" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Learn With Twitter</td></tr>
</tbody></table> When my husband joined the Twitter world, I have to admit, I just didn't get it at first. I thought it was just another thing to do and I didn't have the" time to spare". Over time, as I watched him tweet, I saw he was excited about what he was learning and that he was connecting with teachers all around the world.<br />
Gradually, it dawned on me that this was more than social networking, this was building connections in an online professional community. I found I was peeking over his shoulder learning through his PLN. With both of us being teachers, we often discuss pedagogy and share what we are working on with our students. He was encouraging me and other educators to join Twitter; stating that since you created your own PLN, it catered to your professional interests and needs. Decisively, I conceded that this Twitter world was something I needed to look into; it was time to build my own PLN.<br />
The staff at my school are working in a PLC (Professional Learning Community) with teams of teachers across several schools, subject areas and grade levels. I've found this process amazing in bringing together teachers to help share ideas, curriculum, and continuously raise the bar of excellence in teaching and learning. Everyone is taking responsibility for every student's learning! I began to make the connection that a professional Twitter PLN is an extension of my school's PLC.<br />
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<u>Here are 5 reasons I've found to join Twitter</u>:<br />
1. <b><u>Twitter is like Team Teaching</u></b>: if there is something you want to learn more about, all you need to do is tweet your question or browse and you will get the most amazing answers- fast! It allows you to feel connected and have conversations with other educators around the world. I am thankful to the amazing <a href="http://www.cybraryman.com/">@cybraryman1</a> for his generous sharing of all his pages. I have used his resources and cited him in workshops and newsletters. <br />
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2. <u><b>Twitter Connects you to Teacher Blogs:</b></u> I love reading blogs and when I see a tweet of something that a teacher is doing, I will tweet them and ask if they are blogging about it so I can learn more. I have met many incredible teachers who are doing amazing projects with their students all over the world. Thank you <a href="http://blogs.yis.ac.jp/cowdyt/">@tashacowdy</a> <a href="http://kinderchat-kinderchat.blogspot.com/">@hechternacht</a> <a href="http://kerileebeasley.com/">@klbeasley</a> <a href="http://plaman.com/their_future/">@jplaman</a> <a href="http://hdowd.blogspot.com/2011/11/using-google-sites-as-eportfolios-with.html">@heza</a> <a href="http://whatedsaid.wordpress.com/">@whatedsaid</a> <a href="http://www.louisephinney.com/">@Louisephinney</a> <a href="http://www.markbrumley.com/">@markbrumley</a> <a href="http://missnightmutters.blogspot.com/">@happycampergirl</a> <a href="http://kimcofino.com/blog/">@mscofino</a> <a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/">@coolcatteacher</a> <a href="http://edu-mashup.blogspot.com/">@jessievaz12</a> <a href="http://cfrehlichteach.blogspot.com/">@cfrehlichteach</a> and so many others for the amazing blog posts and for sharing your expertise. Click on their Twitter name and you will find a link to their blog. I look forward to reading more Twitter Education Blogs from more Twitter Educators!<br />
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3. <u><b>Twitter Connects you to Professional Reading:</b></u> I enjoy the professional and global reading put together by a variety of Twitter users from <a href="http://www.scoop.it/">@Scoopit</a> and <a href="http://paper.li/">@Paper.li</a>. You can create your own magazines which update daily with Zite and Flipboard on your ipad. It is quick learning at your fingertips to enjoy on a small break or with your morning coffee. <br />
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4. <u><b>Twitter Connects you to 21st Century Learning and Digital Citizenship:</b></u> I have to admit, keeping up with changing technology is a fast paced race. Thanks to Twitter and connecting with similar teachers around the world, I am able to focus my technology learning curve towards relevant and useful projects for students across many grade levels. Just this past two months, I have learned to blog, tweet, about a variety of different eportfolios and a plethora of digital literacy projects such as <a href="http://storybird.com/">Storybird</a>. I'm enjoying learning something new everyday to share with students, staff and parents!<br />
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5. <u><b>Twitter Connects you to Conferences: </b></u>From reading on Twitter, I learn about what Educational Conferences are taking place all around the world. Recently, I participated in the online <a href="http://globaleducation.ning.com/page/2011-conference">Global Education Conference 2011</a> and I've found a list of <a href="http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2011/11/elearning-conferences-2012.html">eLearning Conferences 2012</a>.<span style="background-color: purple;"></span><br />
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Thanks Twitter, because <b>to teach is not to know it all; it is to keep on learning</b>. Guess I'll have to take my husband's advice a little more seriously!Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-16689330427628664332011-11-11T08:21:00.000-08:002011-11-11T08:21:07.120-08:00Camera, Lights, Action! Stop Motion Productions...Wow! I'm wanting to share one of my Grade Six student's independent projects on Stop Motion iMovie Productions.<br />
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This student outlined his story on a storyboard and made a background setting and characters. He recommends writing a storyboard first to help you stick to your ideas. Then he took photos with a regular camera, moving the characters and items in tiny increments. He downloaded the photos into iMovie, cropped the photos and edited the speed to 0.1 seconds between frames. After an amazing amount of work, dedication and adding music, he produced his movies!<br />
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His Stop Motion iMovies demonstrate creativity, dedication, digital literacy and reflection as to what music would engage the viewers emotions. He included tiny details in his story board such as a mouse eating something in the Titanic dining room for the observant viewer. <br />
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I have permission from him and his parents to post his productions. I know you will enjoy viewing them, and I hope your students are motivated to try this form of digital story telling. Thanks for the inspiration, Hunter!<br />
Happy Stop Motion film making...!<br />
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This one is called,<b> <u>Lego Oil Spill</u></b> (approx. 800 photos):<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P-b3IR60ew8" width="560"></iframe><br />
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And this one is called <b><u>Lego White Star Line</u></b>, and is about the Titanic (approx. 1200 photos):<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Jzh3Kkje_GI" width="560"></iframe>Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-31984202898373876732011-11-02T14:00:00.000-07:002011-11-06T08:59:48.069-08:00Games for Writing K-3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaXLJ8m6ylG80VrqMg4QNBGQudEiOnWtPJforGItQws9dG359EV-ZKXmcwwUih4etEpAs93MvY8YunHXDHF9ex9m4V6gWey5dKBVado_3sW26ADjS_KvR-8GUGtvSu9skFa_XEZ2m7gbY/s1600/Games+for+Writing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaXLJ8m6ylG80VrqMg4QNBGQudEiOnWtPJforGItQws9dG359EV-ZKXmcwwUih4etEpAs93MvY8YunHXDHF9ex9m4V6gWey5dKBVado_3sW26ADjS_KvR-8GUGtvSu9skFa_XEZ2m7gbY/s200/Games+for+Writing.jpg" width="185" /></a></div>To write is to be a risk taker! And taking risks in writing needs constant encouragement to build confidence. Teacher Peggy Kaye has written a book, <i>Games for Writing,</i>to help students overcome their hesitations to put pencil to paper. I like her writing games and activities as they are similar to the book making projects that I enjoy doing with my students. Games and book making projects put children in the right mood to learn and trigger their interest and alertness. They switch from dreading to wanting to write!<br />
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Children become writers starting from a sheet with a few squiggles; to beginning to form their favorite letters and names of people who are important to them; to writing out their own journals, lists and stories. As children grow in their ability to rush out words as they write, letter formation and penmanship may take a back seat. Writing graceful letters is a wonderful thing to do, and getting their thoughts recorded on paper is the first step. Do the editing later!<br />
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The games recommended by Peggy Kaye do not require extensive equipment nor are they time-consuming. You can do them with a group of students or at home with your family. The most important thing to remember is to have FUN! Your young writer will find he or she likes some games more than others, so flip through the book to find a variety of writing activities that is to their liking. Here is a sample of what this book offers:<br />
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<u>There are five parts to this book:</u><br />
1. <u><i>Just for Starters:</i></u> Try these 11 activities designed to ease Kindergarten and Grade 1 children into writing. Through games, they learn to control their pencils and produce properly formed letters. By listening to her story games, they learn to identify well-organized stories from semi-coherent stories.<br />
<div style="color: #990000;">Examples: Letter reversals? No problem, give them more opportunity to explore and practice. Try the tactile experience of making<b> Popcorn</b> letters (gluing popcorn to a gigantic letter "J"). </div><div style="color: #990000;">Or try using <b>Pretzel </b>dough to make alphabet letters- shape, bake and eat!</div><br />
2. <u><i>Stress Busters: </i></u>Young writers can be nervous to put pencil to paper. Try these 16 activities designed to get a child giggling; nothing like laughter to calm a child's fears! These activities take small amounts of time to limit writing demands on children without limiting their imagination.<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Examples:</span> <span style="color: #990000;">Try <b>Rhyme Time</b> using words to create simple silly poems together in the A-B-A-B-A-B or AA-BB-AA patterns. Create your lists of rhyming words first together. Share the writing out of the poem.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Or try <b>Acrostic Poems</b>, which work well using words/people/places that are important to your writer.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">A FUN one! <b>Word By Word: </b>Choose a title for a story with a group of students. Start the story together as a group. Then have each student contribute by rolling a dice/die and the number rolled is the number of words each child will add to the story! </span><br />
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3. <u><i>Bugaboos: </i></u>Try these 9 playful ways to improve spelling, handwriting and grammar.<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Examples: <b>Mixed-up and Missing: </b>For grammar, try covering the student's eyes, writing out a full sentence, cutting it into separate words, mixing up the words and say to your student: "Open your eyes! What do you see?" They see a lot of mixed up words and their job is to sort them out to make sense. You can give clues to help!</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Or try <b>Traveling Words:</b> Turn handwriting practice into a funny sentence. Normally, you would write it on a straight line, but not in this game! Draw a winding/ weird road across the paper and your student writes the sentence as neat as he can on the road line. Traveling words is more rigorous than you may think! </span><br />
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4. <u><i>Writing with Style: </i></u>Ahhh, time for writing more sophisticated stories! This section of her book includes 8 activities which encourage students to create unusual fictional characters, mature in their notions of story structure and select new vocabulary to express their ideas.<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Example: <b>Egg Carton Tales: </b>Use 3 half egg carton sets (6 holes). In the first "setting" set, write out 6 different story settings (a forest, a pirate ship, a tree fort, a school, a King's castle,</span> <span style="color: #990000;">an island). In the second "character" set, write out 6 characters. In the third "problem" set, write out 6 different story problems. Have your student shake a coin in each of the cartons. Where the coin is when you open the carton, that determines the setting, character and problem. Help your writer tell and make up a story to match their egg carton choices. Telling stories with these elements will eventually transfer into writing a complete story on paper.</span><br />
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5. <u><i>Made with Pride: </i></u>When it is time for longer writing projects, 30 minutes or so, try the 8 writing activities in this section. Some of these will be done over several different writing sessions over many weeks.<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Example: <b>Shape Books:</b> Children often perk up when they get to write in a new or unusual shaped book! If your child loves Cats, make a cat shaped book with construction paper covers and lined paper inside. When it is important to the writer, he or she is motivated to get writing!</span><br />
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<u>To use this book effectively:</u><br />
-Try a game and see if it motivates your child. <br />
-Children's tastes change over time; so one activity that did not work in January, may work in May!<br />
-Play an effective game over and over, as many times as your young writer likes!<br />
-Don't worry about mistakes. <br />
-Be generous with your compliments and encouragement.<br />
-Show you are delighted with the Risk-Taking your young writer is doing!Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-9307591418487569172011-10-08T16:29:00.000-07:002011-10-10T07:57:54.565-07:00Words to Live By...<div style="text-align: left;">One of the best Anonymous quotes that I have come across that made me stop and reflect on myself is below. You've most likely read this quote before...enjoy your reflection! </div><div style="color: #073763; text-align: center;"><br />
<span style="color: #073763;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Watch your thoughts, for they become words.</span></span></div><div style="color: #073763; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Watch your words, for they become actions.</span></div><div style="color: #073763; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Watch your actions, for they become habits.</span></div><div style="color: #073763; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Watch your habits, for they become character.</span></div><div style="color: #073763; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW1iD5Lca0SKzkrjbYaNx4S9tQlI9qYHAmU5gzG8gOtFxXN1X1QLf5fayWXWGbwzlk9mzZ9o6lrfufOTfcb06vBd95ZsEkvfWmvlyEpDPRKBTpWTUA8Zwm2eLvFwW4twtPTPnA8vIzS8s/s1600/Niagra+Falls+2010+155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW1iD5Lca0SKzkrjbYaNx4S9tQlI9qYHAmU5gzG8gOtFxXN1X1QLf5fayWXWGbwzlk9mzZ9o6lrfufOTfcb06vBd95ZsEkvfWmvlyEpDPRKBTpWTUA8Zwm2eLvFwW4twtPTPnA8vIzS8s/s200/Niagra+Falls+2010+155.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="color: #073763; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">~Anonymous~</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></div>Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-32060610042081814172011-10-02T20:52:00.000-07:002011-10-06T07:15:09.040-07:00Digital Literacy: Storybird Online Story Writing and Book Making<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUBMQsTvFaXvbz0p0S8sRBKLAEvCIlITaeVozYweMFCYCvFFpdyDC_tSXVZHZnZcb5Oyebi4E7smNVIwNzYVDdhYDyzNC8DPkWFh40SYYF69JIXNREFgMCya0AzP7TvK8GRevDNOGanfc/s1600/Book+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUBMQsTvFaXvbz0p0S8sRBKLAEvCIlITaeVozYweMFCYCvFFpdyDC_tSXVZHZnZcb5Oyebi4E7smNVIwNzYVDdhYDyzNC8DPkWFh40SYYF69JIXNREFgMCya0AzP7TvK8GRevDNOGanfc/s1600/Book+cover.jpg" /></a></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-CIl-Y1WnDpvKBHI4TG_CMFWDEo4lXdVZ08MLh5I-r4Gesznq8lC4Vwr6zxJsvwyd1uJcCnjuQzOL4oIsSEtvEmX2VilPZQs4FWtkaGh39sX79M_nuZPhLr-t-y36ghQKSrJKBz4dJHk/s1600/storybird+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-CIl-Y1WnDpvKBHI4TG_CMFWDEo4lXdVZ08MLh5I-r4Gesznq8lC4Vwr6zxJsvwyd1uJcCnjuQzOL4oIsSEtvEmX2VilPZQs4FWtkaGh39sX79M_nuZPhLr-t-y36ghQKSrJKBz4dJHk/s1600/storybird+image.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">storybird</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Recently on Twitter, I learned about <a href="http://storybird.com/"><span style="color: #990000;">Storybird</span></a>, an online story writing website that promotes digital literacy. You start by choosing an artists set of pictures or a theme of pictures and creating a story, based on which pictures you choose. I am a huge advocator of book making projects and alternatives to worksheets which motivate children to write, and this included digital literacy. So, I just had to dig in and try it! You can view my published book:<span style="color: #674ea7;"> </span><i style="color: black;">A Surprise Winter Day Birthday Party</i><span style="color: #0b5394;"> </span>by<a href="http://storybird.com/books/a-surprise-winter-day-birthday-party/"> clicking here</a>. The books go through a filter approval process before they are published. The artist I chose to use is<br />
<div class="book-meta-section"><div class="book-meta-content"><a href="http://storybird.com/bluedogrose/">bluedogrose.</a> </div></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHQkf9bFZufW9fwktkZsyZl_XsTLJ9FYC45nigoyg6zM5sSS8Tt-1y-elZRhxtk5Ds6cpGSGgnru0NPCyaZyJCdGGBD8GeKfgtitFS4M4prqd0JO3hky3lOLfN-y59c-1TMCsbTbAOOIw/s1600/Snowball+fight+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="95" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHQkf9bFZufW9fwktkZsyZl_XsTLJ9FYC45nigoyg6zM5sSS8Tt-1y-elZRhxtk5Ds6cpGSGgnru0NPCyaZyJCdGGBD8GeKfgtitFS4M4prqd0JO3hky3lOLfN-y59c-1TMCsbTbAOOIw/s200/Snowball+fight+pic.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>There is a demonstration video in the <u>Tour</u> tab on how to use the <u>Create</u> board: add text, change colors, and drag and drop in pictures for your story. There is a <u>Read</u> tab which takes you to where you can read other books published for public viewing. When you create your account, you can choose a regular account (1 person), a <a href="http://storybird.com/teachers/">teacher account</a> for a class, or a child account for under 13 years. You can sign up for free! <br />
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When writing, you can invite a collaborator to work together with you by adding their email; a beneficial feature if you have more than one student working on a book together. There is also a spot for a guardian or parent email so they see the collaboration and writing in progress. Once you publish a book, you can make your books "public or private" (invite by email address).<br />
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However, there is a catch, as I found out after publishing my story. If you want to download a PDF file of your published book, it will cost you $1.99. There are other purchase choices too for soft cover books and hard cover books ranging from $14.95- $29.95. On the positive side, it could make the perfect gift from your students for a family member or special friend. Or, you can share it for free by just posting it as a "public". If you choose the "private" viewing setting, then you can invite only certain people to view it free online by adding their email address. So, there are a variety of options!<br />
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The best part about the Storybird digital literacy story writing website, is that it just may be a technology tool to inspire your students to write, write, write!Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-64516314528353802092011-09-29T08:06:00.000-07:002011-10-04T07:41:13.572-07:00Homework Menu: add choice and community service. It's not all on paper...Teacher Sally Koch Hayes of Burlington, introduced a terrific idea about homework and differentiated learning. She knows students have different interests and different styles of learning that is meaningful to them. Basically, she gives her students a weekly homework grid and they must select three daily activities from a "menu" of 10 categories which may include:<br />
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1. <u> Pleasure Reading</u>: books, magazines, recipes, newspapers, ebooks<br />
2. <u>Physical Activities</u>: walking, biking, skating, swimming, playing sports<br />
3. <u>Hobbies:</u> sewing, gardening, photography, caring for pets<br />
4. <u>Art Projects: </u>painting, drawing, collage, dioramas<br />
5. <u>Community Service:</u> mowing a neighbor's lawn/shoveling for them, playing a game with an older person or younger person, picking up trash<br />
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Effective education thinks outside the box; it is creative and innovative. This teacher found her students began to organize community clean-ups and learned how to play chess in order to play with an older person. They extended themselves to build community. Homework is more than regurgitating information and completing worksheets. I like this idea; learning is not all on paper. This is homework that would make Music lessons or participating on a Sport Team outside of school count. Today's students would love a Technology option to interact with websites, view videos, and play online skill building games. I like when students connect what their gifts are and where their strengths lie to extend themselves and reach out to others! <br />
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To read the full article on Sally Koch Hayes, please <a href="http://www.7dvt.com/2011class-consciousness">click here</a>.Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-49927514163706835182011-09-27T08:30:00.000-07:002011-09-27T08:39:33.277-07:00Googlios: Transforming ePortfolios, Transforming Education<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Educator G. Alex Ambrose, an academic advisor at the University of Notre Dame and an ABD Doctoral Student in Computing Technology in Education, created the concept and website on Googlios (Goolge + Portfolio). <span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ff9900; text-decoration: none;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">It is copyrighted and licensed under </span> a <span style="color: #ff8f00; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #ff9900;"><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/" rel="nofollow" style="color: rgb(255, 143, 0) ! important; text-decoration: none;">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.</a></span></span></span></span> See the 2 minute introduction video here:<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/mCdm2rTe17s?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">I'm interested in these for students to build their ePortfolios through school and post secondary studies and for adults to continue to add to their ePortfolios as they add their own post Graduate studies and work experience to their resumes in the form of a Googlio. You can make your Googlio public, private (for viewing by email invite only), or semi-private (in the case of a school). Click here to view the <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/googlioproject/home/quotes-notes/buildingagoogliofromagooglesitetemplate3partvideotutorial">four part videos by G. Alex Ambrose</a>.<span style="font-size: small;"> Please visit </span><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.googlios.com/">www.Googlios.com</a> for more information.</span></span></div>Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-4240819229772676832011-09-24T20:00:00.000-07:002011-09-24T20:00:17.429-07:00Pizza Books!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJhQMys39l-cZlX1R4rRjI_WLOzWLkynYFOS9qVahh2eVybBgFPwn0rjacG8GdB9GXm0-Ygn5cRdmu69kdtM2uJcoXZadcHoTfc7Oikz0nuJNVzxHGz0DZW17Juz7CN7CTcsY2Yew0g0/s1600/Ultimate+Lap+Book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJhQMys39l-cZlX1R4rRjI_WLOzWLkynYFOS9qVahh2eVybBgFPwn0rjacG8GdB9GXm0-Ygn5cRdmu69kdtM2uJcoXZadcHoTfc7Oikz0nuJNVzxHGz0DZW17Juz7CN7CTcsY2Yew0g0/s200/Ultimate+Lap+Book.jpg" width="153" /></a></div>What do you get when you combine Pizza and Books? ...Pizza Books! These creative books are seen in <i>The Ultimate Lap Book Handbook...Plus Other Books to Make With Children </i>by Tami Duby and Cyndy Regeling.<br />
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Use this folding pizza- shape idea for reports or presentations instead of a flat poster. The pages of the book look like a pizza slice and it folds open page by page into a circular pizza. Storage is easy as it folds back up into a single slice of pizza. I've used this with children to present on their Family, each piece of pizza is a new paragraph and photo. Use it for Social Studies to separate different regions, provinces or Flags of different countries. Be creative!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNgTVkMhM8NrBQmfRDr81ENp4jaAaUthgRaKeCnv79c99vbQcQgkG5RZCY8hniyHAqXpWtvX-v7pDmERuf1NYpWn-QWMJ_BRXaufZG2aCqAkhF9bp3no8r00D75-bb8U2pt3GFHlJa06A/s1600/Pizza+Books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNgTVkMhM8NrBQmfRDr81ENp4jaAaUthgRaKeCnv79c99vbQcQgkG5RZCY8hniyHAqXpWtvX-v7pDmERuf1NYpWn-QWMJ_BRXaufZG2aCqAkhF9bp3no8r00D75-bb8U2pt3GFHlJa06A/s200/Pizza+Books.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Other variations the authors recommend are Rainbow Pizza Books using multicolored poster boards , decorating the edges with patterns, stamps, hole punch designs and stickers, and Mini-Pizza books!<br />
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Kids love putting these together with you and the best part is, they can't wait to write in them! Enjoy.Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-74167696753656721192011-09-15T18:59:00.000-07:002017-02-07T15:11:18.257-08:00Pursuing Peace: The Talking CornerHere is my Prezi to explain how to pursue peace through talking with your students in Grades 1-3: "The Talking Corner". I have implemented this problem solving strategy with students and it works; focusing the students on talking, pursuing peaceful relationships and finding solutions. You can adapt the process to older students by replacing the Teddy Bear with a "conch" for the speaker and to represent taking turns. Enjoy this idea developed by educator, Deanna Odland.<br />
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<a href="http://prezi.com/lg0zzgdydcuw/pursuing-peace-by-talking/" title="
We are to pursue peaceful relationships with others to make this world a better place...simply by talking.
">Pursuing Peace by Talking</a> on <a href="http://prezi.com/">Prezi</a></div>
<iframe id="iframe_container" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen="" width="550" height="400" src="https://prezi.com/embed/lg0zzgdydcuw/?bgcolor=ffffff&lock_to_path=0&autoplay=0&autohide_ctrls=0&landing_data=bHVZZmNaNDBIWnNjdEVENDRhZDFNZGNIUE1EMjZEaE5TM1FHaDhFL0dTMmsydHlBN3oxRkVrYlB1OUNtTG0xNHU5ST0&landing_sign=3_cj9wFktBEPXspcrE17WaIygWd0e_Q4-tFvEbQ0zWE"></iframe>
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Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-68205069974403071992011-09-13T10:45:00.000-07:002011-09-13T10:45:33.642-07:00Learning Virtues Through Literature<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Ju4sjcOkqXN-HOHkZI737pQXBPO_Kb_8Nyd9X-LMkVZAeHyQPuWM3dEUlGoyL5Akhy3cfdGaUe18Jvjvm8JRs21oP1d3vPNyBPAiPLYJLdpG_EZ6YdxVLwvXBcJgQH2KOd4z85wJc84/s1600/Virtues+Guide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Ju4sjcOkqXN-HOHkZI737pQXBPO_Kb_8Nyd9X-LMkVZAeHyQPuWM3dEUlGoyL5Akhy3cfdGaUe18Jvjvm8JRs21oP1d3vPNyBPAiPLYJLdpG_EZ6YdxVLwvXBcJgQH2KOd4z85wJc84/s200/Virtues+Guide.jpg" width="124" /></a><i><span style="background-color: #9fc5e8;"></span></i></div><a name='more'></a><i>The Virtues Guide</i> by Linda Kavelin Popov is part of an initiative called <i>The Virtues Project</i> and is being taught through families and educators throughout the world to bring character training to children's lives. It includes a list of Virtue descriptions, why and how to practic<span style="background-color: #6fa8dc;"></span>e it in daily living, signs of success and affirmations. <br />
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw6q2k-AKoaZY9PbvyxrhjOLPVsLxThu2iMbl2EVG02kVG06KkE-1cJLeUSusrR9SDdToxUffjOEAp0hHnVC-DsHLBJQGm_IDAc8MV2b7AubPRoIm24ZsCbxAJgJY5_AfAi3AdfnmpN3E/s1600/Owl+Babies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw6q2k-AKoaZY9PbvyxrhjOLPVsLxThu2iMbl2EVG02kVG06KkE-1cJLeUSusrR9SDdToxUffjOEAp0hHnVC-DsHLBJQGm_IDAc8MV2b7AubPRoIm24ZsCbxAJgJY5_AfAi3AdfnmpN3E/s1600/Owl+Babies.jpg" /></a>I find an effective and fun way to introduce children to specific Virtues is to look at characters across literature to help children make connections between the character's behavior and taking a deeper look at themselves. For example, the Virtue of Trust can be introduced to young readers using the book <i>Owl Babies </i>by Martin Waddell. The Virtue of Tolerance can be studied using the book <i>Effie </i>by Beverley Allinson. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2pHAl-EDsErmESgE5q21bXfMVAp2Vwv9Ur-_QfId-CbxpTXLAsV_HgZGOYGKMqU5Cl-zfLClIhqC7lT-U6lKwAZt4DCSzxoLz8ZhqASz76-PRX6_q72sSW1cNUf_XSbpAL5BCLIHH9DM/s1600/Owl+Babies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><strike></strike></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkuYyEi5FnoUYjRFi6VwY0PdwMkJHqdPRXt9_TV6BKXWh5nRuJSy6AjIuLlh9-k5opWn7z6oyhyHBOOkWhILQnoRBD4GvkWxs3zsIcS8ok-SnFKkDcH9M1zGOUPrK4Jy_ZSeQBZQPb_V4/s1600/Effie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkuYyEi5FnoUYjRFi6VwY0PdwMkJHqdPRXt9_TV6BKXWh5nRuJSy6AjIuLlh9-k5opWn7z6oyhyHBOOkWhILQnoRBD4GvkWxs3zsIcS8ok-SnFKkDcH9M1zGOUPrK4Jy_ZSeQBZQPb_V4/s200/Effie.jpg" width="200" /></a> Have a Virtue of the Month focus and see how many books and characters you and the children can find practicing that Virtue! Enjoy! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span id="goog_1700586744"></span><span id="goog_1700586745"></span>Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1892992548408054040.post-8495101011387006662011-09-11T15:05:00.000-07:002011-09-11T17:09:47.353-07:00Alternatives to Worksheets<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbwlZpvJpdvTGdhG0qGO9uZHX_QenbBO0vmNOOzD-4SkH5YUMI_XAgH_gGvDg57kkJ03ruL87gh-2-WnCGCRMi6O00rHlvtpKY4JLVJYMqFZ0WcmYMlg3t_mrgTLRMkK3SM3ZQrPGdMvI/s1600/alternatives+to+worksheets.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 125px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 180px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651252592439526898" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbwlZpvJpdvTGdhG0qGO9uZHX_QenbBO0vmNOOzD-4SkH5YUMI_XAgH_gGvDg57kkJ03ruL87gh-2-WnCGCRMi6O00rHlvtpKY4JLVJYMqFZ0WcmYMlg3t_mrgTLRMkK3SM3ZQrPGdMvI/s320/alternatives+to+worksheets.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-family:arial;">Creative Teaching Press has a terrific resource to change worksheets into fun projects compiled into a book called </span><span style="font-family:arial;"><em>Alternatives to Worksheets </em>written by Karen Bauer and Rosa Drew<em>. </em>They recommend using the projects for grades K-4, but teachers can modify projects to upper elementary grades. I've used them with students in grades K-6 as motivational and meaningful projects which can be adapted to any topic or inquiry study you are doing. These projects focus on written work and students enjoy creating them so much, they are motivated to write!</span><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Arial;">Some of my favorite ones to use in motivating children to write are Accordion Books, Shape Books, Pop-up Cards, Paper Ves</span><span style="font-family:Arial;">ts, Book marks, Door Hangers, Cubes and Visors.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Arial;">Useful strategies using this resource in Students reaching success include:</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Arial;">1. Students can work with a small group, a partner or independently.</span></div><span style="font-family:Arial;">2. Teachers model the project and students personalize their own creatively.</span><br /><div><span style="font-family:Arial;">3. Brainstorm what you know about the project/topic together to help students get started.</span></div></div>Live & Learnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11826985130451662443noreply@blogger.com0