Shared Classroom

Ella’s Zoo

Regular schools meet the needs of most children in BC, but one single model of schooling can’t hope to reach every learner. SD27 has several alternatives to regular schooling that enable students to participate and be successful. One of these alternatives is the Distance Education Program. This program allows students who live too far from a public school, or whose families prefer to school their children at home, access to professional teachers and resources. One of the options within the Distance Education Program is the “Shared Classroom”. Frances McCoubrey and Martin Kruus, two of the Distance Education teachers who run the program, recently outlined how it works at a School Board Education Committee Meeting.

The ‘Shared Classroom’ option allows two groups (one Primary and one Intermediate) to meet two days per week for social learning with a project-based focus. Each four-six week block is planned by teachers and communication with parents before each cycle ensures that parents know what is going on and how they can support the learning at home. It also means that throughout the year, trained teachers are able to focus on different skills and provide a balance across the curriculum. Each cycle has a different focus, within which the teachers are able to develop skills and teach elements of the curriculum that are challenging to do at home – for example, in the current project, students are undertaking research, contributing to a whole group culmination, participating in committees and learning how to present to others.

Flag Football

At present there are about 10 students in each group that span 3-5 grade levels. Small numbers mean that teachers can more easily differentiate tasks based on the abilities and ages of the students within the context of the projects. Because the teachers meet with the children for 12 hours each week, they get to know them better than they would in the regular Distance Ed program, where students receive one-on-one attention for a couple of hours every two weeks.

Declan’s Zoo

During the presentation, Timu Kruus, one of the students in the program, shared the first project his group did before Fall Break, called “Apples”. Timu did a great job of showing his enthusiasm for the project and sharing his understandings about what happened and what he learned. The next unit was “Canadian Historical Fiction-Short Stories” (all grades), followed by “Ancient Civilizations” (grades 3-7) and “Tree Climbing”, “Restaurant” and “Playground Design” (grades K-2). The final unit, “Zoo” involves all students.

Learning to Ski at Bull Mountain!

Field trips are an important component of the program. There is at least one trip per project cycle – directly related to projects or activities the students are doing that would be much more difficult or impossible to do from home. Sometimes these trips provide a ‘kick-off’ at the beginning of the project or they could occur during the project to support work going on. One focus on these trips is the opportunity to develop and practice empathy and other social skills. Multi-age groups provide an opportunity for leadership skill development and learning from peers as well as adults. In addition to Project Field Trips, monthly visits to Scout Island allow teachers to utilize this amazing local resource. Students participate in science-related inquiries, note seasonal changes and just enjoy being outside with others. At least one extended field trip, not directly related to class work, takes place each term as well. For example, last year students went to Tatlayoko Lake to camp for four nights and participated in an overnight, winter camping excursion to Bull Mountain, north of Williams Lake, this year.

According to McCoubrey, the best thing about the ‘Shared Classroom’ is the opportunity it offers to balance the nurturing and attentiveness a parent can bring to schooling with the expertise and skills a trained teacher can bring. For more information about the program, please contact principal, Mike Franklin (mike.franklin@sd27.bc.ca) or teachers Martin Kruus (martin.kruus@sd27.bc.ca) and Frances McCoubrey (frances.mccoubrey@sd27.bc.ca).  Any of them can be reached by calling 250.398.5800.

Engaging Learners at Horsefly School

Learning doesn’t work well if you are disengaged. Connecting students to things that matter goes a long way toward engaging them and preparing them for learning important skills and concepts. At Horsefly School, one way of engaging students is through an inquiry and problem solving project. Teachers and other adult mentors posed a challenge to the students: How much can we reduce our school’s carbon footprint in one year?

According to Calvin Dubray, principal, “students hope to reduce the school’s carbon footprint over the year and increase student and adult knowledge of recycling and power consumption and then translate into discussions for creating carbon footprint reduction strategies at home.”

Chevy MacLean (gr. 4, left) and Lexi Augustine (gr. 4) are putting recyclables into the appropriate bins in their classroom.

Recycling stations have been set up in each classroom, staff room and kitchen at the school. Students have received training in the use of these stations. The stations include a refundable bin, a plastics bin, a paper bin, a cardboard bin and a composting bin. Helpers in each class weigh the contents and empty the bins in a centralized location which is later brought into town by Dubray. The compost collected will be used in the school’s ‘Spuds in Tubs’ program later in the spring.

Ashley Wilson (gr. K, left front), Chloe Veitch (gr. K) and Keagan Wilkins Scott (gr. 2) deposit their compost into 1 of 2 compost bins at the back of the school.

To reduce electricity consumption, students monitor electricity use and look for ways to save electricity. Simple steps, like turning off lights in areas of the school not being used, checking that thermostats are set correctly, and turning off computers when they are not being used, help students reach their goal.

In order to be able to find out if the students’ strategies are successful, tracking data about recycling and electricity usage is a must. Students in each class weigh recyclable materials and track how much is being diverted from the local landfill. Electricity usage is being tracked and compared to month by month energy consumption reports from the previous year.

Jesse Way (gr. 3, left), Josh Sumner (gr. 5), Kyler Irving (gr. 5) and Evan Way (gr. 5) are coming back from weighing and dropping their classroom recycling off at the central collection station in the school to be transported to town.

The results so far have been excellent. Over 60,000 returnable containers have been diverted from the landfill. Garbage bags have been reduced from three per day to just one. Power consumption has been reduced each month compared to last year according to the monthly energy report obtained from the SD27 Manager of Facilities and Transportation. Numbers collected this year will help students set targets for next year.

Maintaining enthusiasm for a year long project can be tough, but sharing results with students allows them to see that their hard work is earning results. The Student Leadership Group at Horsefly School also provides incentives and organizes contest to keep things interesting. The senior class at the school even produced a video, “The Green Team Strikes Again!” to highlight examples of recycling bin misuse. They entered this video into “Science World’s BC Green Games, an annual contest designed to encourage K-12 students to document and share their environmental action stories,” according to Dubray.

More information about the Horsefly School’s carbon footprint reduction project can be found by reading the Green Gazette online.

Great schools are the center of their communities, especially in rural areas. Horsefly School students connect inside and outside of school hours. Check out this video by the local Horsefly 4H Club, one of four national winners in a contest promoting 4H across Canada. All but one of the students featured attends Horsefly School.

Multi-Grade Magic!

Managing multiple grades can be a challenge for teachers. Sylvia Swift, one of two teachers in the Balanced-Year Program at Cataline School, showed at a recent Education Committee Meeting, how using personalized learning strategies helps her meet the needs of a diverse group of learners.

Sylvia focuses on engagement and developing a student investment in learning. Separation of learning into specific graded subjects doesn’t work in a grade 2-6 split, where students have a diverse range of skills and experiences. Sylvia spends ample time at the start of the year assessing student needs to help personalize learning for students. Also during the beginning of the year, Sylvia spends time helping students learn routines and frameworks that will support learning in Language Arts, Math and Personal Inquiries.

In Language Arts, Sylvia uses ‘The Daily Five’ and ‘Literacy Café’ to help students develop accuracy, fluency and comprehension strategies while learning to read and write, speak and listen.  In Math, Sylvia uses Guided Math Groups. She focuses on big umbrella topics (basic facts, adding/subtracting, etc.) and using meaningful topics for generating problems practice (food groups, graphing, etc.). Swift expects her students to be mathematicians – to be able to explain and prove their work.

Learning in a Multi-grade Classroom

Student Inquiry Projects allow students to learn important inquiry skills (e.g. questioning, researching, reflecting, thinking, communicating) in the context of students’ own questions and observations. Through personally relevant inquiry, students learn how to ask good questions and learn about research skills – using multiple sources and avoiding plagiarism. September starts with a whole class inquiry and Sylvia gradually releases responsibility for personal inquiry as students are ready to take on more, independently.

To better show how the Inquiry works, Sylvia invited grade 2 student, Jack McInnis, to share his presentation “What Makes Wind Blow?” and talk about how he learned what he learned. Jack shared confidently and showed how personally engaging inquiry can help students develop varying skills.

You can see more of Sylvia’s class in action at her class website, “Balanced Calendar Kids”. If you click on Jack’s name on the website, you can see his ‘What Makes Wind Blow?’ presentation. Sylvia’s presentation to the Education  Committee can be found here: “21st Century Learning Presentation”.

Science Skills in the 21st Century

When you think of 21^st Century Learning, you might imagine iPads in little hands or a team of learners collaborating on an inquiry. ‘Science Fair’ likely doesn’t come to mind – but, it should! Students in School District #27 have been participating in local, regional and national Science Fairs for decades – and winning! At a recent Education Committee meeting, Jim Price, an upper elementary teacher from 100 Mile Elementary School, showed how the well-established program has been ‘personalizing’ learning for a long time, and continues to do so, even in the 21^st Century.

An example of a Science Fair project on display.

The Ministry’s ‘BC Education Plan’ includes five key elements, all of which are addressed when students participate in Science Fair.

• Personalized Learning for Every Student
• Quality Teaching and Learning
• Flexibility and Choice
• High Standards
• Learning Empowered by Technology

Science Fair works best when students pursue a personal inquiry based on their own observations of the world around them. It engages students in scientific investigation beyond regular class work. Because students are investigating real world problems, they are able to apply hands-on, minds-on science learning, says Price. By involving outside judges from the community, a strong connection between school and the world of work forms. Judges apply high standards to their assessment of the projects and provide an authentic audience for student communication. Price notes that projects enhance the teaching and learning of important science process skills – predicting/hypothesizing, controlling variables, observing, measuring, analyzing data, inferring and communicating. All these skills can be used in future careers, and not just in the sciences. Finally, students are able to practice and refine all these ’21^st Century’ skills:

• Creativity and innovation
  

  Judging connects students with community members working in Science-related fields.

• Critical thinking and problem solving
• Communication and collaboration
• Initiative and self-direction
• Productivity and accountability
• Information literacy
• Information, communications, and technology literacy

The District Science Fair will be held at 100 Mile House Elementary School on February 25. Winners will be invited to the Regional Fair at TRU in Kamloops on April 3-4. The National Fair takes place May 10-16 in Windsor, Ontario. If you want to find out more about Science Fair, you can contact Jim Price (james.price@sd27.bc.ca) at 100 Mile Elementary School.  A copy of Jim’s presentation to the Education Committee can be found here: Science Fair Presentation.

Science Fair Coordinator, Jim Price

Literacy Week at Horse Lake Elementary

A highlight of the school year at Horse Lake Elementary School is ‘Literacy Week’.  Running since 2008 and part of the school’s structured annual Literature Plan for the year, Literacy Week is something students and teachers alike look forward to.

Throughout the school, teachers and students choose from a variety of extra activities in addition to the more routine literacy activities they normally do.  In addition to the obvious benefits of participating in literacy activities, the coordinated school-wide undertakings provide a wonderful focus for inclusive, ‘sense-of-belonging’, community building.

According to Joy Gammie, Learning Support Teacher (joy.gammie@sd27.bc.ca), “we try to have theme days which can include dressing up as a favourite character from literature.” This year, a fun event was classroom door decorations. Selecting a favourite book and then recreating the cover on the door to each classroom provided for an impressive hallway walk!  You can see some examples in the PowerPoint below:

The highlight of the week though was the whole-school authored progressive story.  Gammie explains that “this starts in the Kindergarten room. This year, they were shown a white teddy and five coloured rings. They get to begin the story and then it moves from classroom to classroom with each contributing a section of the story. Then, on Friday, students from each room read their section at an assembly.  The stories are amazing.”  Once the story is complete, it is made into a book with illustrations done by the Grade 7 class.  This year’s story is still in production, but last year’s can be found below.

Congratulations to the Literacy Committee at Horse Lake Elementary for creating an engaging and fun-filled learning experience for your students and teachers.