We're coming up to a very busy time of the year at Stevenson School. You can always check the Calendar tab on our blog or the Stevenson Blog and Calendar for information about upcoming events.
November 25 - Parent Council Meeting: We are still looking for a Treasurer for Parent Council. Meet at 6:30pm in the school Library. All parents are welcome.
November 26 - Report Cards go home.
December 2 - Early Dismissal at 3:10 pm.
December 4 - Open House Conferences. Students and parents are invited to the school from 4:30 - 7:00 pm to visit the classroom, talk with the teachers, and celebrate your child's success and learning.
December 5 - Open House Conferences from 9:00-11:30 am. No school for students, all day.
December 16 - Early Dismissal at 3:10 pm.
December 17 - K-5 Winter Concert from 1:30-3:30 pm. K-3 Winter Concert from 7:00-7:45 pm.
December 18 - Grade 4/5 Winter Concert from 7:00-8:00 pm.
December 19 - Last day of school before winter break / Room 8 Christmas Party.
Please feel free to call the office or email Mrs. Lowe at clowe@sjsd.net for information about any of these events.
Saturday, 22 November 2014
Kids Who Code: Part 2
Last week I introduced my students to "coding" for the first time. If you're not sure what coding is, check out this link.
First, I asked the students if anyone knew any languages in addition to English. It was interesting to learn that most students knew Spanish, thank you Dora!
I then explained that we were all going to learn the language that computers use and that it is called "code." Everyone cheered!
We started our lesson by laying down a path of foam tiles on the carpet. The students then used arrows to instruct me where to go so that I could get from one end of the path to the other. Sometimes their instructions didn't work and they had to figure out how to fix it. Each time I completed the maze, the students cheered and gave each other high fives.
Next I used the mirroring function on our Smart Board to introduce the Kodable app. Kodable is a great app available for free on iTunes. Students use code to instruct a cute little fuzz ball through a maze, while trying to collect as many coins as possible.
I played the first level to demonstrate and then the students took over selecting arrows and giving our little fuzz ball directions. I could not believe how quickly they caught on.
Finally, the students were paired up and given their own iPads to try it out. It was awesome to see students working together, encouraging each other, problem solving, and trying over and over again without getting frustrated or giving up.
It sounds like a long process but the whole lesson took under 45 minutes, although many students begged to play for longer.
This week we will be teaching our grade 2 buddies about coding and introducing them to Kodable.
First, I asked the students if anyone knew any languages in addition to English. It was interesting to learn that most students knew Spanish, thank you Dora!
I then explained that we were all going to learn the language that computers use and that it is called "code." Everyone cheered!
We started our lesson by laying down a path of foam tiles on the carpet. The students then used arrows to instruct me where to go so that I could get from one end of the path to the other. Sometimes their instructions didn't work and they had to figure out how to fix it. Each time I completed the maze, the students cheered and gave each other high fives.
Next I used the mirroring function on our Smart Board to introduce the Kodable app. Kodable is a great app available for free on iTunes. Students use code to instruct a cute little fuzz ball through a maze, while trying to collect as many coins as possible.
 |
| Kodable App |
Finally, the students were paired up and given their own iPads to try it out. It was awesome to see students working together, encouraging each other, problem solving, and trying over and over again without getting frustrated or giving up.
It sounds like a long process but the whole lesson took under 45 minutes, although many students begged to play for longer.
This week we will be teaching our grade 2 buddies about coding and introducing them to Kodable.
Kindess Matters
Today Mrs. Lowe surprised us with an empty wreath. We talked about the wreaths we saw around Remembrance Day and how they were symbols of peace. Mrs. Lowe explained that our wreath would be a symbol of our kindness to each other.
When students are caught doing kind things, they get to choose a ribbon to tie on the wreath. We are so excited to see how beautiful we can make it, with our kindness.
Some of the kind things we've been doing include:
- helping each other get ready for recess
- giving compliments
- straightening boots that have fallen over on the mat outside our room
- comforting a friend who has been hurt
- teaching each other new skills
- sharing toys
- working as a team to complete a task or solve a problem
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| Working together to add ribbons. |
This idea was inspired by the work of Debbie Clement. You can see more here.
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