Student Blogs

The biggest event this week in Division 9 was launching students' individual blogs.   After learning a bit about blogging with this class blog, I wanted to share the fun with the students. The computer lab was a flurry of excitement as students learned to log in, write posts for the world to see, and comment on what others had written.  To see their blogs, click here or on the tab that says "Student Blogs" at the top of the blog home page.

Besides being lots of fun, having a blog has lots of educational benefits:

1) Blogs give students more opportunities to write, and give them a worldwide audience which can be really motivating. The more you write, the better you get!

2) Blogs help students learn how to be safe on-line and be good on-line citizens. We are using a site called Kidblog,which is a blogging site especially for students.  All posts and comments are moderated by Ms. Birdsall which means she reads them before they are posted to make sure that no inappropriate content is posted.

3)  Blogs give students the chance to build technology skills.  Right now, we are focusing on writing and commenting on blog posts.  Soon though, we will incorporate pictures, audio and other Web 2.0 tools (like the Wordles, Vokis and Animotos you see on this blog) into students' individual blogs.

4)  Blogs serve as on-line portfolios of progress.  As students build their writing skills over the coming months, you will be able to see improvements by looking over their posts from different times. We will also be using blogs to complete assignments on various topics we are learning about in class.

The most exciting part of having a blog is knowing that other people are reading your posts.    Please, please, please take some time to visit students' blogs and leave them comments on their writing!

If you have a blog, what do you like most about having one?

*Div. 9 students - I will not be able to change your blog passwords until Monday, so please continue to use your old passwords this weekend.  Thanks, Ms. B.

Fit Kids

Once a month at our school we have a great opportunity to get active through a program called Fit Kids. A group of wonderful Grade Seven students act as trainers, running classes through fitness stations in the gym. The stations challenge our agility, balance and strength. It's a lot of fun and a great work out! We always come back to class with rosy cheeks. Check out the video below to see some of us participating in the stations.



If you participate in Fit Kids, or something similar, which station is your favourite?

Student of the Week - Olivia

Olivia is our student of the week for her terrific improvements in our weekly Run Club. She has shown great determination to become a better runner. Way to go, Olivia!


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Aboriginal Drumming, Singing and Dancing

Today we had another wonderful presentation from one of our district's Aboriginal cultural workers.  Ms. Merrier spent the afternoon with all of the Grade Four students at our school.  First, she talked a bit about her Aboriginal heritage, and the protocol (rules) about Aboriginal drumming, singing and dancing.  She also spoke about how the drums and rattles are made.  Next, it was time to give it a try!  Students got opportunities to drum, use rattles, sing and dance.  It was a lot of fun, and the students did a wonderful job.  Check out the video below to see them in action.

Inuit Wordle

In Social Studies, we have just finished our unit on the Inuit. As one of our final activities, Ms. Birdsall asked each of us to write down ten words to show what we had learned about the Inuit. Using these words, she created the word cloud below using the cool Web 2.0 tool, Wordle(www.wordle.net). The size of each word is determined by how often it was mentioned. For example, everyone wrote down Inuit as his/her first word, so that is why it is so large in the Wordle.

If you double click on the Wordle image, you will be able to see a bigger version.