Project Leadership: Steps Along the Way



Step 1: Building Capacity As The "Lead Learner"

 

 

• Attending the Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario Conference, Sept. 26-28, Glen Bernard Camp in Sundridge, Ontario.  Our activities included working with, observing and sharing resources with educational leaders in Science and Outdoor Education. These professionals represented diverse areas of the province. International keynote speakers shared wisdom about best practices in environmental education and stewardship.

 

 

 





Step 2: Collecting Resources, Building a Team and Setting Direction

 

• "Inquiry involves the science, art, and spirit of curiosity. It can be further explained as the scientific process of active exploration by which we use critical, logical, and creative thinking skills to raise and engage in questions of personal interest.  Driven by our curiosity and wonder about observed phenomena...”   Douglas Llewellyn"

 



Is Just Being Outdoors Enough?

 

"Understanding the outdoors as a classroom means that the outdoors IS the content and not just a different place to do classroom learning."

-Annelies Groen, Instructional Leader/Science & Technology, TDSB

 

As Teachers and "Lead Learners" Working Together, We Can Better Understand:

• The Role of Play/Outdoor Play
• The Role of Inquiry
• Science Inquiry Skills
• Developing Inquiry Questions: The Role of the Teacher & The Role of The Learner

 

 

 

 



 

 



Using System Priorities to Shape Instructional Leadership.....

As noted in Shaping our Schools, Shaping Our Future: Environmental Education in Ontario Schools,

 

Environmental education...

 

“is the responsibility of the entire education community. It is a content area and can be taught.  It is an approach to critical thinking, citizenship, and personal responsibility, and can be modeled.  It is a context that can enrich and enliven education in all subject areas, and offer students the opportunity to develop a deeper connection with themselves, their role in society, and their interdependence on one another and the Earth’s natural systems” (page 10)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Leading the Outdoor Education FDK Project in Simcoe DSB with Tori Osadca from Willow Landing, we aim to align provincial priorities with board initiatives to meet these goals:

 

• to increase the capacity of SCDSB Full-Day Early Learning teams to implement inquiry-based and experiential learning while using the newly-built outdoor classrooms with students
• To impact student engagement and student achievement in Science & Tech, Literacy and Numeracy
• To highlight and promote the expertise of exemplary SCDSB kindergarten teams (in a demo class capacity) as they support student achievement in these specific learning domains. 
• To augment and revise the SCDSB working document Outdoor Learning Spaces
• To share this professional learning with new FDK teams at implementation training in June



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



No Speeding Tickets, Mrs. Aldersey!!

Dear Class,

I am so excited to be on my way to Toronto today to visit the Equinox school in Toronto! They have the first Outdoor Kindergarten in Ontario. They have a very special way to do most of their learning and playing in their outdoor classroom. I am hoping to learn from the teachers there. Have a great day with Mrs. DeBruyn. You will be painting melted snowmen and writing about your gold medal moments. Here is a movie about their special school:

Have a great day!

 



February News and Friendship Salad!

Here is a link to our February News:

 

CLICK RIGHT HERE FOR NEWSLETTER!

 

Don't forget to read all about Friendship Salad Day and Kindergarten Olympics, Coming Soon to Room 102.

 

Stay warm, everyone! Wiarton Willie says 6 more weeks of winter. Learn more about groundhogs here:

 

 



     
              

Celebrating our Christmas Get-Together....

Holiday Family Fun in Kindergarten! on PhotoPeach

More Elfish Adventures....

As you can see, Jingle was very worn out last Friday from all of his trips to from the North Pole. We caught him snoozing in the big mitten with our storybook animal friends from Jan Brett's book, The Mitten. On Monday, he enjoyed quietly hiding away during our snow day. Today, Jingle must have heard that we were making Fruit Loop necklaces, so he thought he'd better make sure that we got a good batch of loops. Head first, Jingle? Really? Would Santa be proud of your manners?



Jingle the Elf is At It Again!

Oh, that naughty little Jingle, our Elf on the Shelf, was up to some serious mischief in our classroom. It would seem that he got very hungry while visiting us! When Mrs. A. and Mrs. D. left at night, he crept into our snack box and helped himself! He had sticky fruit filling all over his face from a Nutrigrain bar. And then he left granola bar crumbs all over the place! Our friend C.C. came up with a solution: he left his very own special bear with us overnight to stand guard over the snack box so that Jingle stays out. Silly elf! Well....... we can only wonder what he might be up to now......

Have a look at the evidence:

 



NEWS FROM NORAD SANTA TRACKER

Our military friends at NORAD are busy for another year of tracking and capturing Santa's worldwide journey starting on December 24th. They use high-tech cameras, satellite systems and radar monitoring to keep Santa safe and on-time as he makes his way around the globe delivering joy to kids everywhere! Check out their video messages here and click on the link to NORAD's site, where you will find more games, astonishing facts and more. Keep this link handy for the 24th and you can check in on Santa's journey as he makes his way to your house.

NORAD SANTA TRACKER SITE

The Elf on the Shelf has Arrived in Kindergarten!

 

Mrs. Aldersey, Mrs. DeBruyn and all the kinder kids were so excited when we discovered that Santa has sent a scout elf to keep an eye on us in kindergarten. Each night, he flies back to the North Pole to give Santa a report. The children were all thrilled to tell us that some of you have got a scout elf keeping an eye on things at home, too. We named our scout elf "Jingle", thanks to R.T.'s creative idea. (I am not using childrens' names on the site)  When we went looking for Jingle, we caught him playing alphabet "Go Fish" with our good friend Pete the Cat. I wonder what mischief Jingle will be up to tomorrow? We will try to keep you up to date with photos of Jingle's adventures. Look for your elf reports coming home in the mailbags! The Elf on the Shelf book publishers have a great site just jam-packed full of games, colouring pages, activities, and iPhone/iPad apps. Here is the link (click directly on text):

 

ELF ON THE SHELF SITE

 

 



 

 



Lest We Forget

Enjoy this video of remembrance featuring artwork by W.R. Best's own grades 5, 6 and 7 students:

Literacy Learning Links

Here is a treasure trove of learning sites to promote your child's reading and writing skills. Just click on the name of the site. Some sites are for parents, and some are for the kids. Keep it fun! Stay tuned for math sites coming soon...

FOR KIDS:

Starfall: A comprehensive site: letter sound activities and stories, rhyming word family stories and games.

PBS Kids: Reading and other games with favourite characters.

Spelling City:  Enter your own individualized list of sight words and the site generates games with those words!

BBC Education

Speakaboos: Celebrities reading childrens' stories and lots of activities to go with it all!

Storyline Online: More celebrities reading kids' stories. Great site!

SkippyJon Jones' Closet:  We love this guy! Be sure to brush up on your spanish accent!

Seussville

National Geographic Kids

Lawrence Hall of Science

Funology: Games, crafts, activities, facts.... a treasure trove!

Funbrain

LITERACY SITES FOR PARENTS

Reading Rockets: A premium site to support parents as they guide their children through literacy learning.

ReadWriteThink: Based on the latest research. A great way to inform yourself.



November News Just Blew In With the Hurricane!

Just Click Here for November News

Don't forget to mark our concert date on your December calendar!

 

October News is Here!

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR OUR OCTOBER NEWS

Video Sing Along with our ABC Rap!

There's an App for that: Pete the Cat!

Hello again, everyone!

"Pete the Cat" fever has hit our little Oro kindergarten class!

Help Pete find his lost guitar with this Pete the Cat iTunes App. Introductory Price, $0.99!

Follow this link:

Pete the Cat App 

Hey! It's Pete the Cat and he has his own movie!

Hi everyone! Hope you're having a great long weekend so far. Check out this video of author Eric Litwin sharing his video and song of our favourite cool cat, PETE! Enjoy!

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Mrs. Aldersey and Mrs.  DeBruyn are excited to finally reveal our new class website, which is still a work in progress! Stay tuned for links to great learning sites and other digital tidbits for little ones. For now, you can sit back, relax and read our latest newsletter, either online or by enjoying the hard copy we sent home.

Please click here for September News

Please provide your e-mail address in your child's mailbag so that it will also go to your inbox.

WARNING: paper newsletters are becoming extinct. We are going to try to stay "paperless" for newsletters, so we are encouraging you to visit our site on a regular basis to see what's happening in Room #102.