New Reason to Love Curling

I found a good reason to watch curling.

Her name is Geri-Lynn Ramsey

and she plays for team PEI.

I've seen curling before but I don't ever remember seeing players this young and beautiful.

I felt a little guilty rooting for another province over my own but I cheered PEI on all weekend long. They played a great game on Saturday and made it to the championship final on Sunday.

They had to play an extra round to break the tie and unfortunately, these lovely young ladies lost to the defending champs of Team Canada.

But I have found a favourite new athlete. (Geri-Lynn Ramsey, on the left)

The Scott Tournament of Hearts will be held in their hometown next year. It would have been nice for them to win this weekend and to come home as champions but my fingers are crossed that they will win it at home next year.

Teaching Tip Tuesday - Phys. Ed & Health

In a perfect world, every school would have a gym teacher. Each class would go to the gym four days a week to learn skills, build muscle, and have fun. On the fifth day of the week, this teacher would come to your classroom to deliver an intensive health program.

However, in many schools this does not happen. More and more we classroom teachers are being called upon to teach our own Health and Physical Education.

Fortunately for those of us in that position, we have OPHEA (Ontario Physical and Health Education Association)

All schools in Ontario should have copies of the OPHEA documents. These are a series of grade-by-grade curriculum resources that are absolutely amazing.

Each document should be stored in a thick binder in your school. There should be one binder for each grade starting from Kindergarten and going all the way up to Grade 10.

The best thing about this resource is that everything is there for you to go into the gym and teach right this very minute. The lesson plans are sequential and fit nicely into units. They show you how to teach each skill and feature warm up and cool down activities. Each lesson is detailed and timed out so well that you do not need to add anything else to it.

I usually just take the page for the lesson out of the binder and put it on my clipboard. I look over it quickly before the class to make sure that we either have all the materials needed or that I can scrounge them in time.

Other than that, there isn't much thinking or planning needed. You can teach directly from this document without knowing anything about volleyball, basketball, gymnastics, or any of the other 19 units in the text.

If your school doesn't have these amazing documents, you can order them. If you live outside of Ontario, I believe that you can purchase them. I highly recommend these documents.

You could use some of the warm-up activities or games in the middle of a long school day to give your students a quick exercise break. A 5 minute physical break often helps our students get back to work and helps them to focus.

Here is a link to a sample of the Grade 6 document.

Ordering information can be found here.

The OPHEA website also has a lot of other free documents and resources that are worth checking out.

Please note that you can click on "Teaching Tips" under the header of my blog to quickly find my posts in the order they have appeared on this site. They are also grouped by theme for easy reference.

I hope you find this series helpful. If you have a tip to share, please consider writing a guest post. Teachers helping teachers is what this is all about.

Winterlude Lights Up the Night

Winterlude is an annual event where Canadians get together to celebrate Winter.

I know a lot of people would rather huddle up inside and hide under the covers just waiting for it to be over. "Who celebrates winter?" they say.

That being said, I've always heard good things about Winterlude so this year I made my way up to Ottawa to check it out.

The celebrations kicked off Friday night with a spectacular fireworks display.

I went into Quebec to the Canadian Museum of Civilization to see the musical display.

I don't think I've seen a better fireworks demonstration in my entire life. It started with what you normally expect of the grand finale. The pacing of the fireworks was amazing. It let up a little in the middle of the show and the music slowed down in perfect syncopation.

The bridge was entirely lit up and at one point, it looked like it became a waterfall as the fireworks arced off of the bridge. It was cool to see the fire extinguishing as it hit the ice below.

After the fireworks, a DJ Misstress Barbara played some energetic records to get everyone to dance and warm up.

It was a pretty nice welcome to Canada's capital region. I spent the rest of the weekend enjoying the other attractions that Winterlude had to offer and will be blogging about them later this week.

Twitter Tip - Creating a Threaded Discussion

One of the most frustrating things about Twitter is trying to have a conversation with someone.

When you reply to a tweet, it isn't threaded at all. There is no subject heading so it can often be unclear as to what post you are commenting on.

I know there have been times when I've stared at my @replies and had to decipher what it was this person was trying to say to me. I've had to scroll back through my tweets to see what I said and which particular thought started the discussion.

Well today, I came up with a way to thread a conversation so that my readers will be able to follow it without confusion.

I'll show you what I did.

As you can see. The original tweet is at the top of my Twitter page and my two part reply is directly below it. This was any of my followers will be able follow the entire discussion quickly and easily.

The first thing I need to explain here is how use multiple tweets to get a point across because sometimes 140 characters is simply not enough.

Simply type the entire message you want to post. Twitter automatically does the counting for you and even tells you how many characters you have gone over. Then split the message into two parts and number them (1/2 - means that this is message 1 of 2)

The trick here is to post the last message first. Do this by highlighting the first tweet (1/2) and copying the text (Control C)

Once you've copied the text, click delete and post the second part of the message. Once it appears on you Twitter page, immediately paste the first part of the message and hit "update"

Now on your Twitter page, people will be able to scroll down and read your message in the right order.

The next thing to do is to go and retweet the original message to which you are replying to.

I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier. It solves the problem about threaded discussions in Twitter for not only myself but for all of my readers as well.

I hope you found this tip useful and I hope to have some discussions with you either here in the comments of on Twitter. Thanks.

Recommended Reads – Table of Contents

Welcome to Recommended Reads.

These are books that I hold dear to my heart.

Please click on the button right under the header page to get the up-to-date Recommended Reads list. I will continue to update it with books that I have read and enjoyed.

Chase's All-Time Favourites

Heartbeat by Sharon Creech

This book sounds amazing! It is a verse novel and at first glance it seems like a collection of poems, but it is a novel. It tells a great story about a 12 year old girl who likes to run. It is my favourite book and if you can get a hold of the audio book, do yourself a favour and get that too.

Ender’s Series by Orson Scott Card

This book is a science fiction classic and the follow up Speaker for The Dead is equally amazing. Card has written seven books in this series and they have all been produced as stunning audio books. The audio books have sound effects, music, and full cast narration. He lists those audio books as the definition collection. He believes that they are the best way to enjoy this series, and I totally concur. They are spectacular.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

This book is part autobiography part writing manual. It is an excellent read for anyone who anyone who writes. King shares his story and advice on how to write. He examines many aspects of writing that he finds essential to the craft. I learned a lot from this book and his advice.

Story by Robert McKee

This is a must have for any writer. Read it with a pencil in your hand. Make underlines and notes. Study it, memorize it, and apply it to your works. It is the best book I have ever read on the craft of writing and I know many writers in several different genres that sing its praises. If you don’t already have a copy, you NEED to go get one.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This is a great story and a terrific read. It deals with finding your place in the world and realizing the connections we have with the world itself. This story is very touching and it tells us to follow our hearts. It is a modern classic.

Watchmen by Allan Moore and Dave Gibbons

This is a graphic novel which revolutionized the comics industry. It showed the real human side of superheroes and told a serious story that dealt with mature subject matter. It was the first graphic novel to ever win a Hugo award for fiction. It is a classic.

Chase's Great Reads

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Set in the early 1900s, the novel focuses on a family that scrapes by the best they can. The main character is the small girl in this poor family. Since the story takes place over several years, we can see the idealistic young girl come to some harsh realities. We effectively get to see her grow up. I like how the author lets us into her life in such a personal way. It’s a moving story and moves along at a good pace.

forget about it by Caprice Crane

A twenty-five year old who doesn’t really like how her life has turned out so far, starts thinking about a do-over. And then, as if the universe heard her request, she gets into a car accident and decides to use it to fake amnesia. This way she can have a fresh start and make some changes in her life.

Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield

In this story, the narrator recounts a love affair with music and his wife. It's a really well told story and is quite compelling.

Michael Chabon's The Escapists by Brian K, Vaughan

Max Roth loses both of his parents. He discovers that his dad was an avid collector of the merchandise of the comic book character from the 1930's called The Escapist. Max decides to use his inheritance to buy the rights to the long forgotten character. He hires two friends to help him create new comic adventures of the Escapist.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

A classic in all aspects of the word. Farm animals rise up and take over the ownership of a farm. This story is an allegory that works on so many different levels.

The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau

This book stands alone as a great story but is also part of a four book series. In this first book, the residents of the City of Ember live in a completely dark world. They are running out of resources and are forced to live on smaller and smaller rations every day. The residents don’t really know what to do about these problems and carry on with their day-to-day lives as if nothing is amiss. However, two recent graduates realize that something is terribly wrong with their city and try to do something about it.

We All Fall Down by Eric Walters

Will is a grade nine student who isn’t too excited about spending a day with his father at work. It’s a school assignment that he would rather not do. He’s upset that his dad has a boring job on the eighty-fifth floor of the World Trade Center. His teacher tells him that tomorrow “might be an experience that changes your entire life.” Of course, no one at the time knew how much truth there was in the small statement. Tomorrow is “Take your kid to work day” and it just happens to be September 11, 2001.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin

Ged is a reckless youth who does not know that he will grow up to become the greatest wizard in all of Earthsea. In his thirst for knowledge, he accidentally sets forth a terrible evil upon the world. He learns how to control himself and his powers over the course of this and subsequent novels. This was Harry Potter before Harry Potter.

Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon

The captive animals in the Baghdad Zoo have fantasized about escaping for some time now. Most of the animals don’t seem to trust each other enough to band together and plan a break out. The head lion is well respected and tells wide tales of his life on the outside of the zoo walls. During the Iraq war, the zoo is bombed and people look to him for guidance when they do finally escape.

The Centre of the Universe: Yep, that would be ME by Anita Liberty

Description: Anita tells us the story of her years in high school in her own words. She shares with us her personal journal, poems, charts, words of advice, her witty observations, and even dictionary words as she studies for her SAT.

White Girl by Sylvia Olsen

Fourteen-year-old Josie finds herself living on a First Nations Reserve after her mother marries an aboriginal man. They move in with him and his son. Josie was used to blending in and finds it difficult to be the only white kid in school and to adjust to her new blended family. She moves from feeling like an outsider to experiencing the richness of her new life and community.

Grease Monkey by Tim Eldred

This is a great graphic novel. The story centres around a gorilla mechanic aboard the starship Fist of Earth. Humans and the gorillas work together on the starship but it is obvious that there is a little bit of distrust and fear between the two groups. What really makes this book a winner is the pacing and humour. The story draws you in right away. The characters are believable and real.

Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers created and written by Bill Willingham

Well known fairy tale characters live among us in the modern world, except we don't know it. This graphic novel series lets us see a new side to the characters we know and love. The characters aren't one-dimensional like they were often presented in the old stories we know. The series is very well done and worth checking out.

The Best Comic Books

I have compiled a short list of comics that are definitely worth reading. Many of these titles can be found at your public library in the Graphic Novel section. This is how I discovered many of these titles.

Recommended Reads – Fables

Here is the latest addition to my Recommended Reads list. Tomorrow I will be launching a Table of Contents page so you can cruise through all of the titles quickly.

This one is another graphic novel and it is full of characters that everyone knows and not of one them is a superhero.

The characters are "Fables" and each one of them is straight out of the fairy tales stories we all know and love.

The twist here is that these characters live among us in the modern world.

The characters have been living among us for decades but much like the world of Harry Potter, the "Mundys" are unaware of the existence of Fabletown.

Fabletown was set up as a refuge after the Fables were forced out of their magical homeland by the Adversary. In this fourth edition of the series, the battle comes to a head as the Adversary's forces storm Fabletown.

I like how the Big Bad Wolf is able to take human form now and he acts as Sheriff. He's been completely reformed and now goes by the name of Bigby Wolf.

Snow White is the deputy mayor and seems to run the town. Bigby still carries a torch for her though.

It's interesting to see Prince Charming, Pinocchio, King Cole, Jack Horner, Boy Blue, The Three Bears, and many many more familiar characters in a completely different setting than what we are used to.

The characters aren't one-dimensional like they often were portrayed in the old fairy tales. The writing brings them all to life.

Here are the books that I have enjoyed thus far,

Volume 1: Legends in Exile

Volume 2: Animal Farm

Volume 3: Storybook Love

Volume 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers

written by Bill Willingsham

art by Mark Buckingham, Craig Hamilton, P. Craig Russell, Steve Leialoha, Daniel Vozzo, Lovern Kindzierski, James Jean, and Todd Klein.

It's a really well done series and well worth checking out. That is what Recommended Reads is all about.

Teaching Tip Tuesday – Get the Parents On Side

Last week, we discussed The 6 Key Elements that Great Teachers Possess and it was a real eye-opener for me.

I knew that I wasn't doing enough in the way of communication between home and the school. I'd tried and tried and tried. I'd banged my head against the wall time and time again. And then I gave up.

I sometimes feel like a glorified babysitter instead of a professional. That shouldn't be the case. I want parents to be on side and I realize the importance of it, I just wasn't sure how to go about making it happen.

I have been brainstorming ideas ever since I read that amazing article last week and I plan on launching some of these initiatives right away.

So here are some of the things I've either done or have been thinking about doing.

1) First day of school calls - Call all of the parents on the first day of school and let them know how nice it was to have their child in the class.

2) Give out your phone number - I have done this for years. It lets the parents know that you are accessible and that they can call you at home. It provides a open means of communication that might not otherwise be possible. I have found that no one has abused this and I haven't really received any prank calls or other misbehaviours.

3) Sunshine calls - Call home with good news often. I must admit that I don't do this. I don't celebrate the successes that happen each and every week in my class. I am going to start doing this more often. I think I will try to make at least two calls every week and keep a record of who I have called. This way I will make sure to call each parent every couple of months.

4) Monthly Newsletters - I do this one. It's a nice tool to let the parents know what things we will be working on for the month and to celebrate some of the exciting things that happen in the classroom.

5) Student Planners - I rarely write in these books. I sometimes have the students copy down notes from the board so parents can be reminded of events or tests that are coming up. I really should try to write some positive notes about specific students in the class. I could do this by taking five minutes in the afternoon to write a note in two planners each day. This way I could work through the whole class every two weeks or so.

6) Cool Projects - We will be working on radio plays and recording them as podcasts this term. I also want the students to use computers for digital storytelling. My goal is to let each student take home a CD full of audio work that they can show off. We will have our radio plays on it as well as some of the songs we have learned in music class. They will have a second CD of computer projects to show off as well.

7) Parent / Student Exchange - I want to have an exchange type of program where the parents come in for a lesson. I could try this at night time one day and have a parent-only night. I'm not sure it would work but I'm just brainstorming here.

8) Share Your Skills - I would like to invite parents to come in and share any special skills they have with the class. We could have painters or artists come in, display their work, and give us some tips for an art lesson. Parents have lots of life skills that they could share with us if only given the chance.

Have any other ideas - If you have any proven strategies for getting the parents involved, please leave a comment and let's build this list together.

Teachers, don't forget to check the Table of Contents for more great Teaching Tips. And if you have one that you'd like to add, please send me an email and consider writing a guest-post.

Teachers helping teachers is what this is all about.