PAC meeting Last Night

It was great to see parents and teachers at our monthly PAC meeting last night. We appreciate the efforts that parents make to support the learning and teaching that happens at Cleveland.

Some highlights from last night’s meeting include:

Sharing by Mme Bulsara and Mme Kwiatkowski about how they are making use of technology in their classroom to enhance learning and engage students. Teachers shared by projecting their work onto the screen in the library using AppleTV. Hint: your support for the CPAC Olympic Soiree will allow more teachers to use technology to support and enhance learning and teaching.

Classroom web sites and blogs were also shared by Mme Bulsara and Mme Kwiatkowski, and we also looked at the class web site for Mrs. Gill & Mrs. McGuire’s grade 6 class.

North Shore Inline Hockey League presented information about their program to parents.

We had an excellent discussion on the Foundation Skills Assessments that will be starting soon for students in grades 4 and 7.  We discussed the letters parents received from the school board and from the BCTF. Assessment shedules have been sent home to all  students in grades 4 and 7. If you have not seen these, please check with your child.

Major Fund Raiser – All parents should have received a brochure in their email inbox yesterday, outlining the targets for the upcoming fundraiser event at The View on February 15th. Please see the CPAC web site for more information.

PAC updates – there are a lot of initiatives that a number of volunteers are working on. Please take the time to thank all those parents who are spending an incredible amount of time and energy to support the children in our schools. We truly are blessed at Cleveland to have so many parents helping in so many ways.

The next PAC meeting is on February 25th, and we would love to see you here.

Words in the Woods – Hint #6

Many shores I have sailed in my canoe,
often against strong winds.
Choose the tree well my brother,
if it is to carry you to distant shores.
~ Chief Dan George

 

Take care

Good Morning

A new day is about to begin at Cleveland Elementary School. The school is still quiet, and the sun is just getting up.

 

 

 

Words in the Woods is still on the horizon. Hint #5

Everyone, prepare to soar!
There’ll be no hardship anymore!
Cry out like the eagles in the sky,
Send your cheers up high,
Daemons in disguise…
Celebrate the nation’s sunrise.
~ Tristan Michael de Robillard

 

Take care

News from Twitter

Have you joined Twitter yet? I have been active on Twitter these past few years, and I find things I love on it all the time. Over the past few days on Twitter I have found some interesting articles or ideas to share.

via mindshift – How Do Parents Think ‘Educational’ Screen Time Affects Learning?

via @ZenProverbs – “If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.” ~ Chinese Proverb #quotes

via brainpickings – Five Manifestos for the Creative Life

via Essentialkids – Different approach to learning yields compassionate results

via @micheleborba – Anger Management for Kids

via @DivaBusiness – Two sure ways to fail ~Think and never do or do and never think.- Zig Ziglar #Quotes #Leadership

Words in the Woods – Hint #4

I have learned to see light
When days seem so dark
And to find some beauty
In scenes that seem stark.
~ Beveridge

 

Take care

Words in the Woods

We have an event planned for sometime in April, called Words in the Woods. Students have already started working on it. What is it? I’m not telling yet.

Hint #2

On the water’s idle pillow
Sleeps the overhanging willow,
Green and cool,
Where the rushes lift their burnished
Oval heads from out of tarnished
Emerald pool
 
~ Tekahionwake, from In The Shadows
 

More hints will come soon, as well as information for families. Students will soon be talking about this over our public address system.

Take care

Today at School

Today I school I…

saw a lesson on dyspraxia – One of our students has dyspraxia, and she created a presentation for her classmates about dyspraxia, which included this video. It was wonderful to see her sharing with her classmates, and to see how engaged they were in her presentation.

taught Kindergarten – I taught an hour in our English Kindergarten class this afternoon. I like getting into the classes, and was pleased with this opportunity. However, I feel that my teaching skills may be more suitable for 10 to 13 year-old students. I like all grades, but it takes a special kind of person to teach young children. I am glad we have those people here.

was busy at lunch  – Today, from 12:15 pm – 12:50 pm, we had volleyball practice for the boys’ teams, a group of students and parents who were getting ready for Cleveland’s Olympic Soirée, the salmon tank met to get ready for the eggs (they arrive on Wednesday), and there were a couple of meetings for teachers. Lunch ended, and then things seemed become calmer.

visited classes – It is always nice to get into our classes and watch our students work, learn and grow. There were art lessons, math lessons, science lessons, reading lessons, writing lessons and other learning opportunities for students.

discussed “Words in the Woods” – an upcoming event at Cleveland. I won’t say much about this, but I will leave hints about the event over the next few weeks:

Hint #1

First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey –
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter –
But all of them sensible everyday names.

~ T.S. Elliot

I am off now to a meeting.

Take care