Every year I take my grade 6 class to my childhood playground – not the metal monkey bars, swings, or asphalt tarmac that most children think of as a “playground” but the open fields, streams, and forests near Shelburne, Ontario where I spent countless hours exploring, climbing trees, collecting tadpoles, and building forts.
Every year students and staff look forward to watching the atrium at Alma School come alive with green as several varieties of trees sprout from seeds planted by students.
With a provincial election scheduled for October 2007, ETFO members across Ontario will soon be planning how to support their chosen political party or how to campaign on issues. Is political involvement important for teachers?
As a classroom teacher, I was encouraged to use the “before-during-after” model in planning my reading lessons. Now as a resource consultant, I promote this model in math instruction also.
This activity was born out of our desire – the Grade 4 teacher and mine– to create a partnership that will blend drama and research skills, writing skills and a love of literature, art appreciation and their social studies unit on medieval times.
As a primary teacher and former literacy teacher on special assignment, I know the importance of making connections in reading – text to text, text to self and text to world. We need to find ways to engage learners, using multiple intelligences.
Throughout the early 1800s the government attempted to establish publicly funded education in Upper Canada but made only marginal inroads.
In the next few pages you will find stories written by ETFO members who are using the arts to provide their students with rich learning experiences, experiences that not only improve their understanding of and appreciation for artistic endeavour, but also improve their literacy.