Education Week 2022

A Place to Grow/Un espace pour s’épanouir

Resources for Teachers

The Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association is holding Education Week 2022 from March 14-18 with the theme A Place to Grow/Un espace pour s’épanouir.

The theme not only represents the physical, emotional and social growth of students while they are in school, but has environmental aspects as well. Education Week in general celebrates the growth and the importance of education and a future that is provided by our teachers throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

All teachers are encouraged to continue to observe Education Week with their students. Below are some resources and activities to help celebrate Education Week in your schools and classrooms. These resources have been compiled and submitted by the NLTA Special Interest Councils and we thank them for their contributions.

Resources submitted by the Health Education Special Interest Council:

A Day in a Life
Invite local MHA’s, fire chiefs, local leaders, nurses to your school to experience a day in the K-6 life of a student or teacher. (Grades K-6)

In a morning meeting, or talking circle pose the question: What is the most important life lesson you’ve ever learned about growing up? (The responses will change depending on the grade level.) Older students can write it as a journal prompt, podcast, or blog entry or like a TEDTalk on sharing at their age a lesson they have learned about “growing up”. (Grades K-12)

“Me” Collage
Create a collage which ultimately reveals who they are, what they like, family, sports, hobbies, etc. (Grades 7-12)

And the Award Goes To
Create a class award for COVID-19 resiliency. Students could nominate other students, teachers, and public figures. Students must explain the criteria for the award and must be able to provide insight as to why a particular person(s) should receive the award. (Grades 10-12)

Good For Me
Students will make a list of their strengths and weaknesses and set aside a period of time to share their talents, shortcomings with other students. Use this as a springboard to creating new strengths they have developed and new things discovered. (Grades 4-12)

Education Week Fitness Plan
Students make a list of physical activities they would enjoy doing. Create a fitness plan for Education Week. (Grades K-12)

Resources submitted by the Math/Science Special Interest Council:

Re-growing Lettuce and Onions Using Hydroponics
Lettuce: Take a lettuce stump. Place it in a glass or jar so that only the bottom of the stump is submerged in water. Keep near a window.
Onion: Place an onion so that it sits on the lip of a glass or Mason jar. Fill the glass or jar with water until only the root part of the onion is submerged. Watch the green onion sprouts grow! Keep near a window.
Note: Green onions can be regrown in this way as well using water in clear egg cartons.

Make your own Flower Seed Bombs
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-make-seed-bomb

Growing a Variety of Food Plants from the Parts We Normally Throw Away
https://foodrevolution.org/blog/reduce-food-waste-regrow-from-scraps/

Tomatosphere Activity
http://tomatosphere.letstalkscience.ca/

Lessons about Personal Growth and Having Career Conversations Outside of “Career Education” Courses:
https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/lessons/testing-waters
https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/lessons/choose-your-own-adventure-autobiography
https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/lessons/what-do-you-want-do-when-you-grow
https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/lessons/tip-career-iceberg

Mini Earth for Studying Closed Ecosystems (Science 1206)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TswmGwa3ruM

MSSIC Sponsored Second Annual Maker Faire
https://sites.google.com/nlesd.ca/makerfairenl/home

Ecology-Art-Poetry Activity
This is an interdisciplinary activity that can be done with Science 1206 classes but it can be done, in part or whole, with any class, at any level, especially those studying ecology. Click HERE.

Resources submitted by the Second Language Special Interest Council:

NLTA Second Language Council Kahoot Game (Grades 3-6)
https://kahoot.it/challenge/04587953?challenge-id=ee80025f-4c0a-4750-ac3c-d3c5f244ea7b_1646778634849
(Game PIN: 04587953)

NLTA Second Language Council Kahoot Game (Grades 7-12)
 https://kahoot.it/challenge/08548946?challenge-id=ee80025f-4c0a-4750-ac3c-d3c5f244ea7b_1646778828922
(Game PIN: 08548946)

Comment créer et donner une bonne présentation:
shorturl.at/qCFNT

Resources submitted by the Small Schools Special Interest Council:

Outdoor Education Unit Plan
This plan, designed by the Small Schools Special Interest Council, is a k-12 initiative. The older students become mentors to the younger students and assist them in all aspects, from the outdoor activities to storytelling and journal writing. The older students can also tell local folk stories if they know of any from their area. The Unit Plan is HERE.

Resources submitted by the Technology in Education Special Interest Council:

TESIC Youtube Channel
Explore recordings of TESIC’s past PL events.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjAX7EDZbkzd28sR7cIQefQ

Brilliant Labs Project Portal
Brilliant Labs is a charity that supports students, teachers and communities with cross-curricular, maker-centered learning. Check out their online portal for classroom project ideas.
https://projects.brilliantlabs.ca/projects-list

Do your :bit
Do your :bit is a challenge that connects the micro:bit with the UN Global Goals. Students research real world issues they want to solve, design a solution, make it, and then test it!
https://microbit.org/projects/do-your-bit/

Math Learning Center Apps
These apps are accessible via your browser or you can download the app. They make it possible to digitize math manipulatives to demonstrate different math concepts on the board (even better on a smart board) and for online or asynchronous learning. They also serve as a good tool for students to show their work. For students who may have challenges with certain math concepts and need manipulatives to solve different math problems, it makes it more accessible for them and at the same time it is more discrete.
https://www.mathlearningcenter.org/apps

Passion Project Roadmap
This is a roadmap for students and teachers to work through the completion of a Genius Hour or Passion Project. Students choose a topic that is interesting to them, research it, make something related to their passion and then share their learning. By using the roadmap, students can work at their own pace but have regularly scheduled teacher check-ins. Passion Projects are a great way for students to grow their love of learning! https://bit.ly/passionprojectslbjh

Resources submitted by the Newfoundland and Labrador Counsellors’ and Psychologists’ Association Special Interest Council:

The Calm App
Using the Calm app with students (there’s an entire section called Calm Kids with various strategies I use depending on the issue: Anxiety, Depression, ADHD, Insomnia, Self-Awareness, etc.). Their minds grow once they learn how to regulate so they can listen to their thoughts and feelings – this is when they can access solutions to their challenges.
(Submitted by: Minnie-Anne Balan, School Counsellor St. Peter’s Primary)

5 Minute Mindfulness Mandolas
Here is something I do with students that have difficulty talking or are anxious. This is a lovely mindfulness activity that takes as little as 5 minutes, or you can make it longer. I will play music while doing this and often do it at the very beginning of the session with limited talking. I will do my own picture too. We really try to focus on what we are doing, to be mindful. There are no right or wrong results. I may ask them how they feel after or if they want to talk about the picture, the colours they chose and why. I may ask them to talk about their lines and what they might mean. Finally, I may ask them about the kinds of feelings that were evoked from doing the activity. I may even ask if the picture reminded them of a positive or negative experience. The pictures below were done during different sessions and as you can see, they each capture something very different.
Tools: watercolor paints, brushes of various sizes, art paper, and black gel pen/fine tip marker.
https://mindfulcreativemuse.com/mindful-art-workbook
(Submitted by: Deanna Murphy, School Counsellor Upper Gullies Elementary)

Chill Zone
I particularly like the short meditations under “chill zone” (mental vacation, out of this world, and tense and release are favs) and also the phobia ladder feature.
https://www.anxietycanada.com/resources/mindshift-cbt/
(Submitted by: Deanne Murray, School Counsellor Villanova Junior High)

Books
These books are compiled like a lesson/workbook and are wonderful to use. You can get them digitally:
• The Anxiety Workbook for Teens by Lisa M. Schab, LCSW
• The Body Image Workbook for Teens by Julia V. Taylor, MA
• The Self-Esteem Workbook for Teens by Lisa M. Schab, LCSW
• Stopping the Pain by Lawrence E. Shapiro, PH.D.
(Submitted by: Holly Healey, School Counsellor Holy Cross Elementary)

Kids These Days by Jody Carrington, PH.D.
(Submitted by: Stephanie Keezer, Program Specialist Student Support Services)

The Whole Brained Child by Dan Seigel and Calm, Alert, and Learning by Stuart Shanker
(Submitted by: Lesley Slade, Educational Psychologist)

Resources submitted by the Speech Language Pathologists Special Interest Council:

Inspiring Charms: Scaffolding Oral Language and Narrative Writing
The teacher uses physical objects to aid students’ written expression. For one suggestion, the teacher and/or students bring in objects to represent where we live and make personal connections to this place. They can share orally with their classmates and then use the objects to write a sentence or story or descriptive piece. (Grades K – 12)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6TqiA1hNZk&authuser=0.

Story Baskets
For children with oral language difficulties, it is often helpful to find ways to make information more tangible and persistent. We often talk about using visuals to aid in following instructions or stimulate ideas for oral expression, but objects are a great idea as well.

You can create a story basket to go along with read-alouds or with the introduction of new concepts. Because kids can hold and manipulate the objects as well as look at them, they provide a strong support for story/concept recall and students can use the objects to aid their own storytelling and/or story writing. In addition, the objects can be set as a physical reminder of new concepts for students to refer to as needed. While story baskets seem to be natural for preschoolers, we believe the strategy could be of use for school-age children in the regular classroom and small group instruction as well.

(Primary activity: suggest that the teacher would choose a book about Newfoundland and Labrador or growing up in general.)
https://www.facebook.com/thisiswhyiteach.ec/videos/737302620226266/