Goal 2 - Focus on Literacy by Kim MacDonald https://padlet.com/kimberly_macdonald/2djaz14hou55 4.1 - A culture of high expectations supports the belief that all students can learn, progress and achieve. 4.2 - A clear emphasis on high levels of achievement in literacy and numeracy is evident throughout the school. 4.7 - Timely and tiered interventions, supported by a team approach, respond to individual student learning needs and well-being. 5.2 - Opportunities for authentic learning experiences and experiential learning exist in all classrooms and programs. en-us 2017-04-17 19:38:41 UTC 2018-05-11 15:08:21 UTC hello@padlet.com Critical Actions: kimberly_macdonald https://padlet.com/kimberly_macdonald/2djaz14hou55/wish/166621682  1.  Exposing students to a variety of high quality literature and experiences
2. Foster deep / rich academic conversations, modelling and highlighting effective questioning and collaborative conversation
3. Provide students with ample time to collaborate and listen to conversations
 4. Continue to expose students to pictures books (across the grades k-6) and provide them with opportunities to listen to a read aloud for an assortment of purposes
 5.  Assign roles within groups to assist students in collaborating    
6.  Use google slides to help students co-create and print their own dual language texts 
7. Use posters and textless books to help develop inferencing skills




]]> 2017-04-17 19:41:59 UTC https://padlet.com/kimberly_macdonald/2djaz14hou55/wish/166621682 ESL/Resource/Admin https://padlet.com/kimberly_macdonald/2djaz14hou55/wish/166881008 There has been an increase in high quality literature in which students see themselves. Students are surveyed to see what type of literature they are interested in.
How do we get them to sample different genres?  Teacher modeling/discussion in read alouds.
More time in collaborative conversations would be beneficial. Are we using sentence starters? ie. I agree with....Now I think....strategies to continue and contribute to conversations/discussions
Evidence of use of google slides in English and French 
Now it's it time to allow for students voice...allow them to tell their own story/stories...the stories of their life...challenges they've overcome, goals they  have achieved, developed perseverance, 
How can we get them to articulate and appreciate their strengths - perseverance, resilience, ]]> 2017-04-18 20:34:29 UTC https://padlet.com/kimberly_macdonald/2djaz14hou55/wish/166881008 Junior shawn_mccleery https://padlet.com/kimberly_macdonald/2djaz14hou55/wish/166882295 1. Read alouds are carefully chosen to promote higher-order thinking (ie. Wonder, The Wretched Stone, The Lorax, Holes)
Tools such as CASI used to target hierarchy of thinking (ie. knowledge/understanding, communication, thinking).
Increased emphasis on non-fiction to increase engagement for all students.

2 and 3. Efforts taken for teachers to talk less and students to talk more.
More choice/voice over tasks. 
More collaborative group work, allowing students' creativity to reveal itself. 
Daily inferring activities to promote critical and deep thinking and rich conversations.
Next steps: Continue/expand emphasis on inferring activities

4. Reading buddies with primary classes. 
Engaging read alouds such as The Lorax, The Wretched Stone.
PM benchmark books used to ensure that each student has material to read at their instructional level.
Next steps: More consistently provide grade 5/6 students with material at their instructional PM level.  

5. Weaker students sometimes given a specific task to ensure success.
Peer editing.
Natural leaders sometimes gravitate towards a leadership role.
Our grade 5/6 students' collaborative skills have progressed to the point where this is really not necessary anymore. 
Strategic groupings (sometimes determined through student choice, teacher choice, or random choice) allow students to perform a variety of roles for different tasks. 

6. Google slides used often in subjects like religion and science. Students have also used Google slides to produce anchor charts and success criteria, which can be referred to by the student as he/she works. We have not created dual-language texts. 

7. Images very frequently used in inferring activities. 

]]> 2017-04-18 20:43:41 UTC https://padlet.com/kimberly_macdonald/2djaz14hou55/wish/166882295 FDK https://padlet.com/kimberly_macdonald/2djaz14hou55/wish/256115476 Books are switched out at least every month or when interest seems down, a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Students are exposed to read alouds often along with comprehension activities as well as small group guided and shared reading.  Roots of empathy books are used, and class books made and read, and put in the classroom library. 

Teacher/ECE model effective questioning to each other, in order to foster collaborative conversations and reciprocal communication between teachers and students. Students ask other students questions during whole group discussions, and students practice answering in full sentences in French and English. Turn and talk strategy is also used. Students used FaceTime to talk to another class in the NWT and kindergarten students asked these older students questions. 

During centre time and whole group learning, students work together to solve problems they encounter themselves, or that are provoked by a teacher. 

Books mentioned are provided at many different reading levels.

Star of the day is used to give students responsibility and ownership. Direct students to "student-teachers" when having difficulty in different areas (all students have their own strengths). 

Textless books, along with pictures and objects are used to talk about emotions, inference what is happening, guess what an object is through descriptions, and games where students must ask yes/no questions to guess the object in the room the teacher is thinking of.


]]> 2018-04-27 17:52:18 UTC https://padlet.com/kimberly_macdonald/2djaz14hou55/wish/256115476 Primary https://padlet.com/kimberly_macdonald/2djaz14hou55/wish/256118096 1. We expose students to various types of literature through read-alouds, classroom libraries, shared reading on Reading A-Z and guided reading. Primary teachers use literacy centres throughout the week to provide students with opportunities to explore. Help students pursue their interests through research opportunities and google slides.
2. Discussing and questions and opinions in guided groups. Using performance-rich tasks where students must collaboratively answer an open-ended question and explain their thinking. Incorporating inquiry based language/math.
3. Have students present their work. Inviting other classes to do gallery walks through work. Next steps will be for students to improve their listening skills when peers are presenting.
4.  Using pictures books during shared, guided and independent reading and completing activities like picture walks and using illustrations to make inferences.
5. Assigning classroom jobs to students and allowing them the opportunity to act as leaders during calendar, opening routines, gym, etc. 
6. Getting more familiar and comfortable using chromebooks (logging, using student portal, etc). Integrating technology and robotics into classroom activities.]]> 2018-04-27 17:59:09 UTC https://padlet.com/kimberly_macdonald/2djaz14hou55/wish/256118096