As a part of our school SWISI program, we work on math skills during our assigned time. For this activity students will be scanning QR codes that align with the unit they are working on in math at the time.

Students will be able to identify healthy dairy products, describe the dairy process, and strengthen writing and sequencing skills.

Flash Mob –
Collaboration was highlighted in my classroom when students undertook dancing and pop culture in the arts ed curriculum (This is a major focus at grade 5). Together with my intern, we decided to create something unique with the students that hadn’t previously been done in our school, and that the students could have ownership and pride in.

Use the slippery sidewalks as inspiration to try this practical activity! Students work collaboratively to design and build a non-slip boot tread that uses friction to prevent slipping on an incline.

All materials are listed and provided including assessment and supporting media.

Here is an interview I did with an elementary student who used the design thinking process at home. He prototyped and developed a product to sell for "Market Day." According to his mother, they redesigned, remade, re-shopped, and then redesigned again. For the Ideate portion of the process, they used the Internet to generate ideas, and then went to buy supplies to prototype their product. I interviewed the student to get a glimpse of what he experienced during the learning process.

In this unit, students learned about the external parts of different animals that help them meet their needs and survive in their specific environment. These parts help animals see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, and move from place to place. Their parts also help them seek, find, and take in food, water and air. The goal of the unit was for students to design and create the “ultimate” animal that can survive in any environment. They used the design thinking process to develop a problem sentence, find a solution to the problem, and prototype their solution. The process involved students asking questions, making observations and gathering information on external animal parts. They used their findings to sketch out possible solutions to their problem sentence. Finally the students created their ultimate animal and proposed their solution to a “zookeeper.”

Special thanks to Nalisha Keshaw, Brianna Bedessem, Ara Cho, and Chris Bernhardi, and the whole 1C class for making this unit possible!

My goal was to create a booklet of creativity challenges to use with Grade 1 to 3 students.
Based on the model of Destination Imagination, I planned challenges that were relevant to the
curricula we were studying at the time. All challenges were chosen from Entry Level activities. I also wanted to foster collaboration, so all challenges were planned with that in mind. My final
artifact is a collection of challenges that I have housed in a duotang. Contact me if you would
like more information. I have included a few sample challenges that were adapted from the
Destination Imagination books, as well as a list of all the activities I collected, at the end of this
document.

The Issue: How should the land around water systems be used?
Imagine you live in a town near a lake in Saskatchewan. For drinking water, the town uses
ground water from a local well. The ground water comes from an aquifer that sits below land
that is being developed for a feedlot.

Classification: DL6.2 Examine how humans organize understanding of the diversity of living things.
Characteristics and Behaviours: DL6.3 Analyze the characteristics and behaviours of vertebrates (i.e., mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish) and invertebrates.
Adaptations: DL6.4 Examine and describe structures and behaviours that help individual living organisms survive in their environments in the short term and species of living organisms adapt to their environments in the long term.

Students create math stories by first drawing, then writing, and finally using math symbols to show addition or subtraction.

This Super Lesson utilizes Project Based Learning to assist learners with designing, building, and testing flying contraptions as an introduction to Engineering. The goal of this project is to engage students in collaborative team work and to introduce students to the Science and Engineering Practices: Asking Questions and Defining Problems, Planning and Carrying Out Investigations, and Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions.

We have offered this Super Lesson as an 8-week elective course, developing and strengthening student interest in applied Math and Science topics. It could also be offered within upper elementary or middle school Science and Math courses. In addition, each week’s topic could be used as a stand alone mini-lesson if time is limited. We have worked to include multiple options within this unit to make it accessible to both general education and special education programs, including recommendations for modifications and extensions.

The goal of Genius Hour was to get students more engaged in the learning process and to help instill the idea of lifelong learning. Students were asked to brainstorm what their passion was. Students then had to develop an inquiry question related to their passion. Then they had to decide how they would like to show what they learned. Then, students spent time researching about their projects. They were given one hour each Friday to work on their projects. It was an exciting project that students looked forward to working on each week! Because these projects were quite large, they did not all finish at the same time. As students complete their projects, they were able to present what they did to the class.

Watch a series of videos that will teach kids how to code and go on a variety of fun STEM adventures!

STEM is everywhere—from businesses and organizations to the products that power our daily lives. That’s why it’s important to build the first fully STEM literate generation. Endeavor is a first-of-its-kind interactive program designed for middle school students built to empower learners with the knowledge they’ll need to build their career pathways. Learners engage with interactive content that reinforces key STEM skills while discovering some of the exciting STEM opportunities that await.

This Course Covers
The Careers Powering STEM Industries
Big Data and the Internet of Things
The Future of Manufacturing and Design
The Algorithms Behind Recommendations

Throughout the year I have used this as a review for the end of each unit. I create five or six critical thinking questions that apply what we have been learning about. I print them on color paper and spread them around the room. I pair the students up, and have they move about the room solving the questions. I only have ten students in my class so I’m fortunate to have only five pairs at a time. I usually pair them up as sort of a strong and weak combination. This is an attempt to have them collaborate on the problems while using critical thinking.

This site offers engineering challenges with things you have at home. Kids learn from taking items from their everyday life and using them in new ways to do simple things. It helps them understand the world around them and how things work.

This guide paper examines the what, why, when and how of teaching entrepreneurship.

Epic Books is an online collection of over 40 000 titles of award-winning fiction, non-fiction, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), biographies, graphic novels, DIY (Do It Yourself) and more. Sign up as an educator and the account is free. Epic Books can be used by teachers and students for read-alouds, shared reading, and independent reading time. Read-to-me and audiobook functions allow for the listening portion of a balanced literacy program. Teachers can use these books as part of interactive small group instruction for specific skills or strategies. They can also assign certain books and tasks for practice to individuals or groups. You must set up the free account and add students to your classroom in order to get a class code to provide to families. Then when students have that code, they can log in from home with free access.

Courses for ALL grades and ages!

ELEMENTARY
*Word Force - teach reading skills to Gr 1-2
*Compassion Project - teach empathy Gr. 2-5
*Healthier Me - Gr. 1-4
*Vault - Financial Literacy Gr. 4-6
*FutureSmart - citizenship & finance Gr. 6-8
*Ignition - Digital Citizenship Gr. 6-9
*SaveUp - Saving for the Future Gr. 6-8
*Future Goals - Hockey - STEM Gr. 4-7
*Sustainability Foundations - many options Gr. 5-9
*Endeavor - Career Exploration Gr. 6 to 9
*Character Playbook Gr. 7-9

HIGH SCHOOL
*Get Digital - Safety in the Metaverse
*Venture - entrepreneurship
*Data Science
*Money Moves
*Vaping
*Prescription Drugs
*Mental Wellness
*Honor Code - Bullying Prevention
*Alcohol Edu
*Financial Literacy
*Financing Higher Education
*College & Career Readiness

Access all Everfi programs via the Clever portal at Sun West.
For help launching programs with your students contact Jesus Grisanti Clavier