Homeschool Nations - Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada - Homeschool Blogger

The Financial Fitness Challenge

Thu, 5 Feb 2009 19:45:00 -0600

Have you heard about The Financial Fitness Challenge? I got an email about it today and was encouraged to pass the information on. It looks really neat. It is "an educational program designed to enrich the financial literacy of Canadian students sponsored by the Canadian Securities Administrators." There's a chance for children between the ages of 15 & 21 to win one of 13 scholarship prizes.

Here's some quotes from the email:

The Financial Fitness Challenge offers Canadian students the tools necessary to improve their financial education through the use of interactive activities, financial tips, and an online quiz. If students complete the quiz successfully they are entered into a draw to win one of 13 scholarship prizes worth $750, which can be used towards at-home curriculums. The contest runs February 2, 2009 to February 28, 2009.
This year, the Financial Fitness Challenge focuses on building partnerships with not only Canadian students, but with teachers, schools, parents and homeschooling networks like yours so that all Canadian students have a strong support system for understanding and enhancing their financial literacy. As a result, the Financial Fitness Challenge Website offers a multitude of resources to help parents and teachers engage their students with the program both at home and at school.

Be sure to take the time to check it out.

NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program

Thu, 9 Oct 2008 17:20:00 -0500

Have you heard of NaNoWriMo? NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and is celebrated in November. The What is NaNoWriMo page on the adult NaNoWriMo site says, "National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30." It started in 1999 and you can read it's history here.

There is also a NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program. According to the history page "Ellen Martin launched the YWP website with Chris and the rest of the gang in 2005." The What is NaNoWriMo page on the YWP site says "The Young Writers Program of National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a novel by midnight, November 30. The word-count goal for our adult program is 50,000 words, but our Young Writers Program allows participants who are 17 years old and younger to set reasonable, yet challenging, word-count goals."

There is a Word Count Calculator PDF which gives suggested minimum and maximum word count goals for grades 1-12, but these are just suggestions and you and your child can set whatever goal you think is reasonable for your child.

A great resource available through the site is the Young Novelist Workbooks, downloadable printable work books for Elementary, Middle, and High School students. Contents include a Novel Writing How-Tos section covering characcter development, creating conflict, plot, setting, writing dialogue; a Getting Ready For NaNoWriMo section with tips, goal setting helps and commitment calenday; Ready, Set Write...And Keep Writing section wtih a progress charts and additional tips on beginnings, plots, etc.

The How NaNoWriMo Works for Educators page, encourages teachers to sign up and write novels alongside their students. When you sign up as a teacher you get accees to a Teachers Lounge where you find elementary, middle and high school curriculum units, divided into 13 lessons, specifically for the NaNoWriMo program and go along with the workbooks mentioned above . You can also order a free YWP Noveling Kit and receive a poster, a Triumphant Chart of Noveling Progress and up to 35 "Novelist" buttons and NANoWriMo progress stickers.

The workbook and curriculum lessons could be started now to help prepare for the actual writing that starts on November 1st. Families could do the program on their own or get together with other homeschooling families and do it together.

Be sure to take the time to check out it. I am sure you will be inspired. If you decide to join, let me know so that I can add you to my buddy list. ;)

National Newspaper Week, October 5-11, 2008

Tue, 7 Oct 2008 17:29:00 -0500

According to this post on the National Council of Teachers of English blog, National Newspaper Week is October 5-11, 2008 and this year's theme is "Public Notice: Good Government on Display".

Though I searched long and hard for Canadian and Newfoundland references to National Newspaper Week I couldn't find any. I did, however, find a Canadian resource that would be useful in newspaper themed learning. The Canadian Newspaper Association has a special site, Newspapers in Education, that is dedicated to making it easy for teachers to include newspapers in learning in their classrooms. On this site the lessons are grouped according to grades. As homeschoolers, however, we know that lessons can be adapted to meet different age/grade levels so be sure to check out any that interest you and don't let the suggested grades be a hinderance. Here's a list of the lessons on the site grouped according to the suggested grades:

Grade 5 Lessons: 1. The Weather Report; 2. World Weather; 3. Canadian Government; 4. Organizing a Debate; 5. The Debate
Grade 6 Lessons: 1. The Purpose of Advertising; 2. Making the Connection; 3. The Target (Part 1); 4. The Target (Part 2); 5. Designing the Advertisement
Grades 7-9 Lessons: 1: Becoming a Reader; 2. Scavenger Hunt; 3. You Be the Judge, the Role of an Editor; 4. The News Story; 5. How a News Story is Organized; 6. Writing a News Story; 7. Student Handout Using Quotes in a Story; 8. The Breaking Story; 9. Where Does News Come From; 10. Writing a Review; 11. Bugs & Beefs, Editorial Writing - 2 parts

I provided a direct link to the Canadian Government lesson because this would be a good one to do now with the government so much in the news due to the upcoming elections.

Though not a Canadian resource, the National Council of Teachers of English blog post titled Celebrate National Newspaper Week gives a little information about the history of National Newspaper Week and about this year's theme. It also provides links to resources that could be used in newspaper themed learning. Below I will give a description of these resources.

The ReadWriteThink site is a joint effort between the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teacher of English and provides resources for reading and language arts instruction. They have a number of lessons with a newspaper theme and these are the ones that are linked on the National Newspaper week post at the National Council of Teachers of English blog. Once again, they provide suggestions as to grades for the lessons, but we homeschoolers know better than to be hemmed in by such suggestions. :) I will include the suggested grades simply for reference.

Elementary Grades 3-5
ReadWriteThink: Lesson Plan: Creating a Classroom Newspaper, is suggested to be broken into 10 sessions. A resources column on the left hand side has links to great PDF's that can be printed and downloaded to aid in learning - Inverted Pyramid Format, Newspaper Story Format, Story Feedback Form, Newspaper Writing Assessment, Reporting Tips, Reporters Guide. These sheets are to be used in the different lessons but they could also be used alone.
ReadWriteThink: Lesson Plan: Weekend News! A Weekly Writing Activity, a short lesson that is to become a weekly writing activity. A great idea for a school journal or blog.

Middle school Grade 6-8
ReadWriteThink: Lesson Plan: Imagine That! Playing with Genre through Newspapers and Short Stories, suggested to be divided into 3 lessons which have children "condensing a short story into a newspaper article and expanding an article into a short story". Once again there are great PDFs in the resources column that can be downloaded and printed to go with the lessons.
ReadWriteThink: Lesson Plan: Technology and Copyright Law: A "Futurespective", a 5 part lesson on copyright laws
ReadWriteThink: Lesson Plan: Book Report Alternative: A Character's Letter to the Editor, suggested to be divided into 4 lessons in which students write a letter to the editor from the point of view of a character in a book they have read. Very interesting concept!

High School 9-12
ReadWriteThink: Lesson Plan: Persuading an Audience: Writing Effective Letters to the Editor, suggested to be divided into 4 lessons in which students work on a letter to the editor on a current local or national issue.
ReadWriteThink: Lesson Plan: Broadcast Coverage of Character, Conflict, Resolution, and Setting, suggested to be divided into 5 lessons in which student "prepare original news programs based on incidents in a recent reading".
ReadWriteThink: Lesson Plan: The Feature Story - Fifteen Minutes (and 500 Words) of Fame!, suggested to be divided into 5 sessions. "This activity asks students to write a profile of a classmate, with a particular focus on a talent, interest, or passion of that classmate. In the process, students learn how to differentiate between a news story and a feature story, they practice interviewing techniques, they develop voice, they learn to write for an audience, and perhaps most importantly, they come to celebrate their individual strengths."

Each of these lessons actually have links to PDFs and suggests other resources that could be used. They are well worth taking the time to check out.

The Kentucky Press Association has put together a National Newspaper Week Kit that you can take advantage. This kit appears to be geared towards newspaper editors but contains elements that homeschoolers can adapt and use. The kit is also very American based, especially in the graphics on the posters, but you don't have to use the posters and you can adapt it to fit Canadian learning.

There is a PDF titled "What is Public Notice" that would make a great jumping of point for discussion about this year's theme "Public Notice: Good Government on Display". It would also be a great addition to a booklet or portfolio of learning about National Newspaper Week.

Editorial Column #1 explains what a public notice is and why it's important. It would be good for generating discussions with older students.

Editorial Column #2 discusses why newspaper notices are important in our society and would also be good for generating discussions.

There is a full page PDF which includes both editorials, a crossword puzzle, and a cartoon. It, too, would make a great addition to a booklet or portfolio of learning on the theme.

There is also a Q&A about Public Notices that would again be good for generating discussion.

Fire Safety Week October 5-11, 2008 - Prevent Home Fires

Mon, 6 Oct 2008 10:39:00 -0500

October 5-11, 2008 is Fire Safety Week. The theme this year is Prevent Home Fires.

Newfoundlander Michael Gaultois, who is a burn victim, was the guest speaker at the official launch of Fire Prevention Week in Ottawa on October 2nd. Children's recording artisit Mary Lambert was also in attendance to preform Sing Out Fire Safety , a compilation of original songs she put together and are available from her site.

Local fire departments may have activities planned during the week so be sure to watch for them or contact you local departmen for information.

The National Fire Protection Association is promoting a Great American Fire Drill "asking kids and families all across North America to practice their home fire escape plans." If you do the drill you can report it on Sparky's special Fire Drill Reporting Page.

From the National Fire Protection Association, here is a quiz for grownups and older children to check how much you know about home fire safety. The National Fire Protection Association also has a section on YouTube that is full of videos about fire safety.

At Fire Prevention Canada you can find information about the history of fire prevention week and a Fire Prevention Week Kit that you can download. This kit is actually meant for fire departments to use in planning activities for Fire Prevention Week but parents can also use the information about fire safety and printable sheets for kids that are included in the kit.

Scholastic has a special National Fire Prevention Week section that is full of great stuff! There's a Fire Safety Tips slideshow, a Hunt for Home Hazards online game using the white house as the sample but it can apply to any house, a Help Sparky Get Out and Stay Out online game, and an online tool to help build an escape plan. There are also lesson plans, printables, and quizzes especially for grade k-5 available on the site.

Sparky the Fire Dog's site is also full of great great stuff. There's a special Fire Trucks section which includes a Fire Truck Gallery of photos of different kinds of fire trucks and alarms for you to click on to hear what they sound like, a Get Out of the Way game where you have to push the space bar to blow the horn and the arrow keys to move the firetruck, and an explore Sparky's Fire Truck section where you click on parts of the truck and boxes come up with information about it. There's a special Fire Inspection Checklist and a Home Fire Safety Checklist that you can print off and allow your child to use to be an offical safety inspector for your house. On the Family Stuff page there's a step by step guide to home fire safety planning and practice, a Hunt for Home Hazards article , Sparky's Fire Safety Tips, and coloring pages. Those are just some of the great things on Sparky's site.

Have fun exploring and learning. If you decide to do something special to celebrate Fire Safety Week, I'd love to hear about it.

Featured in the 25th edition of the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival

Living Healthy Commotions Day

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:33:00 -0500

Did you know that today, Friday, September 26, 2008, is Living Healthy Commotions Day in schools across our province? I read about it on a website last week and I've been trying to track down more info but wasn't having much luck, except at finding outdated information, until just now.

I just discovered the Living Healthy Schools Website's special page for Living Health Commotions Day and the PDF's they have there for 2008. There is a booklet and activity sheet you can download for information about the day and it also includes ideas on activities you can do. There are some neat suggestions of activities that homeschooling families could use either just in their own home or at homeschool group gatherings.

Some other sites I discovered that would be good resources to use in teaching our children about healthy living are Mission Nutrition and Canada's Physical Activity Kids for Children and Youth

Election Time Learning Ideas

Mon, 8 Sep 2008 16:55:00 -0500

Canada is gearing up for a federal election. Here are some resources and ideas you can use to make it a part of your homeschool learning.

Resources:

Nodice.ca, "an independent website which contains educational resources and links for Canadian teachers and students, and information about federal, provincial and territorial elections in Canada." This looks like a really great resource for any time there is an election of any sort.

Canada Federal Election 2008 is a portion of the site dedicated to the upcoming election. Lots of great information and links.

Students Vote Organization "a non-profit, non-partisan organization that works with educators to establish habits of democratic citizenship within young Canadians." "The Student Vote parallel election initiative was designed to give students an opportunity to develop and practice the habits of democratic citizenship during official election campaigns." This is their 5th year in operation. It says it is "open to all elementary, junior and senior high schools and there is no cost to participate. Any teacher is eligible to register their school. " I'm not sure if that includes homeschools or not but I'm trying to find out.

Link to Learning is a site "Linking you to web sites supporting the Ontario curriculum." Although it states it is specifically for Ontario Curriculum it can be a great resource to any homeschool.

This resource is not specifically for the election but I found this work sheet, about the different levels of government and their responsibilites, from the site. In reality there is nothing fancy about this worksheet and you could quite easily just make your own without printing it off.

Government in Canada is the site you are supposed to use to fill in the worksheet. It has great information about the different levels of government and their responsibilities.

Canadainfo is the main site where the page above is found and it is another great resource, not just for the election.

Election 2008 is a specific section of this site for the upcoming election. It looks like it will be a great resource.

National Post Election 2008

CTV 2008 Election

Canada Votes 2008

Ideas:

Contruct your own "Count Down to Election Day" poster.
Making a poster of the ridings in your area and fill in the candidates running for the different parties in each riding.
Make a little mini booklet about the party leaders.
Discussion the voting age limit
Discuss the history of the right to vote
Collect political cartoons
Make an Election 2008 lapbook

I will add to both the resources and ideas as I find more. I'd love to hear what you do and what you find. Please leave a comment.

Science Resource - Journey North Site and Programs

Thu, 4 Sep 2008 18:31:00 -0500

Journey North is a great resource for Science, and also for Social Studies. Here are a couple of quotes from the main page of the site:

Journey North engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K-12 students share their own field observations with classmates across North America.

Widely considered a best-practices model for education, Journey North is the nation's premiere "citizen science" project for children. The general public is welcome to participate.

The site runs a number of different programs at different time of the year that you can get involved in - for free! All you have to do is register at their site. Here's what the registration page says:

Once you have registered, you are in the Journey North database and do not have to register for each project separately... If you request an e-mail subscription when you register, you will be notified when each study begins and receive news reports each week. If not, you can find the information on the Journey North Web site.

Here's a short run down of some of the current programs:

The Monarch Butterfly Migration Program has a fall and spring component to it. News about the 2008 fall program started August 28 and runs until sometime in October or November, but it's not too late to join in. Weekly news reports for this program are sent to each Thursday. Even though we are not actually in an area where we will be able to join in reporting Monarch sighting, we can still follow the sightings as they are reported across North America. One idea is to make your own paper monarch butterflies to place on a map in the area of reported sightings each week. There are also printable booklets and online slideshows teaching about the life of a butterfly, how to distinquish between monarch butterflies and some look alikes, etc.

The Whooping Crane Program also has a fall and spring component. News about the 2008 fall program starts tomorrow and runs until sometime in October. Weekly reports for this program are sent out each Friday. This is a very interesting program because you "Follow the story of 16 endangered Whooping Crane chicks making their first journey south as ultralight airplane "parents" teach them the way."

There's also a Tulip Program. There are monthly, rather than weekly, reports for this program. Here's what the website says about it:

students plant and observe tulip gardens to track the arrival of spring. They observe and record when their own plants – and those in other school gardens in North America – emerge from the ground and bloom. As students track this one plant type, along with temperatures, day length, and other seasonal signs, they discover how different factors influence the wave of spring. This sets the stage for better understanding our changing climate.

These are just some of the programs that are active right now from the site. There are other interesting porgrams that start up later in the year. You can see a list of all the different programs and when they start on the Year-at-a-Glance page.

Let me know if you decide to participate.

History Resource - History Canada Game

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:40:00 -0500

Just heard about this from Dawn's post.

If you are into the Civilization Computer game you might like to try out the History Canada Game. Check it out here. If you try it I'd love to hear what you think of it.

Looking for input from Canadian Home Schoolers

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:17:00 -0500

I have been asked to do some research for an article on homeschooling regulations, re. funding, reporting, etc., in the provinces. I thought it would be good to get some information from people with first hand knowledge and experience about such things.

I would love to hear from you as to what your experience has been in whatever provinces you have homeschooled in. You can email me about it and/or write a blog post about it and let me know where to find it by leaving a comment on the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival. I'd be delighted with either form of communication.

You can pass this information on to anyone that you think might be interested in helping provide information.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Jacqueline

EDIT: I answered questions about this request in this post here.

High School Math Resource - MathBits.com

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:14:00 -0500

Thanks to today's post, Online Game; Math Caching, by Denise at Let's Play Math, a great math resource in itself, I discovered MathBits.com.

The main page of MathBIts says:

MathBits.com is devoted to offering fun, yet challenging, lessons and activities in high school (and college level) mathematics and computer programming for students and teachers. Created by two teachers.

From this main page you can access a variety of different helps, most of which is free but some do require a subscription.

The part of the site that Denise wrote about in her post was the Math Cache Game. The main page for the game says:

"Geocaching" (pronounced "geo cashing") is the sport of using GPS systems to locate hidden boxes at different geographical locations across the country. Directions and clues are left in the boxes to aid in the journey.

In the spirit of geocaching, we have created activities called "MathCaching" which use the internet to find hidden boxes to reveal clues to the continuation of the games. Your success at "MathCaching" is dependent upon your skills at solving mathematical problems.

This sounds like a really neat resource that could be used with highschool students to help make math more fun. Let me know what you think if you decide try it with your children.