Principal’s Blog

Increase the Kindness! (Bullying Awarenenss Week!)

Posted November 19, 2021

Hi Families:

Here are some activities that we will be doing as a school to help us learn about Bullying and creating a KIND school and community. You can support by having conversations with your child(ren) about the themes below!

Monday-22
Tuesday-23
Wednesday-24
Thursday-25

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We’re All in This Together!

Posted March 31, 2020

We are all in this together. 

(Disclaimer – the people in the video are way too close together)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=gbrbUfYSt0E

(Aside) – My daughters can quote the lines in this movie. My brother, sister and I can quote the original Ghostbusters; I guess every generation has their movie. (CONTEXT)

I …

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March 24, Division Strategies

Posted March 24, 2020

Division Strategies

Interesting that this week’s blog is on the last part of the UGDSB Math document – division. AS we have ended our March Break, we find ourselves “divided” into our separate spaces. I have even divided my day into scheduled parts as I try to structure my time and keep to …

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Math at Home Part 2 – Subtraction

Posted March 10, 2020

This week, I am posting the subtraction strategies from the UGDSB Home Tip Sheet.

An important thing to remember is to point out relationships between concepts or operations. Many of the subtraction strategies can be shown as “the opposite” or “undoing” the adding strategies.

Subtraction For example – …

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Math Strategies at Home Part 1

Posted March 3, 2020

One of the common things we hear at school is that “My child gets frustrated with me when I try to teach math or help with homework because their teacher does not teach it that way!”

This can definitely lead to homework angst on both the part of the parent and …

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Surface, Deep and Transfer Learning in Math

Posted February 25, 2020

As a follow up to last week’s blog, I thought I would write a little about the concepts of surface, deep, and transfer learning in mathematics and what they look like at school in our classrooms. Surface learning is when students learn new ideas and are …

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Math FUNdamentals, not memorization

Posted February 18, 2020

As a school, we sometimes get questions about why students are not being drilled on their math facts. The truth is that they are practising their facts, but students are also practising their understanding of math concepts in order to become flexible thinkers in math. We are trying to give them the …

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From Counting to Times Tables

Posted February 11, 2020

In Appendix D of Visible Learning, the authors outline one of the “Eight Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices” – use and connect mathematical representations”. This means that as teachers (parents included), we teach and present the concrete (“I see two dots”) which leads to the understanding of the concept (knowing …

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Guest Blogger -Struggle leads to Success!

Posted February 4, 2020

I invited Mr. Reay to be a guest blogger as, in my last blog, I mentioned the importance of having a growth mindset to be a resilient problem solver and learner; an important aspect of being a good mathematician! Below, he outlines how we as adults (think of “educator” being synonymous with …

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Struggle = Success

Posted January 31, 2020

One of the prevalent themes in education and fields related to learning is that of a Growth Mindset (See Carol Dweck’s Ted Talk at http://bit.ly/2RGyRo5). I sum this idea up as looking for solutions when dealing with a problem or challenge instead of adopting a negative or defeatist attitude. 

In …

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What can you do as a parent to boost your child’s brain power?

Posted September 8, 2019

…the short answer is to talk with them.

What is the difference between talking to your child and talking with them?

Below is a link to a study that shows engaging your child in conversation will boost their brainpower. Traditionally, we can struggle with asking our children “How was school today?” or “What did you learn …

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You Matter

Posted January 26, 2019

One of the best things about having the privilege of being Principal of an Elementary School, is that I am continually surprised by students. The other day, for instance, I was spending some time in a grade 2/3 class and got my inspiration for this blog.

The teacher was telling me …

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Critical Thinking, Argument and Seeking to Understand

Posted November 4, 2018

Along with my Saturday morning coffee, I often sit and go through my twitter feed as a leisurely way to make myself think differently (I do tell teaching staff that I see one of my main jobs as a leader is to make them think differently or reflectively) and add to my …

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Follow up to blog “Thank you and #getoutside”

Posted October 14, 2018

This is a follow up to my Blog “Thanks and #getoutside” inspired by the article below that was sent to me by a teacher.

Just a short thought really, with the purpose of providing more information on the importance of children spending time in Nature (one of my more important beliefs) …

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Thanks and #getoutside

Posted October 8, 2018

It has been another great Thanksgiving weekend to reflect on those things for which we are grateful.  Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go for a walk with my partner and Murphy, our dog. This morning I motivated myself to go for a short run along the Speed River with Murphy (trot …

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