Westcoast Teaching

"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - Winnie the Pooh/A.A. Milne Hey friends! Thanks for checking out my post filled with ideas for your kids today. On Tuesday our local hero, Dr. Bonnie Henry, announced the lowest number of confirmed COVID - 19 cases in BC in three weeks! It is such great news. Hopefully you feel inspired to be even more diligent with social distancing and spending time at home. It is hard to be away from family and friends, but being strong now helps more of us be able to be together later. Stay strong and stay home. :-)  On that note, here are some fun things for your kids (or maybe even parents) to do at home! Activity #1 - Make Breakfast Today is a great day for a yogurt parfait!  Ingredients: - yogurt - fruit of your choice - granola - bowl - spoon Instructions: 1. Get out a bowl and put your yogurt into the bowl.  2. Add your fruit on top. If your fr...

"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some." - Charles Dickens Welcome to another day of home school and social isolation. I hope the quotation above encourages all of us in our day. Enjoy the ideas below! Activity #1 - Make Breakfast Why not make today easy and pour yourself a bowl of cereal! If you have some frozen berries in the fridge you could defrost them and add them on top for extra nutrition. Remember to put your bowl and spoon in the dishwasher and put the cereal box away when you are finished with it.  Activity #2 - Home Workout Put on some workout clothes, open YouTube on the TV or iPad and do this 30 minute workout.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC_L9qAHVJ8 Activity #3 - Math Did you know that exercise turns your prefrontal cortex on so that it is better able to think? It is especially helpful to do exercise before math and scie...

In grade seven, BC students need to learn about experimental and theoretical probability. We could sit around taking notes, practicing, and then write a test, or we could learn, practice, and create a fair for all the primary and intermediate students to come to! So this is what we do. The grade seven students create The Probability Fair. In partners, they will come up with two independent events that guests can complete. If the guests randomly get the desired outcome of the event(s), they earn tickets that they can then take to a prize shop to buy things like pencils, stickers, and many other things that children like from the dollar store.  If you are interested in doing this with your class, here is what we do.  Choose Partners After a discussion of the importance of creating complimentary partners, all students fill in a confidential partner choice slip. They are allowed to request three people that they think would be a complimentary partner for them to w...

"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know the dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed." - G.K. Chesterton Hey everyone! Welcome to Monday. I hope you are all still healthy and finding much to be thankful for as we continue through our time of staying home and staying socially distant. I took a break from posting because it takes a lot of time and my brain was exhausted after the first week of teaching students by distance. I'm now feeling rested and my creative brain is back! Hope you find some fun ideas in here! Thanks for checking out my post. Activity #1 - Make Breakfast - Peanut Butter and Banana Toast This is super easy and delicious. I've linked a recipe below if you want one, but you probably won't need it.  Toast a piece of bread, add some peanut butter, slice a banana and arrange the pieces on top, and enjoy! Sometimes I like to sprinkle some chia seed mix on top of the...

"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind." - C.S Lewis Hey everyone! Happy Thursday! Hope you are figuring out a schedule that works for you and your family as you navigate this school and work at home quarantine time.  Activity #1 - Make Breakfast - Smoothies! Get out your favourite ingredients for your favourite smoothie! If you don't have one that you make often, try out one from this link:  https://www.americastestkitchen.com/kids/recipes/mixed-berry-smoothies Clean up and wash your dishes when you're finished!  Activity #2 - Journal - Focus on Gratitude Watch this video about gratitude:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPPPFqsECz0 Open your journal to the next empty page and write the date and title "Gratitude" on the top of the page.  Answer these questions in your journal:  1. What are some of the benefits of being grateful? 2. What are some practices that can help us improve ...