End Poverty Day and the power of seventh graders

I am afraid once again I have been neglecting this blog.  On Thanksgiving Day I got the flu that turned into just a cold that persisted and kind of wore me out a bit.  Also I was busy recreating my Moodle site for the class etc. 

Last week due to my cold I was kind of dragging.  I was also getting bogged down with forgotten homework etc.  The kids seemed to be dragging as well.  The weather turned ugly at the end of the week after months of sunshine.  And once again I had signed my class up for something and I realized I had better get moving.  Friday afternoon stretched out endlessly. 

Wednesday, October 17th, was End Poverty Day and in the summer I was told about this event by Janey Lee, an amazing and dedicated teacher at Thunderbird School (one of our inner city schools).  I registered our school as an official site and only vaguely thought about it since then. 

In Social Studies we had been studying the age old problem of not enough food so it all seemed to fit.  I had fallen in love with a book, Almost Home, by Joan Bauer, about a girl who becomes homeless, and was reading it to my class.  We also started lit circles this week about children who have faced poverty.  Our fundraising for Terry Fox had been disappointing so I decided that it was time to light a bit of a firecracker. 

I told each class group (they sit in table groups of four) that they had to come up with projects to make the school aware of End Poverty Day the following Wednesday.  I gave them the website to go to for information and told them that each group had to report with some kind of plan in about 20 minutes.  Good thing we have those ipads in the classroom. 

Well as you have heard me say before nothing this age level likes better than a project.  They came up with ideas galore (my least favorite was the car wash one) and I pushed them for details and definite plans. 

I was working in my classroom after school, the first day that week I had lasted very long, when a couple of the kids came in with money.  They had been hitting up teachers after school for money and succeeding!  I at least convinced them to let me keep the money and showed them how to set up a deposit form.  My idea had not been to do this and I probably would have told them not to harass my colleagues but they were in motion and I figured this wasn't the time to stop them.  I think we had 80 dollars before I knew it.

Monday they made more plans.   Some groups were getting together and holding bake sales Wednesday (we had a field trip Tuesday).  Signs went up and announcements began to be made.  More money kept coming in as they told friends and family about the project.  Tuesday we discussed a goal and decided the money would probably go to the Food Bank.  We may look at some other causes as well.  I suggested 500 dollars, they thought that they couldn't raise that much so they decided 300 dollars and  on Wednesday a couple of people made a thermometer to show this. 

Food poured in on Wednesday, two tables were set up and the rush was on.  By Wednesday afternoon between the bake sale profits and donations they had received the class had made $302 dollars.  The bake sales continue today although about seven students are at We Day.  There are other plans afoot.  They have to make another thermometer.

I can honestly say other than giving a website link, some critical advice, counting money (to make it official) and supplying a few supplies and doing a little supervising,  I have done nothing.  This is all coming from 27 twelve year olds. And they are feeling the power of being able to do good and being in control. 

I am behind in Science, haven't finished the first unit, but hopefully they are learning  important lessons and skills, that they will take forward in life. 

The information that I learned from the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition is quite shocking.  Our government has no plan to reduce poverty in our province for instance, even with the highest child poverty rate in the country.   I ask you to read more and sign their petition available online and share  this information with your friends. 

Ah... Good-bye September

Hmm... It's early Sunday morning and it seems as if it's blog writing time.  And next I have to think about what I would like to write about.  I can't believe September has ended and it's October.  I feel good that I have actually now begun teaching all required subjects.  We had a Professional Day on Monday and I never have time to do all I want to do but I planned out my first unit in French and studying Spanish for the first time has really made me sympathize and think what is important in French for my students to learn.  I was also working on planning field trips, this can be time consuming with phone calls often going back and forth. 

Tuesday the kids were back and we began the day with a fun morning learning a tame version of Australian "footie".  In the afternoon we went to a film festival at Moberly Arts Centre.  I think what my class liked best was the 16 mm film projector, something in this digital age, they don't normally see.  I remember how the film would get stuck and I would have to untangle it-can't say I miss those projectors at all!  We were reunited with the herb garden but our onion crop wasn 't a big success but the garden looked lovely.  Tuesday we had Homework Club with several of my students catching up with lost or undone homework.  And despite a Professional Day I was at school until after 5:30 at least planning etc. 

Wednesday the kids breathed a sigh of relief when I had to rush out for a meeting across town planning a Literacy Day for the January Professional Day so that there wasn't a Homework Club.  Thursday I had a meeting at our school to plan a visual journal project with my former Artist in Residence and a couple of my friends who teach at other schools.  Every day we had meetings all through lunch by the way, Struggling Students, Professional Development, VESTA (our union) and Friday it was time for the Me to We club. 

Teaching highlights this week (I am sure footie was the kids' highlight and Barry sure loved those Australian expressions he learned)... We began the book, Almost Home.  Some of the kids were totally confused but I tell them that good books often are a bit confusing at the beginning.  It's a fun book to read out loud and the chapters are just the right length. 

French was fun as well.  I always like to begin with basic beginning conversations and then somehow that leads to French cartoons.  And I admit it, once and awhile we threw in a bit of Spanish as well-I have to practice regularly with Mayra anyway. 

I even managed some Health and Career Education as we had our class Students' Council elections.  Results were interesting to say the least.



I think I will do another post on The Day I Was Born projects in Social Studies that I finished marking this week.  In Science they have to do a field study-a close study of a square metre of the school grounds or they can use a piece of their yard at home.  Thursday we looked at the assignment, and then Friday I sent them off with magnifying glasses and ipads.  I discovered a neat app called Leafsnap-too fun, with your location you can take a photo of a leaf and identify it. 

That afternoon we did our Terry Fox Run and wouldn't you know it, for the first time in ages, it poured for the beginning of the run but true Vancouverites never let a little rain stop us. 

Yes, there was math... and I had a wonderful writing time on Friday morning.  Choosing an idea from Writing Bingo from Lori Jamieson's and Paul Kropp's The Write Genre, they were off and writing.  Barry couldn't believe how much he wrote.  Ellie's piece with sketches about her imaginary games with her best friend when she lived in Tofino, brought tears to my eyes.  Watch out literary world!

I ended the school day after school, with a little soccer practice with the girls, and couldn't help but think what a good and crazy week it was. 

Almost Home

I love new books!  Well I actually told my class that I loved new school supplies, and that may have been one reason I became a teacher.  Anyway this time I am talking about new children's books.  I think I have noted before how much I have loved going to International Reading Association or National Council of Teachers of English' conferences and getting advance copies of new books free!

I have been seeking a good read aloud.  Due to my visiting the Titanic Museum this summer I was thinking of doing a unit on the Titanic and using a novel with the class and even had one picked out, but somehow just wasn't feeling right yet.  Last weekend I went off to Kidsbooks and spent a bit of time with the very knowledgeable Lesley (not sure if correct spelling) and tried to limit myself to a few good new books for my classroom.  I am a total believer in the school library but I think it is important to have a good classroom library as well.  No one in my class can ever claim that he or she doesn't have a good book to read.  

I really love Joan Bauer's books and was privileged to hear her speak at a conference a few years ago and she was great.  I think Kidsbooks needs many more of her books!  Anyway, I picked up her latest, Almost Home, and read it immediately.  I absolutely loved it.  It's about Sugar who lives with her mom in a home purchased by her now deceased grandfather for them.  Her dad, Mr. Leeland, an unreliable gambler comes and mainly goes.  She has just entered sixth grade with a very innovative teacher, Mr. B.  Due to her mom's employment difficulties and her father's gambling, they lose their home and end up in a homeless shelter.  Eventually her mom leaves Missouri to move to Chicago where things do not initially improve.  Sounds depressing but with this amazing heroine and a cast of interesting characters and one adorable small dog it actually is not!  

I am very much looking forward to reading this book to my class!  We are planning to be involved with  End Poverty Day and this book seems perfect fit for this issue.