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Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends and Happy Columbus Day to my American friends.
Fall here in Canada usually means pumpkin time. Some years I have studied pumpkins with my students. After doing the activities, we would cook the pumpkin and then bake with it. This did require some parent helpers, but the kids loved trying these recipes out. In the past, we also made pumpkin soup for the staff. Here are a couple of recipes we made together. The cookies were a big hit. The muffins were not as popular, but then, if you had a choice, would you choose muffins over cookies? Most kids would choose cookies. Click on the recipes to get your own copy. 
These recipes are part of my Give Thanks package. I included them because they provide an opportunity for kids to do authentic or real life math. I also have several other activities that are language and math activities included in it.
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It's hard to believe it is Friday already. I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.
This has been a crazy week, but not one spent in my classroom.
I did go to school on Monday, but it was a Professional Development Day. We spent the day working with the new material for communicating student learning. We also worked in the lab with the e-portfolio material. If you want to know more about it, check out my latest blog post here. 
On Tuesday, I did a guest blog post for Rachel Lynette of Minds in Bloom. It was about using technology in the classroom and not throwing out older technology too soon.
On Wednesday, after one week of fighting a head cold, I went to the doctor's and found out that I have bronchitis. Now I am on antibiotics and off for the rest of the week. I hope to return to school on Monday.
On Thursday, I decided to use some of my time to create lessons for next week. Thanksgiving is the second Monday in October, so we will be doing activities focused on being thankful next week.
Here is a sample activity from the package I created. You can see the rest of the package here. 
Today, I want to rest and get better. I might still do some work, but my focus has to be getting healthy. I don't want to miss any more school. I am getting concerned about the continuity of my lessons and I have many things I want to get started.
Have a great weekend, everyone. Hopefully your October is starting out well. Oh, and by the way, don't forget that tomorrow is Do Something Nice Day. Laura Candler has a great handout for it over on her website. Check it out here.
Communicating student learning is the new focus this year in our district. We have started using a new format that involves more contact and communication with parents and only one formal report card that will be sent out in June. At first glance, you might think that this will provide less accountability for the students and you might wonder if there will be many students slipping through the cracks. I hear you, several of my colleagues have wondered the same thing. However, after one month of school, and only 3 weeks with our new students, I have fewer concerns now.
We will be sending out rubrics that focus on different aspects of learning throughout the year, creating portfolios of work to send home periodically, or to be emailed as an e-portfolio, and holding 2 three-way conferences (student led conferences). In addition, we will be sending home updates regularly via newsletters, email, etc. 
We have rubrics for each of the subject areas and for learning behaviors. These rubrics will be completed a few times during the year and then a full report card will be sent home at the end of the year with all the rubrics in it.
I just completed the first set of rubrics for learning behaviors and social behaviors that are necessary for success. This was very appropriate for the beginning of the year as we started out the year learning about the classroom and school rules and routines and we focused on developing positive self esteem. 
I created a checklist so that we can keep track of which rubrics have been sent out and when they were sent out. Teachers also wanted to have a place to keep track of their newsletters and other media sent out as well. If you would like a copy clickhere.
Our first student led conferences will be held at the beginning of November. At this time, we will have reported on some of the academics that we have been working on, and this will allow us to focus on areas of success and concern at the meeting. Student led conferences are a very rewarding experience for the students and parents. I have used this format for years and it never ceases to lose its impact. I have a specific package of materials that I have used successfully for these conferences. If you would like to check it out, click here. 
This is our first year with this style of reporting, so there will surely be some challenges along the way, but it has started out well. I will give updates as we take this journey. I would love to know what others are doing with reporting and communicating student learning.
October is here, along with the change in weather, our Canadian Thanksgiving and Halloween. It is a busy, but exciting time of year. I have linked up with Farley over at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade for the October currently.
I think my choices are self explanatory this time.
Here is my Halloween treat for you. It is a set of Halloween themed hundreds charts. Click on the image to get your copy.
Happy October, everyone!
Welcome to those of you stopping by for the first time and to my blogging friends who have been following me for awhile now.
I have been so blessed to have met many teacher bloggers over the last year. It is hard to believe that I began this journey 11 months ago. I have really enjoyed being part of the blogging world. As a thank you to all my blogging friends, I would like to share a couple of things with you.
1. My Heart....My Passions This is a template I use for helping my students come up with writing ideas. It helps to avoid the "I don't know what to write about" issues. First, they choose things that they care about or like doing in each space of the heart. After they have filled in each of the spaces with an idea, I give them another copy of the heart and have them draw a picture that goes with each of the corresponding spaces and their ideas. These hearts are then kept in their notebooks so that they can refer to them when they need to come up with a writing idea. Click on the image below to get your own copy. 
2. Orchestrating Attitudes
The following is a poster I made for a workshop a few years ago when our staff was working on wellness as a theme. I have found that this is good for students too. It fits in well with developing positive self-esteem and successful learning behaviors. Click on the image to get your copy. 
Thank you again for everything you have shared and taught me throughout my blogging journey. I have made some truly amazing friends.
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About Me Charlene Sequeira
I am a wife, mother of 4, grandmother of 9, and a retired primary and music teacher. I love working with kids and continue to volunteer at school and teach ukulele. 
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