Our Inspirations (class blog)

Merry Happy Everything!

12/10/2020

Happy Holidays from the Steltman Family!

Becoming a parent and watching my girls grow up has changed how I see the holiday season. As I had gotten older, I had forgotten about the magic, mystery and excitement of this season. Watching my girls wake up each morning and want to find their elf on the shelf, seeing houses decorated with lights, it’s all been so nice this year and has un-grinched (I made that word up) my old heart. This year, I want you to think about what you like doing best with your family over the holiday season. What traditions do you follow, what do you find exciting, how does your family choose to enjoy the many holidays that are celebrated over this time?
For your blog post this week, I want you to write out, in the style of a descriptive story, the traditions that your family celebrates that you want to remember when you’re older and pass onto your families, should you choose to have them. Please write your story in the first person (I, me, etc.) and walk us through the experience so that it feels like we’re living it with you!
As an example topic sentence: “As my eyes flutter open, my brain wakes up and reminds me, “IT’S the last day of school!” I race to get my clothes on to celebrate this exciting day.

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Look UP!

12/3/2020

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As we start our procedural website on ways to be healthy; mentally, socially and physically, watching this video feels very timely. This video always hits me in the feels makes me feel emotional. It also makes me feel guilty; guilty because I also struggle with looking down and not always being present. For your weekly challenge and blog post this week, I would like you to take at least 3 days where you do not use your tablet or computer (unless for homework) after school.
Can you take a few nights off?
For myself, I will put my cell phone’s ringer on and leave it on a shelf once I get home. Your goal is to be present with your family. I’m going to give 100% attention to the three girls at home now. Once you’ve had your three days being present, write down a paragraph that explains what it was like without your device. Was it hard? Was it worth it? Did you get a chance to talk about something that you otherwise wouldn’t have?
Tell us about your experience. Use descriptive writing to make it feel real.
Let’s Look UP!

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You're making me hungry!

11/26/2020

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For your blog post this week, I’d like each of you to think in your head about what your favourite food in the whole world is! Picture that food in your mind, how it looks, smells, tastes, sounds when it’s cooking. Have you got it? Good.
Now here’s the challenge, can you write a descriptive paragraph that doesn’t mention what your food is but describes it so well that your classmates can guess what it is? The world of food and wine website has some great words that you can use to help you in your challenge!

As an example: “Its colour is burned a deep amber hue, the outside hard, crunchy, almost black with flavour. The smell is powerful, smoky, and tantalizing. As I take the razor sharp knife and slice through the bark, the heat rises out in steamy tendrils. I pour the thin, vinegary barbecue sauce into the glass bowl, onto the piled up meat. It’s rich, meaty smell hits my nose and I use my knife and fork to cut through it. The meat is delicate, soft with a crunchy outside bit. The flavour is strong, meaty and delicious and as I put it on the bun, I cannot wait to bite into it!

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If you need something, SAY something!

11/19/2020

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Watch the following video from a professional rugby player. I love how the creators of this video were able to use the scroll bar at the bottom to showcase the message of the video. This is often how it goes in our lives too, we’re unable to say what we’re really feeling, unable to share our fears or stresses. This has been a strange year, with Covid, on top of all the normal challenges and stresses that are placed up on your shoulders in grade six. This week especially, as it’s anti-bullying week, I want you to know that I’m listening, that I’m trying to read between the lines of what you’re saying and that if you need to talk, I’m here. If you’re feeling down, worried, stressed, or anything else, know that you can reach out. I want the absolute best for each and every one of you. This has been a hard week for me, as I hate being out of the classroom when you’re all there, so please know that I’m thinking about you and hope that you’re trying your best, even while I’m away. Have a great rest of your week and hopefully I can see you tomorrow.
For your blog post this week, I want you to imagine a student in grade six who is struggling with anxiety, stress, or bullying and write them a letter that you think could help them get through the tough times.

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Orangutans and the Destruction of the Rainforest

11/12/2020

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Listening to Phillipe Cousteau and Justin Grubb as well as watching the documentary on orangutans this week was powerful! The threat to these amazing animals is real and is being driven by humans and human greed. A big reason for the deforestation of the jungles is due to the palm oil industry and plantations. When the rainforest is cut down to make room for more palm oil plantations, the whole planet suffers. Check out this video of one company’s response to deforestation.
For your blog this week, you have two jobs to do.

Find five products in your house that contain palm oil. This website can help you figure out which products are likely to have it and ingredients that it can be listed as.
Write a 2-3 paragraph story from the perspective of an orangutan. Imagine what a day would be like. You can include any concepts that we learned about in class.

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Starting Fresh with Some Humour

11/5/2020

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I was so incredibly proud of each and every one of you when you participated in our morning community conversation. You set meaningful goals for yourselves and for ourselves as a class. I loved watching the teams build those incredible structures at Sioux Lookout, I couldn’t believe how tall, and creative they each were. This week’s blog post is a challenge to raise people’s spirits with your writing. For your blog post, can you write 3 things:

a joke
a strategy you use to help you stay stay positive
one person who you know has always got your back?

That’s it, that’s all. Have an awesome week!

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Mistakes ... but I hate being wrong!

10/29/2020

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This week, we looked at our learning skills and took some time to be very reflective of our own learning so far this semester. For this week I want you to continue to be reflective about your learning, and your personality and to think about failure and making mistakes. Making mistakes feels bad, failure isn’t fun, it never feels good, and sometimes it can be downright embarrassing! The crazy thing about it though, is that it’s through mistakes and failure that we experience large amounts of growth; as learners, and as people. In your blog post this week, I want you to think back on this past month, week, year, etc. and come up with a failure or mistake that still sticks with you as well as what you learned from that experience. Write down what happened, why you feel that you failed or what the mistake was and what you learned from this failure.
My example for this week:
One mistake that still stands out clearly in my mind happened when I was Mr. Else’s student teacher. I had a class of grade six students and I was teaching them about finding the volume of a triangular prism. This was a very important lesson because II had the vice principal in the class watching and I TAUGHT IT TO THEM WRONG! I got confused with the numbers and the vice-principal had to come up and help me with the lesson. After this lesson, I chose to go down to her office to apologize for not being prepared enough and for making a mistake. She helped me understand the math concept more deeply and helped me to realize that in teaching, there are many mistakes. It turns out it’s what you do once you’ve made the mistake that matters. Use your mistakes, reflect on them and grow as a person! Forgive yourself, learn, and move on!

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Scary Stories: It's all in HOW you read them!

10/22/2020

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Tell A SCARY Story
Halloween is coming up and while this may look a little different for some of us this year, it’s always a great chance to help develop our story-telling skills! A scary story is amazing because it’s not only what you write that makes it scary, it’s also in HOW you tell that story. This week, your challenge is to write a scary story (one you come up with or one that you’ve heard before). This way, on Friday, we’ll get to hear each other read our scary stories out loud in class!
To get you in the mood, here is a story a friend of mine told my girls when we were camping this summer! It’s called Hairy Toe!
*Story read from American Folklore

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Celebrated Frog Jumping Contest of Calaveras County: Summary

10/15/2020

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Over the past few weeks in math we’ve been working on algebra through the lens of the frog jumping contest made famous by Mark Twain in his short story. I have found this incredible Lego stop-motion version of this story! Your challenge this week is to write a ONE PARAGRAPH (not one sentence) SUMMARY of what happens in the story. If you’d like to read the actual story by Mark Twain, it can be found here.

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I've got a Gratitude Attitude

10/8/2020

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Watch the above video that explains the neuroscience behind being grateful, isn’t it amazing that our brains actually change when we are thankful to others or when we look back on our day and think about things that we were thankful for. With this time of year being Thanksgiving, it seems to me to be a perfect occasion for us to get some of this bonus happiness that they were talking about in the video. For your blog post this week, you are to use this doc to help you record different things you’ve been thankful for for the week and then, as the week finishes, write a blog post in which you share the three gratitudes that were most important to you and why. To help you with what I mean, I’ll write out three important gratitudes for me.

I am grateful for my wife, and best friend, Jacey. She has done an amazing job of keeping our family organized, on track and always takes the lead when it comes to packing up for camping. I am so grateful that we have the opportunity to camp with our daughters and it’s in large part because she makes such an effort to make lists, pack up the stuff and get me going.
I am so grateful for the willingness of you, 6-4 in trying to be the best you can be. You’ve all been willing to try new learning, from frisbee to frog math, and within each day, there’s been something that makes me genuinely laugh. Thank you for being so willing to enjoy school with me.
I am grateful for my daughters and their easy-going attitudes. Going back to school after a year off has been a challenge to organize, and adjusting to new routines and new schools can be hard but they’ve both been such troopers and for that I’m grateful.

Have an amazing long weekend everyone! I can’t wait to see what your gratitudes are!

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<<Previous

Merry Happy Everything!

Look UP!

You're making me hungry!

If you need something, SAY something!

Orangutans and the Destruction of the Rainforest

Starting Fresh with Some Humour

Mistakes ... but I hate being wrong!

Scary Stories: It's all in HOW you read them!

Celebrated Frog Jumping Contest of Calaveras County: Summary

I've got a Gratitude Attitude

Mr. Steltman's Class

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