As a K-5 international educator it’s not often that we’re discussing ways to promote safe spaces for LGBTQ members of the community. It’s almost as though it’s a taboo subject for elementary educators and you only start to see Rainbow flags appearing when students enter middle school. Where does the teaching of Diverse Family Structures…
How can we minimise mid-year teacher burnout? Every teacher can articulate at least one moment in the year where it all feels like too much. Typically, it hits us sometime in November (near report-writing time) and/or in March/April (when we’ve passed the halfway point but there is still so much left to do!). A few weeks…
How can we build more play into our literacy units? In preparation for our Grade 1 Arts Festival students were exposed to familiar stories. We are fortunate that our narrative reading and writing unit also align with this performance & arts-based Unit of Study, so I structured this literacy project to include a lot of…
Where do math and technology fit with play-based learning? As the EdTech Coach at ISZL, Switzerland I decided to explore this question further. Arming myself with the new resource book Technology and Digital Media in the Early Years (Edited by Chip Donohue), I embarked on an 3 month journey exploring the benefits of different new tech…
Is coding the new literacy for 21st Century Schools? If so, how can it enhance a transdisciplinary program of inquiry? This past December I initiated our school’s first ever Hour of Code, the global event that introduces coding through games and activities, both online and offline. The Early Years to Grade 5 classes who participated…
Last month our school received a new shipment of BlueBots…the 2015 version of the former BeeBots. These bots have only just been released and provide the added feature of being programmable via an iPad (using BlueTooth). The bots also have a transparent cover, allowing children to see the computer inside as it works. Otherwise, it…
This week, as a belated #hourofcode (which we hosted in December), the Early Years 1 classes explored BeeBots for the first time. BeeBots is basically a programmable robot where arrows and a ‘GO’ button tell the BeeBot where to move. Introductory Video from Youtube: What is it? How does it work? The class teacher decided to take…
As the techology facilitator at a PYP school, I am constantly on the look out for engaging apps that enhance learning and don’t just replace what students could do with physical materials and tools. I spent a lot of time in the first few weeks learning about the play-based Reggio Emilia approach at our PYP…
It’s the beginning of school and Early Years teachers (EY1) are busy establishing routines and habits to help children adjust to being at school for the first time. We are a PYP school that focuses on applying a Reggio-Emilia approach to learning for 3-5 year olds. There are many creative ways teachers engage students in…
Innovative Learning 