CATS Program Fall 2020

CATS Program Fall 2020

  1. Home
  2. CATS Program Fall 2020

Class Activities and Teacher Support

“CATS”

Fall 2020

Grade K-3, 4-6, and 7-8 Teachers:

Feeling overwhelmed?

This fall let us help you!

FREE PROJECT PARTICIPATION

1. Your choice of 15 Ready-to-use Student Activities

2. PD on Teaching & Learning online

3. On-going Teacher Support!

<<<< REGISTER HERE >>>>

* Implement your local LITERACY and SOCIAL STUDIES curriculum through a choice of integrated, cross-curricular activities already prepared for you and your students.

* We will walk you through having your K-8 students investigate their neighbourhood community and show you how to publish their works in the Kids’ Guide to Canada – whether this fall or at another time of your choice!

* At the very SIMPLEST level, students take photographs or create artwork showing their local neighbourhood, and write a brief description telling what it’s like there. Knowledge-creation from a student perspective is paramount!

* Choose from a menu of ready-made activities and free teacher resources created by classroom teachers for students in Grades K-3, 4-6, and 7-8.

* Engage your students in activities with an authentic purpose and an authentic audience.

* All activities have been developed and adapted for face-to-face learning in the regular classroom, and for synchronous and asynchronous learning online.

* Benefit from the step-by-step guidance and mini-PD sessions by experienced teachers

* Enjoy connecting and collaborating with fellow teachers from across Canada!

PROGRAM DETAILS

A. SESSION DATES and TIMES

This guided participation program involves 4 virtual PD sessions, spaced out over 6 weeks.

Four Virtual Teacher Meetings

Oct. 21:   Intro, Getting Started, Making Connections
      Oct. 28:   Activities 1-10, Engaging students in Learning
Nov. 4:   Activities 11-15, Creating in a Digital World
Nov. 18:   Exciting Further Opportunities                       .

Wednesdays 6:30-7:30 pm Eastern Time

B. SESSION CONTENT

Each week’s session will have 3 components: an intro to the student activities of the week, a mini-PD session, and a small group teacher chat.

Week 1

  • Meet & Greet
  • PD: Introduction to Kids’ Guide project and Teacher Preparations
  • Student Activities: General Overview
  • Teacher Chat: finding learning partners

Week 2

  • Meet & Greet
  • Student Activities: Week 1 + 2 activities
  • PD: Engaging students and Experiential Learning
  • Teacher Chat: current struggles and strategies

Week 3

  • Meet & Greet
  • Student Activities: Week 3 activities + Publishing Artifacts
  • PD: Creative Commons, Digital Citizenship & Safety
  • Teacher Chat: current struggles and strategies

Week 4

  • Meet & Greet
  • PD: Digital Human Library + Exploring Further Options
  • Teacher Chat: Sharing and moving forward…

C. STUDENT SAFETY & SECURITY

*** STUDENT SAFETY ONLINE IS THE ONLY MANDATORY COMPONENT of this project.

*** STUDENTS ARE NOT VISIBLE or IDENTIFIED ONLINE, (unless with parental consent you chose to do so.)

*** STUDENTS DO NOT HAVE ACCESS to INTERNET ACCOUNTS, NOR IS ANY STUDENT DATA COLLECTED.

*** All posting online is conducted by you the classroom teacher.

D. CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

Some of these activities teach specific skills, while others provide students with an opportunity to develop different concepts and skills.

The activities in the Kids’ Guide project were created by elementary classroom teachers with Literacy and Social Studies curriculum expectations in mind. As a participant, you will choose activities you feel will best help your students achieve the learning goals you have identified during this stressful time of covid19.

GRADES K-3: ONE MAIN FOCUS AREA

  • LITERACY: Expository and Descriptive writing: view and respond to community features, label artwork; Narrative Writing (community events, story-writing); Oral Speaking Skills (describe artwork, photographs, or images).
  • SOCIAL STUDIES CONNECTIONS: Heritage & Identity (Family & Community Traditions); People & the Environment (Our Local Community, Communities in Canada, (Province + Territories of Canada); Spatial Skills (Map Reading)

GRADES 4-6: TWO FOCUS AREAS

  • LITERACY: Expository and Descriptive writing: view and respond to community features, label artwork; Narrative Writing (Story Writing, community events, family stories); Oral Speaking Skills (describe artwork, photographs, or images).
  • SOCIAL STUDIES: Heritage & Identity (communities in Canada, past and present; People & the Environment (Province + Territories, and Physical regions of Canada), Spatial Skills (reading & creating a map, compass directions, relative location)

GRADES 7-8 TWO FOCUS AREAS

  • LITERACY – Expository and Descriptive writing: view and respond to community features; Narrative Writing (Creating strong questions, community events, family stories); Oral Speaking Skills (Interview a community member; describe artwork, photographs, or images).
  • GEOGRAPHY – Place & Location, (Political, Physical, & Cultural Regions of Canada), Spatial Skills (Creating a Map, Compass directions, Relative and Absolute Location)
  • HISTORY opportunities: Change & Conflict (Communities of Canada, Indigenous communities in Canada)
  • MATH opportunities: Measurement (Distance, Area & Perimeter)

ALL GRADES:

  • A DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP & SAFETY (essential)
    • Online Safety guidelines for students
    • Parental consent requirements for posting online works
    • Understanding Copyright and using Creative Commons works
  • B THE ARTS (optional).
    • We are focussing all of our attention on helping students to achieve Literacy and Social Studies/Geography curriculum expectations. However most activities involve The Arts in some way.
    • Visual Arts (both with or without technology): picture making with different medium, photograph, videography, etc. An emphasis on creative expression and individual perspective.
    • Music: recording songs and music of the local community, or information about them
    • Drama: enacting a cultural or historical event from the local community
    • Dance: sharing different cultural dances from the local community

E. STUDENTS IN-CLASS or ONLINE?

We understand the incredible challenges of trying to teach and help students learn during the dangers and unknowns of covid19!

All activities can be completed by students in-class or online, and then submitted to you, the teacher, in person, by email, or uploaded to a class communication system. As long as a student has email capabilities, student work can be received and included in this project. Accommodations for remote and unstable internet connections are available.

We will provide a letter to parents about their role (ie not to do the work for the students!), since all artifacts are to be original student creations.

At the end of the project, you and your students will choose which works you will add to the Kids’ Guide to Canada map.

We will help you upload these works using a simple fill-in form.

F. FRENCH LANGUAGE PARTICIPATION

We are excited to see more and more French classes participate!

Our 4 PD sessions will take place in English only, this fall, as we do not have a French teacher to conduct these sessions in French. (All of the team members who run this project are elementary teacher volunteers.) Our sincere apologies.

We will endeavour to provide as many activities and resources in French as possible. 80 percent of the activities and resources on the Kids’ Guide website are already provided in French.

This program has now ended. It will be offered for free once again in the spring of 2021.