Dean Kindig and Moira Prister

Here is a concept mapping website and a password for you: https://bubbl.us/mindmap

It turns out wonderful webs, visually appealing, and can easily be color-coded.

http://therapyfunzone.net/blog/ot/visual-perceptual-skills/

Our Occupational Therapist just found this website for visual perceptual skills and other topics. It has resources, lessons, ideas, and materials all of us can use for Visual-Perceptual therapy. Hope you find it as useful as we did, especially at requisition time!

We’re looking at ADHD as either the “hyper” kid or the inattentive type. This article describes a third type of ADHD–the hyper-focusing child. They have pockets of passion that they spend 3 hours on, and look inattentive or overly-active when they aren’t intently doing one of those passions:

http://www.childmind.org/en/posts/articles/2013-9-23-hyperfocus-flip-side-adhd

One of my all-time favorite kids (and yes, he hyper-focuses and knows it) sent me the article via his Mom, who is a Harley teacher.

http://www.scrabblefinder.com lets you input a word-ending cluster (also called word endings, vowel patterns, rhyming ends, melds, no wonder kids are confused) and it will give you all of the words for that cluster.

These can be used for reading or spelling, but we’ve also used them in word games such as Monopoly.

We got a Lower School trial of Flocabulary, which is educational hip-hop videos, songs and lessons. It’s learning set to rap music — with video. Certain classes are extremely musical, so this will help. The trial is free. A building can sign up, or one teacher can sign up.

http://www.flocabulary.com/subjects/

Some of our Focus Week Alaska videos. Enjoy!

We are about to start Focus Week: Alaska, where the entire Lower School studies one subject in different ways, and shares what they’ve learned. The Lower School becomes a panoply of color and interaction. Kids add to the Centrum’s decor.

Here is a few of the things we’ve already planned in our In-Service today!

• Front Wall Map in brown, on orange…trail for Iditarod Flanked by state flower, bird, etc.
• Back wall is Summer in AK…gr4 Sitka spruce, temp rain forest East wall is blue hues ocean with whales, totems, etc…
• West wall is Denali plus glaciers…need pic, Chicken wire and Kleenex mountain?
• Arctic on back wall with northern lights using cellophane and disco ball, igloos, animals

•  Two teachers are making coloring books with line art, color-in animals: Dall sheep, Moose, Caribou, Wolf, Black and brown and Grizzlies and Kodiak bears, Sandhill crane, Swans, Eagles, Otters, Walrus, Seals, Whales, and Salmon

•  Our school SNAP server has a Lower School–>Focus Week–>Alaska folder
• Sled dogs one per classroom made out of foam core will have standups so they are 3D, kids can put their head into hole for musher, photo op
• What’s your wingspan? On Bull board outside Dean’s room
• Inuksuit building spaces needed…by Morning greeting board?

• Take home totem pole sections
• Life size bear outside Julie’s room
• Life size moose where Lost and Found is (PA is doing this)
• Nancy Barrett has made Native American art, shawl, Klinklit chieftain hat
• Gr.2 has Film of running of the salmon
• Nancy Lindquist Plank house of totems
• Superimposed map of AK on USA
• Igloo of milk jugs inside the glass-walled landing outside Computer Lab with info on igloos posted on the glass walls
• Lower Half of Milk Jugs will be for kids to build with on Tammy’s divider wall by copier
• Upper half of milk jugs will be totem pole sections for each kid to decorate (put colors in separate Greek yogurt containers with just a tsp of Wisk so paint adheres better to plastic
• Bart White is doing a balsa or foam core float plane on a wire landing on Centrum floor
• We have set up Juneau AK pen pals or blog pals with 2 elementary schools, gr 4 Skype and K Skype

One of our teachers has done lots of legwork for the Lower School! Search Pinners for Christina Kerr or christina295. This might work:
http://www.pinterest.com/christina295/focus-week/

Hey everybody!

Beth Fox heard this story last night as she was driving home and it really resonated with her and what we do here. I loved how the school stopped using the “S” word (smart), b/c they felt it was limiting kids potential. They also taught the kids to take chances and to struggle, which ultimately let to great success!

http://www.npr.org/2014/03/17/290894364/on-the-syllabus-lessons-in-grit

Fun With Recycling
We’re making a milk jug igloo for our Alaska Focus Week 2014.
Recycling materials not only helps save landfills from being overburdened and potential environmental damage, but can be fun too!

In this recycling activity you can build an ‘igloo’ out of plastic milk bottles, large enough for you and your friends, or family, to sit inside.The video below shows how one group built their milk bottle/jug igloo and is very useful in demonstrating the procedure.

Milk Jug Igloo

Milk Bottle Igloo Instructions

Step One:  Start collecting milk bottles.

This could take a while, depending on how many people you can get involved.  Get everyone in your extended family, class, club etc. collecting.

Lids should be kept as well, as these help give the bottles more strength, by trapping a cushion of air inside.  Open bottles can crush out of shape much more easily.

Make sure they are cleaned well after emptying, as you don’t want to be using smelly unhygienic materials.

Step Two:  Work out how big you want your igloo to be.

How many people do you want to be able to fit inside?  Just a private spot for you and a friend, or enough for lots of people?  Do you want to just be able to sit, or have enough room to lay down?

You will need to be able to get hold of enough heavy cardboard (fridge and other large appliance boxes are ideal) to make a base for your igloo.  The bottom milk bottles will be glued to this to stabilize the whole structure.  So your igloo can’t be bigger than the cardboard you can get.  It can be joined however, so it doesn’t all have to be in one huge piece.

Step Three:  Work out how many bottles you will need.

This will require some calculations.  It will depend on what size you want your igloo, and what size milk bottles you are collecting.  The people in the above video used over 400 bottles, but they were a larger size than is generally available in Australia (for those of you who live here.)  Watching the video, however, will give you some idea as to how to calculate the number.

Draw a circle of the right size onto the cardboard, as a guide for laying out your bottom bottles.  You can do this by attaching a pencil to a piece of string (equal to the radius of the circle you require- plus a bit extra for tying) and to an object which can either be glued or stabbed through the center point of the circle.  Pull the string tight and your pencil should be in the correct place for drawing your outer circle.

Next, lay out the number of bottles you will need for your base layer, on the cardboard, lids facing into the circle.  Don’t forget to leave a doorway, large enough for people to easily crawl through.

The first several layers can go almost straight up- just indent very slightly, using maybe one bottle less per layer.  Work out how many layers tall you want your igloo to be.  You can then multiply the base layer number by the number of almost straight layers you think you will need, to get an approximate number of bottles for this section.

As you get nearer the top you need to begin curving inwards much more, by staggering your bottles towards the centre more, so those layers will need progressively less bottles.  Keeping these things in mind, try to work out the number needed for the remaining layers.

You will also need some bottles to create an entrance-way to your igloo.

Step Four:  Constructing the igloo.

Glue the milk bottles together in pairs, handles together, using high heat hot glue, holding each in place for about a minute to allow the glue to start to set.  (Note: This project can use quite a lot of hot glue, so be prepared!)

Next, glue the pairs together at the top of the side, so that you are allowing curvature to form.

Glue the first 4 bottles to the cardboard along the circle, then glue to the next 4, at the top of the side, also gluing them to the cardboard, allowing for curvature.  Continue this until the whole circle is complete, except for the doorway.

Repeat this procedure for each following layer, slightly indenting the layers as you go up, making the curve more pronounced at the upper layers, until you curve right over, making the igloo roof.

Use a layer or two of bottles coming out from the doorway to make a covered entry to the igloo.

Watching the above video will make all of these steps clearer.

Once your igloo is built, celebrate by having a Recycled Igloo Party!

Cam is Published!

http://www.lulu.com/shop/cameron-anderson/emergency-vehicles/hardcover/product-21493248.html
Cam becomes our third author to publish a hardcover book! Cam is the authority on emergency vehicles. This effort took weeks and weeks. Cam makes a small profit on each of the books sold, and I donated the first copy to Cam’s classroom. At the end of the year, he will present it to the school library.