Good morning!

I have added a new read aloud to the Read Aloud page! It is a book called Last Stop on Market Street. I hope you enjoy the story of CJ and his Nana and the ability of CJ’s Nana to express gratitude and have a positive mindset.

In the story, CJ is wondering why they have to go to the soup kitchen and why they don’t have a car like others. As the story goes on, CJ becomes aware of and thankful for the good things that are happening in his life; instead of thinking about what he doesn’t have, he appreciates what he does have. Gratitude is a skill and we can all learn to look at life in a positive way.

The video below may help you further understand what it means to be grateful…

There’s even science that says we are happier when we express gratitude. Watch the gratitude experiment below…

Here are some ideas to get started running your own experiment at home…starting today!

• Start simple by just using your manners and saying please and thank you!
• Keep a gratitude journal, list or fill up a jar with everything you’re grateful for…or even just tell someone at the end of the day.
• Share things you appreciate about another person.
• Write a letter to someone who has touched your life in a positive way. Everyone loves getting real mail!
• Try to reword your complaint into something you appreciate instead and try to find the positive in a frustrating situation.
• Take a gratitude walk and look for the simple pleasures…the warmth of the sun, the beautiful flowers and blossoms, the pleasure you take in the person you’re walking with… 🙂

And this one here is a secret..hopefully your teachers didn’t read this far! Take the time to thank your teachers and let them know what you appreciate the most from them. ♥

Here’s one final reminder of gratitude in the times we find ourselves in now…

I am so grateful for all of you…keep seeing the positive and share that positive with others!

Mrs. H. 🙂

Welcome to our third installment of the Clinton Spotlight!!

Ms Stack and Division 3 highlighted Visualization of the novels they were reading. They created dioramas using materials found at home to make the climax come alive. They were amazing representations of how they saw the events in their novel.

This connects with our Story Studio…they were inspired by the novels they were reading to recreate the most exciting/scary/awesome part as a diorama. Like SS, they used objects and materials from home…unlike SS, they wouldn’t take this apart and clean up after. 😉

Please enjoy a selection of their creations…

Here is a stop-motion video interpretation of the diorama…a bit of a mash-up with Story Studio!

IMG_5605 (1)

Zaphyn really took things to the next level and here are a couple of different views as well as some explanation of her process…

I made everything myself using items around my house- but it helps that all 3 of my parental figures work with prop-building supplies, so i had many items to choose from. There are a couple different types of foam, a lot of paint, crafting gravel, a push light, cotton batting, moss, fabric, real dirt and some paper elements. I drew the soldier on my iPad and printed out 2 copies and used foam tape to make it have extra dimension, used a silver paint pen on his sword, and added drops of “blood” with puff paint.

Thank you to all of Div 3 and Ms Stack for sharing their interpretations of the climax in their stories! Keep sharing and creating and inspiring our Clinton community. 🙂

Mrs. H.

Good afternoon, Storytellers!

I am sorry to have taken so long to get this post out to you, but I have been having some technical difficulties today. Yikes! I have posted a new Read Aloud (under the Read Aloud page above) and I am hoping you will be able to access it. It is called The Snail and the Whale and it is a story about teamwork and exploration. As I told you last week, we will be taking Div. 9 and Mrs. Enchelmaier along on our adventure into Story Studio. We were doing it together before we left Clinton and they have continued to be inspired, create and share while learning at home. We hope you will join them and be inspired by their work that I will share. Division 9 is the next Clinton Spotlight!

Much of what I will share with you today is taken or modified from Delta School District website for The Hive. It is a pretty cool space for the entire district to share and is always set up as a STORY STUDIO.

Story Studio is a way for students to share their thoughts, ideas and learning in a hands-on, visible way. When we say Story Studio we don’t mean just made up (fiction) stories. Learning Stories are physical ways of showing what is in our heads. We use different materials to make our thinking visible for others. This visible thinking we call a Story.

Stories CAN be:

• made up from our imaginations
• sharing our feelings, worries, hopes and dreams
• retelling a story that we read, listened to or viewed
• retelling the story of a favourite show or movie
• creating part two or the next chapter of a favourite book, show or movie
• sharing the learning in many subjects

After we read The Whale and the Snail together, we can join Mrs. Enchelmeier’s and be inspired by a theme of insects and teamwork or you can go wherever you are inspired to go! Today we shared a book, but inspiration can come from anywhere! You can read, listen, watch, experience or explore to become inspired!

Tomorrow we will talk about our “loose parts” or “stuff” that we use to create and share our connections and stories.

Please enjoy some inspiration from Div. 9’s previous story workshops…

Until tomorrow!

Mrs. H 🙂

Good morning and welcome to our first Clinton Spotlight!

Just because we can’t see the real thing at school doesn’t mean we can’t share all the cool things that are still going on at Clinton! Every week on the Library Blog, we will have a spotlight on at least one Division in our school and see how they are creating, learning and thriving!

Our first Division is…drumroll please…DIVISION 2!!

Division 2 lives in Room 1 and they are a grade 6/7 class. Ms Loukopoulos and Ms Zappavigna keep things rolling in there and they wanted to share something they have been working on…

Division 2 created their own landscapes last week. They were asked to draw, sketch, or paint a landscape, one student even created a collage landscape. They could sketch their backyard, or a place they have been before, they could also follow a directed drawing that was provided for them. They were also asked to write an artist statement. The curriculum focus was to express feelings, ideas and experiences through creating landscapes. Please enjoy them and, if you want try to draw a landscape, please do!

This art piece is a landscape of a sunset in a desert full of cacti. Last year, my family and I went on a 7-day trip to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, during the summer, and that’s what inspired me to make this landscape. I can still clearly remember the vibrant streaks of color every evening, as the sun would set and the colors were like rich shades of blood red blended with oranges, pinks, purples, crimsons –it was absolutely stunning & beautiful – and smack in the middle: the blazing, blinding, glorious, pineapple-yellow sun. It was like the last gasp of color before darkness fell. ~ Celina, Div. 2

 

Kyle N., Div. 2

This painting is a sunset at the ocean with two birds flying high in the sky. The feeling when I look at it is happiness because of the vibrant colours. ~ Kailey, Div. 2