My Favorite Pumpkin Activities

Fall is here and it brings with it a new season of crafts, especially ideas for pumpkin pickers, carvers, and crafters of all ages!

There are many new ideas online and traditional ones as well. Here is a list of a few of my favorite pumpkin activities that I have done at home and in my classroom.

Painting pumpkins is so much fun for younger children. Let them be creative and choose from many colors! To make it even more creative, add hair with yarn and googly eyes!

If you choose to carve your pumpkin you can cook the seeds and eat them, choosing to season them with any seasonings you and your family enjoy. We love salt, or garlic salt, and the combination of cinnamon and brown sugar!  Another great idea with your seeds is to dye them with food coloring.  This are a great seasonal and sensory activity to practice sorting by color, counting, or recognizing letters by writing on them with permanent marker.

One of my favorite Halloween books is Pete the Cat: Five Little Pumpkins. If you are familiar with Pete the Cat, I am sure you will like it as well.  After reading the book it is fun to collaborate it with a fun pumpkin painting project.  I enjoy seeing the many fun faces that are created.

I find that not only are these activities fun for our children, but essentially get us to spend some quality time with our children doing what they enjoy.  As a teacher and a mother these are the things I like to do best - let them get messy and see them smile.

Mrs. Micky Labonte
Middle School Teacher

St. Francis Xavier School

Saint Francis Xavier School

Developing the whole person:

Academics, Faith, Community and Character

Interested in learning more about Saint Francis Xavier School? Just fill out our inquiry form and someone will be in touch!

Will paperless classrooms be the wave of the future?

I’m one of the first generations of students to have a computer in the classroom. Starting in the first grade I remember using a Macintosh Classic once a week in the computer lab. We would write short stories in a word processor, blow up our artwork in KidPix, or ride in a wagon train in Oregon Trail. Looking back, all my experiences in technology seem to be more of a novelty rather than an educational tool.

As an educator I have fully embraced technology in the classroom.  We are a one to one middle school. We provide a tablet to each student to aid in their education. The key word is “aid” in their education. I need to make sure that I am not just using technology as a novelty, not just replacing textbooks and paper with a digital device. I need to figure out different ways to use technology in the classroom to make the students learning experience better.

Early on in education, I decided to make my classroom paperless. I don’t give out worksheets to students. I don’t make a million photocopies each year. All my resources are online on a digital classroom. All my documents are stored in the cloud and students can access them whenever they need them. Students no longer have planners or assignment notebooks. All of their calendars are online. Not only can students access these materials, but so can their parents. Gone are the days of, “I forgot my homework at school.” Or, “I don’t remember what homework I had.” Everything is online.

Parents, for the most part, have fully embraced my digital classroom. I’m not answering countless emails from parents each week explaining homework or why their child got the grade they did. Everything is digital. Parents are able to check what homework is turned in. Parents can check graded assignments with a click of a button.

Students too have come to embrace my digital classroom. I am reminded every day from students to make sure to post assignments on my classroom page. Students seem to be eager to complete assignments online. Students who have, in the past, forgotten to turn in homework seem to love my digital classroom. Once they complete their assignment they can submit the assignment instantly; no more black hole backpacks.

Will paperless classrooms be the wave of the future? Will students live in a physical classroom and work in a digital one? Only time will tell. In the past twenty-five years I have gone from playing Pitfall to grading assignments on my computer. We’ll see where the next twenty-five years takes us.

Mr. Chris Melnyk
Middle School Teacher

St. Francis Xavier School

Saint Francis Xavier School

Developing the whole person:

Academics, Faith, Community and Character

Interested in learning more about Saint Francis Xavier School? Just fill out our inquiry form and someone will be in touch!

So, what is Responsive Classroom?

There is nothing better than watching your kids do something.  It can be anything: competing in a game, playing an instrument, calculating a math problem, making a new friend, or even just watching them fast asleep, lost in a dream.  So, it’s only natural that you’d be curious, maybe even a little anxious about what is happening during their day at school, when you can’t watch them. Let me try to help you understand some of what goes on during our student’s day.

While each teacher has a different style, and each kid has a different experience based on grade and personal strengths, there is one common denominator.  At St. Francis, each classroom practices the philosophical principles of a program called Responsive Classroom.

So, what is Responsive Classroom?  There are four main ideas that make up Responsive Classroom. They are:

engaging academics

positive community

effective management

developmental awareness 

Very simply, teachers believe in creating a safe, nurturing environment where students have ownership, feel confident to take academic risks, and are able to focus on learning that is developmentally appropriate, challenging, and connected to student’s interests.

It sounds great, right?!  But how do classrooms actually put this philosophy into practice?  Every morning, students from PreK-8 begin their day with a morning meeting.  Morning meeting involves a note from the teacher to the students about the day.  The note might be funny, it might include information about something special happening that day, or it may simply welcome students to the classroom.  

Following the message, students participate in a morning greeting.  Sometimes the greeting is in the form of a handshake, a high five, or a peace sign, but regardless, each student is greeted every morning by a peer.  There is a chance for sharing, and finally a fun group activity.  It’s a chance to feel they belong to a group and to prepare for the tasks ahead.

Let me offer a concrete example from our class.  We call it CPR – Circle of Power and Respect.  Every student comes to the circle as an equal with the power to say what’s on his or her mind and is given the respect that each of us deserves.  We acknowledge our successes and take time to discuss challenges and concerns.  We have a share schedule where each student gets a chance to share what’s going on in their life.  We often have rousing activities that, at the very least, put a smile on every one of our faces!  It’s a pretty great way to spend the first 20-30 minutes of the day!

So, when you pick your student up from school today ask some pointed questions: what was your class greeting today, what did your teacher write about for morning message, or even, what are some of the class rules you helped create?   You may be pleasantly surprised by the conversation that ensues, and the picture in your head that is painted of their day.  

This blog, of course, only offers a snapshot of what Responsive Classroom is.  I encourage you to check out the link below that I referenced for this post.  It offers a much more in depth look at the philosophy, helping you to understand what is happening in our classrooms.

https://www.responsiveclassroom.org

Mrs. Catherine Richards

Middle School Teacher

St. Francis Xavier School

Saint Francis Xavier School

Developing the whole person:

Academics, Faith, Community and Character

Interested in learning more about Saint Francis Xavier School? Just fill out our inquiry form and someone will be in touch!

Get Out and Play!

According to Medlineplus.gov, the average child spends about 5-7 hours a day in front of the screen. While some of the screen time is for educational purposes, most of the hours come from watching television or playing video games. It is recommended that everyone should be getting at least 60 minutes or more of physical activity a day. While it is only 1 hour, only one out of three people get the recommended physical activity a day. Here are some suggestions for both adults and children to get out and play!

While there is nothing wrong with sitting down and watching the football game on Sunday, or watching your favorite TV show during the week, we need to be more conscious of getting the recommended physical exercise a day.

Here are some ways to get outside and get the physical activity we need!

Grades Pre-K thru 5:

• Play tag at recess
• Play a sport you enjoy 
• Go for a bike ride (or tricycle ride)
• Play catch with mom or dad
• Gymnastics

Grades 6 thru 12:

• Get out and move (skateboarding, biking, swimming, gymnastics, shooting baskets)
• Muscle Strength Building 
• 6-9 graders body weight exercises
  (push-ups, running, sit ups, pull ups)
• 10-12 graders free weight exercises
  (get on a specific workout plan)
• Team sports

Adults:

• Join a men's/women’s league
  (basketball, hockey, volleyball)
• go for a brisk walk or a run

It is so important to get out and move! In my experience, since graduating from college and not playing college baseball anymore, it is hard to find time to be active. I went and bought a fitbit, so now I can always see how many steps and active minutes I get a day!

Below are 3 links for you to look at to see more ideas and statistics of physical activity and screen time!  

http://www.fitness.gov/resource-center/facts-and-statistics/

http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/children/

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000355.htm   

Mr. Nick Elderton

Physical EducationTeacher

St. Francis Xavier School

Saint Francis Xavier School

Developing the whole person:

Academics, Faith, Community and Character

Interested in learning more about Saint Francis Xavier School? Just fill out our inquiry form and someone will be in touch!