Getting Ready for Arts Carousel Night

Today we have been hard at work getting ready for our annual Arts Carousel evening. Great samples of art and musical performances will be displayed.

Growth Mindset

Watching a Jo Boaler video discussing the importance of fostering a growth mindset in our math classes. We want our math classes to be a "learning" subject as opposed to a "performance" subject.

Math Learning at Boxwood

Learning how the environment can support our math learners!

Math Games and Mini-Lessons

Ms. Brown's class is working on multiplying and dividing decimal numbers. To reinforce these concepts, math games and mini-lessons are being used. During my visit today I observed students engaged in a math game/activity in which students rolled dice to create decimal numbers and turning over cards that indicated if they should multiply or divide by 10, 100, or 1000. This allowed students to have the opportunity to practice this concept. While pairs of students were working on this, Ms. Brown engaged some students in a mini-lesson to support their understanding of this concept. Having students in a small group allows her to support the needs of her students more effectively. Improving students' math conceptual understanding is a provincial, board, and school focus. We are continuing to learn, as a community (e.g., students, teachers, families), ways to develop a deeper understanding of math. Way to go 6A!

Science Innovators at Boxwood!

On Saturday, April 2, 2016, 150 students from 37 schools from around York Region participated in the York Region Science and Technology Fair. Two of our students, won the "Environment Award" for their project, An Innovation For Efficient CO2 Reduction. They were awarded the Gold Medal and a Travel Award which means that they will represent York Region in the Canada Wide Science Fair (CWSF) being held at McGill University from May 15-20th in Montreal, Quebec. Special thanks to Ms. Breckenridge for supporting these students. The Boxwood community is very proud of the efforts of these young gentlemen!

Grade 4s Learning to Read Music!

During my school walk yesterday, I saw an innovative practice to support students to understand and read music. I visited Ms. Turcotte's Grade 4 Music class (Mr. Miron's class) and saw them using Boomwhackers! They are lightweight, hollow, colour-coded, plastic tubes, tuned to musical pitches by length. They are used as musical instruments in the percussion family. Boomwhackers produce musical tones when struck together, on the floor, or against nearly any surface. This is a fun, active tool that helps to instill the fundamentals of music within our students. I saw students learning how to play different notes and creating and playing their own compositions. I saw students enjoying themselves while learning! Great tool! Special thanks to Ms. Turcotte for using this innovative tool with her students.