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What Do We Learn About?
Financial Literacy
Financial literacy makes up a significant part of my math program. Over the course of the year, your child will be taught about taxes, mortgages, the stock market, various investments (RESPs and RRSPs), as well as learning how to think about and manage money in general. We also discuss finances and financial planning during our “My Future Career” essay research and writing. My goal is for your child to start thinking about their future with respect to financial planning, saving, and making good financial decisions at every stage of their young lives.
STEM
STEM is used in a variety of ways in my classroom. From 3D printing and designing, to coding and creating games, to building portable air conditioners, I try to find as many ways as possible to incorporate aspect of designing and building into my classroom programs.
Thematic Film Units
I have created several 10-day, cross-curricular movie units that I show throughout the year – usually three or four units per school year. These units use the theme of the movie (e.g. outer space in “Interstellar” or magic in “The Prestige”) to teach a variety of concepts, skills, and strands related to the curriculum. Writing skills (essays and editing), critical thinking (predictions throughout the movie), and graphic design (creating your own movie poster) are all common learning experiences that emerge from the various movies.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is a theme throughout many of the lessons we undertake, specifically in Literacy. Whenever it’s appropriate, we write in our critical thinking journals on subjects that cover a variety of controversial topics (artificial intelligence, social credit system, self-driving cars, etc.). We also use this journal to record the details of in-class discussions on subjects like social media and mental health, propaganda as it pertains to history, and various media assignments. As well, we apply critical thinking for various book reports and in-class conversations where we think about and discuss the author’s intentions in their writing.
Entrepreneurship
I’m very passionate about entrepreneurship, and I love to encourage this activity at a young age. In particular, I incorporate the concept of entrepreneurship into various math units. As well, every year, I try to encourage entrepreneurship through a website-design unit that we undertake, where the students use Google Sites to create their own business website that describes and outlines a small business of their choosing. Finally, during the early stage of the winter holiday season, our class operates a 3D-printed-ornament fundraiser, which we run like a business. Every student has a job to do (designers, painters, marketers, distributors, accountants, etc.), and for a few weeks each December, the entire class co-operates to run a business together.
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