2022 ONTARIO CURRICULUM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UPDATES

In case you have been wondering what I have been doing for the past year? After a challenging 2021-2022 year of a grade change to Grade 3, I spent the summer  updating resources so that they would align with the expectations for the 2022 Ontario Curriculum Science and Technology. 

I have finished updating ALL of the HANDS-ON, MINDS-ON resources in both PRINTABLE PDF and GOOGLE Slides™ format. You can find these included in the MEGA BUNDLES and TOPIC bundles on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

Click on the links below to download the updated versions or to purchase any of the revised and updated resources!

Bundle Up for Bundles Sale! January 1st

Happy New Year! Despite the challenges we are facing as educators these days, there are still things we can celebrate! Like a great one day sale from some of your favourite Ontario sellers on TpT. Be sure to check out the hashtag #bundleuptpt to find lots of amazing deals.

 For the first time EVER, all of my individual grade MEGA BUNDLES will be on sale for 50% off. Grab one (or more) of these bundles and get everything you need for teaching science in Ontario.

Mega Bundles include:

-Printable PDF student activity versions of ALL topics for the grade 
-Digital Google Slides versions of the student activities (force copy link in PDF)

-Fill in the blanks VOCABULARY word wall cards for all topics for the grade

-Science and Technology Concepts Posters for each topic in the grade

-*NEW* editable Assessment of Learning Tests for each topic in the grade

-Getting Started Guide with pictures and instructions for setting up your program

Click on the images to see all the sale bundles in my store!

ONTARIO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING TESTS

"The primary purpose of assessment and evaluation is to improve student learning. Information gathered through assessment helps teachers to determine students’ strengths and weaknesses in their achievement of the curriculum expectations in each subject in

each grade. This information also serves to guide teachers in adapting curriculum and instructional approaches to students’ needs and in assessing the overall effectiveness of programs and classroom practices." (The Ontario Curriculum Science and Technology, pg. 22)

The Ontario curriculum is designed in such a way that evaluation focuses on students’ achievement of the overall expectations, although all curriculum expectations must be accounted for in instruction and assessment. (See Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools, p. 38.)

For as long as I have been creating resources for science and technology, teachers have been asking me how to assess what students have learned.  Having been an Ontario teacher for over 30 years, I have developed a repertoire of assessment and evaluation techniques based on my lived experiences with students. When they are working I am making observations, giving them oral feedback and checking that their written work is accurate and complete. 

As teachers we record our observations on checklists and use rubrics for major projects and notebooks. Each time I teach a new topic in science and technology, I use the student notebooks and their Let's Create! and Let's Inquire! tasks as part of my triangulation of data but I wanted to create an assessment piece that would help tie all of the parts of my assessment data together.

Enter my NEW editable assessment of learning tests!

These tests:

• address both what students learn and how well they learn;

• are based both on the categories of knowledge and skills and on the achievement level descriptions given in the achievement chart on pages 26–27

• accommodate students with special education needs, consistent with the strategies outlined in their Individual Education Plan;

• accommodate the needs of students who are learning the language of instruction;

These tests are aligned with all of the science and technology resources that are available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store and will give teachers, students and parents a way to share what students have learned during the unit of study.

Click on any of the images below to see the BUNDLES available in my store. All of the assessment of learning tests are also available individually and you can view the links to each within the bundle for that grade.

Classroom Friendly Supplies Pencil Sharpener Review

Back to school was anything but back to normal for me! I have changed grade assignments three times and have taught two entirely different classes of students so far this year. 

As I was scrolling through social media, looking for teaching ideas to inspire me in my "new reality", I came across an amazing opportunity to try out a new pencil sharpener from 

https://classroomfriendlysupplies.com. 

Honestly, right now anything to brighten up my days and my classroom is a win, so I signed up to test one out! The package arrived very quickly and I took the box to school to unveil it.

Inside the cardboard box, the sharpener was packaged in a see through plastic box which also contained an attachment that will allow the user to secure the sharpener to a desk or other platform.

I chose the classic fire engine red for my sharpener, but it comes in lots of amazing, 

classroom friendly colours!

The sharpener itself is super easy to use, just pull out the front plate, insert a pencil and turn the handle. The pencil will pull inwards towards the face of the sharpener until it is finished sharpening. Once the handle stops turning, you remove the pencil by squeezing together the two black handles and VOILA you have a perfect point! 

My students oooohed and ahhhhhed over how sharp the point was and how quiet the sharpening was!  I was really lucky that sharpener arrived when it did, as my electric sharpener completely died the week before! 

If you are looking for a quiet, super easy to use and easy to clean pencil sharpener for your classroom or your home, be sure to head over to https://classroomfriendlysupplies.com. 

TEACHING SCIENCE AND TECH IN A VIRTUAL CLASSROOM?

Teaching VIRTUALLY? In CLASS? BOTH?

This year the challenges that teachers face creating warm, welcoming classrooms both virtually and in person are daunting if not downright overwhelming. Right now, everything seems to be exhausting whether you are teaching in person or in front of your students on computer screen or BOTH!

One question my colleagues have been asking is "How do I teach Science and Technology online?" Last spring, when we all did the pivot to online, remote teaching I asked myself the same question. I still had to finish TWO topics in Grade 5 science and I did not have the digital resources to help me! What did I do? I started by converting my existing Grade 5 resources from printable to digital. Then I went to work learning about how to assign them in Google™ Classroom.

The learning curve was (and still is!) steep, but I found that I COULD teach my science and technology online and keep the students engaged and I could assess their work and give them an evaluation based on the work I had assessed.

So, I forged ahead and have converted my Hands-On, Minds-On Science and Technology topic resources to digital, Google™ slides format. Just click on any of the images below to check out the updated digital versions on Teachers Pay Teachers!

How To SAVE Pages from a PDF

Teachers might want to be able to extract or SAVE pages from PDFS for STUDENT USE in a SECURED format.  Below, I show two ways you can do this. Please ensure that you are adhering to the COPYRIGHT and Terms of Use policies of the things you wish to post.

How to use PRINT to PDF to Save Pages 

 Using Windows 10 (PC Version)

 Open your PDF using Adobe Reader. 

From there go to PRINT and choose 

PRINT PDF FILE.

 Select the pages you want to SAVE.

NAME your pages and SAVE them 

where you will easily find them. 

You can now upload your saved pages to SECURE Student Platforms such as 

Google Classroom.  

How to use PRINT to PDF to Save Pages 

 Using the PREVIEW APP (MAC Version)

 Open your PDF with the PREVIEW APP.

 Go to PRINT and CHOOSE PDF from bottom LEFT corner. Select SAVE AS PDF.  Enter the PAGE RANGE that you want to SAVE.

NAME your file and SAVE it somewhere you will be able to find it easily.

You can now upload your saved pages to SECURE Student Platforms such as 

Google Classroom. 

I use the FREE extension DOCHUB to 

OPEN and WRITE on PDFs. You can add it to 

CHROME easily and it integrates well with 

Google Classroom.