CPS Art Contest: Friendly advice from Canadian kids!

The theme for this year's art contest is the importance of friendships!

We're asking Canadian children and youth to consider what it means to be a good friend, and why friends are so important.

 

Young artists can enter the contest with a drawing or painting that illustrates how friends and friendships keep them happy and healthy.

Participants can win one of four Chapters gift cards, and 12 pieces will be chosen to appear in the 2014 CPS member calendar.

To be eligible for the early bird gift card draw, entries must be received by May 21, 2013. Final deadline is June 28, 2013.

The contest is open to all children and youth under the age of 18 who live in Canada. Download the contest entry form for full contest details, or contact 613-526-9397, ext. 234 or lindsayc@cps.ca for more information.

"Friendly advice from Canadian kids!" contest entry form

Workplace Education Manitoba: Learning on Demand – Numeracy: The Basics

Available from Workplace Education Manitoba: Learning on Demand – Numeracy: The Basics

Posted: April 11, 2013

In 2012 Workplace Education Manitoba launched the Internet-based ES: Learning on Demand, because in today's busy world people expect to be able to learn on their own terms ̶ anytime, anywhere, in ways that meet their needs.

First in the tutorial series is Numeracy: The Basics. This tutorial includes a set of 50 YouTube videos explaining essential numeracy topics broken into concept and practice sets. Accompanying each set is a Numeracy: The Basics Workbook
To use the video series and downloadable workbooks, visit the WEM website at: http://www.wem.mb.ca/learning_on_demand_numeracy.aspx

Source: NALD

Open a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) before their child turns seven

COURTENAY - To highlight how easy it is for families to get the new $1,200 BC Training and Education Savings Grant, Education Minister Don McRae visited a BMO Bank of Montreal branch today to discuss the new grant with a BMO financial planning expert and a local parent.

To access the new grant, families simply open a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) before their child turns seven. It's a straightforward process that takes only a short time at a bank or other financial institution. You can also open an RESP securely through an online investment firm.

Make sure to have:

• Family member or guardian's Social Insurance Number.

• Social Insurance Number for the RESP beneficiaries (the child or children).

• One piece of government-issued identification for the family member or guardian setting up the RESP.

By opening an RESP account -- not only is a child entitled to $1,200 from the Province of British Columbia, --he or she also can access other savings grants from the Government of Canada. Parents then work with the financial institution to make the necessary applications. No matching or additional contribution is required to receive the BC Training and Education Savings Grant.

http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2013/04/its-easy-to-get-1200-for-your-childs-education-1.html

http://www.osstf.on.ca/full-circle-first-nations-metis-inuit-ways-of-knowing

This project is the culmination of work done over the past two and a half years by thirteen members of OSSTF/FEESO, most of whom are First Nation or Métis, or work extensively with Aboriginal students.   The lessons are designed to be implemented in a range of courses, such as civics, history, social sciences, English, geography, business, careers, physical education and science.  The resource has been produced as a PDF file on CD with an accompanying video on DVD.  Although the lessons are intended for use with high school curricula, the video and activity sheet may be of use to all Federation members who work with students.

Please note that textbook pages from Aboriginal Peoples In Canada and Aboriginal Beliefs, Values and Aspirations have not been reproduced in the on-line version.

http://www.osstf.on.ca/full-circle-first-nations-metis-inuit-ways-of-knowing

http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.net

Top Ten Books Recommended for Elementary School

If I was starting a library in an elementary school, these are the first ten books I'd buy. In reading these books, students would be reading stories Native writers create about Native people and places. The books I list here include fiction, historical fiction, traditional story, and poetry.

• Campbell, Nicola. Shi-shi-etko
• Campbell, Nicola. Shin-chi's Canoe
• Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Beaver Steals Fire: A Salish Coyote Story
• Harjo, Joy. The Good Luck Cat
• Messinger, Carla. When the Shadbush Blooms
• Ortiz, Simon J. The Good Rainbow Road/Rawa 'kashtyaa'tsi hiyaani: A Native American Tale
• Sockabasin, Allen J. Thanks to the Animals
• Smith, Cynthia Leitich. Jingle Dancer
• Tingle, Tim. Crossing Bok Chitto (If you can, also get When Turtle Grew Feathers and Saltypie)
• Waboose, Jan Bourdeau. SkySisters

For annotations, see my article Native Voices in School Library Journal.

http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.net

Code.org After school learning or online tutorials

Code.org

Why should every child learn how to program?

Technology is radically changing every area of our society, from communication to government to how we do our jobs. Digital literacy is now a fundamental skill like reading and writing.

By learning to program, kids can have a say in how software shapes their world. Plus, programming teaches important reasoning, logic, and communication skills.

CodeHS is a Class in a Box

Get access to a growing library of videos

Every video has several in-browser coding exercises for students

We provide teacher support, so you can run the class even if you don't know how to code.

CodeHS tutors can give students direct feedback and debugging help.

Students learn at their own pace, and the instructor can track their progress.

http://www.codecademy.com/files/codekit/curriculum.pdf

Girls Who Code

Girls Who Code

MISSION: Girls Who Code works to educate, inspire, and equip young women with the skills and resources to pursue academic and career opportunities in computing fields.

VISION: Girls Who Code's vision is to reach gender parity in computing fields. We believe this is paramount to ensure the economic prosperity of women, families, and communities across the globe, and to equip citizens with the 21st century tools for innovation and social change. We believe that more girls exposed to computer science at a young age will lead to more women working in the technology and engineering fields.

Girls Who Code, a national nonprofit working to inspire, educate and empower young women to pursue careers in technology and engineering, will expand to Detroit, San Jose and Miami with new funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Launched in 2012, Girls Who Code offers a new model for computer science education, pairing 300 hours of intensive instruction in robotics, web design and mobile development with mentorship from and exposure to the industry's top female engineers and entrepreneurs. In its first venture outside of New York, Girls Who Code's eight-week intensive summer programs will launch for 13- to 17-year-old girls this summer in Detroit and San Jose, in the offices of GE and eBay, respectively. Miami's program will launch in 2014.

http://www.girlswhocode.com/about-us/

First language not necessarily linked to reading proficiency (2006)

In this paper, the authors examine recent research findings to determine whether a lack of oral proficiency is the main impediment to successful literacy learning for young English as a Second Language (ESL) students in Canadian schools.

Based on their analysis, they conclude that oral language skills are not a good indicator to use when assessing the reading ability of young ESL students. However, oral language proficiency may play a more important role at a later stage of reading development by affecting reading comprehension.

Persistent reading difficulties among ESL students are generally the result of deficits in skills specifically associated with reading, rather than deficiencies in oral English, they conclude. Early identification of reading problems, combined with immediate and sustained help, are the key components to ESL student success in literacy.

Assessment strategies and interventions used with unilingual students can also be used successfully with ESL children, especially if they are applied early when the problem occurs, and are maintained until reading proficiency has been developed.

http://library.nald.ca/research/item/11389

Series of calendars specially created for the parents of young children from Aboriginal communities by FNQLHSSC

Tools for Aboriginal Communities

The First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC), in collaboration with the Early Childhood Learning Knowledge Centre, has developed a series of calendars specially created for the parents of young children from Aboriginal communities.

The series of calendars feature activities that aim to promote healthy child development in the early years. Each calendar is illustrated by a First Nations artist and targets a different age group.

Parent and child activity calendars: 
Infants (0-12 months) (PDF, 7601 KB)
Toddlers (1-3 years) (PDF, 7756 KB)
Preschoolers (3-5 years) (PDF, 6057 KB)
Early school age (5-6 years) (PDF, 6993 KB)

http://www.ccl-cca.ca/CCL/AboutCCL/KnowledgeCentres/EarlyChildhoodLearning/OurProducts/ToolsAboriginal.html

Funding reports that on-reserve schools receive 40- to 50-per-cent less funding than off-reserve schools

A new study of Saskatchewan education funding reports that on-reserve schools receive 40- to 50-per-cent less funding than off-reserve schools.
The comparison of Government of Canada funding for First Nations schools on reserves with provincial funding for off-reserve schools was commissioned by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN).
The federal funding regime provides $50 per pupil per year for instructional resources such as books and computers, while the provincial funding model provides Living Sky School Division, for example, $688 per pupil, said study author Robert Kowalchuk.
"If you want to talk about inequity, there's a real hard example of what it takes to provide resources ... Where is the fairness in what you're providing for kids?"


Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Study+finds+First+Nations+education+funding+inequity/8154272/story.html#ixzz2PFflEaeZ