I'm Moving!!

That's right . . I am moving . . . well . . . I am moving my blog that is.

I am moving my work to a WORDPRESS blog.

Why? It is what the kids have to use to be able to show their videos and work while at school.  I have done lots of reading and I know of the similarities and differences between the two and I decided to go with Wordpress.

My new blog is:

bonnicigwms.wordpress.com

Please make your way over there and follow me for information about our school, my class, and what I think about educational topics.

I look forward to keeping you informed.

Thanks.

Testing a Link

Hello.
I am just testing a post.  I want to see if students within the school can see this video while they are logged on in school.

Lets see if this works:

Click here to see the video

Student Blogs

For those that didn't already know my students have been posting their work to bonnicigwms.posterous.com.  Unfortunately Posterous will be closing its doors at the end of April as they are now working with Twitter and will focus on this new adventure.

What does this mean? 

This means that I need to find a new place to show the world my students work.  I have tried a variety of avenues to make this happen and I think that I have figured out what I can do.

In the next little while please watch for all the Grade 8's to get a WordPress blog.  This will mean they will also need to get a DropBox.  This is where they will house their videos.  These videos will then be linked from their WordPress Blog.  

The Grade 7's will either create a KidBlog.org blog, which is attached to a main blog that I will create, or they will have a class WordPress where I will then post all of their work.  I still have a lot of thinking and work to do.  I have lots of learning to do to make this work the way I want it to.

Please ask your kids about their blog and ask to see their work. 

Thanks for being patient and accepting change.

Mr. Bonnici

Spring Camp 2013

Every year GWMS takes 100 grade 7 and 8 students to Pioneer Camp for 5 days.  This year we are going from June 3rd - June 7th.  We are going later in the year so we can avoid the colder weather.

The cost of camp this year is $265 for the 5 days.  This gets you: Beaver Bus transportation to and from camp, 3 meals a day + a nightly snack, a Spring Camp T-Shirt, a fantastic learning experience and great memories of middle school.

This is a great education experience that takes students out of the classroom. It takes them away from the notes and the text books and the pressures that comes from those. It allows them to be kids while learning about: canoeing, wall climbing, camping skills, erosion studies, crafts, math (card games that use math, ex: cribbage), various physed activities, and all about nature.

They also have the time to bond with their teachers and fellow classmates in a different situation than the regular classroom setting.  It changes the way everyone interacts with each other once we return from camp.  It does make for a better school experience for everyone (teacher and student).

Pioneer Camp provides students with a connection to the outdoors.  While you sleep at night you can hear the water lapping up on the shore just down from your cabin.  The hike is over an hour of beautiful forest where you sometimes come across a deer, rabbit or some of the other wild inhabitant on the island.  The canoe instruction is top notch and our students are taught by the amazing staff (canoe instructions from Ontario and Manitoba go to Pioneer camp to become certified or re-certified as canoe instructors and the people who runs these programs also teach our students). The camp does not have a movie theatre or an indoor pool.  Instead of movies we hold a talent show and instead of a pool we swim in the beautiful Shoal Lake.

Ask anyone who has gone to Spring Camp and they will be able to tell you stories about it.  This camp has been going on since 1994 and if there is something that allows you to remember good stories about middle school . . . well . . . it can't be that bad!


If you would like to find out more about this camp you can contact me or visit our YouTube channel and watch the videos about our camp over the years.

GWMS YouTube Channel

If you are looking for videos about GWMS, all you need to do is channel surf over to our YouTube Channel.  Here you will find new and old videos about our school, of student work and of all the fun things that happen at GWMS.

Subscribe now to keep up to date with all the great videos being added.

Our channel is  GWMSwinnipeg. 

Subscribe NOW!

Festival Du George Waters

Check out our school yearbook website for pictures from our AMAZING day today.

What Just Happened??

I think we just had a breakthrough here at GWMS.  I just had two students working together on their project.  Of course the amazing part is that one is at home sick and the other is at school.  WOW.  What a great moment for them.

Here is what happened . . .

I was asked, "Mr. Bonnici. What am I suppose to do today since my partner is at home sick?"

"Can you email her?" I asked.

"Umm . .. can I BBM her?" she asked?

"Of course!! Go right ahead." I replied. The response was great.  There was a big smile on her face and off she went BBMing her partner.

I then suggested that they create a shared good document so they could both work on it at the same time.  She did but the girl at home is not allowed on the computer right now as it is causing major headaches.  The solution . . .call her.  It was simple and 100% effective. Instead of sitting and wasting a full class, these two girls were able to work together for quite a long time and accomplished quite a bit.

It is amazing to see how everything played out today.  It is amazing to see how technology, for those that have it at home, can close the gap and change what it means to 'be at home sick."

20 Second Presentation

Today in Shiver we worked on a 20 second presentation. I took an idea I heard at a presentation by Darren Kuropatwa and used what I had available.

I showed the students an image on the screen.  I then asked them what they might say if I asked them to talk while this image was on the screen behind them. **This is a take off of our last presentation, "My Life in 4 Slides."** There were lots of ideas given by the students: You could be taking about why you took the photo, or tell a story about the person or event in the photo, or you could talk as if you were in the photo and tell a story from that point of view.  The ideas were great.

I then showed them all the images that I put into a Keynote. Some of them I took others were obtained from Flickr.com (Creative Common Attributes).  They were then told to choose an image and if there was a conflict it was settled by a game of paper/rock/scissor.

Once they all had a piece of paper with the image they chose on it I told them that they had 10 minutes to come up with a 20 second presentation about that image where they had to talk for the entire time.  They will be presenting this to the class and that I will be taping it.  These were the criteria that I set for them.

IT WAS AMAZING what happened next . . . everyone got down to work.  I couldn't believe it.  They all started to write on their paper.  Some were point form others were fully written sentences.  It was very impressive to see.

I then mentioned that they should also practice their presentation and make sure it was a minimum and maximum of 20 seconds long.  This was also great to see.  Some of them thought they had a lot of material to say but stopped after 10 seconds.  Others went well past 20 seconds and really had to cut it back.

I too took one of the images and was walking around practicing what I was going to say and trying to focus on my presentation skills.

When it was all done the presentations were all different.  They took a variety of points of views and presented them well.  Some of them . . . mine included . .  ended a bit early leaving us standing there for a few seconds waiting.  This is of course a learning moment and we talked at the end about the importance of spending the time practicing before you present.  It is really impressive to see how these small presentations have built up their confidence when presenting.  Giving them only 10 minutes to plan and practice helped them focus the entire time on the specific outcome.

I think everyone did a great job.  Everyone who was in my Shiver class today (705 group #1) presented and didn't try to get out of doing it.  Now I need to figure out how to get the other 240 kids I teach to be as positive when it comes to presentations.

What's Next?
I think that I will do this again but I will give them the images but have them write a 20 second poem about the image and then present the poem to the class.

The AmAZinG Google+

Today was one of those days at shook when not everyone in your group showed up. In the past this would have been an issue ..... But not any more.

Kids were texting their partners and telling them to get on line so they could work on their movies. In moments they were on line chatting with their groups and working on shared documents and figuring out where and what they are going to tape.

It was AMAZING!!!

I know that not all kids could do this as not everyone is connected at home. We are not there yet. That's right. Yet. In a few years I think this will not be the case.

Today was a great day for learning. Not necessarily for the students but for me. I loved it.

Volleyball Is Over . . .for now . . .

The volleyball season has come to an end here at GWMS. It was a great season with lots of ups and downs.  There was tremendous growth and a lot of great memories.

The tier 1 girls started their season in early September.  The second week of school to be exact.  They practiced and played until the middle of November.  3 to 4 practices a week and 4 tournaments.  This was an amazing time commitment as there were quite a few 7 am practices over the months.

Every girl grew and developed as a volleyball player through out the season: there were those that developed an over hand serve, some were able to serve consistently deep over the net, others made AMAZING blocks, some developed a powerful smash and everyone learned a 6/2 rotation very well.

Thank you for a great season and I hope you all the best in your future athletic endeavours.

Time For A Shave GWMS

November is officially over and so is Movember.  Here at GWMS it was time for a shave, not just for the staff but for the school as well.



GWMS students, staff and parents raised $231 this year.  AWESOME!! Thank you everyone who has helped support this amazing initiative.



Movember is a month to raise awareness for mens health and mental health.  It is NOT the only time of the year that we need to talk about this.  Everyone needs to do their part the entire year through to ensure that we are around for years and years to love our children and our spouses/partners.

A healthy mind will assist in the creation of a healthy body but also allow for healthy relationships in our personal lives and in our working environment.

Please take care everyone.

See you all next year . . . and we will see those amazing moustaches.


Thanks.