**Please check the Meeting Schedules (in the sidebar) and the calendar at the bottom for information regarding this week's meetings and events. Laptops are not required unless requested. Thank you for leaving them in your classrooms.
***Please bookmark the Mindset link so you can access it easily.
~from the ES BBE
October
1- Faculty Conversation 15:45 - 17:00/17:30- Bring Laptops and SLJRC handbook
2- ES PSA Breakfast and Conversation MPR 8:45 (Shawn, Josh, and Tomaz are presenting)
4- EC Big Sing
11- EC Big Sing
11- ES Gr. 1-5 Assembly- Hosted by Grade 1
4- Walk the Wish 16:00
~from the Elementary Principal
Short Term Contract in Grade 5
Karen is resting at home due to some complications with the pregnancy and hopes to be able to return to work sometime after Fall Break. Please feel free to email her or call. She would love to hear from you. In her absence, we are excited to have Alecia Clayton join our Fifth Grade team.
Alecia began her career in education in 2002 in Quincy, Florida. Since 2002, she has taught in the classroom, been a Reading Coach, an Assistant Principal, and a Principal. Alecia has been substituting for Karen the past two weeks signing a short term contract this past Wednesday. Thank you for making Alecia feel welcome.
Bookroom Coordinators
Bernadett Brazda and Violetta Unyi will take on the role of Book room Coordinator this year. Bernadett will oversee the upper elementary book room and Violetta will manage the lower elementary book room. It is important to note that the bookroom coordinator is not responsible for putting back used books - that is all of our jobs! Thank you for supporting them as they work to maintain these well resourced areas.
~from the Elementary Principal
Thank you all, for ensuring a smooth and safe transition during our recent fire drills. To confirm our Encore teachers and UE assistant teachers are safe and accounted for, we have assigned them to core classrooms. Erika has updated the link for this year. Core teachers should only hold up a green card if the assigned Encore teachers and UE assistant teachers are with their class. Please see Krista if you have any questions.
~from Piroska (Service Learning Coordinator)
Our annual Walk the Wish event is on Friday, October 4, from 4:00 - 5:30 pm. Please save the date on your calendar. All practices, activities and hosted clubs will be canceled on October 4! Walk the Wish is a great all-community event for students, teachers, and parents, and a great cause for supporting severely ill children's wishes through the Csodalámpa Foundation. The event is followed by a dinner sponsored by our PSA in the ES cafeteria. There will be information about the children we will be supporting posted around the ES. This is the poster we will be using, and this is the letter that will be going out to parents, which contains more detailed information about the event. This year I have provided you with a Participation Form to send home with students, which parents must fill out and return to you by October 1. This way you will know which of your students are participating, and which will not. Those who are not participating must leave school by 15:30. As students return the signed Participation Form I also ask that you let me know on this spreadsheet how many spaghetti dinners parents have indicated they would like, and which cafeteria they will be eating in. Hope to see you there!
~from the ES Principal
At the end of last year we donated multiple items (furniture, manipulatives, books, and other resources) that we no longer use to support teaching and learning. We received the following message of thanks from Bõrfestõ Óvoda, Újpest:
"On behalf of our school I would like to thank you for your generous donation. We are really grateful for the books you gave us and we are sure our students will largely benefit from them. They will be perfect gifts for special achievements in English competitions and also for the students' studies thus enriching their knowledge of English."
We have more furniture that we are donating this week. The attic is overflowing with materials. We want to keep the furniture and resources that we know will be used in the future, but we want to get rid of all outdated, unusable furniture and supplies. We ask teams to take a look at their space and identify items they no longer use. This serves several purposes:
- supports local organizations in need
- reminds teams of what is available before ordering season begins
- clears out an overcrowded attic
- attends to our environmental impact
~from Krista and Tracey
The 3Rs referral form and instructions have been updated based on the feedback provided during our Faculty Conversation. Key changes include:
- simplified naming convention for the 3Rs referral form
- a document capturing lingering questions and our responses
~from the DTL
Thanks to everyone who has entered their student learning data into the dashboard. The official deadline is tomorrow by 4:00 pm, so if it's not there now -- you have a little more time! Please remember that student learning data includes math benchmark assessment, writing prompt, F&P reading inventory, WIDA levels, LSS and Counselor updates.
~from the Associate Principal
Please do not email the ES community when you need duty coverage. Instead, save us all from reading an additional email, by finding a duty buddy who will cover your duties (and vice versa) for the rest of the year. Last week, significant changes were made to the Duty Schedule that impacts multiple people. Please check your duties to be sure the changes are not impacting you.
~from What on Earth? CBC News
What can you make from captured carbon?
~Written by Emily Chung
In nature, CO2 can be found in all kinds of different materials, including minerals like limestone and graphite. Plants also suck it up and use it to make things like fruits, vegetables and wood. That organic matter ultimately ends up underground in the soil, and eventually becomes oil, coal and natural gas.
Unfortunately, humans have been taking a lot of that buried carbon and burning it, releasing huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere and causing rapid global warming. But what if we could turn CO2 into different useable items?
In theory, it would mean releasing less CO2 into the air. In fact, if CO2-based products were valuable enough, we might be motivated to suck it out of the atmosphere in order to make things. That’s the concept behind carbon capture and utilization.
Right now, not a lot of CO2 is being captured, and very little of it is being re-used. But many projects are underway to change that, including the NRG COSIA XPrize, which is offering $20 million US to companies that can convert CO2 into valuable products. Ten finalists are scaling up their carbon-conversion technologies in Calgary and Wyoming.
Here’s a look at some of the things you can make with CO2.
Fuels
Right now, the biggest market for CO2 by far is for enhanced oil recovery, where CO2 is used to squeeze extra oil out of aging wells. That’s helped support most carbon capture projects in Canada so far. The CO2 is permanently stored or “sequestered” underground afterward, reducing the net emissions of the oil produced this way.
It’s also possible to make fuels directly from CO2. B.C.-based Carbon Engineering is using carbon to make liquid synthetic fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, while Toronto-based XPrize finalist CERT is making fuels such as ethanol and methane.
Concrete and building materials
Halifax-based CarbonCure and L.A.'s Carbon UpCycling UCLA are two XPrize finalists working on concrete with a lower carbon footprint. (A third finalist, Montreal's Carbicrete, withdrew from the competition to focus on building a pilot plant in Quebec.)
Plastics
XPrize finalist C4X, which is jointly based in Suzhou, China, and Toronto, is making foam plastics for use in car and aircraft interiors and packaging. Meanwhile, Californian XPrize finalist Newlight is making biodegradable plastics that are used in bags, containers, phone cases and furniture.
Other consumer products
Calgary's Clean02 and Ottawa-based Tandem Technical make calcium carbonate (see photo above), which can be turned into things like paint, toothpaste and fertilizer. Clean02’s product is already being turned into hand soap.
Chemicals and advanced materials
Many other chemicals and materials can also be made from CO2, including pharmaceuticals. You can even make some very exotic products such as carbon nanotubes, the focus of Virginia-based XPrize finalist C2CNT, and nanoparticles, which are being turned into corrosion-resistant coatings by Calgary finalist Carbon Upcycling Technologies.
You can learn more about carbon capture, storage and utilization here.
~from the ES SLT
Thank you for completing you PIC question by October 4th. Click here to access the link.
What are you learning about? What is your team learning about? How are your students growing as a result? Each week one of our teams will share their story or learning with the rest of us. Learning experience may be about a book you/your team read, a TedTalk, a conference attended, an online course, PIC progress, or reflections on a recent learning experience students engaged in. As part of our Culture of Learning, it is important we share our stories of growth and learning with one another. Reflections can take any form you choose (i.e., video, written, image, Sketchnote, etc). Talk to your team lead to find out more and learn when your team will be sharing their story of learning with others.
Music for Life
~from Conway and Molly
Have you ever found yourself asking, “Why do Conway and Molly always seem to be in such a good mood?” or “Why do those kids seem so happy after the Big Sing?” It may be because of all the scientifically proven benefits that come from singing! Here are just a few:
Physical benefits:
- Improves sleep
- Relaxes muscle tension
- Releases endorphins
- Boosts the immune system
- Improves memory and concentration
- Decreases stress levels and blood pressure
- Enhances mood
- Stimulates creativity
- Improves mental alertness
- Provides better brain cognition
- Improves a feeling of social wellbeing
- Increases self-esteem and confidence
- Broadens communication skills
- https://takelessons.com/live/singing/health-benefits-of-singing
- https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/21-incredible-benefits-singing-that-will-impress-you.html
- https://www.healthfitnessrevolution.com/top-11-health-benefits-of-singing/
- https://www.singlikeastar.com/the-benefits-of-singing-in-a-group/
~from the Innovation Team (Nate, Paul, and Vlad)
Big news in the world of computing. In a feat equivalent in significance to the first flight of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, a team of Google researchers claims to have achieved “quantum supremacy”. The team believes they have demonstrated that a quantum computer is capable of performing a task that is beyond the reach of the most powerful conventional supercomputer.
Unlike a conventional supercomputer that only processes classical bits (1 and 0), a quantum computer can process qubits. As such, quantum computers can process data in parallel, while conventional machines must process it sequentially. While there is still much more research to be done, it is a very exciting milestone.
As computers increase in capability our ability to conduct research, create simulations to make more accurate predictions (weather, social constructs, theoretical subatomic and/or astrophysical phenomena) and to empower machines through AI means that our growth and understanding of the world will continue to increase at an exponential rate. Read more about quantum computers here.
~from the ES Librarian
Teaching science through inquiry and picture/trade science books
I’ve always been interested in science and students that use the strategy of "learning to read while reading to learn". Below is a selection of new books we recently added to the library collection that children will love, that are high interest, and that have the power to enhance your science lessons.
- A Hundred Billion Trillion Stars by Seth Fishman (large numbers, math, space)
- Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet by Curtis Manley
- Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years by Stacy McAnulty
- Amazing Plant Powers: How Plants Fly, Fight, Hide, Hunt, and Change the World by Loreen Leedy
- Water land: Land and Water Forms around the World by Christy Hale
- Wonderful Nature, Wonderful You by Karin Ireland
- Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too by Eric Carle
- Snails Are Just My Speed! by Kevin McCloskey
- I, Fly: The Buzz About Flies and How Awesome They Are by Bridget Heos
- Galápagos George by Jean Craighead George