New Ministry documents

In June and July,  the Ontario Ministry of Education announced the release of some new documents. In June, they released the new curriculum document English as a Second Language and English Literacy Development as well as a special education resource guide titled Effective Educational Practices for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders. In July they announced the release of the revised Mathematics curriculum for grades 11 and 12. 

You can read these documents online at the Ministry web page; the Professional Library will order them asap.  Also, the Library has a huge speical education collection and we have many resources for teachers of Autistic students. Ask us to email you our bibliography.

Nutrition and health promotion

We’ve heard the bad news about kids and increasing levels of obesity.  Schools can  teach students about nutrition, healthy eating habits and the importance of being active.  Check out the Active Healthy Kids Canada web page for Canada’s Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth.  You can borrow this new book from the Library – Overcoming Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence: A Guide for School Leaders (2007).

Being green

It is all about being environmentally friendly.  The Library has books with ideas for classrooms activities such as Eco-fun (2001) by David Suzuki and Teaching Green (2005) by Tim Grant and Gail Littlejohn.  There are some great Canadian web pages such as: E-Zone from the Ontario Minsity of the Environment, EcoKids, and David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge for Kids.

Cable in the Classroom

The Cable in the Classroom website will disappear on August 31, 2007.  Their website says that “the vast majority of our programming members will continue to offer lesson plans, programs and other great tools … to provide complimentary cable services and other grassroot initiatives to enrich the Canadian educational system.” The website provides  links to different programming services like CBC, Treehouse or A&E or History and Discovery.