Family Multi-literacy Evening

How we communicate is rapidly changing.  Our goal is for English Class pupils to develop strong literacy skills for the 21st century. This requires that pupils and their families integrate technology-enhanced educational tools fluidly into their lives, while also learning to incorporate critical framing. We call this multi-literacy.

On Tuesday of this week English Class families were invited to a Multi-literacy Family Evening where there were activities for all ages and tastes, including a scavenger hunt and five workshops. Each family and/or participant was given a passport for the evening’s activities. Every workshop or activity provided a stamp or sticker for the passport.

The evening started with a 15 minute long scavenger hunt. Participants needed to find certain items in the titles of books on the bookshelves of classrooms. The libraries in all six English Class classrooms were within the area of the search. Some of the items on the list included, for example, a one word book title, a book title with a girl’s name in it, a book title with a number in it, etc.

One workshop gave families a chance to “photoshop” animals by creating new combinations. ‘Everything is not as we see it’ was the message. Using the app, Switch Zoo, children and adults alike created outlandish creatures. Fourth grade teacher,Ms. Leena, plans to have  pupils use some of the imaginary creatures as a basis for writing short stories as a follow-up activity.

Families were encouraged to bring books to the evening event and exchange them for books of similar value at the book swap tables. At another workshop Ms. Anu and Ms. Katri  headed up a series of discussions about children and social media. On the door of the classroom they had posted certain social media age limits. To find out more about the use of media and social media by both parents and pupils of the English Classes, go to the Parents’ page where results of the anonymous surveys for parents and children are posted.

A workshop that sparked a lot of interest. particularly with adults, was the Reading without Books workshop run by Ms. Sylvia and Mr. James, our practicing school aide. The crux of the workshop was information about reading e-books with tablets and handheld devices. Kindle, in particular, was the subject of a lot of discussion. Information about audiobooks as well as free online books was also offered.

The bookmark making workshop was a big hit with young and old. Adorable Minions and whimsical creatures took shape in Mr. Juho’s classroom.

Although the turn out was not as good as we would have hoped, due primarily to a raging flu epidemic, everyone who attended the evening left with the feeling that it was time well spent. Lots of interesting new ideas were offered that will lead to new possibilities for all.

Family Media Evening

In honour of National Media Week 2015, on Tuesday of this week all of the English Class families were invited to participate in an interactive Family Media Evening. The evening was set up so that there was a total of 12 stations that could be completed. One of the stations involved creating a family gaming figure. A family member secretly drew one part of the figure, then folded it down out of sight, yet extending lines so that the next family member could continue the drawing. Directions for the game can be found here.

At another station families could choose three small objects from a table.Together the family needed to think of a story that linked all of the objects together. Then they took turns telling the story. Some families wrote the story on paper and some recorded it on their own phone. Some just told the story among themselves.

One station required families to think of an attention-grabbing headline for a news event relating to the family. Another station dealt with advertising. Families had to choose from a group of stuffed toys and together create and present an advertisement to sell that particular toy to others.

One very popular station was the animation station where participants could create their own stickman animation at http://www.drawastickman.com/’ (Note: This only works on computers that use Flash.)

Families discussed online chatting and how this is rapidly replacing SMS texting. They created their own family chat dialogues with user names and posted them on the wall. At one station a computer and mobile device use contract was discussed and signed by family members. Yet another station had a collection of old and defunct mobile phones. Children were asked to interview their parents about life before mobile phones, as well as memories of their very first mobile phone.

Families could listen to the world of sound and interact with the sounds by using the freely available Ambient Mixer app on iPads. This same program is also available online at http://www.ambient-mixer.com/

The effects of perspective were explored at the photography station where families explored the difference between a bird’s eye view and a worm’s view when showing emotions.

At one station families needed to think about and discuss what children in the family would like to change or impact, for example, at daycare, at school or at the library? At the end of the discussion the children could complete the sentence, If I could decide, then… When completed they could hang it on the clothesline for others to view.

Every family had its own passport for the evening. It was possible to collect a stamp at each station. Kasper, the boy in the photograph above, proudly show his family’s passport with all 12 stamps. The activities altogether took about one and half hours to complete. Much of the material for this evening was adapted from the Mannerheim League of Child Welfare’s Mainiot Media Perheet Opas.  Feedback from parents and children alike was that the evening was  a rip-roaring success. Families hope for more of the same! Please go to the Parents’ Page for more thoughts on this subject.