This week’s class had the opportunity to visit Dr. Dave Collins’s Neurophysiology Lab and they had a blast! The class learned about what happens in your muscles when they contract, how electricity is important to the body, what happens when you electrically stimulate a muscle and how you can get someone to move without even touching them. Check out the video to see some of the fun we had!
UAlberta is lucky enough to have its very own Observatory right on campus. The Observatory has been super to U School and they are always welcoming to visitors, especially on Thursdays! They have the following observation times available to the public:
Evening Observing
Solar Observing
When you visit the Observatory, be sure to check out the scale model of our solar system in the West Atrium of the new CCIS building and the model of the USS Enterprise that students in the Department of Physics have added 🙂
U School was lucky enough to visit Folkways ALIVE!, a partnership between the Smithsonian Institution and the U of A, in December. We had the opportunity to compose our own song and learn an Azerbaijani folk song. Take a listen to our creation and our song.
BASIC FUNDAMENTAL MOTOR SKILLS: LOCOMOTOR – NONLOCOMOTOR – MANIPULATIVE
Provided by Brent Bradford.
Basic fundamental motor skills are the basic building blocks for all physical movement. They need to be taught in a systematic and progressive manner and must include positive, specific feedback from teachers!
It is imperative that children develop the BFMSs during their elementary school years. These years mark the ‘sensitive times’ during development. Without this foundation, success in several sports, gymnastics and dance activities becomes highly unlikely (Fishburne, 2005).
Students require a learning environment that fosters maximum participation!
Reference: Fishburne, G.J. (2005). Developmentally appropriate physical education for children and youth. University of Alberta: Ripon Publishing.
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SELECTED ARTICLES FOR STUDENTS, EDUCATORS AND FAMILIES
On Friday, Tipaskan School had the opportunity to visit the University of Alberta’s Espresso Book Machine. Thanks to a presentation from the Office of Registrar‘s Adam Gaumont, we learned about the different ways one can be published, including on demand! Check out the fun we had watching a book being born!
This gallery contains 26 photos.
The first week of December saw our first concurrent U School week! We were lucky enough to secure a room in the new Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science (CCIS) building, which enabled us to have two schools at U School in one week. Lisa was with the grade 4 class from Belvedere School in CCIS,… Read more.
U School has been very lucky to have had our Indigenous Artist in Residence, Jordan Bennett, host a couple of art sessions. It was awesome to see both the students’ reactions to Jordan and his art and Jordan’s reaction to our students. He is currently working on some interesting projects here at the U of A and we are lucky to have had him join us. Check out Jordan’s blog to see what he thought of the experience.
Our amazing U School physical education teacher, Brent Bradford, has passed along some great tips and resources for building a rich and robust phys ed program for your students:
Alberta Education – ABCD’s of Physical Education
Activity: Students will acquire skills through a variety of developmentally appropriate movement activities.
Benefits of Health: Students will understand, experience, and appreciate the health benefits that result from physical activity.
Cooperation:Students will interact positively with others.
Do it Daily … for Life!: Students will assume responsibility to lead an active way of life.
The Four General Outcomes (ABCD’s) are interrelated and interdependent. Each is to be achieved through a variety of physical activities. Students must have the opportunity for participation in each of the following dimensions …
Three Websites Recommended for Active Students, Educators and Families
This gallery contains 16 photos.
This morning with our grade 6 class from Tipaskan, we had a brand new session that was, in a word, AWESOME!!!! Jamie Hanlon joined us to teach the students about fingerprinting. They took their own fingerprints, learned about the different patterns and even got to lift some prints for themselves. Jamie also taught them all they… Read more.
As a part of U School, our students have the opportunity to engage in a photography class. Check out our website to see how artistic our students are! A great big THANK YOU to our Fall Term photography instructor, Vi. She helped the students learn about taking really artful photos and have fun doing it.
U School 
