Ninja Notes

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Holidays

Sweet and Simple Two-Colour Watercolour Candy Cane Paintings

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We like to try teaching our students new watercolour techniques that will make their paintings more realistic. Being elememtary generalists means we're not experts but we've broken down this watercolour candy cane lesson so you can try it out with your students. It's a great Christmas art project, but more importantly you can teach students how to add light and shadow to their art projects to make them come alive.

We love to teach students new simple techniques for painting with watercolour. We created this Christmas art project that only uses two colours as a way to practice a technique where students remove paint from their page. This watercolour candy cane painting teaches students techniques like adding light and shadows.

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Five Easy Christmas Tree Projects for Leftover Bits and Pieces

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Do you have lots of odds and ends leftover from various Christmas art porjects and crafts over the years? Here are five projects to help use them up. Come find the free art project instructions and get some new ideas for your upper elementary students. These make great gifts or decorations during the festive season.
Rolled Christmas Wrapping Paper

If you’re like us (and most teachers), you likely have lots of bits and pieces left over from previous projects. We often have to buy a class set of things and always have one or two left over. The good news is that we have some projects that can use some of that up and still create awesome Christmas tree projects for your art class. Have your students gift them to their families. Come check out these Christmas tree projects.

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Scary Halloween Books for Your Classroom Library

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Are you looking for some scary Halloween books for your upper elementary classroom library? We've collected titles of great Halloween books from our students and update our list all the time. Come have a read!

Whether you’re creating a Halloween-themed classroom library or planning some eerie read-alouds, these titles deliver thrills, chills, and laughs. Many are proudly written or illustrated by Canadian talent. We love to share scary books all year. Our students ask for them. Many of them want to read a haunted story or something that is a little creepy. You don’t have to read scary Halloween books at Halloween, but that is part of the fun.

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Easy Ways to Show Appreciation to Your School Support Staff

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There are so many people in schools that work hard to make it a special place. Find ways to thank volunteers, bus drivers, support staff, custodians, educational assistants or anyone else who makes your school a special place in this blog post chock full of of easy and inexpesive ways to show your appreciation.

Hey, fellow teachers! We all know our schools wouldn’t run nearly as smoothly without the incredible support staff who keep everything ticking. Educational assistants, custodians, office staff, librarians, volunteers – they’re the unsung heroes who make our jobs easier and our schools brighter. Let’s show them some love! Meaningful appreciation doesn’t have to break the bank or eat up all your prep time. Come check out some of the ways we’re saying thank you to the people who help make our jobs easier.

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10 Quick Ways to Celebrate World Kindness Day

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World Kindness Day is a way to remind each other to be kind, but we focus on being kind all year in our classroom. Come learn some of the ways we celebrate kindness in our upper elementary and especially for World Kindness Day.

World Kindness Day is observed on November 13th. It’s a great opportunity to promote kindness, empathy, and compassion in your classroom, school, and community. One of the most important lessons about kindness is that it is possible for everyone to be kind. It doesn’t have to cost money or take a lot of time. Here are some of the ways we celebrate World Kindness Day in our school.

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Inspiring Ways to Celebrate the Festival du Voyageur

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If you are looking for ways to celebrate the Festival du voyageur at your school, check out this list of ideas. It's a great way to teach French culture in your French, FSL or Core French classes.

Each year, we organize a Festival du Voyageur for students learning French in our school. Over the years, we’ve learned some tips to make the planning easier because there’s already enough to do in February. Come check out these activities and see which ones the French learners in your school might enjoy.

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