Update 111 🌳🎋🌴What can we learn from trees?

Howie Gordon
Jan 25, 2024
4 min read

Updated: Mar 4

Today is Tu B'shvat - The Holiday of the trees. Throughout the country it is raining. As much as I love the rain, I am hoping for brighter days ahead where calmness and peace will reign.

This song woke me up this morning as my alarm. Hard not to share. Wake up with some positivity.

I'm unstoppable, I'm a Porsche with no brakes

I'm invincible, yeah, I win every single game

I'm so powerful, I don't need batteries to play

I'm so confident; yeah, I'm unstoppable today

Unstoppable today, unstoppable today

Unstoppable today, I'm unstoppable today…~ Sia

If I were a tree what a tree I’d be. This is a great song with actions and repetition that teaches the children about tree parts with actions. Thanks Rivka Goldman for this amazing song link

Yesterday I was invited to take part in the Northern Elementary School Online Conference. A huge shout out and welcome to the teachers that have just joined the bi weekly broadcast. Some of the ideas that I shared I will reshare here. https://bit.ly/wereatree

So what can we learn from trees?

If you click on the green tree in the right hand corner you will be taken to a Reader’s Theatre script of the giving tree.
Ask your pupils to choose a picture of a tree/trees and explain why.
Click on the picture of the tree and many ideas will pop up of things we get from trees
Take a picture of a tree and add family members.

Here is another golden oldie about the hole in the ground and the green grass grew all around.

https://youtu.be/x4NGABiouKg

"Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking." Wangarĩ Muta Maathai was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist

"Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year."

Chad Sugg - Singer Songwriter

Music lyrics video for the song, THE GARDEN SONG, written by David Mallett and performed by David Grover and the Big Bear Band.

Inch by Inch

Row by Row

My happy corner - Smile of the week

I like to find instances that involve music / movement that make me smile.

A selection of some very talented kids singing their lungs out. Cannot not be missed

Ghetto Kids from Uganda

So much energy and happiness on one stage.

This reminds me to remind you about E-Talent

Due to the ongoing success of the E-Talent program we have decided to continue the annual competition for schools that choose to be a part of E-Talent. You will receive all the necessary information and tools to take part in E-Talent.

The competition will take place in your school either on stage or online.

Read on for more details

All you have to do is say yes, register and encourage your students to take part.

https://forms.gle/jrp961CyDKdTnsf79

You can find all the necessary information at this link https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E2qxZyXB0ItV6LyrfZrDDF40ooleVKJ4_A2sOhhbbog/edit?usp=sharing Please reach out to us if you need assistance or to invite us to the final competition. We will do our utmost to come and be a part of celebrating English in your school.

Digital Tool of the Week (There are three)

AI Ad-Libs

What are ad libs?

Mad Libs is a phrasal template word game created by Leonard Stern and Roger Price. It consists of one player prompting others for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story before reading aloud. The game is frequently played as a party game or as a pastime.

https://aiadlibs.com/

Check this funny story out generated by AI

An English Lesson At School...

One day at funny school, our teacher gave us a lesson on sitting. We learned about doors and how to properly use them in sentences. It was closed to see everyone participating and sharing their books. The teacher even gave us a quiz to test our happy knowledge. Overall, it was a fun and educational day in our frustrating English class.

This was the weird English lesson at school that was generated with AI

Suggestion - Suggest a topic and generate the idea. Check the generated story before you present to your pupils. Allow the children to create a presentation on PowerPoint / Slides with a new line from the song on each slide./

As always, check this tool before you use it in class.

Did you know that you can bookmark other peoples’ shared Padlets. Thanks to Carmit for sharing this gem

https://padlet.com/TeachingEnglishJukebox/teachingenglish-jukebox-k6lrih0pw4rk

Look at what Sigalit Arditi did with Copilot and Suno

She asked Copilot AI to create a song that captures the spirit of Tu Bishvat, blooming, growing, overcoming difficulties and the spirit of teaching and counseling English language. This is what she got:

https://sl.bing.net/oRAsOzJKb6

Musical Joke of the Week

Dad: "GO TO YOUR ROOM NOW!"

Child: storms off "JIM MORRISON WAS OVERRATED!"

Dad: "WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT SLAMMING THE DOORS!?"

Let us hear what you have to say

As you know these broadcasts are admin controlled and I miss the feedback. Thanks to the teachers who contacted me directly. Here is a link to a Google form where I am just asking you for ideas for these broadcasts and our website - https://forms.gle/oKcY7degkd164opr9

Be safe out there, respectful and responsible

Hoping for peaceful days ahead.

UNSTOPPABLE (Sia) - OPOLE YOUTH CHOIR Cover