Financial Literacy: Income vs Property Tax

Stephen Punwasi is my favourite person on Twitter. And whenever he does a thread, I think, gosh, I wish I could teach this to my students. So here is one of his threads on Income Tax vs. Property Tax.

I have turned it into a slide show here. (If the images don’t match, that’s a misinterpretation on my part.)

And here is a worksheet on Income Tax.
Government of Ontario website on Property tax; www.ontario.ca/page/property-tax
Government of Canada website on Income Tax: www.canada.ca/en/services/taxes/income-tax/personal-income-tax.html
Government of Canada website on Tax FAQs and 101s, and student worksheets

Other Financial Literacy Resources

Classroom Conservation Challenges – Win!

Get your students excited about saving energy by completing as many of these fun and engaging challenges in your classroom. All 16 challenges are linked to the Canadian National Standards for Geography and are an easy way to fulfill your curriculum requirements.

Earn points for each challenge your class completes. Classrooms who complete a minimum of 3 challenges will be eligible to win amazing prizes!

http://energydiet.canadiangeographic.ca/2019/main/challenges

Canada’s Coolest School Trip – Win an all-expense paid trip for your class

Canada’s Coolest School Trip 9th edition is headed to Kootenay National Park in British Columbia in June 2020! From June 8 to 12 the winning class will explore this special place, all expenses paid! The contest is open to grade 6,7, 8 & 9 

• To enter, have your class create a video showing us how they are conservation champions linked to cultural and/or environmental conservation in their community.
• Winners will be selected from a short-list of 15 videos, including the Top-10 videos selected by public voting and 5 additional Staff Picks entries.

Upload your video by February 28, 2020.

Want to know all of the amazing prizes you are competing for? Click here for more information on all of this year’s prizes.

Register for Canada’s Coolest School Trip contest today!

10,000 Changes: Plastic Pollution Lessons

The following learning modules provide an opportunity for educators to explore key themes and concepts connected with plastic use and how to eliminate plastic in our daily lives. Each module contains an infographic, video and lesson plan designed to dive deeper into a plastic issue and move towards taking action.

https://10000changes.ca/en/education/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cgedu_newsletter

Upcoming Themes

The following learning packages will be released monthly:

OCT, 2019 – LEARNING PACKAGE 1 – Hidden Plastic

NOV, 2019 – LEARNING PACKAGE 2 – Plastic We Eat

DEC, 2019 – LEARNING PACKAGE 3 – Disposable Culture

JAN, 2020 – LEARNING PACKAGE 4 – Ocean Microplastics

FEB, 2020 – LEARNING PACKAGE 5 – BioCollection Technology for Recycling Plastic

MAR, 2020 – LEARNING PACKAGE 6 – Circular Economy

Media Literacy – For the Record – Toronto Star

​For the Record provides teachers and parents with useful tools to encourage youth to engage with, reflect on, and think critically about the media they encounter on a daily basis. ​CLICK HERE to download our September 2019 edition. For the Record means: So that the true facts are recorded or known.  

Download past editions:

Checking and Double-Checking ​the Facts The importance of ​accuracy in journalism.​

News Librarians: Detectives of ​the Newsroom Learn about the role of ​News Librarians. ​

https://www.classroomconnection.ca/for-the-record.html 

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Join our email list for advance notice of new editions.

Canada Votes! Toronto Star Election Guide

https://www.classroomconnection.ca/canadavotes.html 

This learning material is designed to give students tools to research how we elect our governments in Canada. 

It includes a booklet of basic information about the federal government, introductory texts related to elections, and a student activity book with basic facts. It also includes some games, multimedia activities, and directed research.The “Facts About Your Federal Government” booklet provides an overview of the federal government. It outlines the basic parts of government and the election process. It is a supplement to the activity pages.

This program includes a culminating activity, which incorporates spoken-word ​poetry. Have students read and/or listen to the poem below. 

Download the free teacher guide and student resource below

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Teacher Guide Student Activities

Facts about your ​federal government

Spoken-word – Culminating Activity

Read it!

Listen to it!

Media Literacy Resources on Fake News

This post contains a variety of articles and ideas to help kids learn to spot fake news. Be sure to discuss the dangers of fake news and ways to address/fix the issue.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/picture/2017/jan/28/berger-wyse-on-fake-news-cartoon#img-25 

Tips to Spot False News

https://www.facebook.com/help/188118808357379 

Facebook is now committed to reducing the spread of false news. They remove fake accounts and disrupt economic incentives for people that share misinformation. They use signals, like feedback from our community, to identify stories that may be false. In countries where they work with independent third-party fact-checkers, stories rated as false by those fact-checkers are shown lower in News Feed. If Pages or domains repeatedly create or share misinformation, they significantly reduce their distribution and remove their advertising rights. They’re also working to empower people to decide for themselves what to read, trust and share by giving them more context on stories with tools like Related Articles.

Global Read Aloud 2019

The project was created in 2010 with a simple goal in mind; one book to connect the world. From its humble beginnings, the GRA has grown to make a truly global connection with more than 4,000,000 students have participated.

The premise is simple; we pick a book to read aloud to our students during a set 6-week period and during that time we try to make as many global connections as possible.

Some people choose to connect with just one class, while others go for as many as possible. Teachers get a community of other educators to do a global project with, hopefully inspiring them to continue these connections through the year.

https://theglobalreadaloud.com/

Teach Current Events with LesPlan

LesPlan Educational Services Ltd. has been providing North American teachers with current events resources since 1990. Our goal is to help teachers develop students’ understanding of and ability to critically assess current issues and events by providing quality, up-to-date, affordable, ready-to-use resources.

Our team of classroom teachers, writers, and illustrators select the previous month’s top news stories, then craft age-appropriate, leveled stories summarizing the key points and perspectives for students. We include the background information often lacking from traditional news stories – as well as key vocabulary definitions – to help students understand the issue, and strive to present all sides of any debate. Our aim is to foster understanding and develop critical thinking so that students can develop their own positions on each story we cover.

https://www.lesplan.com/en

Currents4Kids.com

Currents4Kids.com / Infos-Jeunes.com is an engaging, online interactive current events resource for students in grades 3 and up.

Read more

The Canadian Reader

The Canadian Reader / Nos Nouvelles is a classroom-ready current events resource for students in grades 3 and up.

Read more

What in the World?

What in the World? / Le Monde en Marche is a photocopiable current events resource for Canadian students in grades 5 through 10.

Read more

 

 

International Dot Day – Sept 15

Read.

International Dot Day is named for the classic Peter H. Reynolds storybook The Dot. Available in English and many other languages, the book shares the story of a girl who begins a journey of self-discovery after a caring teacher challenges her to “make her mark.”

Create.

Sign up and download the free Educator’s Handbook for International Dot Day. Here you will find suggestions and tools, including some great activities created by Peter H. Reynolds, to help you celebrate creativity in your classroom. https://www.reynoldstlc.org/international-dot-day-handbook

Learn.

See the many ways others have celebrated International Dot Day by visiting the Dot Gallery where you’ll find photos to give you more ideas and inspiration. And take a look at the videos below – more great ideas that you can borrow or adapt!