Do
all grade 5 classes in a school have to participate
in the P4B program?
No.
As many or as few of the grade 5 classes in
individual schools as desired can participate.
Each participating class in a school, however,
must fill in a separate registration form.
Each registered class will receive its own
secret box of P4B materials.
Back
to the top.
Do
all the students in a registered grade 5 class
have to participate in the program?
It
is recommended that all the students in a registered
class participate but it is not essential.
Individual student participation is totally
up to the discretion of the teacher.
Back
to the top.
Can
the program be run in a grade 4/5 or 5/6 split
class?
Yes.
However, only the grade 5 curriculum-integrated links
are provided with the program. It will, however,
be easy for teachers to link the various
P4B program activities to the grades 4 and
6 curriculum if required.
Back
to the top.
Do
teachers have to attend a workshop in order
to get the P4B program materials?
No.
Teachers are not required to attend a
workshop for this program. The class
just needs to register by phone
or online and then the materials will
be shipped to them.
Back
to the top.
Is
the P4B program available in French?
No.
At this time the Power4Bones program is available
only in
English.
Can
a French immersion class register for the program?
Yes.
French immersion classes can participate if they
feel the English materials are suitable for them.
Isn't
it going to be a lot of work for a teacher
to run this program in class?
No.
Everything a teacher needs to run the program
will be provided and delivered to each registered
class in the P4B secret box. In addition
to program materials, the box will include
specific instructions for the P4B Squad and
teachers on how and when to use all materials.
There is also
a 30-minute online tutorial that will provide
you with an overview of the full program at
www.power4bones.com/getstarted.
Back
to the top.
Isn't
the P4B program going to take up a lot of
class time?
No. As
much or as little of the program can be worked
into class time as the teacher likes. The
7-lesson program includes a lesson-by-lesson
calendar with a guideline for which components
to introduce with each lesson. It may take
45 to 60 minutes per lesson to implement the
program.
A teacher
may choose to use the Power4Bones Control Panel
to modify and control the pace of the program.
The Control Panel allows teachers to compress,
pause or extend the recommended lesson activities
to best suit their in class schedules.
Back
to the top.
What
is the Power4Bones Control Panel and
how do I use it?
The
Control Panel is an online tool that allows
each teacher to control the timing of when
to run the Power4Bones program in class.
Teachers can use the online Control Panel
to START, PAUSE or RESUME the
program at any time. This flexibility allows
teachers to best align the teachings of
Power4Bones with relevant curriculum and
to modify the program schedule to accommodate
in-class time constraints, scheduling conflicts
with other school activities, holidays,
etc!
All
teachers MUST log in to
the new online Control Panel with their
teacher secret code and PRESS START in
order to activate the program for their
class. Teachers will need their 8-digit
code to enter this site. The code is included
in the LESSON 1 envelope of the P4B secret
box. Go to www.power4bones.com/educators to
access the Control Panel.
The
Control Panel also includes a lesson-by-lesson
timeline summarizing the program
components and an ongoing status update
of what lesson of the program your particular
class is on once you press START! Use the
timeline and the
"You are Here" arrow to explore
P4B lesson-by-lesson and keep track of your
progress.
We
recommend that you follow our lesson-by-lesson
calendar guideline included in the Control
Panel to maximize student learning however,
you can compress, pause or extend the recommended
activities if you want to. You can choose
to PAUSE or RESUME the program at any time OR you
can just let the 7 lesson components automatically
activate every 7 days as long as you initially
press START. The extent
of use of the Control Panel is totally up
to you!
Back
to the top.
Is
P4B a new program or based on an existing
one?
Power4Bones
is an innovative
program. It
is based on research that
showed a need to educate children about bone
health and their bone-building nutrient needs. No
other program like this currently exists
in Canada.
This annual program was launched in Ontario
schools in January 2005; in Alberta schools
in January 2008; and in New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia schools in September 2010.
Back
to the top.
Why
is a P4B Squad needed?
A
P4B Squad is recommended
to help create excitement about P4B and ensure
that the various components of the program
are being implemented with
the right lesson. It
provides leadership opportunities for students
and decreases teacher workload.
The P4B Squad can be formed in a number of
ways depending on the classroom environment
and teaching style. Squad positions can be
a reward for hard work, a random selection,
or a motivator for students who need a bit
of extra help.
Back
to the top.
Why
is an adult leader required on the Squad?
An
adult squad
leader is required to provide assistance
to the students on the P4B Squad if needed. The
P4B Squad will also be responsible for managing
the P4B secret box, which will contain many
prizes to distribute to students at various
points in the program. An adult should therefore
oversee the management of the secret box
contents.
Back
to the top.
If
a school has more than one grade 5 class
participating in P4B, does each class need
a separate P4B Squad?
It's
up to the individual school. Each participating
class will receive its own secret box, and
a squad is required to manage the box contents.
If a school would prefer to establish a combined
squad, responsible for distributing the program
materials to more than one class, it can
do so.
Back
to the top.
Can
students who are members of the P4B Squad
also receive prizes?
Yes, students who are also members of the P4B
Squad are eligible to receive the same prizes
as the other Power4Bones students. In addition,
P4B Squad members will get a squad t-shirt to
wear to create excitement about the program and
as a thank you prize for their assistance.
Back
to the top.
Can
students still access the Web challenges
once the lesson is
completed?
Yes.
If students want to go back to a previous
lesson's
challenge and play it again, just for fun,
they can. Students can play the Web challenges
over and over again if they want to improve
their score. The score on the scoreboard
will always reflect their most recent score.
Back
to the top.
Can
a teacher ask students to participate in
the Web challenges outside of class time?
Yes.
The program is Web-based so students can
participate in P4B just about anywhere there
is a computer. If students do not have
home computers or access to the Internet,
most local libraries provide access to computers
and the Internet.
Back
to the top.
What
is the online PSA Maker?
The online PSA Maker is a tool for students
to:
- Create visual (poster or comic) public
service announcements from a library of
clip art and design elements;
- Share PSAs with classmates and;
- Vote
on
classmates' PSAs online
The PSA Maker contains three different types
of online PSA Galleries:
- Student's "Personal Gallery" which
contains the PSAs a particular student
has created so far. From this gallery,
students can create, view, copy, edit,
share and delete any of their personal
PSAs.
- "Class
Gallery" which allows
students to view their classmates' PSAs
and vote for their favourites. A student's
PSA gets included in this gallery once
a student clicks "save & share" on
a selected PSA in their "Personal
Gallery". Students should vote on
their classmates' PSAs according to the
criteria on the "Creating
a Great PSA fact sheet" (included
in Lesson 6 of the teacher guide.)
- "Public
Gallery" which
is available for anyone to view can include
one PSA from each class and can only
be submitted to the public gallery by
a teacher. The PSA submitted can be the
class PSA with the most votes OR a PSA
chosen by the teacher.
Back
to the top.
What
criteria should teachers and students use
to rate or vote on student/classmate PSAs?
Can
students create their PSAs without
using the online PSA Maker?
Teachers
and students will not be "forced" to
use the online PSA Maker to create PSAs (however,
you'll be missing out on a really great
curriculum rich tool if you don't!)
If
a teacher does not choose to use the online
PSA Maker, the culminating activity of creating
a PSA can still be accomplished by creating
a Paper PSA or an Audio PSA. A Paper PSA
might be a hand drawn comic or poster and
an Audio PSA might take the form of an mp3
file, jpg, CD, cassette, etc.
Note:
Only PSAs created using the online PSA
Maker can be posted on the public gallery.
What
are the P4B program prizes?
The
following prizes will be included in the program
secret box:
-
Participation
prize (for all students): skipping ropes and
drinking straws
Back
to the top.
What
are the secret codes?
The 8-digit secret codes allow program participants
to access the program Web challenges and additional
functions. There are 3 different types of secret
codes:
- Teacher codes give
teachers access to all 4 Web challenges,
comics, Femur's
Finding experiments, etc., at any time to allow
for reviewing in advance of students. Teachers
can also use their codes to personalize the
comics.
- P4B Squad access
codes give class Squad members access
to special functions such as making comic
episodes specific to an individual class.
All members of a class P4B Squad will share
the same Squad code. Squad members should
also be assigned individual student codes
just like their classmates, for access to
the Web challenges and other program
components.
- Student codes give
students access to the 4 Web challenges,
comics, Femur's Finding experiments etc.
as the different components become activated.
How
do you get the secret codes?
A
list of secret codes is included in the Lesson
1 envelope of the secret box that each participating
class receives. The codes are on a sheet
of labels that the P4B Squad should peel
off and place on the secret code Earth Agent
ID Badges for each student. Secret code ID
Badges are included in the secret box.
Teachers
should keep track of which codes the P4B
Squad assigns to each student on the pink "Teacher's
student code summary sheet" included
in the lesson 1 envelope of your secret box.
Teachers will be the only ones who know which
codes have been assigned to students if they
misplace them! The P4B team will not have
access to individual student names.
Can
students share a secret code?
If
students need to share a computer, they can
sign in under one code: however, the recorded
Web challenge score and the name printed on
the certificate at the end of the challenge
will show/only the name of the student
that owns the code used. Whenever possible,
students should try to use their individual
codes.
How
does the P4B Squad make the 7 comic episodes
specific to their class?
The
comic episode text will be unique to each and
every class participating in the program. The
P4B Squad can make the comics specific to their
class by going to www.power4bones.com and inputting
their 8-digit P4B SQUAD
ACCESS CODE. The Squad will be
asked to fill in the answers to 6 questions about
their school and city/town. The Squad has to
do this only once during the program. It's
quick and easy to do – just follow the
directions online. Once the comics are downloaded,
they can be printed and photocopied for distribution
to students. There's one episode for each lesson
of the program. Note: Teacher's can also access
these questions and personalize the comics by
inputting the teacher 8-digit code.
Does
the P4B Squad have to print copies of all
7 comic episodes at once?
No.
If you only have time to answer the 6 questions
and download your class-specific comics, that's
OK. You can come back to the site later on
and sign on with your P4B SQUAD
ACCESS CODE (or teacher code) to
go back to your personalized comics. Then you
can print as many of the episodes as you desire.
You will not have to answer the questions all
over again. You only have to do that once during
the program. Students can also view the comics
online if you do not want to print the episodes.
Can
the P4B Squad go back in and change answers
to the 6 comic strip episode school-specific
questions if they've made a mistake?
Yes. The Squad
can go back into the site using the P4B Squad
access code and change the answers if a mistake
has been made. Teachers can also correct mistakes
by signing in with the 8-digit teacher code.
Are
there minimum computer requirements for participation
in the Power4Bones Program?
Yes.
Power4Bones is a Web-based program, so your
students need to use computers that meet the
following criteria. If your computers do not
meet these requirements, the Web-based components
of the program may not work for you and your
students.
Here
are the technical specifications required to
run P4B:
For
Windows Computers:
-
Operating
system: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows
NT, Windows ME or Windows XP. Power4Bones
Web challenges will not work on Windows 95
operating systems.
-
Processor
speed: Pentium Celeron or Pentium III processor
(minimum 500 MHz).
-
-
Internet
access (high speed or dial-up)
For
Apple MacIntosh Computers:
-
Operating
system: OS 9.X or OS X
-
Processor
speed: G3 or above (minimum 500 MHz)
-
-
Internet
access (high speed or dial-up)
How
can teachers find out if their school computers
meet the recommended criteria for participation
in the P4B program?
If
you would like to test your computer to see
if it meets the requirements, visit
our test page at http://www.power4bones.com/testmymachine/ OR
email your questions from our contact form. Someone
on the Power4Bones team will review your
question and respond to you. Please include
as much information as possible about your
school computer systems when you send us
a question so we can respond quickly and
accurately.
The
operating system on our school computers is
Windows 95. Can we still participate in the
program?
Unfortunately
not. The online components rely on the free
Macromedia Flash plugin. There is no version
of the plugin currently available for Windows
95.
Back
to the top.
|
