Acts of Kindness
Two students from Cambie Secondary, with the help of their vice-principal and supervising teacher, are organizing a pickleball tournament to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society. The tournament, which will take place on January 28th at Cambie, aims to increase awareness of cancer, as well as raise money for the cause. The students have already raised $1600 in registration fees and hope to reach a goal of $2000. The event has generated a lot of interest and may even lead to the introduction of pickleball in the school’s PE classes.
Black Excellence Day
On January 13th, the Richmond School District celebrated Black Excellence Day, a day to honor the history and contributions of Black Canadians. "Black Excellence" originated from the civil rights movement in the 1960s, paying homage to civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It has become a day to stand in solidarity with Black Canadians and celebrate their history, art, stories, achievements and joy. Approximately 600 students from across the district participated in a virtual event to honour the day and students learned from an impressive line-up of Black Canadian speakers. Students were invited to reflect on what Black Excellence means to them, how they can celebrate Black Excellence throughout the year, and how promoting Black Excellence can support Reconciliation.
Art-A-Thon
Recently, the Buzz Art Club at MacNeill Secondary completed their annual Art-A-Thon. The club has been running since 2015 and has donated to nine different charities, raising over $15,000. The charity chosen for this year's event was Covenant House Vancouver. The students worked collaboratively to design and paint thematic works, loosely relating to the chosen charity and focused on the theme of "Stories". They drew inspiration from their own social, cultural, personal or historical experiences.
Exploring Scratch Jr.
Grade 2 and 3 students at Quilchena Elementary school have been embarking on an exciting journey into the world of coding. Guided by a teacher consultant, they have been delving into the app Scratch Jr, discovering the possibilities of creating interactive characters that could move and speak. As they have progressed through multiple lessons, their creativity and imagination have flourished as they craft their own unique stories, complete with text bubbles, sound effects, and animated illustrations.
Outdoor Learning at General Currie
Grade 1 and 2 students at General Currie have been engaging in weekly outdoor learning activities since September. After returning from winter break, they revisited different parts of their school's outdoor learning spaces and reflected on their experiences together. The students also named the different spaces, such as "The Imagination Forest," "The Story Tree," "The Friendship Forest," and "The Sharing Garden." "I like the Story Tree because we can also play games like raven spy there," said one student. "Sometimes if you look up, you can see nests. And then you look around and you see more," added another student.
To document their learning, the students created a map showing these different spaces and the memories they have there. Some students used magnifying glasses to look closely at details, while others worked carefully on the map. Looking forward, the students will begin to explore facets of social emotional learning in relation to outdoor learning.
Digital Story Club
McNeely primary students have been exploring where coding lives in our world, and how it might be used to tell stories. They have explored digital coding structures - apps and programs - as well as non-digital strategies, to code with their friends. The big learning for students has been that coding is a literacy that lives all around us. When we understand it, we can decompose it, and manipulate it, and it can be used to create new and exciting experiences. More than anything, when our learners code, they practice using their core competencies to get the job done.
Conversations About Identity
Recently, author and illustrator, Jeff Chiba Stearns, paid his first of three visits to Homma Elementary. He shared his story of growing up with mixed heritage and not seeing himself represented in children's books. This inspired him to write his own book "Mixed Critters," a whimsical alphabet book. On January 23rd, Jeff returned to the school and shared his graphic novel, On Being Yukiko, with the intermediate classes. This compelling story about the Japanese internment features modern day characters of mixed heritage and contains firsthand documents (re-told via 'flashbacks') from the co-author's family history. Jeff’s workshops are inspiring Homma students to write, draw and celebrate their diverse identities!
Rubik’s Cube Event
Over the last term, intermediate students at Anderson Elementary learned about the algorithms needed to solve a Rubik's Cube in their Applied Design, Skills and Technologies (ADST) learning time. On Friday January 13, the students hosted a school-wide Rubik's Cube event where they shared their Rubik's Cube learning with other students. Using a Rubik's Cube involves important competencies such as communication, problem-solving, and spatial reasoning. Following this, five students from each intermediate class volunteered to compete in a timed challenge. The school gym was full of excitement as the school came together around their school goal of "building community through mathematics."
Maple Man
As February approaches, students and staff at Mitchell Elementary are getting excited for their annual Carnaval week. To help them prepare, the Maple Man came to the school to teach them about French-Canadian traditions. The students learned about the process of transforming maple sap into syrup, how to play musical spoons, and traditional dances that would have been performed at the Sugar Shack. The highlight of the visit was when the students got to taste real maple taffy, served on a bed of snow. It was a delicious and educational experience that brought the school's English- and French-speaking communities together.
