Thursday's focus on Learning Together is reflective of inquiry, personalized learning and curricular and core competencies, in and outside the classroom, as students become inspired learners (Strategic Plan Priority 1). Focusing on big ideas and inquiry helps personalize learning, as students strengthen their understanding of concepts beyond the classroom. Throughout the district, schools continue to develop deep learning and conceptual understanding through a focus on big ideas and inquiry.
As a part of a collaborative bulletin board, students and staff from Gilmore Elementary took photos that captured outdoor learning. These photos were displayed on a bulletin board and post-it notes were then used to respond to the question “What core competencies do you see?”
Here, Arezou and Scarlette reflected on one of their outdoor learning experiences and found where core competencies lived in those moments. They also looked closely at photos of other learners engaged in outdoor learning to find evidence of the core competencies.
Arezou: “I like seeing the pictures because it helps me remember what we learned.”
Mini Golf Course (Force & Motion Culminating Activity)
Using what they’ve learned about force and motion in science, and the design process in Applied Design, Skills, and Technology (ADST), the students from Byng Elementary built a mini golf course in their classroom!
Students were encouraged to think about friction and what they have learned about how things move to design and build a mini-golf hole with their partner/group.
Students worked collaboratively in groups of 2-4 to make their plans (pick a theme, decide what obstacles to include, consider how to add buffers to the side to keep the ball inside the course, decide on what kind of hole they would use at the end, and choose what materials to use). After completing their golf course students explored each groups finished projects and estimated, measured & recorded the length of each hole in metres and centimetres. Through this project students demonstrated their ability to know different types of forces, make a plan and try our their ideas, make something for a purpose using various materials and procedures, measure using centimetres and metres. Working collaboratively in groups to create a mini golf course was an excellent opportunity to develop the social awareness and responsibility core competency. Through this project students built relationships, worked and played cooperatively, used materials respectfully, solved problems themselves or asked for help when they needed it, and listened to others’ ideas and concerns.
To support a collaborative community and promote creative thinking, risk-taking, critical thinking, and design thinking skills, staff and students from Grauer Elementary have collectively worked together to create a permanent makerspace. The space fosters a maker culture as it allows students across all grades to explore a variety of hands-on materials and tools to design, collaborate, and create year-round.
Here are some activities highlighting how students across grades K to 7 are exploring the materials in the space:
Students from Hamilton Elementary engaged in inquiry around a Canadian topic of their choice. They researched, interviewed people, and learned the history and significance of their topic. They created 3D artifacts, and presented their projects at a "Heritage Fair" in their school foyer.
In this video, some of the students volunteered to share their amazing projects.
Students from Burnett Secondary collaborated to create their own custom 3D printed cookie cutters following a chosen group theme. Students' design choices ranged from superhero, video game characters, emojis, animals, plants, and literary characters. Later, students made a batch of sugar cookies and learned various icing techniques such as piping and flooding.
Grades 6 and 7 students from Woodward Elementary have been collaborating with a district teacher consultant this year exploring how Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles can increase engagement for all learners in mathematics. The teachers decided on trying the structure of Math Workshop once a week. The class have focused on the concept of choice and provided choices in math tasks, materials, who and where they do their math with and how they represent and share their math learning.
The format for Math Workshop included:
Significant to this process has been an ongoing feedback cycle between students and teachers as well as teacher to teacher. Students have been invited to reflect on their learning, what materials are supporting them and what structures and formats are working for them.
This workshop aimed to give students a variety of options for how they would want to engage with mathematical thinking and learning. Students were asked to provide feedback on what was supporting their learning and the school planned the next math workshop based on this feedback.
There is a body of research that supports students using non-permanent surfaces to record their thinking. This includes students using whiteboard tables, mini-whiteboards, math manipulatives and intentionally chosen apps on iPads that provide concrete and visual support.
Reflections on Math Workshop from Woodward Elementary classroom teacher Jake Loewen: "Math workshop has been such a relief in creating low floor, high ceiling routines that engage all my students. It is a part of the week where we can come together from very different backgrounds in our math understanding and engage in meaningful and practical experiences that challenge each student where they need to be met. It has also been a fantastic way for students to recognize the core competencies; recognizing when they might need to challenge themselves more, how to share and be respectful with materials, and demonstrating their ideas with multiple means of showing. It has become a weekly practice in our classroom."
“I like it because I get to figure out math with my friends.. If I don’t understand it, my friends can help me.” - Grade 7 student from Woodward Elementary.
“Math Workshop helps my learning by making and creating fractions with different materials.” - Grade 6 student from Woodward Elementary.
To find ways for students to write independently in French, the teacher consultant for French Programs from our district have worked with the staff and students from Gilmore, Homma, Whiteside and Anderson Elementary schools over the last year.
One of the routines that schools have found to be successful is the Talk, Draw, Label, Write. Students were given opportunities to develop their oral language, develop their French vocabulary, co-construct criteria, draw, label and write a story, as well as receive feedback about their writing during writing conferences.
The grade 3 students from Currie Elementary engaged in an inquiry around how stories and other texts help us learn about ourselves, our families and our communities. Students shared their own family stories both orally and in writing. Connections to the core competencies and English Language Arts curricular competencies were made throughout the inquiry, and student reflections were documented.
Throughout the inquiry, the class included many opportunities for the students to reflect on their core competencies. Students were asked following questions:
After creating and telling their stories, the students were invited to document their stories as authors. The class co-constructed criteria for writing. The class also had some mini literacy lessons, such as how to add details and describing words to make our writing more interesting. During writing blocks, teachers supported students by having 1:1 writing conferences.
Students at Hamilton Elementary was studying the movement / non-movement of the earth and the sun. They learned that the sun does not move at all and that the earth rotates and revolves around the sun. The students decided to show this understanding using a narrator, a person depicting the non-moving sun and another person to show how the earth rotates and revolves.
Kindergarten students at Talmey Elementary were learning about the properties of materials. An inquiry question that inspired us to learn together was: “How does the material the object is made of affect whether it will sink or float?”
With their teachers, students explored various materials to learn about their properties. The water bins allowed students to test if materials sank or floated. Many aspects of the science curriculum were developed through these experiences such as observing, asking questions, predicting, and testing their theories.
In a French Immersion classroom, being creative and collaborating with peers allows for further language skill development and increased confidence. For this STEAM/ADST project, students from Gilmore Elementary created pinball machines, choosing their own themes while also working together to create each piece of the puzzle. Though this collaborative inquiry project, students learned about the importance of STEAM and how everything we do is connected. Finally, students communicated their understanding through various means, including written reflections and oral explanations.
Team 7796 Breaker Robotics at Burnett Secondary designed, built and competed with a robot built from the ground up. Although short on resources and time, the team members dedicated dozens of hours after and during school, working hard on the robot. In the end, the team made it to the quarterfinals with a strong defensive strategy and quick decision-making under the high stress of the competition.
As a result, the team has gained tons of valuable knowledge and experience moving forward. The photos are of the Burnett Robotics Club at the Canadian Pacific Regionals of 2022, “RAPID REACT”!
The Richmond Youth Media Program (RYMP) is a free program for youth, presented in partnership with Richmond Addiction Services Society (RASS) and supported by the Vancouver Coastal Health Sharon Martin Community Health (SMART) Fund.
Programming includes drop-in sessions (during which supervised youth can work independently) and a variety of structured skill-building sessions. Participants learn media literacy skills that are relevant to their interests and are placed in a supportive environment where they can engage with positive role models.
RYMP staff are currently hosting weekday sessions in the Richmond Media Lab, and Saturday sessions upstairs in the Richmond Arts Centre's Fabric Arts Studio.
Click here to learn more about the Richmond Youth Media Program.