Category: Core Competencies

Student Assessment of the Core Competencies – Personal Identity

March 15, 2024 / shellardk / 0 Comments

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The students of Div. 15 and Div. 16 have been working on describing themselves using the Personal and Social Core Competencies. This is being completed by the students as part of the second term report card.

The Personal and Social competency is the set of abilities that relate to students’ identity in the world, both as individuals and as members of their community and society. Personal and Social competency encompasses what students need to thrive as individuals, to understand and care about themselves and others, and to find and achieve their purposes in the world.

The Personal and Social Core Competency has three interrelated sub-competencies:

Personal Awareness and Responsibility

Personal Awareness and Responsibility involves understanding the connections between personal and social behaviour and well-being; it encourages people to make constructive and ethical decisions and act on them.

Positive Personal and Cultural Identity

Positive Personal and Cultural Identity involves the awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the factors that contribute to a healthy sense of oneself; it includes knowledge of one’s family background, heritage(s), language(s), beliefs, and perspectives in a pluralistic society.

Social Awareness and Responsibility

Social Awareness and Responsibility involves the awareness, understanding, and appreciation of connections among people, including between people and the natural environment. Social Awareness and Responsibility focuses on interacting with others and the natural world in respectful and caring ways.

First, we shared the story called More Than Words (linked below). Then, we all brainstormed “I can” statements as a group. After that, the students chose the three “I can” statements that best reflected themselves. Once the students wrote their three statements, we then began working on representations of ourselves using “people” cut-outs, special paper, construction paper, felt, ribbon and other supplies. The students were asked to create how they see themselves on their paper cut-outs. Please discuss the Core Competency “I can” statements with your child and how they chose to represent themselves in their cut-out(s). Your child’s “I can” statements will be coming home after Spring Break, as they are being displayed outside our classroom. We are keeping the “people cut-outs” to display in the gym for our Autism Awareness Month assembly and will send them home later in April. Thank you for your support with your child’s learning. Enjoy your Spring Break!

Pink Shirt Day (and Week!)

March 1, 2024 / shellardk / 1 Comment

This week we have been learning about Pink Shirt Day including this year’s theme: “All Kinds of Kindness”. Here we our in our sea of pink! For the past two weeks we have been reading books that focus on the concepts of love and kindness. Some of the titles we have shared are: Love, by Matt de la Peña, Big Wolf and Little Wolf, by Nadine Brun-Cosme and Olivier Tallec (my favourite book), In My Heart: A Book of Feelings, by Jo Witek and Christine Roussey, The Stray Dog by Marc Simont and A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker.

On Tuesday, Ms Papapanagiotou read us a book that was perfect for Pink Shirt Day called They’re So Flamboyant, by Michael Genhart and Tony Neal. I am attaching the link so that you can read and discuss it with your child. After we read the book, we designed our own personal flamingos and how we would want to look if we were a flamboyant flamingo. We then worked on writing about whether the students have ever had someone make a judgement about them or someone they know, or whether they have stood up for someone instead. This activity allowed us to reflect on the concept of kindness and what it means to be an inclusive and responsible member in our school community. We were able to connect with one another by sharing our own experiences and discussing what it looks like to stand up for others. I have attached a picture of Div. 16’s flamboyant flamingos on our bulletin board.

On Wednesday, we had a zoom meeting with the author Monique Gray Smith, a Cree writer who lives in Victoria and has written many children’s books. She shared two of her stories for Pink Shirt Day. The first was called, You Hold Me Up and the second was called, When We Are Kind. She talked about the importance of showing others kindness every day of the year. She taught us a word in Cree: tawaw, which means: welcome, there is room for you here! Words to live by! I am attaching a copy of her book You Hold Me Up to share at home.

On Thursday, we heard the true story about how Pink Shirt Day started in Nova Scotia. We then read the story called Pink Is For Boys, by Robb Pearlman and Eda Kaban. Below is the link for this story as well. Please share it at home as a family, to increase understanding of what we have been learning here at school.

I’m also attaching a picture of us watching the zoom author visit.

Big Ideas:

Creative expression develops our unique identity and voice (Art).
Healthy communities recognize and respect the diversity of individuals (Social Studies).

First Peoples Principles of Learning: Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors

Curricular Competencies: Explore personal experience, community, and culture through arts activities

Content:

Elements of design – line, shape, texture, colour
Personal and collective responsibility associated with creating, experiencing, or sharing in a safe learning environment

Core Competency: Social Awareness and Responsibility

I can build relationships and be a thoughtful and supportive friend. I can identify ways my actions and the actions of others affect my community.

Sprinkling Kindness on Valentine’s Day

February 24, 2024 / shellardk / 0 Comments

Ms Ballarin’s, Ms Pilgrim’s and Div. 16 all joined together to sprinkle almost 500 messages of kindness to the entire school population and the staff. We all brainstormed kind messages we could write to our Gilmore Community. After that, we each received 7 pink stickie notes, and wrote an encouraging message on each. We then were divided into three groups and we went to different classes in the school. We “sprinkled” these messages to every person by handing them one of our encouraging notes. The classes were so excited and the smiles were contagious. Ask your child how it felt to bring a smile to so many Gilmore students on Valentine’s day.

Daily Calendar Learning

February 24, 2024 / shellardk / 0 Comments

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Dear Families of Div. 16,

As a class community, Division 16 has engaged in a daily Calendar routine. Each child is responsible for being the leader of this learning activity. There are many Math concepts and life skills that are included as part of the daily calendar routine. These activities help students practice every day and build their number sense. They apply the daily number into different formats and math applications. We have also been learning to count by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s to lead us to our 100th day of school, which occurred this week. In addition, Calendar provides opportunities for students to practice important skills such as self-regulation, oral language, presenting to their peers and leadership skills. For the last term, the Calendar will be done independently in a group of two.

Big Idea: Collaborative daily routines as a class community provides structure, enhances academic and social skills and increases a sense of belonging for each member of the community.

First Peoples Principles of Learning:

Leaning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational.

Learning Involved:

Strengthens overall number sense
Patterning, Counting, Tallying (by 5’s and 10’s), Counting in French to 10
Skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s
Graphing and analyzing the Weather, Days in School, Tooth losses and other such as for Lunar New Year
Months of the year, days of the week, number of days at school
Concepts of yesterday, today, and tomorrow
Promotes self-esteem by presenting what you are “good at” at the end of each Calendar routine
Promotes use of memory by asking students to remember what other students have said they are good at
Provides students with opportunities to practice leadership and presentation/public speaking skills
Enhances self-regulation skills to be an attentive listener when being an active audience member

Core Competency: Communication – Collaborating

Profile 4: I can confidently interact and build relationships with other group members to further shared goals.

A Party in the Pear Tree

January 9, 2024 / shellardk / 1 Comment

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We were excited to present our afternoon and evening performances of our Winter Concert called A Party in the Pear Tree. The students worked hard to learn their group songs, the two songs we performed with Ms Sokugawa’s class and all the actions. They did a beautiful job up on the stage for their performances and were all so enthusiastic! We hope you were all able to enjoy the show! Well done Div. 16!

Jingle Bell Walk

January 8, 2024 / shellardk / 0 Comments

Thank you to all of the families and parents who helped at the Jingle Bell Walk. The students had fun delivering the flyers and then picking up the items that were left our neighbour’s doors. It was a beautiful day to head out on our route and the kids enjoyed themselves and helping those in need. They also enjoyed the hot chocolate and cookies after the walk!

The Best Part of Me

November 1, 2023 / shellardk / 1 Comment

This cross-curricular activity (art and writing) was inspired by the book “The Best Part of Me” by Wendy Ewald. In this book, an award-winning photographer asked several children “What is the best part of you?”, and presents their answers in sometimes funny, sometimes moving ways. The author takes striking black-and-white photographs of each child.

In a similar manner, students chose and then sketched their “best” body part, using only a pencil and then a sharpie. In addition to the art activity, students then wrote about their best body part and why they like it so much. I took photos of the part of them they like the best. Those black-and-white photos were printed and mounted with their pictures and writing.

Big Ideas: Creative expression develops our unique identity and voice.

First Peoples Principles of Learning: Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors.

Curricular Competencies:

Explore personal experience, community, and culture through arts activities
Demonstrate awareness of the role that story plays in personal, family, and community identity
Engage actively as listeners, viewers, and readers, as appropriate, to develop understanding of self, identity, and community
Plan and create a variety of communication forms for different purposes and audiences

Content: Elements of design – line, shape, texture, colour

Please share The Best Part of Me again with your child and discuss their thinking:

Orange Shirt Day – Day of Truth and Reconciliation

October 4, 2023 / shellardk / 1 Comment

Dear Families,

This is Division 16 in our sea of orange to recognize Orange Shirt Day. I’m also including some pictures of our bulletin board that show some of the work we have done on Truth and Reconciliation this week. We have read books about Orange Shirt Day and stories that focus on Indigenous teachings. I have attached videos of When We Were Alone by David Robertson (whom we met on a Zoom presentation), and Phyllis’s Orange Shirt by Phyllis Webstad that you can read and discuss with your child at home. I’ve also included a link to look up Phyllis’s new book called Every Child Matters. We had some very thoughtful and engaging discussions about these stories in: the Library, with Ms Papapanagiotou, Ms Ballarin’s Div. 15’s class and in our own classroom. We drew and wrote about what we learned and what we were wondering about. Please speak to your child about their thinking. We hope that you found some time on Saturday to reflect and remember that every child matters in our country.

Curricular Competencies:

Social Studies:

Use Social Studies inquiry processes and skills to ask questions; gather, interpret and analyze ideas; and communicate findings and decisions
Recognize the causes and consequences of events, decisions, or developments
Make value judgments about events, decisions, or actions and suggest lessons that can be learned

Language Arts:

Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding
Plan and create a variety of communication forms for different purposes and audiences

First Peoples Principles of Learning:

Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors

Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational

When We Were Alone Read aloud:

Phyllis’s Orange Shirt Read Aloud:

Information about Phyllis Webstad’s new book: Every Child Matters

https://www.cbc.ca/books/new-picture-book-by-orange-shirt-day-creator-phyllis-webstad-to-explore-meaning-of-every-child-matters-1.6882158