Division 6 has been learning about diversity and inclusion this week as we prepare for IDAHAT Day on May 17th and welcomed our newest members of the class, our class caterpillars!

Our caterpillars arrived early this week and in just a few days, our little caterpillars have more than doubled in size! We have been observing them closely and reading about them. This morning, a few students even chose to read them a story to start our day together.

To celebrate diversity and explore symmetry, we created beautiful rainbow butterflies with Ms. McGivern!

On Monday, we will wear rainbows to acknowledge International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, & Biphobia Day (IDAHAT Celebration). Families are welcome to join a virtual event on May 17 from 4:00-5:30pm on Zoom!  The Zoom link to join the event can be found at the top of the event page, which also includes information about the speakers and can be found here:  https://sd41.sharepoint.com/https://zoom.us/j/92170428652?pwd=NENRTENQWDVnaUxPdlEvY1lrNzNaUT09sites/SOGI_Construction/SitePages/IDAHAT-Reimagined.aspx

Div. 6 created art, inspired by a wide variety of landscapes. We focused on sketching the foreground, mid ground, and back ground of our landscapes. Then we mixed our own paint colours and applied them using a paint palette tool. We discovered that we can make so many different colours! We played with the techniques of our new painting tool. What are its strengths and limitations? Tell your family about how you created your landscape!

Div. 6 has been exploring all sorts of photography elements. How can we play with lights, shadows, reflections, and perspectives?

Add to our padlet here: https://padlet.com/kristina_c_carley/vr15emn88qauezbd

We have been working on many different kinds of multiplication strategies. Can you create any new questions with your families about these photos?

On Thursday, we connected our understanding of multiplication to division! Can you explain to your family how they are connected?

We had the the amazing opportunity to learn with Lori Snyder, Metis herbalist and educator. Together, we explored the beings that live here on the mountain with us.

We have been making many connections to our learning on our hikes to the hidden aspen forest and the bridge forest as well. Next time you are out walking, can you introduce your family to the plants that live here?

By learning about the plants that live here, it helped us know who we should bring in for our native species habitat restoration project. On April 20th, we got our plant delivery and are excited to plan out where all our plants will go.

On Earth Day, we cleaned up the litter around our garden and explored the way it made us feel.

Div. 6 students loved celebrating each other and the diversity of our community and world! We shared messages of love on our windows and streets to connect with our school and our community. Did you get a chance to try out the scavenger hunt or find the special messages around the community?

April is a wonderful month. There are many more reasons to celebrate.

Today we had a visit from Bryan Gidinski, our district SOGI teacher! Together, we read Jerome by Heart and discussed the characters and qualities of Jerome and Raphael. What was their relationship like? How their families feel? How do we feel? Our conversation went in so many different deep and wonderful ways. What did you take away from our session today?

Tomorrow, we have a visit from Lori Snyder, a Métis herbalist and educator. We so grateful for Lori to share her expertise and understanding with us. Together, we will explore who lives here on our mountain, and how we can build relationships with the living world around us.

April 13th is the first day of Ramadan!

April 14th is International Day of Pink! Please wear pink or something that makes you feel uniquely you! Have you noticed something special about the windows around our school? We are excited to do a scavenger hunt together on Wednesday!

April 20th is our plant delivery day! Soon we will be able to get planting our native species to support biodiversity, climate resilience, and give back to the places we love and learn. Just in time for Earth day!

April 22nd is Earth Day! How can share our appreciation and take action?

Looking forward to our adventures!

Div. 6 was very excited to see their learning experiences featured in the local Burnaby Now news! We are proud to be BC’s first fairtrade elementary school and enjoyed learning about the intersections between fair trade and climate change. Div. 6 students are such thoughtful, curious, and caring people.  I can’t wait to see where their passions, interests, and activism lead them to next!

Dear Div. 6 students and families,

Wishing you all a restful break. Thank you for sharing your learning, creativity, and kindness with each other. I am amazed by your ideas every single day.

Enjoy our aspen forest!

Love,

Ms. Carley

We had our second session with the SFU Fair Trade team on Thursday, March 11th! We explored how fair trade is connected to climate resilience. We considered forest friendly farming, water conservation and biodiversity as important aspects of resilience! We wondered about how our own habitat restoration project connects!

Some of our other wonders are:

• what causes climate change? When did it start?
• what can we do to stop climate change?
• how and when did fair trade start?
• how do farmers join fair trade?
• are there instructions to practice forest friendly farming?
• when it is cold or winter time, does cocoa and other food still grow?

We hope you enjoyed our fair trade banana and chocolate surprises!