Our Remembrance Day Wreath

Mrs. Marto and Mrs. Andrew’s Class (our buddy class), in a choral recitation, performed this poem at our assembly on Friday.

For those who left

Never to return

For those who returned

But were never the same

Poppy

Little poppy

As red as can be

To show that we REMEMBER

Those that fought

To make us free

• Back in June of 2023, Mrs. Marto’s grade 2/3’s and Mrs. Andrew’s 4/5 classes joined forces to design and construct a backpack using Makedo tools and a lot of cardboard
• The objective was to design a wearable and fully functioning backpack, using only the Makedo tools and screws
• The students did not use any tape to construct these backpacks
• this design project followed on the heels of our Geometry Unit and, at its core, the backpack design had to show understanding of cube net so that the cardboard could be folded and formed from a singular cut of cardboard
• Although this post comes late (my daughter’s high school graduation kept me hopping in those final weeks) I’m still hoping enough of my former parents are subscribed and are able to see what the students created.  It was such a rewarding project!

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It’s been an exciting day!

Div. 6 and Div. 7 students had the opportunity to play board games under the guidance of Burnaby North Leadership students. As well, they did a building challenge today with their Buddy Class.  Lastly, our butterflies also began emerging today from their chrysalis.  Also, check out our beautiful Spring art.

It was a fabulous day and the Parkcrest kids were amazing.  Have a look at some of the highlights.  A big thank you to all the parents that helped supervise.

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Div. 6 Parents,

In the second term overview that is about to go home with the recent report card, I mentioned that this term, the students had been involved in dialogical learning/Philosophical Discussions to enhance Critical and Reflective thinking (Core Competencies).  I used this approach in our Friendship Unit, using three anchor picture books as a jumping-off point to reflective discussions.  Below you will find some links to videos and some information about this approach that, as an educator, I found compelling and grounded. I ‘listened to learn’ and found the students’ perspectives, as they discussed their opinions and thoughts, engaging.

For me, the journey started on the October pro-d day this year:

Presenter:

“Why Teach Philosophy for Children”, Dr. Susan T. Gardner (Capilano University) 

And, just in case you’re thinking what I was thinking, “this all seems a bit high brow for young kids”, I came across a video (link below) that captured my imagination and made the teaching approach and reason for it, relatable.  The magic in the video isn’t in the adult speakers-it’s in watching the clips of the young children, in class, as they discussed the picture books presented to them. 

click here

I also found this Ted Talk: Dr. Sara Goering:  Philosophy for Kids: “Sparking a Love of Learning” very helpful in understanding the importance of discussion, dialogue, and philosophy in the development of critical thinking skills.

click here

Goals of Philosophy with kids: 

1. Enhance Cognitive Skills, critical thinking,
2. Learn to Build an argument
3. Evaluate an argument using logic
4. How to Respond to objections to their positions
5. Think Creatively
6. Behavioural Skills: converse with peers, listen to them carefully, take them seriously, and disagree with them without fighting or feeling hurt
7. Philosophical Skills:  think for themselves, realize that questions matter, language and literacy      Dr. Sara Goering

 “Dialogic teaching harnesses the power of talk to stimulate and extend pupils’ thinking and advance their learning and understanding.       Robin Alexander

There it is in a nutshell.  The three books we used had endless possibilities for perspective-taking, questioning, inferencing, and overall wonderful discussions.  The simplicity of the titles can be deceiving.  These books were layered with the complexity of human nature.   “Norman Didn’t Do It! (Yes, He Did)”  by Ryan T. Higgins,  “How to Apologize” by David LaRochelle, and “I Can Help” by  Reem Faruqi.

Thank you to all Div. 6 parents for providing everything necessary, from skate sizes to booster seats to filling out permission slips and, lastly providing spaces in your car.   Everything fell into place perfectly this morning and the event went off without a hitch.  The children were so excited and had a wonderful time.  I am grateful for the support in making sure that all children could access this program.

*I will try to get a photo with everyone in the class at the next session.

We were tired when we got back, but had a fabulous day of learning that included our final activity.  This afternoon we created a food web that included salmon as an anchor piece of interconnecting food chains in our local ecosystem.  Each student was given a different animal (land, air, and sea) and asked to place it and connect it to a web using arrows.  It was a fascinating way to plainly see the biodiversity of our coastal environment and furthered our discussion of how energy is needed for life.

In the next few days, we will be taking a closer look at the “oolichan” fish and its historic and continued importance to local Indigenous life.

Lastly, we have been starting to take a look at freshwater sources and availability as we start to lay the groundwork for our focus on the Fraser River later this year.

I gave the students 100 pennies or counters.  They were asked: if those 100 pennies represent all the water in the world, how many of those pennies would be salt water? freshwater? 

Some partnerships split their pennies 50/50; others 70/30; others 60/40.  No one was prepared for the real answer:

97% salt water and 3% freshwater.  A collective “What?!?” rang through the class when they heard the answer.  Furthermore, the 3% didn’t even represent readily available fresh water as much of it is frozen or hanging around underground.

This activity gave the students a sense of how precious our freshwater is and how important it is to conserve and protect this resource.

All of these connections will hopefully build toward giving our children the ability to express and reflect on personal or shared experiences of place (Science Curriculum).  The students continue to work on their indigenous innovations projects where we were able to connect that most of the indigenous innovations/inventions came from their experience with the land. I will publish photos of that exciting group project soon.