Category: Communicating Student Learning

The garden of values metaphor was used as a powerful way to visually represent the interconnected aspects of shared values, their importance, and the associated rights and responsibilities of individuals within our community.

In the garden, each plant has its own unique role and contribution to the overall beauty and health of the garden. Similarly, our shared values within our community serve as the foundation for a harmonious and thriving school environment. Each shared value, represented by a different flower in the garden, plays a crucial role in creating a positive and supportive community culture.

Just as each flower requires nurturing, care, and attention to bloom and flourish, shared values also need to be cultivated and nurtured by individuals within our community.

Furthermore, in a garden, each plant has specific needs and requirements to thrive. Similarly, individuals within our community have rights and responsibilities associated with each shared value, such as the right to be treated with respect, the responsibility to treat others with respect, the right to express themselves freely, the responsibility to consider others perspectives, the right to feel safe and included, and the responsibility to create a safe and inclusive environment for all.

By embracing these shared values all students will contributing positively to the collective well-being of our community.

Students had so much fun prototype narratives on Friday afternoon during our Serious Lego Play Workshop.

Poems will be uploaded to your child’s Spaces Account later this week for viewing.

Students in Division 1, 2 and 3 at Aubrey Elementary have been learning about Ancient Civilizations and the use of soapstone. Soapstone is a soft metamorphic rock found over the globe that has been used through history by various groups to create art and tools.

Soapstone’s use dates back to antiquity: early Egyptians carved it into scarabs and seals; in China and India it was used for ornaments, implements and domestic utensils. It was similarly used at various times over the past 7,500 years by First Nations, Inuit and Norse in Canada to create qullic, and oil lamps.

Indigenous Artist Connect to Nature with Soapstone Carving

The Art of Soapstone Carving-A Tabeka Gem Documentary

Inuit Soapstone Carvings

Today for Young People’s Concert students got to see Kutapira perform.  Kutapira is a fusion of Zimbabwean Marimba, Afro-Cuban & West African rhythms, Reggae, Samba, Afrobeat, Funk, Jazz, Cumbia, Disco and Hip Hop. 

What started out thirteen years ago as a youth world music initiative has metamrphosized into the crowd pleasing percussion explosion known today as Kutapira.

The name Kutapira means “sweetness” in the Shona language of Zimbabwe, a fitting title for a band that plays a fusion of Zimbabwean marimba with West African and Afro-Cuban percussion. 

For years they performed exclusively as a mallet swinging, skin-slapping quintet but now, in their latest evolutionary form, feature guitar, vocals and electric bass.

Students thoroughly enjoyed the performance and liked learning about the different instruments and how they are constructed to create their sounds.

Dear Parents, Guardians, and Students,

My name is Kristina Badley and I will be returning to Aubrey Elementary as a student teacher in your child’s classroom over the next couple months. Some of you may already know me from last year when I completed my short practicum in Ms. Smith’s class.

A little bit about me! I completed my Bachelor of General Science (BGS) in education with a triple minor in learning disabilities, curriculum and social justice this past spring. I have also recently completed my Graduate Diploma of Education (GDE) with my focus being classroom specialist.

My teaching journey began in the arts and over the years, I have been fortunate to be able to share my passion for dance and piano with countless youth of all ages through my community involvement with various private piano and dance studios. I greatly cherish all the relationships I have been able to build and look forward to the many more I will be sure to build! Besides teaching, some things I enjoy are spending time with my family (and my two furry friends!), baking, climbing and trying different hot chocolate flavours!

I look forward to meeting you all in the coming weeks as I begin my final classroom experience with Ms. Smith!

Kindest Regards,

Ms. Badley

Dear Families of Division 5,

On Thursday April 27th, our school will be having an early dismissal at 2 pm to accommodate student-led conferences. Families are invited to join their child for a 15-20 minute student led conference where your child will present some of their learning and show you around the classroom.

At the time of the conference, 4 other families will be meeting with their child in the same room. Students will conduct their own conferences with their families. I will be there to offer clarification or assistance if needed, however, this time is not a time for us to meet or discuss concerns or questions you may have about your child’s academic or social emotional needs, but rather it is a time for your child to showcase their learning and discuss goals and next steps.

Below is a link where you can sign up for a time that works for you to attend your child’s conference. Please keep in mind there are only 4 slots available for each timeframe. If for any reason you are unable to attend in person or these times do not work for your family please email me so that I can have your child bring home a portfolio of work so that they can conduct their conference with you at home.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0944AAAE23ABFBC61-signup

If you have any questions do not hesitate to reach out. It’s always exciting when students get the opportunity to share what they’ve learned and set goals for where they are going next. I look forward to seeing you all in person as you celebrate your child’s achievements.

Regards,

Ms. Smith

Image 1: Daffodils we planted this fall 🌼

Image 2: Potatoes we planted before Spring Break 🥔

Recently in class students participated in a climate justice and climate change simulation.  In this simulation students learned about the consequences of climate change, the injustice, and effects of climate change often experienced by vulnerable populations around the world.
Students work in groups to build communities and attempt to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies while experiencing the impacts of climate change (droughts, tropical storms, rising sea levels, and other impacts of climate change).

Some of the takeaways were:

Climate change is affecting those who are often contributing the least. The people hit the hardest are those already living in poverty and at higher risk.

The simulation also highlighted the affects that climate change is going to have on people.

– Climate change is affecting our ability to grow food. Growing seasons are disrupted or shortened and storms, droughts, and floods all
affect harvest outcomes.

– Climate change is affecting where and how we live making people relocate and find new homes after generations of living in one area. It is also causing extreme storms, rising sea level, melting permafrost, etc.

-Climate change directly affects human health and safety and can lead to the spread of diseases (like malaria), heat waves, wild fires, air pollution.

This lesson is going to be one of many climate change lessons as we explore more sustainable ways of being and doing in our world in an attempt to protect the planet.

After Spring Break students will also be participating in Indigo’s Read for the Planet Program and as a classroom we will be exploring ways we can take action in our school and the broader community to combat climate change and keep our planet healthy for more years to come

Students are naturally curious about the world in which they live. They want to know more about their planet and are concerned with the challenges we face. Reading and learning together with your child is a safe and supportive way to develop awareness and ideas for ways to care for the planet. Reading about how to care for the planet can also help deepen connections to other people and the planet—connections critical for understanding the challenges and opportunities being faced in communities around our planet.

The attached resource was designed by the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation in partnership with our curriculum partner, The Critical Thinking Consortium (TC2) as an extension of our school-based Read For The Planet learning modules. We know that schools are just one place students learn and that home is a critical space for expanding on and practicing what happens in the classroom. This guide provides parents and caregivers with book suggestions, worksheets, discussion prompts and a template for a home-based action project all to help you and your little changemaker to get inspired through reading and have fun while learning about the environment together.

http://This lesson will invite students to examine the qualities of people or actions intended to address climate change or other environmental issues. The focus will be on helping students explore and decide what actions they might take.

Lesson Retrieved From: http://www.mcic.ca/uploads/documents/Climate%20Justice-Final%20PDF%202022.pdf