Category: Core-Collaboration

In our latest buddy session Rachel, Sasha, Cyrus, and Joe read-aloud, the inspiring book “I Have a Right to Save My Planet.” This engaging story empowered everyone to recognize their role in protecting the environment and highlighted the importance of sustainability, conservation, and community action.

Following the read-aloud, we transitioned into a fun Scrabble word play activity, where students formed words related to the themes of the book, such as “earth,” “reuse,” “green,” and “future.” This not only reinforced the vocabulary but also sparked lively discussions about environmental responsibility and how we can all contribute to a healthier planet.

This read-aloud and word play encouraged students to think critically about their impact on the world and inspired them to take action. Together, we are planting the seeds for a more sustainable future, one word and one action at a time!

Our Commitments to Truth and Reconciliation

To honor the memory of the children lost to the residential school system, students at Aubrey created an Origami Reconciliation Project inspired by the Japanese tradition of folding paper cranes. This artwork will serve as a symbol of our shared hopes for healing and reconciliation.

The mural’s background features black hearts, representing the profound truths and emotions we hold in remembrance of this painful history. At the center, a heart formed by orange ravens symbolizes hope and our commitment to building a better future. Each raven carries messages of healing and reconciliation, contributed by students from various divisions.

This mural stands as a powerful reminder of our dedication to truth, understanding, and justice. It calls upon our community to engage in meaningful dialogue and take action to support of ongoing reconciliation and healing.

We would also like to recognize the following students for their leadership efforts in assembling the final display: Rachel Mullin, Kaitlynn Leung, Sasha Sun, and Anna Wu.

The Burnaby School District provides students with access to a variety of digital tools, which include technologies and information systems. These tools enhance learning and include: websites, programs to “chat” and message one another, discussion boards, video conferencing, email, secure virtual classrooms, and storage for your files.

Students – or in the case of younger children their parents or guardians – are asked to review and are expected to adhere to these guidelines.

Guidance about what to do and not to do

What to Do

• Do treat others fairly and with respect.
• Do use the devices owned by the Burnaby School District and the digital tools provided by the District for educational purposes.
• Do understand that you are responsible for your actions when using technology.
• Do keep your personal information private.
• Do respect the privacy of other students and adults.
• Do know there is never a 100% guarantee of privacy with any digital tool or platform, including: secure virtual classrooms, chats and messaging tools, discussion boards, video conferencing tools, email, file storage and public websites.
• Do report uncomfortable, unsafe, or inappropriate behaviour or messages to your teacher or principal.
• Do follow copyright laws.
• Do respect and acknowledge the ownership of others for their creative works.

What Not to Do

• Do not share your passwords.
• Do not use chat and messaging services provided by the District to connect with students and teachers outside of the online classroom environment.
• Do not falsify your identity or use someone else’s identity.
• Do not take pictures or videos of others and share them without their permission.
• Do not hurt or mistreat others by what you create or share.
• Do not harass, stalk, bully, threaten, insult, abuse, or attack others.
• Do not damage computer systems, networks, digital tools or content.
• Do not access secure information owned by others without their permission.
• Do not use information provided by others without their permission or use the work of others as your own.
• Do not use District or personally owned devices for commercial, illegal, or malicious purposes.
• Do not access and/or distribute pictures, video, audio or text containing inappropriate language or nudity.
• Do not meet with someone you met online without the consent of your parents or guardians.

GUIDELINES FOR VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS AND VIDEO CONFERENCING

Online classroom sessions include virtual classrooms, blogs, messaging, chats and video conferencing tools.

Etiquette

• Come prepared and be on time.
• Work in a room with no distractions. Turn off the TV, other computers, music or anything else that might distract you or your classmates.
• When you first enter the virtual meeting/classroom, please mute your mic and turn off your camera.
• If your teacher asks you to turn on your camera to participate in the discussion you may do so.
• Consider your background and any personal information you may be displaying like photographs or personal items.
• This is a school activity and you should be dressed appropriately.

Behaviour

• The same expectations present in the physical classroom are expected while video conferencing or participating in online classroom sessions.
• Questions and comments should be related to the class.
• Be a respectful listener while your teacher or another student is speaking.
• Do not be a distraction to others.
• Your teacher is the moderator and will guide participation in the activity.

Permission

• Do not use District online classroom sessions to initiate individual or group video conferences, chats or messages without yourteacher or permission from your parents or guardians.
• Do not record or capture any part of an online session. Your teacher may record a session or a lesson for future reference. Any recording will be done with student cameras off.

Finally … Be patient. Technology can be temperamental, so when glitches happen, take a breath and be understanding.

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.

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

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

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

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0d5DTy3Mc_sPIHJYBqvrIhkHA

https://share.icloud.com/photos/076G0pCNZEMcmhOAdIYDbndRA

Students from Division 3 and 5 had a fun filled day at the Vancouver Convention Centre as we wrapped up our MineralsEd Rockhounds program. Throughout the day they learned more about geology, minerals, new technologies, and careers in mineral exploration and mining. They learned more about how Canada’s critical Minerals are used and why they are important to the global economy. They also had the opportunity to pan for gold with Yukon Dan and learned how geologist determine the location of mineral resources based on ice movements.

Thanks again #MineralsEd for this opportunity. We had a great time and learned so much.