Category: Core-Creative/Critical Thinking

This week students had the privilege of learning about wild, native, and medicinal plants from Lori Synder, a First Nations Métis herbalist and educator. It was a rich learning experience and we are inspired by her teachings. We are also very excited about transforming our garden/outdoor classroom, making it a more diverse space where students can gather and learn more about native plants and indigenous ways of knowing and doing. As the season change and new plants are added, take time to observe, witness, and listen to what the garden is offering us.

In addition, students wore orange shirts throughout the week and explored age-appropriate lessons and had discussions about the meaning behind wearing orange shirts. This generation of children will have a far greater understanding of the history of residential schools, their negative impact, and the importance of reconciliation as we look critically at our country’s history and strive to do better. Tomorrow could be an opportunity to ask your children about what they have learned from their sessions with Lori and Mme Heardman this week.

After reading “The Great Realization” by Tomos Robert the students create a similar poem on their own global issue. They worked in pairs to create a 6 stanza poem with A, A, B, B or A, B, A, B rhyming scheme.

Below are the poems they created.
Student Poems

We were tasked with designing a newspaper advertisement for the Burnaby Now newspaper. Our class was asked to design an ad for The Valley Bakery in North Burnaby. The Valley Bakery bakes fresh every day. They bake breads, buns, cookies, muffins, pastries and more. They have beautifully decorated cakes for all occasions too!

Here are some pictures of us in design mode:

Blog Post Written By: A.W.

Link to Read-Aloud: https://youtu.be/Nw5KQMXDiM4

Today, in class Ms. Knowlan our student teacher taught a lesson based on the book The Great Realization written by Tomos Roberts. The book is about the pandemic, times of crisis, and the many  global issues we are facing today. It also highlights how the pandemic has helped us open our eyes to some of  these global issues during the global pandemic.

A few questions we discussed as a class were:

What do you think the meaning of this poem is?

What are some things that resonated with you?

In the video how does the relationship between Roberts and his siblings influence his message, choice of words, delivery and impact?

Does Tomos Robert paint a positive or negative picture?

Do the illustrations from the book change your perception or understanding?

Why do you think the author chose the title “The Great Realization”?

What are some key issues he identifies?

How does he portray the world after lockdown?

What does he mean by “hindsight’s 2020”?

For the next lesson we will be partnered up and asked to write and illustrate our own poems on global issues affecting us today (poverty, pollution, climate change, inequality, technology consumption, war, natural disasters, over population, corruption, etc.).

Blogpost written by: A.W.

This art project was inspired by the work of Yaacov Agam, the inventor of the agamograph. This kinetic art form uses optical illusion, making the image shapeshifter before the viewers eyes when viewed from different angles.

The Grinch was “Up to Snow Good” and arrested by Aubrey PD this week.  Check your child’s Blogfolio for their Breaking News reports.

This art project was inspired by the work of Yaacov Agam, the inventor of the agamograph. This kinetic art form uses optical illusion, making the image shapeshift before the viewers eyes when viewed from different angles.