Category: Core-Personal/Social

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.

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

Recently students from Division 5 and 3 had a presentation from ERASE BC about online safety.  They learned about good digital citizenship practises and how to keep themselves safe online.

In Class this week we’ve been learning about the the different types of rocks, the rock cycle, and the methods scientists use to classify rocks. Towards the end of the week they participated in a series of experiments to test and record the hardness, reactivity, and buoyancy of various rock samples before making predictions about the type of rock (igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic) each sample was.  Here are a few photos showing these busy scientists at work:

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.

“A medicine wheel is a foundation of teaching and learning that shows how different parts of life are connected and balanced. The symbol of four colours in a circle represents the interconnectivity of all aspects of a person’s relationship with themselves, others, and the natural and spiritual world”

Words by Joyce Perrault from “All Creation Represented: A Child’s Guide to the Medicine Wheels”

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

Today in class as part of our Mind Up Curriculum we learned about the different parts of our brains and how they help us control our emotions and help us learn.

In our lesson today, students learned about their brains, specifically the limbic system which controls their thoughts and emotions. The three parts of the brain they learned about today were:

Prefrontal cortex:  ‘our leader’ right in the front of our brain. It is in charge of making decisions, thinking, learning and problem solving.

Amygdala:  our ‘security guard’ that warns our body of danger and stress to protect us.

Hippocampus: our memory saver or our filling cabinet that stores all of our experiences and everything we learn.

They learned that in a calm and safe state, their amygdala can communicate with the ‘leader’ or prefrontal cortex to make good decisions. They also learned that when they are in a negative emotional state where they feel stressed, anxious, or fearful, the amygdala fires a fight, flight, freeze response to warn them negatively impacting the communication with the ‘leader’ or prefrontal cortex part of our brain, which is responsible for clear decision making.

We examined various ways to calm the amygdala and train the brain to respond reflectively rather than reactively in different situations. We also discussed the importance of developing an awareness of what is going on inside our brains so that we can reason and think clearly to make better decisions.

Diagram of the Brain/Facts:

https://sd41-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/e19647_burnabyschools_ca/EbvCDXxadeVNm-93qOtx99AB90dSAv4AphY8sxJNLy2u-A?e=i8jbWf

Videos From Today’s Lesson:

https://youtu.be/3bKuoH8CkFc

https://youtu.be/D-uSlY6NBno

The strategies we will continue to build in the coming weeks will help students learn self regulation strategies and help them develop the capacity to recognize and take control of their emotions and actions while being mindful and aware of themselves and others.

Today we had a presentation from the Youth Crisis Centre on mental health and self-care.  Our presenter Nick taught us more about what mental health is.  We learned that mental affects the way people think, feel and act and that taking care of our mental health is just as important as having a healthy body.

We learned that life isn’t always easy and that sometimes there are challenges along the way and that by using a variety of self-care tools we can learn ways to overcome these challenges and bounce back.

We learned that we cannot always see the emotional baggage people are carrying and discussed why it is important to be supportive and kind to others. There are many self-care tools we can use to help improve our mindset, eliminate negativity, reduce stress and anxiety, improve mental clarity, and help us cope with and overcome challenges.

We also learned that when dealing with challenges that affect our metal health we should always stop, take a breath, observe with curiosity, proceed with caution and use trial and error to help us figure out which self-care tools are most appropriate for dealing with the  situation. Things won’t always be easy and to develop good mental health it will require daily effort and a variety of tools.

Lastly we learned that sometimes we don’t always have the answers and there are many organizations and people we can go to for help if we cannot solve our problems on our own.

Student Feedback Survey:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfAJNNgwRNpTWeBChopXpJfyn3pabHtLfyNtcz5HtaNuZKalA/viewform

Youth Mental Health Resources:

https://sd41-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/e19647_burnabyschools_ca/Efd9qYF5dVpFiQS1abYOn94BAyYj64hxc3aorRbeWZexYA?e=NCqKAb