Monday, September 17 - Thursday, September 20
Letter from Ms. ReidSEEDSchool and 2School InformationJournalling TechniquesHow to talk with your child about his/her day at SEEDschool: *Note: Each week’s schedule is different, so students may not be able to answer each question on the first day of programming. Choose 2-3 questions each day to discuss together.
Day 1: SEEDSchoolMs Tanya’s group had a fabulous day one at SEEDSchool today. We met and Kelsey and Mr P, toured the resident’s facility and saw what an apartment would look like in a “show home” unit. We learned what the Mustard Seed does to build community amongst their residents, we played at Haultain Park (the playground here had different equipment than our school playground), and we learned about the mustard plant and why the Mustard Seed thinks this plant is a great symbol for them. Our goal for this week is to develop empathy and look at the world through the eyes of others. Once we have a empathy, then when we are back at Bridlewood, we will start to think about how we will take a chance to make a difference in the community, city, or world. Tomorrow is looking to be another busy day. Stay tuned... Day 1 : 2SchoolWe started the day at 2School greeted by Ms. Margeaux who we had met when looking at artifacts and journaling last week. We enter the Education building where the Calgary Board of Education offices are located and noticed the colours and feel of the building. we then walked outside to our school. We noticed it was an old sandstone school. We noticed some of the photos and learned it was Calgary's first high school. We journaled about our classroom and then toured the building. We enjoyed a short community walk and talked about perspective. We wondered about the old houses and if it is a good idea to tear them down to build condo/apartment buildings. We played at Connaught School during lunch. The playground was pretty new, there was a newer part and an older part of the school. This afternoon we visited CUPS and learned about how they support community and contribute to Calgary. Below is some artwork found at CUPS. These pieces are created by a previous client about previous clients. As we viewed this art we heard the words Empathy and Resilience. We wondered how Empathy and Resilience matter or if they matter when taking a chance? Day 2: SEEDSchoolWe began our day by taking a walk to the First Baptist Church. The First Baptist Church is really the beginning of the Mustard Seed. The First Baptist Church ran the Burning Bush Coffeehouse where anyone from anywhere could come and experience the kindness and support offered here. (The full story can be found here: theseed.ca/about-us/ We spend some time quietly looking, listening and experiencing the space in the First Baptist Church. We journaled by documenting the images we saw, the sounds we could hear, how the space made us feel, the light in the space, questions that we wondered about, and any repeating words or thoughts. We used our observations to create poems and then shared our poems. Ask your child if you'd like to hear their poem. Students focused on ideas and not spelling. The students enjoyed hearing what each other noticed in the church. We quickly walked back to the Mustard Seed so we could eat lunch and go play at the park. The park was definitely a highlight each day. The students enjoyed exploring the parks that are different from Bridlewood community parks. In the afternoon, we met a resident of the Mustard Seed. She shared her story and was very happy to report to us that she was moving out of the Mustard Seed residence as her life was on track and she was ready. Our guest shared that she had lost just about everything and was in a position where she had to couch surf in order to have a place to stay. It was after spending some time couch surfing that she needed a plan. Her dad suggested she apply to the Mustard Seed. She was surprised as she thought the Mustard Seed was only a shelter. Our guest quickly discovered that the Mustard Seed was so much more. Not only did they provide her with a place to live, but they provided her a place were she felt safe, where she felt she belonged, and they supported her so she could get out of debt, help her get mobility devices, and take care of her mental health. Soon our guest was able to return to school and get a degree from the University of Calgary, begin a career, and move out to begin this next chapter in her life. Our guest highlighted that the Mustard Seed is a community within a community where everyone is cared for. We appreciate the time our special guest gave us to share her story and success. She took a chance by being vulnerable and answered all of our questions. To finish our day we examined our shoes. We first sketched our own shoes and shared what they looked like, what colour they were, what we thought they were made out of, how they were constructed, what purpose they were designed for, and their value. We then looked at someone else's shoes and described them, discussed their construction and design, and talked about their value. Did you know that steel-toed work boots are very important at the Mustard Seed? They are very expensive, but often required in order to even get on a worksite. Do you have a pair kicking around the house that aren't being used? If you do, the Mustard Seed would find them someone that could use them to change their life. Day 2: 2SchoolWe began the day with the Deputy Chief Superintendent - Jeannie Everett. We learned she supports 251 schools and believes that what matters in Education is supporting teachers' and leadership to better support our learners. She believes that what really matters is not all the things we teach you but that you will leave school knowing how to learn and teach yourself. Next we travelled up to the 8th floor and did a 10, 30, 1, and 5 sketch of something that we believed mattered to Calgary. "I chose a car because we wouldn't be here without vehicles" "I chose those highrise buildings because people can work there" "I chose George Stanley's house because he designed the Canadian Flag" "I chose Safeway because people get food here" . (We learned that this Safeway is the busiest Safeway in Western Canada). "I chose an apartment because people live here" From here we went to the Board of Trustees Meeting and were welcomed by the Board of Trustees. We stayed for the presentation by the Pitoayis Family School who performed a song with drumming. We then explored the Thompson Family Park. We talked about how the park was designed and what matters about the park. Why does this part matter to the community? How is this community different from Bridlewood? How is this community the same? What needs does this community have? Are there people who don't like the park? Why or Why not? Day 3: SeedSchool and 2School TogetherToday we learned about Public and Private art. Public is funded from tax payers and that means from the government. Private is paid for by the building developer or resident. Every building taller than a certain number floors must have a public space or art. Why do you think that Calgary has this rule? This afternoon we explored BeakerHead at Fort Calgary. Ask me about BeakerHead and the exhibits we saw. Day 4: SEEDSchoolAfter a busy day of exploring downtown and looking at public vs private art, it was nice to have a slower start to the day. Students read a few different books and either shared the story through readers' theatre, retelling the story, or creating a comic that had a beginning, middle, and end. Our books were: Shoeless Sam, The Invisible Boy, What Do You Do With a Problem? and Ghe Rabbit Listened. We had another guest speaker come in to share with us. Her name was Randi and she is an Indigenous Counselor at the Mustard Seed. She considers herself to be a helper and not a healer. She shared how her grandma had been in the Indian Residential school as a young girl and how her grandma did not talk about her experiences. However, her family had lost their culture because of this and cultural identity is important for well being. Randi shared with us pieces of her culture and way of life. We learned that sitting in a circle represents equality between all participants, the talking feather provides a way to share ideas in an organized respectful manner, Sundance is a ceremonial gathering which fosters community and belonging and a chance to practice cultural beliefs, and to say thank-you we place our hand over our heart and tap it while saying Hai Hai. Did you know, there is a higher proportion of Indigenous people who are homeless and the intergenerational trauma caused by the residential schools is part of reason why this is so. The three take aways Randi wants us to know after spending time with her are:
After lunch, we walked to St. Patrick's Island to explore the playground and then look at the downtown taking on another's perspective. We were thinking about and sharing what would be important if I was a dog, a dog walker, someone who enjoyed biking to work, someone who had a vision problem, someone who used a walker to get around, and someone who didn't speak any English. It is tricky to take on someone else's perspective. We have to be keen observers and think about how things would be different. Day 4: 2SchoolToday we met with our school board trustee: Julie Hrdlicka. She shared what matters to her in education and we learned about what a trustee does. After meeting with Ms. Hrdlicka we worked on our visual journal pages and discussed what matters in the communities we investigated downtown. We then began imagining Calgary. We talked about sustainability and what we would want for the future generations that live here in Calgary, Alberta. Will what matters now still be what matters in 2-3 generations? Comments are closed.
|
Ms. Tanya &
|