Annual Kiva Fair

Kiva provides microloans for people in need. You can research a large variety topics, countries, global issues and more. Students researched the global issues that spoke to them a launched a mini campaign to try to get other classes informed and asking for $1 donations.

Christmas Cards

This Christmas Charity Inquiry has by far been one of my all time favourite inquiries. I asked students to think of a way to raise funds for a charity of at need. The only limitations were we had no money and we had to get the whole school involved. 

After a lot of brainstorming and pitching ideas students decided we could have a Christmas Card Contest for each grade and feature the winners on cards that would then be sold back to the school.

Students divided into groups based on their talents. Some focused on writing to students and making posters/school announcements and a letter that would go home to inform everyone of the contest. Others wrote to parents convincing the to buy. And the third group researched, phoned/emailed businesses that printed cards for donations and prices. 

I want to thank Toronto Printing House with being so supportive and patient with our students as they learned how to write clear emails, perfected speaking on the phone and a million other real life skills. From start to finish the students in my class created this initiative and saw it through. Spending countless hours of recess, after school sales and more. The students were able to take the lead and worked through more math, language and Social Studies than I ever could have imagined.

By the end, they were able to raise funds that went to helping students in the Hospital over Christmas. The funds went directly to supporting Sick Kids.   

Be The Change

For over a month we have been studying Global Issues affecting Canada and the world. We have studied very heavy issues that have left students at times sad and frustrated about the world. Children are not content and complacent in the world; they spot the problems and challenge it.
Lately, we have been moving into a place of asking; we identify the problem and ask what is the world doing. We have been studying NGOs and looking at various not for profits. Going forward students will be creating their own mock charities based on an issue they are passionate for.

To make our learning real, we spent the morning google chatting Diana from Masaya Mission. She shared her inspiring story and the mission of Masaya Mission. The students asked great questions and learned a lot about the in and outs of running a charity. The most important thing we heard from Diana was to lead with your heart.

I want to Thank Diana for inspiring the students and sharing the morning with us.

We Refuse to be... voiceless, speechless, deaf to Global Issues

Students created beautiful art work showing what we've been learning about in Social Studies 

Biodiversity Book: Call to Action

Students have been learning about a number of different environmental issues and have been becoming strong ambassadors for this earth. Their studies have taken them from the depths of the seas to flying high with the birds. They have become poignant activists for issues such as deforestation to oil spills.
As part of our Language we have been looking at text features and the elements of a short story. Students used looked at Elements of a Story such as Plot & Conflict. All the stories and picture books the students created had very touching themes and messages. The themes were woven into their stories giving the reader a deeper meaning and understanding of the book. After creating a Success Criteria for the pictures books based on our learning students used the rubric to help them evaluate their books before handing them in.

Social Justice for Home

Students rush home, speed through their homework and glue themselves to the TV or computer. As an alternative to this we must harness the students interest and give them purposeful and meaningful work to do at home. I've discussed the power of gamification and in-depth Inquiry/Project based Learning, but a power purpose and compelling the students to impact the world can be the perfect engagement piece for students.

Resources like FreeRice are a fantastic way to teach students multiple lessons. Students are asked basic questions on math, geometry, language and others while at the same time earning 10 grains of rice for the World Food Organization for each correct multiple choice answer. 

Another fantastic website is Change.org that allows students to browse local and global petitions. Students can read up about issues that they care about and also write their own petitions for get their voice across.