Pink Shirt Day @ Randerson



Mrs. Jones and Mr. Mazzei showing their pink spirit

The hallways and classrooms were a sea of pink today as Randerson students and staff, took time to talk, discuss, reflect and problem solve issues around bullying and how we can all be part of the solution.





One focus was on the role of a bystander. Our grade 2's listened to a story, followed by a discussion.

Here are some of their responses:

 

"If someone is being bullied, hurt or just sad you have to get a duty."   Gr. 2 Niyah

"Yell at them to stop and yell really loud!"  Gr. 2 Jared

"Get an adult as soon as you can." Gr. 2 Rylan

"Don't just stand there, if you see someone getting bullied make sure you stand up for them other wise you're being just as bad as the bully.  Help the person. " Gr. 3 Sarah


Jaden (Gr. 2) chose this book for her book talk today making the connection to pink shirt day and 'how a puffer fish deals with bullies'. 

Gr. 1's made stop bullying posters

      

Our K/1's made pink t-shirts & included ideas on being a good friend

Inquiry Passion Projects

  Students in Gr. 4, 5 & 6 began presenting their passion projects this week. The focus for the past 5 weeks has been on creating an inquiry question on something they were curious about and/or passionate about learning.  To do this students were asked to delve into research in a variety of formats including books, the Internet, newspapers and personal interviews.  Students are presenting the question and answers to their peers in a format they choose (poster board, power point, web tools such as voice thread, wikis, prezi's etc.). 

        Coming up with a deep thinking inquiry question is difficult and takes practice, lots of discussion and in most cases a narrowing of the topic to create a deeper understanding of what the student wants to learn and how that learning may transform their thinking.  Below is a question/reflection from a Gr. 5 student.  

Question by Gr. 5 student
How can my new understanding of the German culture help me understand other countries and their cultures?

Reflection by Gr. 5 student

I think this project helped me understand different cultures because I learned that each and every country has a different way of life and we think its like an alien world but in reality their cultures aren’t that different from ours, of course they don’t eat the same food as us, or speak the same language as us but their still people, right? So really there culture isn't much different from ours, In Germany they go to school, they have the same jobs as us, and they celebrate most of the same holidays as us. So I learned that there are not a lot of differences between us and other cultures.

New books have arrived :)

We love Wednesday's at Randerson... Wed's is catalouge day and boy do we have some great new books to share.  Thanks Mrs. Hunter for your great work catalouging all our books.  I can hardly wait to share them with our students. 

We are all learners ~ We are all teachers Pro D day at Randerson

Creativity, movement, humour all learning necessities described by Gary Anaka and all applied to our Pro D @ Randerson

Artists Trading cards in the classroom

Building Inquiry through a Community of Learners

we are all learners and we are all teachers

Building community through blogging

Having fun while learning and sharing

Building community through primary writing strategies

         

Reflections on our SKYPE interview with Jillian Vanstone - principal dancer @ The National Ballet of Canada

As part of our inquiry based passion projects, students were asked to connect to their learning through a passion.  A grade 4 and grade 5 student connected through dance and interviewed principal ballerina Jillian Vanstone of the National Ballet of Canada.

Here are their reflections:

Can a professanl dancer 's  lifestyle connect to our lifestyle?

I think it was an amazing experiance to meet Jillian and I had alot of support from my friends to skype her.

I learned that to be a professanl dancer you need to be very sterickt about your diet and your rest.

Her scoial life comes from her dance club. They are her community. I learned that you have to be very focued. I gess I have to check my treat eating a little more if I want to become a professal dancer.

MY INTERVIEW WITH JILLIAN

When Mrs. Martineau first told me I would be interviewing Jillian I was happy and excited.  I thought it was cool that I would be getting to talk to a professional dancer who grew up in Nanaimo and danced at the same  Dance Studio I go to  This past fall I wanted to audition for the National Ballet Summer School, part of me would like to go and have the experience Jillian has had,  if I am so lucky.  To have the opportunity to interview her was very special and personal to me.  Another part of me would be scared to go, I would be very sad to leave my family and friends. 

In the days leading up to the interview I was nervous and excited.  The interview went great, it didn’t go how I thought it would, for one thing I expected her hair would be downJ

After the interview I felt good, I was glad I had done it even though I was nervous.  I felt like I was given a gift by getting the chance to ask Jillian questions about something I hope to do one day.  Her answers gave me information about what it takes to be a professional dancer.  She also shared what it was like to move away at a young age and how you have to love it to make that kind of a sacrifice, that is something I am not sure of yet.

One thing that sticks out in my mind from the interview was when we spoke about her trip to Kenya and how when the people there are happy they break out into song and dance, and how that reminded her to dance for the love of it.  I dance because I love it and so that made sense to me.

Overall this experience gave me an idea of what it would be like at a professional ballet school, it gave me a sense of how much you have to love something to do it with that kind of commitment.





A new feature to our blog ~ courtesy of MidknightTime (MKT) and NickName

Hello we are MidknightTime and NickName.  We will be posting a monthly feature of books we like and think you should read.  We are both grade 5 students so to get an idea of what other kids might like aach month we will have a guest host sharing a book with us.  This month we had a grade 3 student. 

Hope you enjoy it.  MKT and NN

Looking for more students to take part in blogging:
*Any student that would like to contribute either regularly or occasionally to our school blog please do so.  If you are looking for ideas be it through technology, any form of literacy or something else please come and see me.  Mrs. Martineau

What's happening in the library :)

Thank you to everyone who took part in Family Literacy Day whether you read a book, baked a caked, played a game or participated in any other literacy activity we salute you.  We had more than 88 entries for the draws and more than a dozen students (and a few teachers and parents) came up with the answers to Who Am I?  The answers were Frank J. Ney and Diana Krall.  Several spot prizes were awarded including books, games and puzzles.  Students had fun reading with their buddy classes and I had the pleasure of spending time on literacy activities with Mrs. Uhlmann’s Gr. 2 class. 

Gr. 4/5 Book Club ~ Thursday March 15^th at long recess 

We have narrowed it down to 3 books and will choose this coming week. If you are in Grade 4 or 5 and want to vote for the book come in and see me. 

                 

      

          We are currently working on an anti-bullying prezi. 
Students are being asked to draw a picture, write a slogan or a short paragraph or create a 3-strip comic strip that portrays an anti-bullying message.  
We will post the prezi on our blog in time for Pink Shirt Day.         

                                      Pink Shirt Day Feb. 29^th

Be sure to be checking out all the new books in the library   

Hunger Games Book Club a great success

What do you get when you combine the hottest tween/teen book with a group of energetic kids and throw in some yummy snacks for good measure? You get a fantastic lunch-hour book club with 18 students discussing Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games. You get characters debated, plots unravelled and theories surmised. You get non-stop energy and students glued to their seats when the bell goes. Most of all you get a fantastic way to share a great book with students and their peers.

Randerson’s first book club was a huge success. Students began by writing a reflection of the book. A round table discussion ensued and debates included at what point does Katniss have feelings for Peeta or does she at all? Students agreed that Rue’s death was the hardest to take and almost all felt empathy for Gale as he watched his best friend ‘play’ out the romance on live TV. One student felt Katniss was somewhat cowardly and she backed it up with some strong examples. She was able to show that Katniss was a character of many layers and not all good.

Was this book’s theme too mature for elementary school? That is a debate we have had a few times as Teacher-Librarians. One grade 6 student put it most eloquently. “Hunger Games is most definitely a good book for the mature reader in Gr. 6/7. We are all mature readers and got a lot out of this book.” Another student said Suzanne Collins is the best author ever, I think this even surpasses my love for Harry Potter!”

I want to thank those students that took part. I learned more from our students then I think they did from me. I saw their passion, their empathy, excitement and determination all shine through. I was so touched when every single one thanked me personally for having the book club, for bringing snacks and for letting them say what they truly felt. Those comments were a true gift to me. Thank You!

Next month the Grade 4/5’s are picking the book club title.