In the morning our Rock Star was Jayeh. I love gardening with my mom. In the backyard we have tomatoes, onions, beans, lettuce, some herbs and strawberries. My favorite is strawberries and I always pick and eat them when they are red. In my front garden, we have 4 sunflowers. I really want to see them bloom soon.I like to ride on my truck and deliver things for my mother too.
In the afternoon our Rock Star was Grayson. Grayson shared that he loves to play at the waterpark, play baseball and eat lots of ice cream. We loved hearing about all the ice cream that he eats and that he likes Tiger Stipe.
Over the past year, our school has been intentionally
incorporated Indigenous ways of knowing into our practices. For example,
several classes have written their own acknowledgments of the land and our
staff have shared their personal connections and acknowledgments before our
weekly staff meetings. For those of you who viewed our Virtual Spring
Celebration, you would have seen a few samples of this work.
The recent news of the tragic discovery of the burial site at The Kamloops Residential School prompted many questions by
students and provided an opportunity to help students understand the issues and
build compassion for one another. Being a K to 4 school these
conversations took on many different forms and level of details.
In kindergarten, we discussed how every child
matters deserves to be safe and loved.
As a school committed to teaching care and
compassion, we were able to discuss what actions we could
take in support of the children, families and communities suffering this
tragedy. As a first step we read the story book, Trudy’s Rock
Story, by Trudy Spiller to the entire school. In this book Trudy is taught
by her grandmother to find a rock that catches her eye and to “hold that rock
tightly in your hand and tell it what you are feeling, especially if you are
upset. When you feel less upset, you will know you are ready to return it to
Mother Earth.”
With this as our inspiration we are asking all New
Brighton School Families to find a rock that calls to you and use this as a
time with your family to discuss and answer any of your child’s
questions in an open and honest manner and within the context of your
families' beliefs and values. As a school, and a member of the
larger Calgary Board of Education community, we are committed to fostering
a safe, caring, and welcoming learning environment for all students. We
are also committed to acknowledging and supporting the implementation of
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action for a better Canada for
all of us.
We are asking each child bring the rock to school
to be painted and added to our schoolwide rock circle called ‘Keeping the
Circle Strong” that will represent our school’s community journey towards
reconciliation. Each rock should be a size that easily fits into the palm of
your hand. Rocks will be painted a specific symbolic colour and used in an
overall design outside the school. Each class will bring their rocks to the rock
circle on June 21, National Indigenous Peoples Day. We ask any
students who have an orange shirt to wear it that day as well.
All rocks must be at school by June 18th in order to be painted and ready on June 21st.
Please contact the main office at
(403)-817-3516, if you have any questions regarding these conversations,
or if you or your family require any additional supports.
