Christmas Concert
This was a busy time of year for us. Our two leadership classes put on the
entire Christmas Concert for the school.
We put on a full-length play, in which our students take on various
roles such as acting, singing, lights, set design, sound, stage hands, and
Masters of Ceremonies. The rest of
the classes are assigned songs to sing between the scenes of the play. Auditions and rehearsals begin
mid-November and students work really hard as a team to prepare for this presentation.
This is a great way for students to learn about how
each and every job in a community is important. They soon realize that every person
involved in the play has a key role in making the presentation a success. They take pride in their contributions
to this team effort and we see this as one way that we can have a positive
impact on our school community.
What is a Community?
Our challenge from Jesse Cockney this month was to decide which communities were important to us and think of ways to give back to them.
School Community
Next we examined all of the ways that we are positive
members of the school community. After
watching Sam Effah’s video on community, students worked in small groups, using
Google Slides to list ways we make a positive difference for the school and brainstorm other ways we can help out around the school.Using the theme of gratitude, we brainstormed all of the people who contribute to the school community to make it a better place. We decided to show our gratitude for others by making Christmas cards for: staff, parent volunteers, district technology staff, coaches, maintenance workers, and custodians.
Local Community
Our next challenge was to find a way to make a positive
impact in the Fort St. John community. We read newspaper articles about local
charities who are making a difference for people at Christmas time (food bank,
pyjama drive, adopt a family, Hospital Foundation). Because December has been so busy, we decided to wait until
January to hold a bake sale as a fundraiser to help support a local charity.
Students wanted to have a Secret Santa gift exchange where
they draw a name of someone in the class and buy them a gift. We talked about how lucky we are to
have enough money for food and presents, and how many families in our community
might not be as lucky. We have
been experiencing a slump in the oil & gas industry for about a year (which
is a huge industry in our part of the province). Many of the students decided to donate their Secret Santa
gift to the toy drive to make Christmas more special for children in need.
We sent some of our Christmas cards to a local Seniors home
as well. The students wanted to
visit and sing Christmas carols, but the Seniors facilities in town were booked
up already. So we decided that we
will learn a few card games in January and then plan a visit later in the year
to play cards with the Seniors.
We have lots of great ideas about how we can keep making a positive difference in the communities we are a part of and we will keep you posted throughout the year as we act on them.
Other small ways we experienced being a positive member of our school and local community this month:
- Created Christmas electronic storybooks and shared them with our Grade 1 buddies.
- Helped our Grade 1 buddies to participate in Hour of Code.
- Moved our desks into the hallway to help the Custodians prepare the room for floor waxing.
- Brought in non-perishable food items for the food bank and brought them as an entry fee to a local hockey game, where we actively cheered on our Trackers to victory.
- Made animated Christmas Cards on Scratch and sent them to our families.
- Played dodgeball against the local RCMP members during a lunch hour.
- Baked and decorated gingerbread cookies to take home.
- Celebrated our contributions to the school with a pizza lunch that was sponsored by the Principal.
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