Music through the Decades

Music through the decades is a wonderful service learning project addressing the authentic community need of reducing isolation of seniors from the Mary- Elizabeth Residence in Châteauguay while being integrated into the music, math, English and French curriculum.  The project was lead by two teachers from the New Frontiers School Board, Moira Lemme from Centennial Park Elementary School and Melissa Ianniciello from St. Willibrord.

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The project started with students interviewing seniors and taking notes about music they loved throughout their lives.  The students took the information back to the classroom analyzing the results with surveys, bar graphs and answered questions using the information.  Perhaps not surprisingly, some students less engaged by math, “took the assignment very seriously as we were analyzing data. They wanted to understand - what the averages were and most common answers”  Ms. Lemme noted “Projects like this lead to better understanding for students, especially typically lower scoring students who can make connections and be excited about the work they are doing”.

The project didn’t stop there, students responded to what they had learned by working hard to put together a set of songs that would appeal to seniors.

Let’s not pretend inter-generational projects like Music through the generations are not without some challenges, even with the support of a great CLC Coordinator like Anthony Spadaccino.   Ms. Lemme mentioned the difficulty in finding time to visit the seniors and the arranging transportation logistics.   After some back and forth with the seniors home, it became apparent the seniors did not want to leave their home to see the show in the school gym.  So instead, the class brought the concert to them (with a cold buffet, props, and costumes).

Reflecting on the concert, The most popular songs were Brown Eye'd Girl and Can't Help Falling In Love. The students brought the seniors potted flowers and presented cards saying "thanks for having us" and "have a good summer".

A lot of work went into this project, and we have a few clues that the event was successful for the seniors and students.

After the concert, Ms. Lemme was proud to say she had received 4 calls from seniors at the residence “to thank us for our show, the flowers and the snacks!”  She also said the “students wrote a journal today about their experience and many of them noted that they felt really good doing something for their community. They also loved learning songs that they don't hear every day. (A few also said their parents were happy to hear some classics when their child practiced at home)”.  “I was very pleased! The kids were happy and the seniors seemed very happy!”

Slice of Life

Slice of Life is a story of how a local artifact can get students and the wider community to talk about their history and reflect on the changes over the past century locally and globally.

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It started with a 2 inch thick slice of tree from a towering pine, cut down outside Pope Memorial Elementary School in the town of Bury.  Students counted the rings and determined the age (109 years to be exact).

Next, their teacher Jocelyn Bennett read a book about a thousand year old tree and what had happened during that time period.  French teacher Celine Carbonneau asked her students to bring in artifacts from that period and wrote about is in French, later presenting to the community.  This inspired the students and community to research the history of the town and vote on the most significant town and world events over the past 109 years.

You can see pictures and read more about the project and how the community got involved in an entertaining article by Rachel Garber in The Record.
Inspiration can be found in the strangest places.

Grand Plants

Julie Leduc and the Primary Cycle 2 students at Riverview Elementary in Verdun learned that “students can, and will, get their hands dirty for a worthy cause!”

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Through the “Grand Plants” project, the students fostered a love for plants and then spread that love, like the seeds of their plants, to their grandparents, who were invited to the school to be involved in the project.

Ms. Leduc felt that not only would the project strengthen inter-generational ties, but it would also integrate French language arts, science, arts and citizenship. The project gave students a greater understanding of...

• the importance of plants
• the easiness of growing planting
• how to help plants grow
• the impact of global warming
• the need for inter-generational ties and activities.

Student’s were in awe and amazement by how well their plants grew. Another success of the project was seeing the students enjoying the time spent with their grandparents at school and working on the project.

While it’s not always easy to coordinate schedules and find the time to get everything done, students were engaged.  For instance, “some students, who were previously afraid of worms and compost (“Yuck! That's sheep's poo”!) began to take interest in how soil becomes more nutritious for plants and were excited to find worms when we turned the soil in the community garden outside.”

Interested in learning more about school-community gardens in the CLC network?  Contact Ben for links to lesson plans and grants.

Students Produce Short Movie on Shipwrecks and Traditional Ghost Stories

Things got spooky this year at Grosse-Ile School/CLC on the Magdalen Islands, as Secondary Cycle 2 Students researched and produced a short film about a haunted shipwreck.

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The story was inspired by traditional tales from local history and culture. In preparation, students sought out traditional ghosts stories from community members, and researched sites of historical shipwrecks around the Magdalen Islands. The story they tell in their movie is fictional but inspired by the stories they were told.

The teacher at the helm of this interesting learning project, Julie Boisvert admitted there were several challenges along the way including scheduling with a professional from the Cégep des Îles who helped teach specific movie making techniques. Despite some difficulty in arranging schedules, it was an extremely important factor in the project being steered to success, “Through this partnership they were able to learn about the rigorous work involved in movie making”.

Mme Boisvert said  “Despite any difficulties, students remained dedicated to the project. Students felt great pride in their achievement!”  She notes that with a dynamic project like this one, it is more possible to create and organize projects where each student's strength and talent can be used and brought to light.

The movie project was integrated into their Media class, but included cross curriculum links with Geography, History and Citizenship Education, Français and Arts Education. The students were given a grade for their work and involvement through the various steps and stages of the production of the short film.  Beyond academic outcomes,  Mme Boisvert added that participating in the film project helped students to better appreciate their small and isolated community, that “It is a rich and interesting [place] which is worth sharing with the rest of the world.”

Feed your Body, Feed your Heart, Feed your Soul

When Marguerite Cox started her latest Community Based Service Learning project (CBSL) with Primary Cycles 1, 2 and 3 at Netagamiou School the idea was to create a cookbook which would present the history of food in the community of Chevery, Quebec. However, her project quickly grew into so much more, due to the enthusiasm of her students and their desire to give back to their community, and even, communities abroad.

Called Feed Your Body, Feed Your Heart, Feed Your Soul, Marguerite’s CBSL project integrated Social Studies and Language Arts. It took place after school for students interested in participating. The students were asked to find old-fashioned recipes from their community to include in a cookbook. Marguerite and her 18 students then decided to bake some of the goodies and occasionally open a small bakery.

During the process, the students shared stories about the friends and loved ones who had provided them the cookbook recipes, which led to the idea to transform the cookbook into a memory book. The book would include photos, stories, and of course, the recipes.

From there, the student’s wanted to do something good with the money they had made from selling the treats and book. They sent money to the victims of Philippines Typhoon Haiyan (2014) and helped fund a student through the Hilde Back scholarship in Kenya. Their final funding project will be helping endangered elephants in Kenya. The students also gave back to their own community by spending time with seniors, sharing their baked goods and telling stories.

Marguerite describes the project as a great success. “The students learned so much, I am having trouble putting it into words,” she writes, “Leadership, mentoring, cooking, safety in the kitchen, compassion, writing, storytelling, listening skills and most of all, they learned that it takes a team to make it all happen.”

Raising Chicks - Learning about Local Heritage, Environment and Community

When it comes to Community Based Service Learning (CBSL) projects, often times, members of the community are more than willing to contribute. That was one of the discoveries Belle Anse Elementary School teacher Marissa McCallum had during her CBSL project, Chick Hatching.

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She received chicken eggs from a local farm, which her Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, Primary Cycle One and Two students were able to see hatch right in their classroom. The students witnessed the process starting from 48 hours before hatching up until the baby chicks were ready to go back to the farm. Along the way, students learned about the life cycle of the chicks and how to take care of them.
Through the celebration and education of the students’ local heritage, environment and community.

 Ms. McCallum witnessed a great deal of engagement and learning from her 14 students. “They learned about an aspect of our town they are not fully aware of,” comments Ms. McCallum. She also says with the help of the nearby farm, students were about to see what can be done, and is available, locally. “They also learned about the life cycle of an animal that they are not familiar with on a daily basis and how this animal is used.”


There are a lot of resources and lesson plans to help teachers bring this unique experience into their school.  You might want to start with a document from Nova Scotia entitled Egg-ricultural Egg-periences.

Food in our school, food in our community

Work Oriented Training Program (WOTP) students at St Michael’s in the town of Low jumped into action and took over food preparation for their school two days a week after a local restaurant that provided school meals ended that service. The class also made sandwiches daily for several students who are undernourished.

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As if that was not enough, the class wanted to support seniors in their community. They took some of the by-products (such as chicken bones for making soup) and made meals for members of the community who are shut in or less mobile.
The project was fully integrated into the curriculum and taught practical skills like procedures for safe handling of food and working in a professional style kitchen.

Their teacher, Billy Boudreau, commented, “The students are more engaged by projects, especially those that require much hands on work. This project helped to allow for that to happen.”  The students also learned the “value of giving back to the community and making healthy choices.”
Among the greatest successes were “the students’ personal feeling that they had accomplished something real, and the fact that students who come from lesser means were able to get a lunch.” 

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This is a great example of service learning; students identifying an authentic need, coming up with a solution, all the while learning and making a    contribution to their community.

St.Willibrord's - Improving connections between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students through history and culture

At St.Willibrord’s School some creative approaches were taken this year to increase understanding of Aboriginal cultures, in particular Mohawk culture. This is especially relevant at this elementary school because approximately a third of students are from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake. Bullying along cultural lines is not uncommon, and a young teacher Melissa Iannicello took it upon herself to address the issue.

Her initial idea was to create a one-day event near the end of the school year, to have workshops and guest presenters in for cultural activities. As a winning strategy, she outreached to Mohawk students and parents to help her plan the day, which quickly turned into a club focused on promoting awareness of Aboriginal cultures, and anyone was welcome to join. Non-Aboriginal students began to show up, and together the students learned a lot and demonstrated reconciliatory relationship development. The group brainstormed ideas on what they could do.

The group helped to organize a full day of activities on June 11^th, set to coincide with 3rd Annual “Our Dreams Matter Too” Walk on June 11, 2014 – a project of the First Nations Child and Caring Society. Students in all grades participated in activities like beading, traditional food tasting, oral storytelling (from a local community member), and lacrosse.

However, there was also an important activity that emerged later in the planning. Melissa had arranged for the Kairos Canada Blanket Exercise to happen with a grades 3-6 students. This interactive theatre activity was done in class in order to help provide better knowledge about how land was removed from First Nations and to understand more about the Indian Residential School system. Although this is not yet in the curriculum, with 16 of the 25 students in the group being Mohawk, it was quickly obvious how important this history was to cover. The students and other teachers responded so well to the Blanket Exercise that it was decided to repeat it during the cultural day.

In the end Melissa saw the day as a huge success, “I couldn't have asked for better! So many teachers came to thank me and tell me how well organized it was. One particular teacher, when doing the Blanket Exercise, was asked by one of her students why she didn't teach her the history learnt during the activity during class time. Now this teach wants to incorporate it into her teaching in the next years to come. Everyone was blown away by the information we learned. “

Richmond Regional - Indian Residential School history incorporated into Ethics and Religious Culture class

At Richmond Regional High-school, the Sec V Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) class got a deep-dive into Indian Residential School (IRS) history. Tara-Ann Smith became inspired in January at the CLC Teachers Institute in Montreal. She wanted to introduce her students to some of the history, but didn’t have much background in the information. Eager to learn, Ms. Smith walked away from the Institute with the 100 Years of Loss Edu-Kit in hand. A month later she participated in VC training on the kit with national trainer Charlene Bearhead.

She immediately began to use the kit, with her 30 students, all non-Aboriginal.

Using the kit, she completed five lessons. This included an activity studying photographs, an explanation of the IRS system came to be, a study of “a normal day at the school” and she especially focused on a consideration of the 2008 apology by the Government of Canada.  

"The kit had everything I needed and everything was very neatly packed. It’s a very good resource. I would recommend it! Every history class should have it! Sometimes we think that it is too difficult of a subject for the kids to face, but the kids want to know. They are curious. They want to know and ask 'why did this happen? This created a deep and meaningful point of departure for understanding several ERC curriculum topics.”

But she didn’t stop there! Ms.Smith saw that the students need to channel their reactions to the new information into some kind of expression. So she ordered tiles from the Project of Heart website and had her students create artistic commemorative items to honour the thousands of Indigenous children who died as a result of the residential school experience. Following the PoH model, she learned about an Aboriginal Elder Ena Greyeyes who lived in her area and is a survivor of IRS (through CLC contact with Memphremagog school).

Ena Greyeyes visited the school and led a smudging ceremony of the tiles. Although the students had been through several lessons about IRS by this point, hearing Ena’s stories brought the lessons even more to life, and really had an effect. "When Ena came in, the kids didn’t realize just how bad it was. You know, when you read it in the books and you have someone in front of you, real life, talking about what they went through, it hits harder. The kids couldn’t believe it, that we as Canadians could treat anybody like that. They told me their hearts went out to Ena, that she had to go through it…”

 

Through the smudging and Ena’s discussion however, they also heard a key message that was a the heart of what Tara-Ann had been trying to teach students all year -  the healing power of forgiveness. “I try to help them understand that hatred is not the way to go. We talk about tolerance, it fits into anything I do in my ERC…That’s what makes us strong."

CLC Coordinator Siu-Min Jim was invaluable support in terms of accessing resources and funding, and she was happy to share news of the project that was captured in a local newspaper.

Pierre Elliot Trudeau - Deepening the learning about IRS over time, three years with Project of Heart

Demonstrating the escalating value of repeating a project and growing a relationship with an elder, this was the third year in a row that Pierre Elliot Trudeau School did Project of Heart(PoH).

Three years ago, Lisa Howell did PoH with her class, and a Kindergarten class joined in as well. Last year five classes participated, and their project inspired several other CLC schools to begin taking on PoH activities. This year seven classes participated; it just keeps expanding. The school has also started to build up a resources library to support the learning, with related books, teacher videos, comics etc…

Asked about the value of repeating the project annually, Lisa Howell commented “In the first year you’re just scratching the surface, it’s such a huge history; you just can’t cover it in a year. And, kids are just starting to grapple with the idea. We can never “be done” learning about IRS.”

She went on to highlight the fact that extending the learning has created the opportunity for student-leaders to emerge, “As some students become comfortable and knowledgeable they can help teach, it makes it more of an active learning environment.”

This year teachers used lessons from the 100 Years of Loss Kit and some classes screened the “We were children” film before decorating the PoH tiles. In total 120 students participated, with about 40 being First Nation, Inuit and Metis students. The students got to choose a final shape for a large art piece that incorporated their tiles. This year they chose to create a giant medicine wheel, and revealed it at a school assembly.

Cree Elder Mary Lou Iahtail visited the school, as she has done each year, to perform a smudging ceremony. The students’ relationship to Mary-Lou has deepened each year. She has also come to share stories and lead discussions with them. “She’s like a grandmother figure for them now.” Lisa said. Dermot Guinnane, CLC Coordinator added that when they asked for someone to prepare a thank you speech, “A grade one boy, one who has a lot of difficult behaviours, volunteered. He spoke from his heart and told her ‘We really wanted to thank you. It’s really special to us when you come.’ And then he hugged her.”

Principal David McFall now views PoH as part of the school ethos of compassion. It was new to him at first, but now sees it included under PETE’s “safe & healthy schools approach”. Ms.Howell pointed out that having an elder visit the classroom, learning the history, it really opens up the heart and spirit domains, aspects of holistic development that are sometimes harder to address.

This has a positive impact on all students, but is especially important for schools with First Nation students, to address some of the additional aspects that help to make a school “safe and healthy for First Nations students. “When the elder comes in it feels more like home for them. They see some of their own culture rather than colonial culture reflected,” Ms.Howell said, pointing out the links to increased belonging.

Mr.Guinnane also added a quick story – “It happened on the day Mary Lou came in to do smudging with the student’s tiles, that a parent who is also a supply teacher brought a class to the ceremony. He said afterwards ‘That was unbelieveable!’ He was really moved.” Like most people who become involved with PoH, he affirmed the importance of the teachers doing this, and that we all need to do more of this.

Next year PETES will do PoH again, but Ms.Howell pointed out that she wants to keep adapting the project each year. “Next year we want to focus more on our local area and history. She also pointed out that since the history is still emerging through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and efforts by Aboriginal organizations, the contemporary situation is rapidly evolving. “So the tiles and other parts of the project provide continuity, but the context is changing every year.”

Ormstown - Teachers inspired to educate themselves and bring Aboriginal history into the classroom

At Ormstown Elementary School grade 3-4 teachers Emilie McCaig and Joy Palmer became part of a growing number of educators who are taking it upon themselves to include more connection to Aboriginal cultures and history in their classrooms. The Provincial Resource Team of the CLC Network are hoping to see more teachers joining this avant-garde, turning their schools into sites of reconciliation.

With the help of CLC Coordinator Kim Wilson, the teachers carried out two new activities with their classes. First students were first introduced to key concepts and an historical overview using the Blanket Exercise. A facilitator came from Ottawa to lead this interactive theatre-based lesson one afternoon. As, with most students who first learn about the negative aspects of colonial history, including the Indian Residential School (IRS) system, they were surprised and angry.

However, this opened a discussion about appreciation of First Nations culture, which is especially important in their neighborhood, that is almost entirely non-Aboriginal, but which is geographically very close to large Mohawk populations. This immediately made an impact on one of the key goals the CLC had in mind for this project, “Students are informed, engaged and caring citizens.” The one Mohawk student in the class began to share more of his language, names in his language, etc. One student said to his teacher:  “You can re-do this activity anytime!”

This history lesson allowed the students to be even more open and receptive on a subsequent field-trip to the Tsiionhiakwatha/Droulersarchaeological site. The site is a full scale historical reconstruction of an Iroquoian village (circa 1450) where approximately 500 St.Lawrence Iroquoians established a village near the La Guerre River in what is now the municipality of Saint-Anicet.

They recommend this field trip to other teachers as it was educational and hands-on, “The visuals alone were awesome and everything wasn’t behind a showcase. Sitting on actual beds in the longhouse, for example. They got to see how enclosed a family of 5 would be living in. Students were able to make comparisons from then to today.” They also learned that women were very strong leaders in traditional Iroquoian society. A booklet of activities was also received to take back to school with questions for students as a quiz or as follow-up class discussion. 

Students seemed to concur with their teacher’s assessment:

 “I enjoyed sitting in the real animal skin and feeling the different ones."

“The long houses were really cool!"

"It's was so cool to see, it covered some of the stuff we covered in class."

" I liked Seeing their tools."

"I enjoyed all of it, was really cool to see how the lived."

"It surprised me how they played games like lacrosse, but with different rules"

"Interesting how men and women had their own job.”

“Womens [sic] were very important in their culture"

Ms. McCaig also participated in a teacher’s training by VC on the 100 Years of Loss Kit which is a curriculum kit covering the IRS history. She’s ordered a French version of the kit and is planning to begin incorporating more of this important history into her classroom next year.

New Richmond - Lessons in art and culture enhance school life for First Nations students and peers

At New Richmond High School, teacher Natalie Hardy demonstrated that awareness of Aboriginal cultures can quite successfully be integrated into the classroom. With the help of local Mi'kmaq artist and elder Theresa Caplin, her primary cycle 3 group she completed a gorgeous art mural project. The project was embedded into several subjects, not only Arts Education but also Geography, History and Citizenship Education. The mural was mounted and unveiled in the school entrance at the end of the project.

The mural represents the medicine wheel, the four directions, the four seasons and the traditional activities associated with each. Students worked on four separate canvases that were put together to form the final product. Students used stucco, acrylic paint, paper, and glue for the creation of the project. The artist combined the canvases together by creating a 3D turtle that was placed in the center of the mural. Finally, she created a 3D eagle that was attached to the top right of the mural. This eagle was to represent the school logo and the name of the mural "Gitpu Giwto'qwasit" (Eagle Circling).

Theresa Caplin visited the grade 5-6 class every Wednesday morning for six weeks. She shared traditional spiritual teachings about her culture and worked with students to create this very inspired mural project related to Aboriginal spirituality. It was very positive for students to make a connection and build a relationshop with a member of the community who they knew of, but had never previously had the opportunity to work with and learn from.

CLC Coordinator Sarah Hayes assisted with project funds by applying for a grant from MELS, demonstrating the synergistic help that underlies the successful CLC approach.

Of course there were difficulties along the way as with all projects involveing partners outside the school setting, including arranging the meetings between the class and the artist. As well weather and Ministry exams made it difficult at times to meet.

This project was especially important and appropriate at NRHS, as the majority of the class are First Nation students. Principal Patrick Beer, Ms. Hayes and Ms. Hardy all saw that it was important to reflect the First Nation culture and hertiage of the area and of many of the students. Indeed Ms.Hardy observed that students demonstrated more enthusiasm at school on days involving the project. She also saw improved peer relationships between students involved.

Metis Beach - Cultural learning and new friendships formed with Alaqsite'w Giptu School

Cross-cultural understanding and reconciliation was very tangible at Metis Beach School (MBS) CLC this year. After several months of planning and correspondance, including a skype call between students, Helene Sims grade 5-6 and Erin Ross's sec 1-2 travelled to Listuguj First Nation to meet the enrichment class of Alaqsite'w Giptu School (AGS), the name means "the eagle will soar".  

Beginning in April, Helene Sim and I began to dialogue with Anita Basque, AGS's guidance counselor.  The plan was a two day trip in May where 25 MBS students would be paired with 18 students from AGS.

Twenty-five MBS students made the journey May 14-15^th, and were greeted by the AGS school and community drummers and dancers. The students were paired with eighteen AGS enrichment class students.  Together they enjoyed a tour of the community, sharing skills in traditional cultural crafts and a traditional Mi'gmaq meal were prepared. They also were introduced to some of the community elders. On the second day they also travelled to a local Heritge Site and Museum called Metepenagiag. This is the oldest village in New Brunswick, located near the city of Miramichi.

The trip was a huge success. Not only was a good time was had by all, teachers felt that this trip went a long way towards the goal of cultivating an appreciation about the significance of the Mi'gmaq people. Teacher Erin Ross explains, “This project was a first step in our process to eliminate the stereotypes of First Nations people that we still hear our students repeat in the classroom setting. We (the staff) felt that our students needed to visit a First Nations community to see those perceptions shift towards something more positive.”

Indeed, beyond knowledge or awareness, the trip directly resulted in many personal friendships, which one will hope to be the beginning of long lasting relationships. The students only spent two days together but when they left the Listuguj reserve, there were many hugs and tearful goodbyes. “They attached to one another so quickly” Ms. Ross said. As an unexpected learning she went on to observe that several students who were typically disengaged were the most excited about the experience, “What I realized is that the project helped meet social needs that are not necessarily met with our smaller classes.”

Further evidence of success in building reconciliatory relationships emerged during a follow-up activity in their English classes, in which MBS students prepared written responses about their trip. “The comments were overwhelming positive and they have asked every day since when they will see their friends again.” Some students mentioned that it changed their perception of the culture. For example, one student mentioned in their response that [Mi’gmaq] dancing and drumming meant so much more than he realized, i.e. that it told a story.

Through-out the project, the support of principal, Brett Mitchell was essential to the project’s success. Including, his application for CLC grant funds to cover transportation. In the end, all involved agreed that more schools in Quebec should be developing partnerships with First Nations school communities, pointing out that both Aboriginal and non-Aboriignal students and teachers could benefit.

Memphremagog - Connecting with the earth and traditional spirituality with a Three Sisters Garden

At Memphremagog Elementary School, traditional Iroquois teachings enhanced a pre-existing garden project. The garden has been built up over the last few years. It now consists of a 9,000 sq foot fenced-in garden space with both raised and in-ground beds. The vision is to create an enchanting, living, learning environment for our students and community. The garden has become a catalyst for all sorts of interesting cross-curricular and community-related connections.

One of the most interesting projects this year, was the addition of a traditional “Three Sisters Garden”. Some students had learned last year about the idea, during the Project of Heart activities. But this year artist and Elder Ena Greyeyes became involved and not only spoke to the students, but led a seed-planting ceremony. All day classes came out and each student was given a seed. Once they’d planted the seeds correctly she played her drum and visualized with the students about the symbiotic connection between the land and their bodies, having them feel the heartbeat of the earth and their own heartbeat.

CLC Coordinator Pervana Mladenov explained, “Before this the students understood the idea of a Three Sisters Garden, they had learned it was a companion planting technique; for example they knew that the corn supports the beans. But Ena brought a whole other dimension of wisdom and history and spirituality to it that had a profound impact.”

Though Ena is a Cree Elder, not Iroquois, she now lives in this area and she was able to learn what was needed to help the students and brought her deep wisdom about traditional spirituality to help everyone really feel the connection between the earth and the seeds and ourselves. Ena is a Residential School Survivor, an artist and a children’s writer and storyteller. In fact she had been visiting the school for many months doing art projects and sharing stories with cycle 2-3 social studies classes, when Pervana and she got to talking about the garden.

Follow up after the seed-planting revealed the depth of impact. Many teachers who hadn’t been doing Aboriginal related content in their classrooms thanked Pervana for organizing the event. Unanimously teachers agreed it would be worthwhile to repeat next year. Kids in every grade level were so well behaved. “They were really respectful & very engaged the whole time. Ena really had a way of opening your heart, even kids who are usually unfocused during activities.” In feedback surveys many students mentioned that they now felt more responsible for the garden and the earth. Another frequent comment was that they learned a lot listening to Ena’s stories.

Now that this connection has been formed, Pervana is committed to having Ena come back to the school next year, and to continue growing this friendship that notably focuses on both the beautiful aspects of traditional culture, and the diffculties of IRS history in Canada.

Heritage Elementary -Social studies field trip to the Huron-Wendat village

At Heritage Elementary school, grade 5 and 6 classes get to takes an educational trip to Quebec City each year. Usual activities include tours of different museums and other educational tours to complement their studies throughout the year. This year, teachers decided to add a trip to the Huron-Wendat Village cultural site.

CLC Coordinator Jayme McClintock stated that a goal was to get students out of their usual environment to help teach them more about history and topics they’ve learned int eh classroom. They also wanted to address the goal “Students are informed, engaged and caring citizens. There are many Aboriginal communities’ nearby to the school, but not much understanding or connection between them and the mostly non-Aboriginal school population.

 In grade 5 & 6 social studies class students looked at some of the history of traditional and contemporary living of the Inuit People and Mi’kmaq First Nation. Neither of these cultural groups are in the area of the school, but teachers liked the idea of exposing students to a more regional history to build on what they had learned in class. This was a good first step for students and teachers in what may prove to be a growing interest in better understanding their First Nations neighbours.

HAECC - Voc Ed Horticulture students study local plants with a Mohawk teacher

Denise Chavez leads the Voc-Ed Horticulture program at HAECC in the Chateguay Valley. This year she created a very interesting new endeavour, incorporating a study of local, native plants and their traditional uses. Ms. Chavez has a friend with this knowledge who lives in a nearby Mohawk community, a teacher at the Kahnawake Survival School (KSS).

With his help, and support from the new CLC Coordinator Jayme McClintock, a field trip was arranged for the 10 Voc Ed students to visit KSS and learn in a hands-on way about native plants. McClintock saw this as part of a larger CLC goal to increase positive relationships between the school and Mohawk neighbours, “There are many aboriginal communities’ nearby to HAECC, but not much understanding or connection between them and our mostly non-Aboriginal school population.”

To apply their new knowledge, the students then partnered with Heritage Elementary School CLC and worked with 30 elementary school students and several community members to plant a garden. Ms.Chavez agreed that some students typically disengaged took more initiative during this project.

Making this connection to the KSS has helped to further both student and teacher knowledge of Mohawk culture. Ms.Chavez added, “Creating this relationship to help further our understanding of the culture is a very positive benefit, and to have a positive opening with the KSS for future projects.”

Organisers noted that with such community-engaged projects one has to be very committed and engaged because, “A lot of things come up that push projects aside. Be prepared to take 2 steps forward and one step back!”