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!”

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. “

St Willibrord School-Community Garden

For the third year in a row, teachers at St Willibrord School and CLC have been developing a school-community garden that allows for hands on learning opportunities about plants in French and Science.  In addition, students have the opportunity to grow food that is shared with families in the community. The work of students and teachers promotes healthy eating and awareness of growing vegetables and eating healthy snacks straight from a garden.

In an innovative partnership, the responsibility for the garden is given to a local camp during the summer and returned to the school in September.  This past year featured a partnership with McGill students in urban horticulture who researched the garden, analyzing the current situation and making suggestions for future developments.

Click here to learn more about St. Willibrord’s School-Community Garden.

St. Willibrord Elementary School CLC Project of Heart

St. Willibrord Elementary School CLC

New Frontiers School Board

Over 1/3 of students are members of the Mohawk Nation, from the Kahnawake community. St.Will’s was already putting a heavy focus on anti-bullying through traditional restorative justice concepts through a partnership with... They used PoH to further these goals and make the school a safer place for Mohawk students to talk about the legacy of Indian Residential Schools that affected many of their families.

The 40 most involved students also took a journey on a cold February day to meet students at PETES to attend the Have a Heart Rally at Parliament Hill. Afterwards students from the two classes had lunch at PETES, were treated to cocoa by their guests, and before the day ended a break dancing competition broke out between the new friends!

“This project was of great importance to our school due to the high enrollment of Aboriginal students. With the support of the CLC Coordinator a connection was made with an elder in the Kahnawake community who will be coming to talk with the students before the end of the school year.

The project of heart and the 100 years of loss toolkit were connected to the QEP. The project of heart fell under our Ethics, Religious and Cultures program (ERC) and the 100 years of loss was taught in Social Studies. The project also connected with our school success plan (MESA). The project fell under goal 6 to improve curricular connections of CLC concepts to the educational project of the school and the service of support we provide to the population and the at risk population of our school.

Our Mohawk students went home and had discussions with their families and began to learn about their heritage and several struggles their family members went through."

To see more about this project… Click Here.

School and Community Garden

For the third year in a row, teachers at St Willibrord School and CLC have been developing a school-community garden that allows for hands on learning opportunities about plants in French and Science.  In addition, students have the opportunity to grow food that is shared with families in the community. The work of students and teachers promotes healthy eating and awareness of growing vegetables and eating healthy snacks straight from a garden.

In an innovative partnership, the responsibility for the garden is given to a local camp during the summer and returned to the school in September.  This past year featured a partnership with McGill students in urban horticulture who researched the garden, analyzing the current situation and making suggestions for future developments. Click here to view the McGill report.

Click here to learn more about St. Willibrord’s School-Community Garden