Students learn small acts make a difference (The Sun Times, 18 Mar 2010, Page A7)

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Students learn small acts make a difference
DAN RUSSELL
The Sun Times
18 Mar 2010

On Friday, March 12, Dufferin School held a 'Be the Change' assembly to celebrate the accomplishments of its students over the past six weeks. During this time, every student was challenged to connect to a school-wide unit of study based upon the... read more...

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Copyright © 2010 Sun Media Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

What's next?

Everyone knows that bottled water creates mountains and mountains of plastic garbage! Only a fraction of the number of plastic bottles created actually makes it into the recycling. The rest of the plastic ends up in land fills, the environment and our water ways. Ms. Kipp even picked up plastic bottles off the ocean floor in Bali last year! As a school, we have decided that we are going to make a small act to make our world a better place! We're getting rid of the water machine! We can get water out of the fountains or the taps; we don't need to be pumping our (parent's) hard earned money into the water machine. So, as soon as our current stock is exhausted, the water machine is leaving. In its place, we will place a poster with the EU clearly posted and every student in the school will sign the wall - we will each make a commitment to make the world a better place, one step at a time. And in this case, by saying goodbye to the water bottle dispenser! Stay tuned, pictures will follow!

Who's the Change?

Our unit is growing to a close. Although some teachers may not be quite done with our unit, the school-wide focus is wrapping up. On Friday March 12, we had a culminating assembly. Similar to the kick off assembly, it was something to remember. The students entered the gym in the usual fashion and had to find their chair with a bag on it with their names. Once everyone was settled, the magic began! :) Every class had the opportunity to present a short skit, play, song or something else that show cased what they learned during the six weeks. There were so many great ideas and learnings that have gone on that it was difficult to summarize everything into a short presentation. We learned that the kindergarten classes collected socks for a homeless/woman's shelter after reading the book "Lily and the Paper Man". We learned that SK/1 learned all about how small changes in our eating make a big difference in our overall health. Grades 1,2 and 3 talked about how they learned that their actions on the environment affect the animals. Grades 3 & 4 talked about how they learned about Haiti and what actions we could do to make their recovery easier. Grade 5 learned about energy conservation and how small changes like replacing our dependence on non-renewable energy sources with renewable energy sources will be a small act to help the environment in the long run. Grade 5/6 showed that they learned all about Energy conservation and how much electricity and resources are wasted. By doing things like unplugging equipment when its not being used and using GOOS (Good on one side) paper we can make a huge difference over time. They are also working on Public Service Announcements that will be shared over Radio Dufferin after March break. Every single child was invited to particpate in our EU. Every child learned something about how they can make a difference. The students watched a couple of video clips of how other schools have made a difference a little at a time. There was a multimedia show with pictures to show some of the activities that took place over the unit. (please see post with pictures). Mr. Russell spoke to the group about how, just because the EU is over, the lessons learned do not stop. The idea of small acts make a difference is something that should remain in their hearts forever. We even had a rap to practice this idea... Who's the change? I'm the change! (who knew our principal could rap.... :) Then, the students were invited to open their bags. In their bags was a bright gold t-shirt that had our EU in clear, big bold letters. On the back was a the slogan - I am the change.

Black History - March 1st

Originally posted on March 1st - Today we had some wonderful visitors to our school who exemplify our Enduring Understanding. The Sheffield Park Black History and Cultural Museum came to visit our school today. They brought with them artefacts from the museum that were collected from the slaves who escaped from the Southern US and came on the underground railroad to Freedom in Canada. Among the artefacts were pieces of African Art, sculpture, jewellery, clothing, tools and other things that help us to understand the plight of the escapees. Ms. Wilson from the museum told us about Harriet Tubman. She was a woman who risked her life over and over again to help people escape slavery through the Underground Railroad. She believed so strongly that people should be free that she spent her whole life working towards this goal. With every trip, she made a difference in so many people's lives. Ms. Wilson also explained how the Underground Railroad worked. She explained that their were safe houses - houses that the slaves could be safe from discovery - along the way that often had quilts or signs outside with secret messages on them so that the slaves would know they could rest there safely. The people who had these safe houses took big risks allowing the slaves to stay here, but because they did, many people were able to make the journey north safely. Their small acts made a big difference to the escaping slaves. Ms. Wilson also spoke of how important it is to learn from our past so that the mistakes that were made never occur again. Her small act of sharing the artefacts and a bit of the history of the Underground Railroad makes a big difference in our understanding of black history and our understanding of the history of Owen Sound, Collingwood and Grey county.

Hockey for Haiti

Originally posted on February 26th - Our commitment to our EU has taken off in grades 3 & 4. These students were saddened with the events that have been occurring in Haiti. The students saw reports of the devastation and pain that were caused by the Earthquake and they wanted to do something to help Haiti's people. The students in grades 3 & 4 thought it was important to learn a little about the people of Haiti. They learned that Haiti was a poor country whose climate and building standards meant that they had very poor resources for dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake. They learned that even before the hurricane, people were likely to live 20 years less than people in Canada. That really surprised them. They presented all this information to the school in a special assembly and informed the whole school why it was important to do this small act to help a whole lot of people. Meanwhile, on the Olympic front, hockey action was heating up in Vancouver. The students saw this as an opportunity to practice their marketing skills and help a great cause... As things were heating up both at home and away, the students in grades 3 & 4 organized "Hockey for Haiti". On Friday February 26th, the whole school brought in loose change, dressed in their favourite hockey garb and watched some of the bronze medal game on the big screen in the gym. The money that was raised was sent to help the people who were suffering in Haiti. Altogether, we raised more than one dollar for every student in our school! We were very happy with this result. Through our small act, many, many people will be helped! This small act definitely made a difference!

A message from our principal...

The following message went out to the whole BWDSB community today and will go home to parents tomorrow. If you are someone visiting our page to read about our EU adventures, please post a comment. Our students would love to hear some feedback!

Dufferin students are currently involved in a school-wide unit of study based upon the enduring understanding ‘small acts make a big difference—be the change’. Throughout this unit, students have had opportunities to respond to and connect with this enduring understanding. At this point in our unit, we would like to broaden our discussion. To this end, we have developed a blog that will give others an online opportunity to get involved. Staff and students can view student work, review comments and make their own comments connected to this enduring understanding. To ensure internet safety, all blog entries and responses are automatically redirected to Leanne Stredwick’s (our ‘blog master’) mailbox before they are posted on our blog. To access our blog, please go to the following web address:

http://smallactsmakeadifferencebethechange.blogspot.com

Cheers
Dan