The kick off!

We decided that we wanted to start our Enduring Understanding work with a bang. So, it began last week with Miss Seeley and I feverishly cutting out photographs, quotations and biographies. We put them on yellow construction triangles around the school. The pictures were of influential people - such as Ghandi, Mother Teresa, Newton, Princess Diana etc. All of these people made a difference by using small acts. We placed them around the school and didn't tell the kids what they meant. We posed it as a mystery for them to solve. It certainly got them talking. One student spoke of the "invasion of the triangle people". Our goal is to have them question what these signs mean, how they are connected and how they can relate to the kids' lives. Today was the main kick off. We had a parent begin popcorn popping yesterday (thanks to Mr. Russell for opening the school on a Sunday afternoon!) and this morning my class collected reusable containers from the classes to fill up with freshly made popcorn. Each student enjoyed this as we watched the movie "Happy Feet". We wanted the message to be clear to all the students. Each teacher had been given a banner with the EU on it which was covered up with some of the quotations that were up around the school. Each class facilitated a discussion about the connectedness of what they had seen up around the school for the last week and how it related to the movie. Finally, the teachers discussed the quotations and slowly began to uncover the EU. By the end of the day, the students all knew what our EU for the project was and were excited to begin the journey. Tomorrow, they will participate in an on demand piece of writing to determine their current connectedness to the EU. This activity will be redone at the conclusion of the project and we will see how their writing and connection levels have changed. All of the Dufferin Dragons are pumped about this project! Please follow us in this journey!