Week 16: December 18–20, 2017

For our last few days before the winter break, we worked hard on our Indigenous land acknowledgement in the Grade 1-2 class. The students made sure that their pronunciation was spot-on and they demonstrated a great understanding of the importance of the task throughout all their rehearsals. The final performance was spectacular and the full text of the acknowledgement is available below. The students also worked together with the Early Learners on their festive performance of "Ten Little Snowflakes". In CERES class, the Grade 1-2s experimented with circuits and even built their own. We played a number of math games including Blokus and Set to reinforce their geometry vocabulary and their pattern recognition throughout the week. They also enjoyed two shared centres periods with the Early Learners and some creative time for holiday art. This term has flown by and we are looking forward to another action-packed one in January!

G was very excited to have lost a tooth at school this week. She gleefully displayed her gap to everyone she saw for the rest of the day.

K proudly collects a set of three cards and is able to explain how they are uniform or unique across four different attributes in the game of Set.

M plans her next move in Blokus as she practices terms like vertex and side.

K is very excited to model her brand new Linden gear in the classroom after the grade 12s deliver it. What a cozy start to the holidays!

In CERES class, the students work together to create a circuit for an Energy Ball by holding hands. They find out what happens when you break a circuit by letting go of hands.

G proudly displays her completed circuit during CERES class.

Z and G work hard on illustrating their Writer's Workshop entries. 

S works with a glue gun to finish her holiday snow globe on the last day of classes.

The finished snow globes look beautiful!

The Grade 1-2s and Early Learners display their finished snow globes together.

M and Z work on decorating their CD spinners during CERES class.

K and A test their spinners together.

Z, M, and K create a triangle enclosure for their spinners in CERES class.

M works with the Magna-tiles during a special shared centres time.

K and P work together in the water centre as they enjoy experimenting with capacity.

The Grade 1-2s and Early Learners practice for their Festival of Lights musical performance.

The Grade 1-2s began the Linden Festival of Lights with an Indigenous land acknowledgement. They worked hard over the last two weeks on their pronunciation and got spectacularly positive feedback from many Linden community members after the event. One Linden high school parent even stated that she thought the Prime Minister should hear it! The full text of the acknowledgement is here:

We will begin the annual Linden Festival of Lights by acknowledging that we are meeting on Indigenous land that has been inhabited by Indigenous peoples from the beginning. We are grateful to be here together and we thank all the generations of people who have taken care of this land for thousands of years. Long before today, there have been Indigenous peoples who have been the stewards of this place. We want to recognize all of the work that Indigenous people have done and continue to do to take care of the lands that take care of us. In particular, we wish to acknowledge the ancestral traditional territories of the Ojibwe, the Haudenosaunee, the Wendat, the Anishnabe, and the Mississaugas of the New Credit. This territory is covered by the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant and the Upper Canada Treaties. Subsequent Indigenous nations and peoples, Europeans, and all newcomers have been invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship, and respect. Toronto is still the home of many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to learn and live in this territory. We also recognize the contributions that Métis, Inuit, and other Indigenous peoples make in shaping and strengthening our communities today. This recognition of the contributions and historic importance of Indigenous peoples must also be clearly and overtly connected to our collective commitment to make the promise and the challenge of truth and reconciliation real in our communities, and in particular, to bring justice for murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls across our country.

Eager performers wait backstage for their turn on stage. 

The Grade 1-2s and Early Learners perform their song "Ten Little Snowflakes" with rhythm sticks at Linden's Festival of Lights.

We had a wonderful time at Festival of Lights and wish everyone a happy holiday!