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Linden Celebrates International Women's Day - March 29, 2011
Linden's gym was transformed into a human board game during All-School on March 9 for our celebration of the 100th annual International Women's Day (IWD).
In addition to marking this important day, our yearly IWD event also helps a Rwandan student named Sylvie attend school. For the past several years, Linden has raised money to help pay for Sylvie's school fees, without which she would not be able to continue her studies. She is currently attending high school, and we were delighted to meet her in person during her first visit to Canada in December and January. (To read more about Sylvie's visit, check out our Winter 2011 newsletter.)
Our grade 9 students traditionally organize the IWD event. This year, they planned a large-scale version of "Scene It?" - but instead of answering pop culture questions, they asked students to tap into their knowledge of influential and famous women from the past 100 years.
Students divided into their school families, and each family was matched to a grade 9 student. The grade 9 students acted as game pieces, consulting their families for each question and giving an answer on behalf of the group. Throughout the All-School, students shared their knowledge, collaborated to come up with answers, and added to their understanding of women's contributions to society. And by donating $2 on their way into the gym, they also helped guarantee that Sylvie will be able to continue her education, and ultimately go on to university.
HOZA! - February 19, 2010
Though it was a cold and dreary day outside,
the Linden gym was full of song, dance and hope on Wednesday,
February 17, as we celebrated Black History Month.
At Wednesday's All-School, organized
by the Keresan family, Linden students and teachers welcomed
Kevin and Derek from HOZA!, an organization that offers workshops
based on creative mediation. Creative mediation encourages
self-awareness, development and learning by having participants
engage with a creative medium, such as visual art, song, or
dance.
Our students and teachers entered the gym
to the sound of drumming, performed by Kevin and Derek to
invite us to join their indaba. An indaba, Kevin explained,
is a council or meeting between indigenous tribes in South
Africa, where Kevin is from. With this introduction as a springboard,
Kevin went on to share his experiences as a white person growing
up in apartheid South Africa - and to show us how he and other
young people began to bridge the gap apartheid had created.
As a white student at a mixed-race school
(which his parents had purposefully sought out), Kevin had
many black friends, but the bond between them solidified for
life when he saw his friends performing the "gumboot
dance" in the schoolyard and asked to learn it. The gumboot
dance originated in the gold mines of South Africa, where
many black South Africans were pressed into service. Because
many of the workers did not share a common language, they
had to find other ways to communicate; one of these ways involved
tapping on their rubber boots, or gumboots, issued to them
to protect their feedtfrom the fetid water in the mine.
Kevin and his friends began performing this
dance at indabas, weddings and other ceremonies, and seeing
white people and black people work together to perform this
dance touched everyone watching. Through dance, Kevin helped
strengthen the feeling of many South Africans that apartheid
should not continue, and strengthen the opposition that eventually
caused apartheid to crumble.
Dance was just one of the methods Kevin
and Derek used when telling this story today - though a spirited
demonstration of the gumboot dance by Kevin received raucous
applause. They also used traditional South African songs,
such as the children's song "Chocholoza" (roughly
translated as "Chugga Chugga Choo Choo"), an upbeat
call-and-response song, and traditional drumming techniques.
Kevin and Derek had us all on our feet throughout the All-School,
and by the end, they had several girls drumming and dancing
with them in front of the audience!
To learn more about HOZA!, click here.
Let the (Linden) Games begin! - February
12, 2010
Our grade 3/4 class got everyone into the
Olympic spirit at our Wednesday, February 10, All School by
hosting the first-ever Linden Games!
The Joy of Being Active
With the entire school gathered in the gym,
the girls in grades 3 and 4 kicked off the event with a small-scale
torch relay, Once the Olympic flames were lit, the girls told
the story of Summer Olympian Carol Huynh, who won a gold medal
in wrestling at the Beijing games.
Playing the part of Carol, grade 4 student
Sophia described Carol's experience this way: "I was
full of joy. I felt the joy of competing. I felt the joy of
being active. Winning just made it even better."
The importance (and joy) of being active
was the focal point of Wednesday's All School - and to demonstrate
the fun of being active, the grade 3/4 class designed three
very creative indoor alternatives to three popular winter
sports! Our twelve Linden families faced off in some friendly
competition in the Freestyle Feather Race (Freestyle Skiing),
the Pairs Balloon Race (Pairs Figure Skating), and the Egg-and-Spoon
Race (Biathlon).
Because the focal point of the day was fun,
there were no medals presented at the end of the games, but
there was something else enjoyable for everyone: chocolate!
Hunger Banquet raises over $200 for Kiva.org
- October 19, 2009
A banquet where guests leave hungry? It
may seem like a contradiction, but the purpose of October
14th's Hunger Banquet at Linden, hosted by the grade 9 business
class during All School, was not to fill stomachs. It was
to demonstrate the fact that hundreds of millions of people
all over the world are going hungry every day, and to motivate
attendees to do what they can to help solve the problem of
world hunger.
After paying an admission fee of $2 to enter
the banquet, each guest randomly drew a ticket assigning them
to the high, middle, or low income group. Here is a breakdown
of the income distrubtion:
- 15% of guests drew a ticket for the high-income group,
- 25% belonged to the middle-income group, and
- An overwhelming 60% found themselves in the low-income
group.
Based on the group they belonged to as a
result of this draw, each attendee received a picture of a
typical daily meal for someone of their income (i.e. a sumptuous
pasta meal for the high-income group; a simple, but filling
meal for the middle-income group; and a meagre meal of rice
and water for the low-income group).
As well as heightening awareness of the
enormous number of individuals for whom hunger is a reality
(and generating some very interesting discussions among attendees
about unequal distribution of incomes), the event also raised
over $200, which the grade 9 class will use to help support
female entrepreneurs through Kiva.
Kiva is a micro-financing website that allows lenders to connect
directly with people and projects they want to support. By
helping women fully realize their economic power, the funds
raised by the grade 9 girls will also help developing nations
to lift themselves out of poverty. (Investing in girls and
women is increasingly being recognized as one of the best
ways to help developing nations increase their economic output
- click
here to read more.)
The grade 9 class and their teacher, Kat,
thank all the teachers and students who attended the banquet
for their support!
Happy Earth Day! - April 22, 2009
It's April 22, and that means it's Earth
Day! The Linden School marked this event with a special activity
at this morning's All School, joining 1 billion people from
across the globe in celebrating what the Earth Day Network
calls the largest secular civic event in the world.
The MCs for this year's event were
the members of the grade 3/4 class, who began today's All
School by sharing their knowledge about the origins of Earth
Day. They revealed that Earth Day was founded by U.S. Senator
Gaylord Nelson in the late 1960s as a grassroots movement.
20 million Americans participated in 1970's inaugural Earth
Day, and the number of people around the world observing this
event has grown by leaps and bounds ever since.
Christine and the grade 3/4 girls then explained
the day's activity. Each school family was given a chart with
a different electronics device on it (e.g., an mp3 player,
cell phone or smartphone) and asked to brainstorm the factors
they would consider when deciding whether to purchase that
device. After five minutes of group work, the whole school
sat down to watch a 20-minute video; after the presentation,
the families would then return to their chart and see if they
had any considerations to add.
The video may have been short, but
it had a big impact. The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard
provides a whirlwind tour of the modern materials economy,
following a consumer good from extraction through sale, use
and disposal and highlighting the many negative environmental
impacts of each step in the process. Host Annie Leonard shows
the video's viewers who really pays for the production of
goods, whether it be through damage to the natural environment,
increased health concerns or the low wages paid to the people
who produce and sell the goods.
When the families returned to their activity
after the video, the impact it made was clear. While most
groups listed factors such as colour, storage space, design
and battery life as important electronics considerations before
watching the video, their after-video considerations were
much more broad in scope. Families began to consider questions
like these:
- Who really paid for this product?
- How long will it last before I have to throw it out?
- What natural resources were used to make this product?
And, perhaps most tellingly:
Although the activity focused on the impact
the manufacturing process has on the environment as a whole,
it tied in closely to this year's theme of water. Though many
people focus on the water pollution caused by the extraction
and processing of natural resources, these processes are the
perpetrators of water-wasting as well. As Christine pointed
out at the conclusion of All School, it takes about 7,000
litres of water to produce one pair of shoes, and about 1,800
litres of water to produce a t-shirt.
The real take-home message of today's activity?
By simply taking the above considerations into account before
you buy something new, it's possible for just one person to
make a real difference in our environment.
So, on behalf of the grade 3/4 class,
and from everyone at Linden: Happy Earth Day!
An International Women's Day dance-off
- March 5, 2009
On Sunday, March 8, 54 countries around
the world will celebrate International Women's Day. Whether
it's a political rally, a business conference or a theatre
performance, there are thousands of events held on this day
to celebrate the achievements of women, and to inspire girls
and women to continue fighting for women's rights and making
a difference in their communities. As always at Linden, we
held an International Women's Day celebration at yesterday's
All School - dance-off style.
So You Think You Can Dance?
Our grade 9 students organized this year's
festivities, which took the form of a dance competition called
"So You Think You Can Dance - Linden". Each class
choreographed (well in advance of the day) and presented their
own dance routine, giving their all with challenging moves,
creative costumes and lots of humour. The results were phenomenal,
ranging from a stomp routine performed by the grade 3/4 class,
to a tango that left one grade 8 student dancing with a broom,
to a grade 11 ballet recital gone (intentionally) awry. At
the end of All School, each girl got to vote for her favourite
performance; when the ballots have been counted, one class
will be awarded the title of "Linden's Best Dance Crew".
The Goal
As part of the celebration, each girl brought
in two dollars as an International Women's Day donation. The
proceeds of the event will be passed on to Sylvie, a young
girl living in Rwanda who would not be able to attend school
without outside support. The money she receives from Linden
pays for her school fees at her high school, a boarding school
where she lives during the school year (like most students
in Rwanda with the opportunity to attend high school). When
she is not in school, Sylvie lives with her mother, grandparents
and two other members of her extended family in a small house
outside the town of Butare.
Sylvie is very grateful for Linden's support
with her school fees, and our girls are very happy that they
can give Sylvie the opportunity to graduate from high school,
and thus open the door to a whole new world of opportunity.
Congratulations to the grade 9 class
and Anne Lyden for organizing a great, and meaningful, event,
and to all of our dancers for making it a truly entertaining
hour of performances.
Linden celebrates Black History Month -
February 13, 2009
Along with people
around the world, The Linden School is celebrating Black History
Month this February. In particular, we're learning about the
many contributions to society made by black women - and Linden
girls are doing the teaching.
In this week's all school, Tonja and Tulay
assigned each of our eight families a facet of society to
investigate, and asked them to find as many black women as
they could who have made a contribution in that category.
These categories included politics, art, music and entertainment,
science, acting and theatre, math, sports and literature.
The families then picked five of the women in the category
they investigated and made a poster about each designed to
teach other students in the school about their accomplishments
in their chosen disciplines.
Here are a few of the women our students
investigated:
- Mary Church Terell, an educator, political and community
organizer, and civil rights leader for gender and race equality.
- Dr. Mae C. Jemison, the first African-American woman to
go to space.
- Euphemia Hayes, the first female African-American to earn
a PhD in math.
- Lisa Leslie, the first woman to complete a slam-dunk in
the WNBA.
- Dorothy Dandridge, the first black woman to be nominated
for a Best Actress Oscar.
The posters have been hung all around the
school, allowing students to learn about the women their family
did not investigate and displaying the incredible breadth
of ways in which black women have made their mark. The next
time you're here, be sure to look for them!
Thanks to the girls for their hard
work, and to Tonja and Tulay for organizing a very successful
and informative activity.
Grade 10 students trade skills for bills
- January 23, 2009
Grade 10 students put their unique skills
to work in Wednesday's All School, garnering bids totalling
more than $800 in their ingenious "Skills Auction".
As part of their fundraising efforts for
their upcoming Week Without Walls trip, the girls offered
up a variety of expertise to the highest bidder; skills auctioned
off included baking, tutoring, locker cleaning and organization,
photography instruction, songwriting and even steel pans lessons.
The auction generated some furious (but good-natured) bidding
wars among both students and teachers, and allowed students
in grade 10 to share their unique interests and talents with
the Linden community.
The money the girls raised in the auction
will help subsidize the cost of their February Week Without
Walls adventure, where they will head up north for three days
of cross-country skiing, dog sledding and other winter activities.
The trip will also educate the girls about off-the-grid living,
as they will be staying at a lodge powered completely by renewable
energy.
Teachers and students square off on the
court - November 26, 2008
Linden's Senior Basketball team took on
the faculty in a fight for basketball supremacy at today's
All School. Ten brave teachers laced up to face off against
the student team in what promised to be a fiercely-contended
game - and the results did not disappoint.
With students in all grades cheering them
on, both sides gave it their all, and the lead changed hands
many times before the final whistle blew. However, when the
dust settled, it was clear that the teams were very evenly
matched - they racked up 12 points apiece, and the game ended
in a tie.
Congratulations to both sides for great
efforts, and for a wonderful All School!
Linden learns about Pearls 4 Girls - November
20, 2008
In this week's All School , Linden was visited
by a representative from Pearls 4 Girls, an organization that
raises money for HIV/AIDS orphans in Lesotho. Robin Prest
talked to the girls about why she got involved with the group,
which makes and sells pearl jewelry to support Help Lesotho,
a not-for-profit which develops aid projects in the Southern
African nation.
After Robin's presentation, several student
volunteers participated in an impromptu "Pearl Bee",
where they made pearl bracelets. For every $25 bracelet sold,
$20 goes to Help Lesotho.
Click
here to learn more about Pearls 4 Girls; click
here to learn more about Help Lesotho.
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