Mr. Schumm Assistant Principal
"The world is the true classroom. The most rewarding and important type of learning is through experience, seeing something through your own eyes." - Jack Hanna Wow what an amazing couple of weeks it has been for our learners at Valley View! Our school community has always strongly believed in the importance of exploring and learning beyond our school walls and the last couple of weeks have been a testament to that belief. Our Grade 4's went to Glenbow Museum and Museum School through the Campus Calgary Open Minds program. Students learned about the past. They practiced the art of slowing down, observing closely, thinking, feeling and wondering. Last week, I had the pleasure of joining our Kindergarten, Grade Ones and Grade Two's at Bob Bahan pool where they engaged in the Swim to Survive program. As part of our Physical Education program students swam, floated, dived and blew bubbles at Bob Bahan pool for four days. It was amazing to hear from the students how they challenged themselves, improved their swimming skills and their confidence in the water. I was so proud of how our students conducted themselves at the pool and on the bus. We also were lucky enough this week to have Elder Randy Bottle come to our school and engage our students in the art of story telling, plus we also got some delicious Bannock to enjoy.
There are still many outdoor experiences still to come. These include; Calgary Zoo for Grade Two's, Aboriginal Learning Centre for our Medicine Wheel Kindergarten, Mud Between Our Toes for Grade One and Outdoor School for our Grade Fives. We know that these amazing learning experiences would not be possible without the support of our School Council. Did you know that all our field trips at Valley View are supplemented by our School Council's Super Kid's Society. Volunteers are also critical for our students to have these amazing experiences and we look forward to thanking all of our volunteers at our Volunteer Tea on May 12th at 10 am. This shared belief at Valley View of the importance of authentic experiences outside of the classroom is one of the things that makes our students have an amazing educational experience. This is also why the Science School program joining Valley View next year will be such a great fit. Whether it is stepping outside to study the changes in the environment in our outdoor classroom, walking down the street to the Aboriginal Learning Centre or taking a bus for four days in the Rocky Mountains our field studies are part of what makes Valley View great.
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April 21, 2017
Earth Day is coming up! Today at Valley View we had an assembly to talk about Earth Day and to explore how we plan to keep our school Green and Clean inside and out! Following acknowledging the land we listened to a Cree Elder from the Walking Together website http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/aswt discussing the importance of the land. Five Earth Hero leaders in Grade 2 explained to the school what we can do to solve the problem of garbage being left outside on our playground. Our Grade 2 earth heroes came up with 4 key messages:
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Gavin SchummLearner, Husband, Friend, ArchivesCategories |