PYP

During the week of November 23rd, Ms. Little’s Pre-Reception A classes learned through a fantastic restaurant project to raise awareness and funds for Mother’s Choice, an NGO that provides care for young children as they await adoption from their ‘forever families’. The Pre-reception students baked and prepared treats which they then sold and served to their family members to show appreciation.

 

Ms. Gill Little writes:
“The restaurant venture was an amazing success!! The restaurant was buzzing as we welcomed parents, grandparents, aunts, brothers and sisters, helpers, staff and students. Thanks to your generosity and support we managed to raise a staggering $14,590!!! We hope to present the cheques to Mother’s Choice next week and they will certainly be able to buy lots of warm winter clothes for the children. 

The whole venture involved many different skills for the children. Math came into cooking as we weighed, measured and counted. Literacy was involved as we followed recipes and instructions. Fine motor skills were used as we cut, spread, rolled and brushed. We introduced left and right as we set the tables. The whole initiative was also a great lesson in caring, appreciation and giving to others less fortunate than ourselves.”

On September 9th, active world volunteer d’Arcy Lunn visited CDNIS and presented to students in grade 4 and 5. As a social and environmental activist with several ongoing projects, he shared unique stories on how and why he is making a positive difference in the world. d’Arcy has been working with the United Nations to create resources for ‘The World’s Largest Lesson’ to teach students about the Sustainable Development Goals, launched this September. Learn more about the World’s Largest Lesson here.

Grade 4 students heard about d’Arcy’s journey to becoming a global citizen and were presented with the idea that we should aim to do more good in our communities than harm (his Teaspoons of Change initiative). Grade 5 students heard about how d’Arcy uses social media to raise awareness about issues that he is passionate about as part of their Unit of Inquiry: “with connection to a wide audience comes great responsibility.

“This trip was an eye-opener for many of us. Even the village kids and the kindergarten students learnt a lot from this experience, and it was easy to see the effect on them. In just a few days, they learnt how to say hello and a few other english words, and they were more confident and participative. There were many learning opportunities for us as well. We experienced a part of China that we had never seen before, we practiced our teaching skills and Chinese skills, we learnt that we should count our blessings and appreciate what we have, and we learnt that we can make friends despite cultural and language differences.”

Read about the 5-day service learning trip some Grade 6 students took to Leishan, China, where they worked with the NGO ‘Zigen’ and the initiative for literacy called ‘Bring Me A Book’: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-dg-0siOF_J95LAWmosbFmgmPiCqqB-tPibqfRP1p5k/edit?usp=sharing