Play Again

We just said goodbye to our new friend Sarah, who chose to spend a month on the island for her final practicum placement.  It was so wonderful having her here, and she will be missed.  Here is a link to a trailer for a film called Play Again that she shared with me.  The film explores the consequences that society faces when children are completely detached from the natural world.  Watching the preview served as a sobering reminder of what is happening with the vast majority of children in the western world, and made me appreciate the connection that the island's children have to their surroundings.  Here is a link to the film's website and hopefully some food for thought.  Enjoy the rest of your Easter weekend!  xo

Felting Workshop

At the Living and Learning School, we are blessed to be invited to some very special events in our community.  Kiki, a very talented artist, welcomed our students to a felting workshop that she hosted at the Kaay Centre.  She sent us a short story to read to the children in advance that told of a young boy who became lost in the woods.  Here is a brief synopsis of the story that she told.  While the boy was wandering, he met a small gnome who asked him why he looked so sad.  The boy explained that he was lonely and lost to which the gnome replied that he should not feel lonely because he was surrounded by the trees, rocks, streams and animals of the forest.  The gnome took a small stone out of his pocket and smashed it in half to reveal a beautiful rainbow centre.  He gave half of the geode to the boy so that he would be reminded that he is never alone.  Kiki told the story to the children using wonderful handmade dolls and they proceeded to make their very own rainbow rocks.  I had never experienced felting before, and I found it to be so tactile and soothing.  We all worked on our rocks, selecting one colour at a time from gorgeous loops of highly pigmented braided wool. We gently squeezed and rolled our grey felt 'rocks' in soapy water, rinsed them, then finally were given the option to cut them to reveal rainbow-y layers or keep them hidden.  I could not resist, and quickly cut mine in half and found turquoise, fuchsia and yellow rings.  We had a lovely day at the gallery and were lucky enough to have a guided tour of Kiki's gallery exhibit featuring felted works as well as paintings and installations.  Thank you for your hard work Kiki!  The kids really enjoyed themselves and learned a lot.

Lemonade Stand

It has been ages since I have updated my teaching blog, and so much has happened over the past few months.  Spring has sprung on Haida Gwaii, although we do have the occasional snow fall that melts away by the morning.  Crocuses have begun sprouting and there are tiny buds on the salmonberry bushes around our school.  Last month, when it was still fairly cold, my students came up with an idea to sell lemonade to help raise money for the World Wildlife Fund.  They decided that the lemonade stand should be on wheels so that we could push it around the fishing docks, because "fisherman would be the most thirsty".  The children were very excited to bake cookies and try making lemonade from scratch.  The following afternoon, we baked oatmeal coconut chocolate chip cookies, whipped shortbread and coconut mango muffins, and made two large batches of lemonade.  We added mint leaves to the first jug, and frozen blackberries to the second, which to our surprise, turned the lemonade a beautiful shade of pink!  We picked some berries and branches from trees in the yard, blew up some balloons, made some signs advertising our goodies, and packed up our wagon.  The sun was shining and the sky was bright as we headed over to set up shop outside the grocery store after some thought and discussion.  Our first generous customer, the wonderful Jo, stopped us on her bicycle before we had even set up our wagon, and donated $5 for a cookie!  Some of the children took initiative with the cash box and really enjoyed making change, while others preferred to draw pictures in the sunshine.  By the end of the afternoon, everyone took turns helping and we had lots of friendly visitors stop by and say hello.  We counted our funds when we returned to the school and were very pleased to find out that we raised $72 for our cause!  The following week we learned that a 15 year old girl from our community had fallen ill and the children decided to donate the lemonade stand money to her instead.  I was so proud of them for taking initiative and also recognizing that you need to be flexible when someone in our community is in need.