The Human Library!!!!

We recently held a Human Library event here at R.H. Lagerquist. Inspiration for the event was taken from Human Library.org.

The Human Library is an innovative method designed to promote dialogue, reduce prejudices and encourage understanding.The main characteristics of the project are to be found in its simplicity and positive approach.

In its initial form the Human Library is a mobile library set up as a space for dialogue and interaction. Visitors to a Human Library are given the opportunity to speak informally with “people on loan”; this latter group being extremely varied in age, sex and cultural background.

The Human Library enables groups to break stereotypes by challenging the most common prejudices in a positive and humorous manner. It is a concrete, easily transferable and affordable way of promoting tolerance and understanding.

It is a “keep it simple”, “no-nonsense” contribution to social cohesion in multicultural societies. Read more about the history .

The aim of the day was to expose students to the varied and vast experiences of their teachers. We wanted to show the human side of people working in the building. The goal was to open students eyes to the fact that as teachers we do more than mark tests. The event stayed small with only 12 books and we had students loan out these books in groups of about 20. We had a whole variety of different books available. Some teachers discussed their travels to other countries, or childhood experiences, others discussed trying out for Canadian Idol. We had a very good mix of books available to students.
Ideally I would have liked to search for community members that could also participate in the Human Library but for our first attempt I kept the library small. It was successful students said they really enjoyed the event. I will definitely plan another library for next year. I had included some small sound clips in this entry to give you an idea of what the Human Library was like for the kids.

Education Week and The Canadian Raptor Conservancy

As part of our education week activities we had James Cowan from the Canadian Raptor Conservancy visit us here at Lagerquist. All Lagerquist students attended the performance. We were able to get all 600 students into our gym and seated comfortably for the presentation.

James brought five different birds of prey with him and students learned about the birds and James also flew the birds for the students. One of our teachers, Mrs. Dwyer got to hold the Harris Hawk as a present from the students for her birthday. It was an interesting and engaging performance, both students and teachers had a lot of positive things to say about the birds, James and all of the information they learned yesterday.  

Here are some examples of the information they received from the presentation.

1. A Harris Hawk can land on a cactus so it wouldn't hurt if one landed on your head.
2. Great Horned owls like to hunt skunks because they don't have a sense of smell.
3. The Red-Tailed Hawk is on the list to become the Canadian National Bird. 
4. Canada does not have a Canadian National Bird.
5. Turkey Vultures have bald heads so that when they eat carrion it doesn't get all over their feathers.
6. Bald Eagles were extinct in Ontario up until 15 years ago.

The kids really loved how James flew the birds. He made a point of moving all over the room and ensuring that the students got a very close encounter with the birds. In all it was a great morning here at Lagerquist check out our photos. 

Education Week and The Activities here at Lagerquist!

Education Week is quickly approaching and I find myself rushing to put together this post. I want to inform everyone of all the different activities that will be occurring here at Lagerquist. There are a lot of staff who have worked very hard to put together a variety of different activities for our students.

We decided to go with the theme.

Explore!

Our Hope was to present students with lots of opportunities to Explore information they wouldn't normally be able to experience during a normal day at school. 

So here it is.... Our Education Week line up. 

Explore Birds of Prey-

The Canadian Raptor Conservancy will present in the gym on April 23rd (presentation takes place in the gym)

Explore the Past-

Guess which baby picture belongs to which teacher. Guess them correctly and win a prize (pictures are located in the downstairs hallway)

                                          Explore Music-

Monday April 22 the beatboxing string trio Infinitus will perform in the gym.

Explore Human Experience-

Discover the human side of your teachers! Hear fascinating stories!

 Learn about the variety of human life! (Human books will be read in the library. Students can sign up for different books)

                                                                                              

Explore Ideas-

Listen to your classmates present their thoughts during the speech competition (Speeches will be presented in the library)

Explore French- Listen to and look at French Speeches, Skits, and eBooks– all created by Lagerquist students! April 26th (find the cafe located upstairs in the library)