Out of Our Minds is a passionate and powerful call for radically different approaches to leadership, teaching and professional development to help us all to meet the extraordinary challenges of living and working in the 21st century. There is a paradox. As children, most of us think we are highly creative; as adults many of us think we are not. What changes when we grow up? Organizations across the globe are competing in a world that is changing faster than ever. They say they need people who can think creatively, who are flexible and quick to adapt. Too often they say they can’t find them. Why not? In this provocative book, Ken Robinson addresses three vital questions: ‘Why is it essential to promote creativity?’ ‘What is the problem?’ and ‘What can be done about it?’” View video footage from ‘The Case for Creativity,’ featuring visionary, Ken Robinson.

At Richland, we understand that if students are to succeed with a global mindset, they need opportunities to experience the world, develop a sense of shared citizenship and become experts in 21st-century literacies. Our students are continuously guided to spend time inquiring, exploring, discovering and experimenting with the information that they obtain and ultimately transform. In this way, they take ownership of their education; learning becomes tangible to them as they make connections between theories, and they are motivated to learn because they are active, fully engaged, and truly enjoy what they are doing. Read more about 21st-century Education and “The Freedom to Learn in the Conceptual Age of Schooling.”

Education is not a linear process of preparation for the future: it is about cultivating the talents and sensibilities through which we can live our best lives in the present and create the future for ourselves.

~Ken Robinson

On April 25, our Grade 3 and 4 students performed entertaining, inspiring and humorous French plays for the Richland Community. Très bien!At Richland, we are excited that our students are stimulated by the incredible Accelerated Integrated Method (AIM) French Programme, a gestures-based approach to learning French that allows our students to focus on speaking and conversational skills.

Following the arrival of the Frog Egg Mass in the JK classroom, the children were amazed to learn that “There is jelly around the frog egg mass” and that “Each egg may turn into and develop a tadpole.” Even more enthralling for the JK students was the fact that, “The black dot inside is a tadpole eating the jelly to grow and break free from the egg” to begin its life as a tadpole.

The children commented that “The black dot inside is now a different shape” and that “It looks like it is wiggling inside the egg.” Children at this age are most observant and take note of significant changes and details when they are given the experiences to do so.

The children have now begun feeding the hatched tadpoles gold fish food, as the tadpoles have eaten the jelly that surrounded them in the eggs. They “stick to the sides of the box,” commented Parisa. “They are resting and relaxing,” exclaimed Zackary. “They look like ice cubes because they are just hanging there,” noted Olivia.

In celebration of Earth Day, Richland’s PK, Grade 3 and Grade 5 classes prepared an informative and entertaining Earth Day assembly for the Richland Community.  The collaborative awareness-building presentation was a blend of Earth Day facts, poetry, music and video, which honoured the theme, ‘The Earth Matters,’ and reminded us what we can all do to help protect itAt Richland, we are committed to fostering eco-awareness and educational activities that promote environmentalism and nature within and outside of our school environment. We continuously provide stimulating experiences that deter ‘Nature-Deficit Disorder,’ which child advocacy expert, Richard Louv, directly links to the lack of nature in the lives of today’s ‘wired generation.’

 Click here to read about the Outdoor Experiential Inquiry-Based Learning embraced by Richland Academy.

Following an examination of art from across Canada with Mrs. Sherman, our Grade 1 students each selected a region of Canada and began working on a piece that would represent that region, either in subject matter or style.

One student works on his landscape with watercolour paints

With the much-anticipated arrival of the Frog Egg Mass in our JK classroom, the children observe the ‘aquarium’ and share their theories about “What the frog eggs would look like,” “Would the eggs be happy in their habitat?” and “How many would arrive in JK for us to care for?”

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