Richland Academy is honoured to be recognized as a Rights Respecting School (RRS) by Unicef. The announcement was made Wednesday evening by Ms. Sarah Hutchison, Education Manager for Unicef Canada, in front...
Inquiring Minds is pleased to share this announcement, on behalf of the Richland Nature Club. Last week, we were joined by Ms. Jocelyn Kennedy, an EcoSchools Assessor. Three student representatives from our Nature...
Calling All Investors! The Grade 6 “students-turned entrepreneurs” showed off their business ideas at our First Annual Grade 6 Business Tradeshow. We invited parents, students, staff and the outside community to act...
Inquiring Minds is delighted to share this wonderful learning story, as captured by our PreK Teacher, Mrs. Abreu. A book, our tadpoles, and water colour paints. L.H. and I.N. are curious and are...
Inquiring Minds is excited to share this wonderful learning moment, as captured first by our Head of School, Mrs. Oliveira, and extended further with Mrs. Black in Junior Kindergarten. Here is their story.
In the Image of the Child as capable, competent and full of inquiry, curiosity and wonderment….It takes a village……
What a way to begin my day…a true blessing and one which pulls at an educator’s heart strings and fills it with joy.
At ‘Kiss and Ride’ this morning, W.S. from our JK class arrived in his usual happy fashion, ready to embrace another day at school in his JK classroom. However, one thing was slightly different this morning as he disembarked from his Mom’s car…..he decided not to enter the school doors and instead began to wander off to the side of the school building, to see the bright orange and white grass blower that lay on the pavement. I followed W.S. as I was ensuring he was safe, but to also allow him to explore his interest and curiosity, about this white and orange device that lay idle on the ground.
W.S. had noted that the landscapers were cutting the grass and he associated the ‘device’ to the men cutting the grass. However, I could sense that he was not quite sure what this device was nor how it worked. He asked me what it was used for and I proceeded to explain that it blew the grass clippings away. W.S. did not respond, instead he bent down and began to examine the ‘device’ more carefully, noting the straps and the long nozzle. He associated the straps on the blower to those of a ‘backpack’ and informed me that this was called a wind pack. “Clever name,” I exclaimed!! He understood that the blower is strapped to a person’s back, so that they could carry it while blowing the clippings. 
Keenly examining the blower, W.S. shared his theory of how he believed the blower worked. He explained that the “wind entered the back of the blower, turned inside and then blew out of the end.” (pointing to the nozzle). It was clearly evident to me that WS’s theory required further exploration and that he had a deep interest into the mechanics of the blower.
It was time to proceed to class, but I could feel W’s hesitation to enter the school, as his mind was still on the blower and how it worked. Since my curiosity had been ignited by W.’s inquisitiveness, I wanted to better understand where his theory of how the blower worked would unfold.
Upon entering the JK classroom I shared W.S.’s excitement of having discovered the blower with his teachers, Mrs. Black and Ms. Sherry. I asked W.S. if he would like to take a closer look at the blower, as the school had the same one. His smile from ear to ear said everything. With the support of the custodian, Mr. Rafael, we retrieved the blower so that W.S. could continue his investigation more closely.
Inquiring Minds is delighted to share this wonderful story from one of our families of how they came to rescue a family of ducks – and the learning that unfolded. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Last year we noticed ducks swimming in the murky, nutrient-rich water above the pool cover. Once the pool was treated and opened, they disappeared. This year has been a different story!
We’d been seeing a male and female duck swimming in our pool over the last month. On Sunday of the long weekend Y. said, ‘Look Mommy, duckies!’ Well, there was the mama duck and 10 baby ducklings swimming in our pool! The nest must have been nearby but we still can’t find it. The babies were likely just a day old. Excited comments from Y. included: ‘I’m going to go swim with the ducks’; ‘They’re so cute!’; ‘I’m going to show S. the baby ducks.’ 
The duck family had to return to their natural habitat – but how?
While the rest of us stayed far back (in case mama duck attacked), Y.’s papa and our neighbour used the pool skimmer to collect the 10 ducklings and put them in a box. H. documented the whole undertaking on video.
We headed up the road to the Mill pond ensuring the mama duck was following us (poor things, she and ducklings were so stressed). It was critical she stay near her babies and not get scared and abandon them. We placed them near the pond. There were lots of people around and we had to hold them off so mama duck could be reunited with the ducklings. And then the poor mama was being bothered by the mallards, mating season apparently.
Throughout this adventure, I waited for Y. to make a connection with her ‘Baby Chicks’ exploration at school. As we related the story to her cousins who were visiting that weekend, I was delighted to hear Y. share with lots of giggles: ‘I hold the baby chicks at school!’ ‘J. blowed on the baby chick.’ ‘The baby chicks are so cute!’ 
That night we were very concerned. Would the baby ducks survive at the main pond? Perhaps we should have left them at the river across the street where it’s quieter. We couldn’t wait for morning to come! The next day we went to visit and saw mama duck with 7 babies swimming at the far end of the pond. It was a bittersweet ending but we were happy to see them in their natural habitat. H. shared philosophical thoughts about ‘the circle of life’. 
This past Sunday we visited again. The weather was beautiful and the Mill Pond was very busy, tonnes of people around and many feeding the ducks. We found the mama and baby ducks, swimming happily where we saw them last. We saw only 6 ducklings this time.
The baby ducks had grown considerably, chubby little things. Again, lots of excitement. Y.: ‘Happy Birthday duckies, where’s your mommy?’ ‘Oh, they’re so cute!’ ‘Baby ducks are sparkly.’ Indeed, the water made their feathers glistening in the sun.
Today’s blog posting comes to us from Ms. Amy Pitt, our Performing Arts teacher. The big night is fast approaching. Next Wednesday, June 5th at 6:30pm, the debut performance of Richland Academy’s Spring Musical...
Inquiring Minds is delighted to share this video, which captures the incredible learning journey of our Prek children and their baby chick investigation. Our youngest students enjoy spending time exploring Richland’s Blog,...
There are few things as wonderful as observing children engage with the natural world around them. Inquiring Minds is delighted to share the recent artistic encounters with nature of Richland’s Junior Kindergarten children. "To...
Are you an educator looking to engage in Reggio-inspired learning? We are a Reggio-inspired Inquiry based school for students in Prek to Grade 6, and we are passionate about what we do. Many teachers...