Richland Academy was honoured to be one of three guest schools invited to Free the Children’s press conference on Monday, February 4th in Toronto. Our Ambassadors represented the Richland Community and presented...
Their masks are up, and they are incredible! Since September, the Grade 5 students have been considering identity, both their own and what it means through different lenses. Their masks are representations...
We recently learned from a Richland parent about these awesome place mats. This link provides a template to print and laminate, so that your children can write on them with dry erase...
The Reggio philosophy encourages a community of learners who think reflectively and who collaborate as they: explore and discover propose ideas problem solve develop and test hypotheses “The wider the range of possibilities we offer children, the...
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” ― Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island At Richland we celebrate the arts and are continually reminded of the...
The mention of the name Vygotsky takes me right back to university, where his name as an influential psychologist and educational theorist was first introduced. Inquiring Minds would like to share some of his more noteworthy insights on education, primarily because of their relevance to 21st Century Learning. Ironic, when you consider Mr. Vygotsky was born in 1896 and died from tuberculosis at the young age of 37, in 1934.
1. We would like to credit Pat Johnson, co-author of Catching Readers Before they Fall, for the following observations on the relevance of Vygotsky’s work. In her post on catchingreaders.com, Ms Johnson cites an article from the January 2013 issue of ‘Language Arts’ magazine. It’s called “What Does Vygotsky Provide for the 21st Century Language Arts Teacher?” by Peter Smagorinsky: He explains how speech should be used as a tool. In other words, students shouldn’t be expected to speak in final draft form, but should be given opportunities for talking that allow them to figure out and work through what they are trying to say. Kids need to use speech to explore their ideas and opinions. The author says, “Teachers overlook the potential of classrooms to encourage the development of thinking through the relatively unfettered opportunity to use speech as a tool for generating new ideas through the process of speaking.”
In a previous post, we shared the inquiry project currently unfolding in the Junior Kindergarten classroom. The children continue to be captivated and curious with the ice and snow they are studying. Here...
In our world, Sir Ken Robinson is a rock star. Please take the time to explore this video of Sir Robinson's talk, "Finding the Catalyst for the Education Revolution", from The 9th Annual...