Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2014-06-25, Page 1616 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, June 25, 2014 LCPS H Students Check out People as Books Valerie Gillies Lucknow Sentinel Jean Johnston, an Educational Assistant at Lucknow Central Public School, saw reports about Living Libraries being offered in various public libraries. The idea intrigued her. She decided there must be some way of adapting the same principles to a program for elementary students. The second annual Living Library at LCPS was held on June 11, 2014. Johnston explains, "Students will check out people as opposed to books for approximately 30-40 minutes per `book'. They will have the opportunity to check out 6 books throughout the day so each group will be fairly small. Some of our books are about careers, while others are about their life stories, acceptance, tol- erance, inclusion, etc." The students were given brief descriptions of the 8 people who osts a Living Library were invited as books and what they would speak about. They made their choices ahead of time and were assigned to the various books at a specific time slot. This year's Living Library included the following 8 books. Book 1: a graduate of the Classi- cal Animation program at Sheri- dan College who has varied interests in topics and subject for drawing. Book 2: is currently Merchandising Assistant for a Waterloo company and spoke about coming out and having lived openly gay since 2010. Book 3: an auto wrecker and auto recycler, as well as other related services as a family-owned busi- ness. Book 4: was a troubled youth who had problems in school but excelled in sports. He was fully engulfed in addictions by age 15 and has recently cele- brated 10 years of sobriety. Book 5: a member of a First Nations group who is a Metis and Inuit Advisor for Bluewater District School Board. Book 6: is a funeral director and described the industry and what to expect at the funeral home. Book 7: was unable to attend. Book 8: is a Social Worker currently employed with a women and children's shelter. She works toward empowering women and young girls to make healthy choices and building self- esteem. Book 9: grew up in a small rural community and spoke of how being a member of 4-H with the motto "learn to do by doing" has been a constant motivation in her life. Through varying life choices, circum- stances and situations beyond her control she has added her previous experiences together to create her own mix of careers. The people who were books were impressed with the interest shown by the students and by the intelligence evident in the discussions that developed. Johnston reported that after the students had returned to their classrooms, there were some very interesting conversa- tions sparked by the discussions they had participated in. In her words, "that's what it's all about." Library held on June 11, 2014. In the foreground are students who spoke with a Funeral Director and in the background a group with a Social Worker. Programs and Projects Undertaken by LCPS 2013/2014 Accomplishments Jean Johnston Educational Support Professional Two of the things that I am involved with at Lucknow Central Public School are: Books for New Babies and After School Tutoring. Last school year we started a new tradition in that any sibling that has a new baby born to their family in our school are presented with the book "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch. We have four siblings that will be given a book to take home to their new baby sister/brother at our assembly on June 26, 2014. We gave four books at our October assembly of this school year too. We were fortunate enough to be able to offer an After School Tutor- ing opportunity for some of our students from Grade 4-6. We worked on a couple of big projects during our time together. The first project was arranging for an author to come to our school and visit with us. Every time we were together we started out by reading from one of the series of books 'And Then It Happened" by Michael and Laura Wade. These authors are from Strathroy, Ontario. When the stu- dents heard that they had visited Kincardine and other schools close by the wheels started to turn. This lead to some research, letters back and forth to principle and authors until they had Michael booked. He visited us on April 1st and was able to talk to the whole school in two differ- ent sittings. Something they can be proud of for sure. The second big project we worked on was writing a book for our younger kiddies entitled "Lucky's Amazing Adventures': It tells of the mischief LCPS mascot Lucky the Lynx gets into when the students and staff are away. We put lots of hours into this book and were able to have it set up and printed professionally. We had a high school student take the photos for us. We have ordered two copies, one for the school library and one for the JK/SK class. The 10 authors will present these books on Thursday, June 26 during our assembly Congratulations to LCPS stu- dents on your accomplishments in the 2013/2014 school year. Valerie Gillies / Lucknow Sentinel Lucknow Strawberry Summerfest's Colouring Contest winners from LCPS June 2014. Back row from left: Tika Kahgee, Lian Stanley, Jacob Cuillerier, Tyler McDougall, Layne Rothmaier, Preston Eadie. Front row from left: Shelby Furness, Riley Ritchie, Annan Moffat, Nolan Moffat, Kevin Scott, Preston Robinson, Alexis Greig.