It's that time again...Time for another blog post!
This post is definitely a little different, for it is not focused around the Montessori philosophy. However, being a Montessori teacher I try to incorporate Montessori in everything I do at school. Today, I wanted to talk about an amazing program we have at River Vally School (RVS).
At RVS, we have an enhanced educational program for our students called Friday Specials!
Every term teachers plan a 6-week educational program for the children to take part in, on Friday afternoons. However, this is not a normal program, it is focused around widening the educational experience for the child. It is an outside of the box experience, where the children are learning about something new, while having fun!
As a teacher at River Valley School, I think I speak for all of us in saying that planning our Friday Specials is not something we take lightly! We put weeks of planning and preparation into these programs, to ensure our students get the most out of each special!
For my first Friday Special, I planned my very own Master Chef program, however instead of having my sweet students compete against each other, I instead focused the special around teaching new cooking skills and kitchen safety. We had 6 weeks of hands on cooking and baking, where each student gained a new level of confidence in realizing that they to are able to cook!
This post is definitely a little different, for it is not focused around the Montessori philosophy. However, being a Montessori teacher I try to incorporate Montessori in everything I do at school. Today, I wanted to talk about an amazing program we have at River Vally School (RVS).
At RVS, we have an enhanced educational program for our students called Friday Specials!
Every term teachers plan a 6-week educational program for the children to take part in, on Friday afternoons. However, this is not a normal program, it is focused around widening the educational experience for the child. It is an outside of the box experience, where the children are learning about something new, while having fun!
As a teacher at River Valley School, I think I speak for all of us in saying that planning our Friday Specials is not something we take lightly! We put weeks of planning and preparation into these programs, to ensure our students get the most out of each special!
For my first Friday Special, I planned my very own Master Chef program, however instead of having my sweet students compete against each other, I instead focused the special around teaching new cooking skills and kitchen safety. We had 6 weeks of hands on cooking and baking, where each student gained a new level of confidence in realizing that they to are able to cook!
For my second Friday Special I planned a program around Animal Rescue, called “Pets, Pets and More Pets! This Friday Special was something I enjoyed just as much as my students! Animal rescue is very close to my heart and I loved helping to teach my students all about it.
When planning this Friday Special, I really tried to focus it around the 7 core values of River Valley School: Confidence, Creativity, Global Citizenships, Independence, Leadership, Peace and Respect. My students learned how to be Confident and Independent in their encounters with animals, how to properly approach a pet and how to keep themselves safe if they happen to encounter an aggressive animal. We have been learning about Global Citizenship and Leadership through animal rescue. This involved discovering what our part is as a community, in helping animals in need. The children explored and expanded their Creativity through their expression of what they learned in each Friday Special, writing and drawing in their learning log. Lastly, we explored the aspects of Peace and Respect through group discussions, demonstrations and presentations.
The first day of my Pets Special, we received a presentation from the Oops-a-Dazy Rescue & Sanctuary Society. They taught us all about their organization and how they help homeless pets! On top of this they gave us our first introduction to Pet Safety! They even brought along three adorable puppies for the students to play with! The children had an absolute ball during this presentation; they talked about it for weeks!
When planning this Friday Special, I really tried to focus it around the 7 core values of River Valley School: Confidence, Creativity, Global Citizenships, Independence, Leadership, Peace and Respect. My students learned how to be Confident and Independent in their encounters with animals, how to properly approach a pet and how to keep themselves safe if they happen to encounter an aggressive animal. We have been learning about Global Citizenship and Leadership through animal rescue. This involved discovering what our part is as a community, in helping animals in need. The children explored and expanded their Creativity through their expression of what they learned in each Friday Special, writing and drawing in their learning log. Lastly, we explored the aspects of Peace and Respect through group discussions, demonstrations and presentations.
The first day of my Pets Special, we received a presentation from the Oops-a-Dazy Rescue & Sanctuary Society. They taught us all about their organization and how they help homeless pets! On top of this they gave us our first introduction to Pet Safety! They even brought along three adorable puppies for the students to play with! The children had an absolute ball during this presentation; they talked about it for weeks!
My next special was an exciting one indeed! We had a presentation from the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation called Supremely Skunks. We spent the afternoon learning all about skunks and how they are a misunderstood animal! They even brought in their Education Skunk Gulliver (Yes a real skunk!) for us to meet!
For my third special, I had a volunteer from SKF Magnetic Bearings bring in a sweet Labrador Retriever (who happens to be my sweet dog, Sky) to help further our dog safety education! We spent the afternoon practicing our dog safety skills on sweet sky and of course, in the end, we got to spend lots of time getting doggie cuddles and kisses from Sky.
During my next special, we took part in the “Hawks on the Move” presentations from the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society! They brought in a young Swanson’s Hawk for us to meet and we learned all about the life of a hawk, as well as the many other wild animals they help!
For my fifth week of Friday Specials, we took part in a fun presentation from the Calgary Humane society! They taught us all about animal emotions, how to properly introduce ourselves to a dog and what to do if we meet a dog without an owner! They brought along their big stuffed toy dog Max, who helped us practice how to stay safe if a strange or aggressive dog approached us!
Calgary Humane Society is especially close to my heart...
I adopted my sweet Siamese cat from them back in December!
I adopted my sweet Siamese cat from them back in December!
The last day of my Pets, Pets and More Pets Friday Special, was spent with the Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society(AARCS)! They came in and gave us a great presentation about pet safety, foods that are good and bad for domestic animals, how they help homeless animals and we even learned about why we should spay and neuter our pets!
Since the AARCS provides their educational program for free, I thought this would be a great time for us to further our Global Citizenship skills and decided to hold a “Pet Supplies Drive “ for AARCS. My Friday Special students and some of our amazing staff here at River Valley, brought in food and supplies to donate! We were all so proud of the amount of supplies we were able to collect! I would like to put a special thank-you out to one of our Physical Education teachers, Leah Hall, for helping me collect the donations from the staff!
Since the AARCS provides their educational program for free, I thought this would be a great time for us to further our Global Citizenship skills and decided to hold a “Pet Supplies Drive “ for AARCS. My Friday Special students and some of our amazing staff here at River Valley, brought in food and supplies to donate! We were all so proud of the amount of supplies we were able to collect! I would like to put a special thank-you out to one of our Physical Education teachers, Leah Hall, for helping me collect the donations from the staff!
I would also like to thank my lovely co-worker Ashley Stewart (amazing JK teacher) for letting us use her classroom and smart board for some of our presentations!
Lastly I need to send out a HUGE Thank-you to my amazing co-worker, Kiomi Wied, for being such a wonderful partner during this Friday Special! I seriously could not of pulled off such a fantastic program without you!!
Friday Specials start again next week!
I can't wait to start my "Spring has Sprung" program!
Lastly I need to send out a HUGE Thank-you to my amazing co-worker, Kiomi Wied, for being such a wonderful partner during this Friday Special! I seriously could not of pulled off such a fantastic program without you!!
Friday Specials start again next week!
I can't wait to start my "Spring has Sprung" program!