ConGRADulations (and Supporting on Stage)

This past week was "Graduation Week". Our Grade 8s and Senior Kindergarten students had their special ceremonies. I wrote about last year's ceremonies on my blog and focused on the behind-the-scenes efforts of everyone involved to make the events successful. It is still an important truth, but this year, I'll talk about humility and anxiety.

Our fantastic Grade 8 teacher, who has been giving 110% percent all year, fell sick. She was very concerned that she was unable to complete the final arrangements prior to the big day. Thankfully, she was able to attend the graduation ceremony but had to leave shortly afterwards. She is still recovering. The good news is that we believe in the mantra "the show must go on" and many other teachers were able to pitch in. I was present for the rehearsals that began two weeks before, so my fellow co-chair and I took care of that portion. Our French teacher and several volunteer Grade 9s decorated the gym. Other staff members took care of the medals, programs, and transforming the library into a fancy dining environment for the soon-to-be-high-schoolers.

The students themselves were practically vibrating with excitement and nerves on June 19. Lots of worries, both big and small, peppered their thoughts. Sometimes I question whether or not we make graduation "too much of a big deal". My American-born husband is always surprised by how elaborate many elementary school graduation ceremonies can be. I even wonder if some of the talks we give our students contribute to their anxiety, by elevating this one event to be something particularly memorable and monumental. This anxiety can be a bit contagious. Even some of the adults had moments of self-doubt. People asked others to check over their award speeches. They looked at seating plans. Structure and rehearsal helped calm some of these concerns and it ended up being a fantastic evening.

The same was true for our SK graduation, held the next day; it was a lovely celebration. Having said that, one of our students became completely overwhelmed and refused to come up to the front to receive his scroll. Instead, we went to him. We didn't force him. During the song, he hid behind the curtains. During the class photo, he ran away. It's important to realize that some of these milestone events are more for the families than for the individual students themselves. I know it can be disappointing for the parents to not capture a photo of their little cutie on stage, but it isn't always in the cards. We teachers can try to prepare the students as best as we can to deal with the fear our students might feel (again, with structure and rehearsals so they know what to expect), but even then, the pressure may be too much for some little ones. In that case, we grownups need to adapt. That's why it's wonderful that a big part of the kindergarten graduation program involves a pre-made video featuring photos of all the students throughout the year doing all sorts of wonderful things. Our SK graduation ceremony also features a moment when positive things are said about each and every student. So, even if a child is unable or unwilling to perform, they are still featured and honoured.

I was honoured to receive an absolutely adorable "corn bouquet", with replicas of me, one of the kindergarten teachers, and one of the ECEs! (I'm the one with glasses!)

I also wonder, as other teachers did during a conversation in the staffroom, whether or not part of the "cure" for this anxiety is, conversely, to give them multiple opportunities to do things that somewhat scare them, so that they learn to deal with their feelings in productive ways in safe spaces. This "stage support", and the need to provide these changes to practice doing the things that might make them uneasy, was evident during our annual Story Jam. Selected students from the primary division were invited to recite their memorized stories or poems for the other Grade 1-4 classes. Many of the students were really apprehensive. Some of the classroom teachers had to sit next to them, with the paper version of the story in their hands, to reassure them. Public speaking is a common phobia, but if we educators do things to help alleviate this fear, maybe it can help in other areas of life as well. 

"Don't be shy; give it a try." Even tiny, timid baby bunnies venture out of the nest to explore. There's a mama bunny with four kits that are living in my strawberry patch and under our deck. My husband captured these photos of them bravely facing the world.

Finally, I want to recognize someone who is graduating in a different way - she's retiring! Congratulations to Parviz Paliwalla. Parviz was an EA at our school for many years. Even when she was transferred to a different school, she maintained contact with us. She let us know that this June is her final year in education, and so several of us met for dinner to recognize this big life change. (I didn't show images of the entire crew, because I didn't get permission from everyone to share.)

Congratulations Parviz on your retirement, and congratulations to everyone on their school achievements, big and small. 

Flying, Frozen and Furry

It was another busy week at school. Some portions happened like clockwork - our annual Volunteer Appreciation event and the TDSB TL Social. Others were unique to this year, so I will focus on those memories to analyze, in reverse order from the title of this post.

Furry, Four-Legged Friends: Our Pet Club Celebration with Biscuit

One of the clubs I ran this year was Pet Club. I started it based on a suggestion from a student, who wanted time to interact with our school skinny pigs. The students, chosen from applicants in Grades 3-5, had to check in daily on the pets to ensure they had food and water. They were also responsible for letting me know when the cage was dirty so that we could clean it. Technically, I did all the cleaning and they "babysat" the skinny pigs. The problem with Pet Club is that students were, to use a Caribbean figure of speech, either "8 or 80". They either completely forgot about checking on them, leaving them without basic necessities, or over-attentive, checking on them at every recess and free period (and even during lessons too). We had schedules set up and posted all over the library, as well as copies sent home with the participating students. I included a list of the things to do as part of Pet Club. Unfortunately, some students still had difficulty keeping up with the demands and they had to be demitted from Pet Club. To recognize and acknowledge the students that persevered with their duties, we hosted a dog visit with Biscuit, a canine who lives with the Miller family in the neighbourhood.

Mr. Miller was absolutely fabulous. He is a member of our school's Parent Council and an active volunteer. He also knows how to speak to students. It may be due to the nature of his daytime job, or because he has four children in his home, but for whatever the reasons, he was an excellent ambassador. The goal was for the students to know how to interact safely and respectfully with dogs they may encounter in the community. We talked inside the library and then went outside.

The students were fascinated by Biscuit and interested in everything Mr. Miller taught them. He explained about the need to ask owners for permission before petting dogs in public. He demonstrated how to approach from the side and let the dog get comfortable first. He had students empathize with dogs to help them understand why they might react in the ways they do. By the time we went outside, a larger crowd gathered to check out what was going on. He showed how to keep your palm open and flat when offering treats so that the dog can accept the snack safely.

As Mr. Miller brought around Biscuit for the students to meet, we realized that many of our students were quite uncomfortable around dogs. Some, even though they were Pet Club enthusiasts, showed quite a bit of fear and were very skittish around Biscuit. Mr. Miller was very patient and reassuring. Some students chose not to get near the dog, and that choice was honoured and respected. Others were eager but nervous and they received lots of support and Mr. Miller had Biscuit sitting in a way that gave students the confidence to interact a bit more.

Afterwards, Mr. Miller expressed some regret that he wasn't able to mention all the things he wanted to cover during his talk. I was so appreciative of his time and effort with this presentation and told him that the students left with important information. Thank you, Brian Miller and Biscuit, for ending the Pet Club duties with a woof!

Frozen Treats: Our ESL Ice Cream Inquiry

One scoop or two? Do you prefer chocolate or vanilla? Where is it kept? Oh no, it's melting!

Sharing ice cream with the Stage 1-2 ESL classes helped develop a lot of vocabulary. I had some leftover ice cream from the Quiz Bowl celebration last week. We researched different types of ice cream, which helped reading comprehension. We also wrote down some of these flavors. The class pre-set goals (write down 10 flavors) and when we achieved them, we trooped to the office where we have a freezer tucked away in the back.

As I've mentioned before, food is highly motivating. The students really enjoyed talking about ice cream and especially eating the ice cream!

Flying Up and Away: More Green Screen Magic in the Library

As part of my big library renovation and refresh, the school purchased a large green screen. I decided to try it out with the Kindergarten students as part of my library/media lessons with them, although I had a secondary reason. Their kindergarten graduation is coming up, and sometimes it can be hard to find photos of individual children doing school things. With the yearbook, I tend to prioritize taking group pictures. When preparing the Grade 8 and kindergarten graduate slide shows, we have to be so careful about only including images of the students in question, since we don't have permission to show the others. By taking these whimsical green screen photos, we can use them for their SK graduation and maybe eight years in the future for their Grade 8 graduation!

It's important to teach THROUGH and ABOUT media, so part of this lesson involved showing how the technology worked. I used the Do Ink Green Screen app and showed them how this particular shade of green is substituted in the app with whatever image I select. I also relied on the "problem solving and innovation" aspect of the kindergarten curriculum to get the students to figure out how we could make it appear as if they were flying. They quickly discovered that using one of the big block seats, covered with fabric in the same shade of bright green, would hide the support. 

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Students even had the chance to take photos themselves using Do Ink. 

Here I am showing them how we can look like we are flying.

We also had good conversations afterwards about whether or not they were really flying and they were able to say they weren't because it was just pretend, thanks to the green screen.  

This coming week will be filled with graduation and retirement celebrations. Hopefully there will be some time for teaching in between!

P.S. Sunday, June 15, 2025 was also Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to my own Popperino, Fred DeFreitas, and my husband (and a fantastic father himself), James Maliszewski! I probably should have called this post "Flying, Frozen, Furry, and Fatherly"!

When Finalizing is Frustrating vs Fun

 This past week was a four-day week with the students. Friday, June 6 was a report card writing day. I was extremely grateful to have this day, as I needed the time to consolidate evaluations and create these summaries.

Marking is not my favourite task. I've talked about this A LOT on my blog. A quick search of the term leads to posts on my desire to procrastinate, the reason why I tend to shun the use of AI with evaluation, and ways to make marking manageable as a classroom teacher. I talked about this with a colleague - when we were little and would "play school" or "pretend to be teachers", we happily placed checkmarks and crosses on tests, yet this is the least appealing part of our jobs now that we have them! 

It can be difficult to ascertain how much weight should be given to particular tasks, and whether this was an accurate portrayal of the student's abilities or if he/she/they were just having an "off day". One of my other colleagues reminded me about the guiding principles from "Growing Success" - focus on what's most recent and most consistent. 

Assessment can be frustrating. I like seeing the end result - but the process can be a bit bumpy. Seeing the "last chapter" sometimes makes me want to try to alter the conclusion. Is there anything else I can do to change things, or improve the conclusion? 

I provided a satisfactory conclusion to our Quiz Bowl event when we hosted a Quiz Bowl ice cream party on Tuesday, June 3 for the students who participated. A couple of weeks ago, we hosted the most recent Quiz Bowl competition and, to my surprise, my students won the Fiction event. As we were walking to the host school on the day of the contest, the students and I were chatting and I frivolously said that if they won, we would have an ice cream party to celebrate, never thinking that they'd be able to pull it off. These were words I were happy to have to eat. (I myself didn't eat any of the ice cream. I'm still on my Lean and Clean Challenge.) 

This was a fun way to follow-up and wrap up this significant portion of the Forest of Reading program. The students ate themselves sick and we examined the statistics that were compiled during the competition to see where we did well and where we could have boosted our numbers.

During our Quiz Bowl Celebration Party, we also took a photo for our Quiz Bowl Book Trophy. This was a bittersweet task. One of the schools that participated in the past, who shall remain nameless in this blog post, actually lost the fiction book trophy. I was really upset when I heard the news. The "book trophy" isn't worth a lot of money itself, but it is a historic artifact that cannot be replaced. The original pair of books, made by now-retired teacher-librarian Claire Perrin, had not only the list of every school that won the award since we began this tradition in 2009, but the names and signatures of every child that was on the winning team. (Below is a photo of the pair of books from 2019, when Agnes Macphail PS won the non-fiction category and C. D. Farqharson PS won the fiction category.) This information and these names are not recorded anywhere else, so with the loss of the book, this data has vanished completely.

My close TL friends that I first shared this disappointing news with advised me to insist that the school that lost the book make amends somehow, by replacing the book or at least informing the other participating schools that this has happened. In the end, I decided against these punitive actions, but I still felt the need to share the tale. I bought a new book and will record the schools that won, if I can locate those results somewhere in my scrapbooks. (Thank goodness for my own silly need to document!) Congratulations again to the team from my school for the incredible results.

Public Performances & Private Parts

This past week was our school's spring concert and the final high school performance of a treasured former student from our school.

Our school's music teacher was understandably a bit worried about organizing a concert six weeks after her return to work from her injury, for May 28. I helped out as much as I can, without trying to step on toes or take over. I had two acts in the show. My primary choir and ukulele club did a great job. 

Thursday, May 29 was one of the performances of "Clue" at Earl Haig Secondary School by the students in the Claude Watson Program for the Performing Arts. Tyler was fantastic. I saw him in his Grade 9 show; he was amazing then and he was marvelous now. 

These are some of my thoughts, post-concert, and post-play.

• People aren't used to live shows anymore, or how to behave. At my school, I could actually see and hear adults talking while the students were performing on stage. I was aching to reprimand them, but my focus had to be on conducting. 
• It takes so much time, effort, and energy to put on a show. What we witness at the end, in front of the audience, is just the tip of the iceberg. Hours and hours of rehearsals, practices, and planning goes into productions like this. Tyler's play was completely run by the Grade 12 graduating drama class. This included costuming, lighting, and stage direction, among other things.
• Everyone has a different approach to the performing arts, and it takes skill and diplomacy to find the perfect balance of suggesting changes that will improve an act without veering into shaping the performance into the version you personally envision would be best. I found it fascinating that Tyler was only Mr. Green at the Thursday performance. There was another student portraying the same character in the show on Friday. I'd find it nearly impossible to imagine someone else in the role because Tyler possessed it so thoroughly. 
• Family support means so much, and not just "at the finish line". It was so heartwarming to see so many people come out to see Tyler's last high school show. His arms were filled with bouquets of flowers to celebrate his accomplishments. Congratulations again Tyler, and all the students who took part in both the production of "Clue" and our school's show!

I called this post "Public Performances and Private Parts" because I wanted to make sure I talked about the other aspect of teaching that has taken priority for the past few weeks. As part of my collaborative teaching time, I've been working with four different classes to provide grade-specific health lessons on the "Human Development and Sexual Health" unit. I teach the Grade 3s and their focus is on healthy relationships, positive body image, and factors that affect physical and social-emotional development. For the Grade 5s, we are working on parts of the reproductive system, puberty, menstruation and spermatogenesis. I've talked about teaching this before on my blog. Now that I've done it a few times, I definitely feel more comfortable leading these lessons. In addition to the useful and accurate OPHEA lesson plans, and the giant sperm and egg toys (renamed Willie and Wanda by this year's students), I also used a book called "Where Willy Went".

This is actually an old book, published in 2004. It shows its age in some ways and is decidedly innocent in some ways. Some students, after having the book read to them, were unclear on how Willy actually got to the egg. (The process of sexual intercourse is obscured in the picture book and just described as "joined together".) It has a few hidden biases/presumptions that have been disproven by recent science. For instance, Willy has a name but the egg in the book doesn't. Willy has an active role and the egg has a passive one. However, (and I apologize that I cannot find the scientific study that references this), the egg doesn't just sit there and allows the first sperm that arrives to merge. The egg can secrete substances that encourages or discourages penetration by certain sperm. 

Another example of how media portrayals or methods to try to instruct students on this potentially-awkward topic can lead to some inaccuracies involves the internal female reproductive system. The OPHEA lesson plan has a diagram to label that looks like most diagrams on the subject. I drew a version of it on the board so the students could see and copy more easily. (I added the illustration of the sperm going in and the menses going out.)

In the interest of making things easier to label, these diagrams suggest that the organs are spread out. (One Grade 5 boy said, "It looks like a praying mantis.") In reality, all of these parts are packed pretty closely together. A similar issue can be had with diagrams of the male reproductive system, which are often shown in a side view, blocking the fact that there are two testicles. If we rely on just these diagrams without explanation, there is the chance that students may not realize certain realities. We definitely want to stick to diagrams rather than other means of visualization, but it's important to be aware of their shortcomings. 

In addition to using Willy and Wanda, I've also used, based on suggestions from the OPHEA lessons, a question box where students can write their questions that they may be too shy to ask. It also buys me time to find a way to answer them in the most sensitive and accurate way. Their questions help me understand that parts of the lessons they are having trouble grasping. For instance, these are some of the questions from my most recent check of the question box.

• When you have a baby, does the baby come from the vaginal opening?
• Why do girls have an organ just for baby? Is it called the placenta?
• Why do periods start?
• What happens if you don't feed the baby?
• How do people get pregnant?
• What are fallopian tubes?
• How do twins happen?
• What's the other egg for in a woman's body?
• When are we going to learn [about] boobs?
• Is the outer part boobs?
• Why do pregnant women have cravings?
• How is the sperm made?
• What happens when you have sex and pee? / What happens if the man pees doing sex?

I worry that we aren't going to have enough time to address all these questions AND ensure that I generate some evaluations so that the teachers will have marks to put on the report cards. (The designated day devoted to report card writing is this coming Friday, June 6.) 

My other concern is for the students that get permission to abstain from these lessons. Often, the objections are religious in nature. I respect families but I wonder when or where or how these students will receive this information, and why it is that this particular unit can be exempted but not other units in other subject areas. I hope that all students will get the information they need in a timely and age-appropriate manner.