The last time our school participated in Heritage Fair was in 2024. It's a busy time of year but I insisted that we register this year because the regional fair was held in Scarborough, at Centennial College's Progress Campus. Even though it took a lot of effort to prepare for the event, I am so glad that we went. It was spectacularly organized on every level. (Big thanks to my daughter for helping me supervise the group I brought.)
Parking and navigating to the event space were easy. There was plenty of space and enough tables for the projects. The students were grouped into four animal sections and the animal sections dictated when they attended their workshops and had their judging times. The students had cards with their schedules and spots where they could track how many times they were evaluated. This guaranteed that every project was observed three times. In between the judging times, students also made time to eat their lunch and visit "Community Street", a row of tables that students could visit for information on different topics.
The young people really enjoyed the workshops they attended. One was by Archives Ontario and the fabulous Hafiz Printer, and the other session was by TDSB Eco-Schools. It was nice to participate in interactive, collaborative activities.
May is hectic and getting the project "fair ready" was a bit more extensive than I expected.
Our students are so accustomed to designing digital projects that it is quite a shift for them to create physical display boards. It took them a long time to plan, cut, layout and stick on the text and images. We only entered four projects with six participants and I'm glad there weren't more that needed my attention. Their projects had been completed since first term, but for some of our teams, they put the finishing touches on their boards the actual morning of the fair! (This stressed me out a bit, I won't lie.)
We also took an unconventional approach to determining our entries for the regional fair. After we had our class project presentations, we actually asked students to self-nominate. That way, we knew that the participants were truly interested in participating.
It will be a few weeks before we hear the results of the judges' decisions and whether or not any of the Agnes Macphail P.S. students will be selected to move on to the provincial fair and celebration. I know that the organizers downplay the competitive aspect, but it is a big attraction for my students. Big thanks to Melissa Moorehouse, the coordinator of the event, for making all the arrangements. I told her that I'd praise the way this event was run to any and everyone who'd listen, so this is my attempt to share the good news.
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