February is Black History Month, a time to reflect on the stories, experiences, and accomplish-ments of Canada’s black community.

We have had several discussions over the month thus far. We have looked at the contributions of several prominent black historical figures that have contributed to getting equal rights and freedoms, so that all people could be treated equally. We discussed how people of different skin colours have been treated differently over the course of our history. We learned that in early black history in America, many blacks were brought over to North America, from Africa and made slaves, losing the ability to make decisions for themselves. We learned that as time went on ‘white people’ and ‘people of colour’ were treated differently. We learned that some people had to stand up to help change laws, to stop segregation. We learned that we are happy we are living now, where we can live together happily, learning in our diverse community. We recognize that people need to stand up for what is right and just for all. We know that a lot of the people who did this, ended up in jail. We know that now people see these people as brave and as heroes.

Two of the stories that have been shared widely in our school are the stories of two strong black women: Viola Davis Desmond and Harriet Tubman.

Viola Davis Desmond was at the center of one of Nova Scotia's most controversial episodes. In 1946, she refused to sit in the balcony of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, N.S. and sat on the floor reserved exclusively for white people instead. She was arrested and found guilty of not paying the full tax on a floor-seat ticket. She was jailed and fined. She died in 1965 at the age of 50. In 2010, the government of Nova Scotia posthumously pardoned Desmond and apologized to her family.

In 2018, Viola Desmond became the first Canadian Women to be put on a Canadian dollar bill. In fact, she is on the 10 dollar note.

Harriet Tubman, a formerly enslaved individual from Maryland, became known as the “Moses” of her people and the “conductor” who led hundreds of enslaved Blacks to freedom along the Underground Railroad. In 1850, when the far-reaching United States Fugitive Law was passed, she guided runaway enslaved people further north into Canada. When angry slave owners posted rewards for her capture, she continued her work despite great personal risk.

St. Catharines, Ontario (a town close to the border with the United States) was on the route and offered employment opportunities, making it a common destination for the former fugitives, including Harriet Tubman, who lived there from 1851 to 1857. Many of the people she rescued were relatives of those already in St. Catharines including her own parents, brothers and sisters and their families.

NEWSLETTER #7- FEBRUARY 2020

Director of Instruction: Mr. Aaron Davis Principal: Ms. Harjinder Sandhu

Liaison Trustee: Mr. Alan Wong Vice Principal: Ms. Kamala Coughlan

PAC Chairperson: Ms. Maya Toews and Mr. Ross Kukard

如閣下需要翻譯服務，請與校務處聯絡。謝謝！

Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses used by black slaves in the United States to escape to the free state, Canada. The Underground Railroad is a metaphor, symbolizing the way to get the Canada. Salves would refer to Canada as “The Promised Land.” In the metaphor, the “Conductors” were the people who helped the fleeing slaves to get from place to place. These conductors were people, some black, some white, some men, some women, but all of these people wanted slavery out of the world. They were also called abolitionists because they wanted to abolish the practice of slavery. The conductor would sometimes pretend to be a slave to enter a plantation. Once a part of a plantation, the conductor would direct the slaves to the North. Slaves would travel at night, about 15–30 km to each station. They would stop at the so-called stations or depots, during the day and rest. The stations were out of the way places like barns. While resting at one sta-tion, a message was sent to the next station to let the station master know the slaves were on their way. The fleeing slaves were referred to as “Passengers” or “cargo”.

On Wednesday, February 26th Renfrew will join other schools across Canada by participating in Pink Shirt Day to help raise awareness that bullying will not be tolerated anywhere. Pink Shirt Day started when David Shepherd and Travis Price, students at a Nova Scotia high school, saw a student being bullied because he wore a pink shirt to school. They decided to support the student, so they went and pur-chased pink shirts and handed them out to everyone the next day at school. Now, Pink Shirt Day is a national event celebrated every year. This year’s campaign encourages everyone to responsible choices when using social media. The campaign addresses the growing trend of cyberbullying, “Lift Each Other Up”. We all have the capacity to be kind and compassionate. No matter what our differences, recognizing each others gifts and worth goes a long way to build positive relationships. So on Friday, February 21st and Wednesday, February 26th we at Renfrew will do our best to wear pink and “Lift Each Other Up” with care and compliments

Big Ideas: Designs grow out of natural curiosity Skills are developed through play Technologies are tools that extend human capa-bilities

A Kindergarten Perspective: Kindergarten students have been studying tow trucks and cranes… a passion of some of our students. How lucky we were that the school acquired BIG building materials so that we could experience the trial-and-error, problem-solving skills required to constructing our own, almost LIFE-SIZE (from a Kindergarten perspective) tow trucks and cranes! It required teamwork, persistence, and a lot of oral language to get the job done—and to avoid injuries. Look, we DID it!

Divisions 7, 9, 10 and 20 have been learning about owls this winter. In order bring the learning alive, the “Owl Lady” was invited to school. On February 11, students got to see a barn owl and a boobook owl from the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society OWL. The students were able to see different bird eggs, feathers, wings, talons, and pictures of raptors that also make British Columbia their home. The students thought it was “really cool’” to see the owls stretch their wings.

On February 20th Division 6 had the opportunity to learn Braille. Adam from the

Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually impaired (PRCVI), accompanied VSB teacher

for the Visually Impaired Ms. Rita and MacKenzie Elementary School student, Jugaad,

gave an afternoon workshop. Jugaad, talked about his experiences being visually impaired,

he answered questions and demonstrated how to read Braille. The teachers then shared

Braille resources with the students so they could experience reading Braille. Adam then

reviewed with students how to use a braillewriter and everyone had an opportunity to

practice. Students were very focused during their practice time on the braillewriters. The

students practiced writing their names, names of others and much more. Thank you to Ms.

Hoang for arranging this visit. Thank you to Jugaad, Ms. Rita, Adam and PRCVI for

making this opportunity possible.

PARENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE (PAC)

Parents play an important role in the school and we encourage parents to participate as much as they

can. Please come learn about our school goals and initiatives as well as the role of the PAC. We hope

to be able to encourage more of our parents to take an active role. Childcare will be provided. For

more information please email: chair@renfrewpac.com

Our next PAC Meeting will be held on March 10th at 6:00 pm in the library.

Child-minding is provided.

Mark Your Calendars!

February 21st - Assembly for Pink Day

February 25th - Parent Workshop @ 6:30 pm in the Library, Body Science Workshop

February 26th - Pink Day

February 26th - Early Dismissal @ 2:00 pm - Student Led Conferences

February 26th and 27th - Body Science Workshops for all students

February 27th - Regular 3:00 pm Dismissal - Student Led Conferences

February 28th - School Wide Fitness

February 28th - Afternoon visit from the Superintendent of Vancouver Schools

March 2nd -13th - Dance In School Programs

March 6th - Afternoon performance Group A (TBA)

March 10th - PAC Meeting @ 6:00 pm in the library

March 13th - Afternoon performance Group B (TBA)

Ms. Mooney was able to arrange, through Science World, for Science Teacher, Mr. Brian Wing to visit our school. Science World provided all of the materials and Mr. Wing generously donated his time to teach and inspire young scientist. He spent three days at our school working with twelve classes on hands on activities. He

delivered the following workshops:

Balloon Rockets - Force and Motion Division 21 explored rockets made from

balloons, straws and strings of differing friction.

Squishy Circuits - Divisions 7 and 12 used conductive play-dough, LEDs and 9 volt batteries in an activity encouraging students to explore the basic principles of

electric circuits.

Robot Mice - Divisions 9 and 11 were introduced to coding and computational thinking for early learners using ”Colby”, a

programmable Robot Mouse.

Ozobots - Divisions 7 and 10 were introduced to robotics, coding and computational thinking using golfball-sized Ozobots. The had the

Ozobots follow lines and read colour codes on paper.

Micro:bits - Division 5 was introduced to block coding and computational thinking using credit card-sized computers

(https://www.microbit.org/).

Inventing Air Machines - Division 2 and 3 students were challenged to create turbine blades to turn wind energy into electric energy. They designed, built, test and modified their creations to determine the factors that affect the amount of energy generated by a turbine. Along the way, they pondered what it takes to be an inventor and discover what engineers learn from

failure.

The Red Green Blue Show - Division 14, 22 and StrongStart students were led through an exploration of light and colour: How do you get colours from white light? What do you get when you mix coloured light as opposed to paint? What happens when you shine a green light on a red object? This workshop included a cut ’n’ paste construction project for further independent home experiments. This simple gadget generates red, green, or blue light by folding down the corresponding coloured

window over a flashlight’s emitter (all materials supplied).

Theses engaging activities provided an opportunity for students to: gain new science skills, knowledge and understanding, demonstrate positive attitudes about science, imagine themselves using science in the future, enjoy science and have fun. Thank you to Ms. Mooney for making the arrangement. Thank you to Science World and Mr. Brian Wing for

the opportunity and making it all happen!