Caring about the citizens in our community

We study the effects of the distribution of wealth in our grade 6 social studies program. We will extrapolate on this to focus on understanding the rights and responsibilities of being a global and community citizen. The students will support a position on a local issue after considering various perspectives and will plan and take age-appropriate actions to address local problems or issues. We also hope to highlight the needs in our community through the arts.

Update (March 24, 2016)

Caring about the citizens in our community update
March 24th, 2016

We are learning a lot about the distribution of wealth in our world in Social Studies. We’ve had a presentation from Vibrant Communities, talking about what can cause certain citizens to be in conditions that are challenging. We’re hoping to host a ‘Citizens’ Voice’ initiative in our school to get the word out there for students as young as us to acknowledge the need and see what we can do about it.

On March 16th, we visited the Gower Street Lunch Program where half of the class prepared lunch and the other half of the class served the food and cleaned up afterwards. This lunch program is for citizens who might not get another hot meal that day. It was a rewarding experience to see how we can make a difference.

The needs in our class may not be the same as those in places where there is no clean water, but hunger and a place to sleep are very important. We're learning about the various organizations in our city who provide help to those in need of a meal, a shower or clean clothing. We will be visiting a place in April called The Gathering Place, to see what services are provided to the citizens of St. John’s. We are looking forward to it and will update soon.

Update (May 30, 2016)

Caring about the citizens in our community update
May 30th, 2016

We are continuing to learn a lot about the distribution of wealth in our world in Social Studies. The previously mentioned ‘Citizens’ Voice’ event has been organized in association with the Vibrant Communities group of the Community Sector Council. It will take place in our school on June 10th. This will be a great way for the students to really see how people in our community live.

On May 16th, we visited A Gathering Place where the students had a guided tour of the facility. This visit allowed the students an opportunity to see the needs that exist in St. John’s – where can people go if they don’t have a permanent address to have access to computers, to see a nurse or a doctor, for footcare, to get their hair cut, etc. This experience allowed the children to see how we can make a difference now, and in the future.

We’ll update again after the Citizens’ Voice event on June 10th.

Update (June 10, 2016)

We did a lot of work this spring talking about how we can help the citizens in St. John's who are in need. Here is a video of the words and messages that the students have learned and will act upon as they go through school, and beyond.