Ecole Riverdale 24-25
OUR CONTEXT
École Riverdale is a unique and diverse school in the Guildford area. We are proud to represent over 470 students and more than 45 languages from all over the world. Riverdale is also a dual track school and about 200 of our learners are in the Early French Immersion program. At Riverdale we love to learn from one another and with one another. It is a place where everyone is valued and everyone belongs.
In Northwest coast Indigenous cultures, Raven is an important figure who is often part of creation stories, such as the beginning of daylight or the change between summer and winter. Raven is considered to be a transformer and a trickster. Raven represents curiousity, creativity, and transformation.
Our school is represented by the beautiful artwork titled, "Twin Raven's Spindel Whorl" by Indigenous artist Deanna M. Point. The school was gifted this art in December 2019.
As Ravens, we focus on developing six important traits that will help us to be the best version of ourselves, at school, home, and in our communities.
We are the Ravens! Nous Sommes les corbeaux!
We are kind ~ Nous sommes gentille
Ravens use their manners, help their peers with class activities, and invite others to play.
We are respectful ~ Nous sommes respectueux
Ravens take turns, listen to others, follow school and class expectations, as well as use kind words.
We are honest ~ Nous sommes honnêtes
Ravens tell the truth, return what they borrow from others, admit to mistakes, and stand up for what is right.
We are resilient ~ Nous sommes résilients
Ravens always try again when they've made a mistake, they work through hard things with support, and are patience with themselves and others when they are learning new things.
We are empathetic ~ Nous sommes empathiques
Ravens listen to how others are feeling, check in with friends who are feeling sad, include others in activities, and show kindness to everyone.
We are uniques - Nous sommes uniques
Ravens are curious about other cultures and enjoy learning new perspectives. Ravens celebrate thier diversity and know that their strength is in their differences.
OUR LEARNERS
Our Ravens are readers, writers, and communicators. These are the skills of literacy, which is foundational to further learning and joy in life. At Riverdale we strive to meet each learner where their literacy skills are currently at and support them to continue learning and growing in these areas. We are a dual track school, and we have learners developing literacy skills in both English and French. We also have many learners who are developing English as their second, third, fourth or even fifth language.
The Core Competencies of Communicating, Thinking, and Personal/Social Responsibility are highly connected to literacy. At Riverdale, we foster the development of these core competencies as connected to all curricular areas. Our Ravens enjoy working with one another and learning together. They love to be involved in creative work where they can share ideas, try out new thoughts, and create their own designs. Our students are working on developing critical and reflective thinking skills. Our students are good citizens who contribute to the community of Riverdale and beyond in many ways.
Our Ravens love stories. Stories have become essential ways of sharing who we are and also learning about who others are. Stories allow us to learn new perspectives and world views. Stories invite curiousity and wonder. Stories open our minds.
"There is power in story; when we share stories, we build understanding and relationships. We connect with one another on a whole different level." ~Charlene and Wilson Bearhead from Resurgence
Our learners are story tellers
Core Competency: I have pride in who I am. I understand that I am a part of larger communities.
From Indigenous cultures we learn the importance of oral storytelling to pass on knowledge and to share identity. As we gather in our classroom communities, we use oral storytelling to share our experiences and hear the experiences of others. In these moments we find belonging in our community. We build an understanding and appreciation of others. The more sharing that happens the stronger community and belonging become. When we belong, we are safe to risk, to learn, to grow, and to be proud of who we are in our community.
Our learners are listeners of stories
Core Competency: I can evaluate and use well-chosen evidence to develop interpretations; identify alternatives, perspectives, and implications; and make judgments. I can examine and adjust my thinking.
Books and stories are a window into new cultures, places in the world, new topics and discoveries. The stories of others encourage us to have an open mind and rethink ideas. They cause us to question and to wonder as our brain makes sense of new information and finds where it connects and where it fits. Stories and books allow us to look at situations from new perspectives. Stories of others help us to find the similarities between all people and to celebrate the diversity we find in both our school community and the world.
Our learners are story collectors
Core Competency: I can initiate actions that bring me joy and satisfaction and recognize that I play a role in my well-being.
Stories bring joy. There is nothing greater than sharing a good story. Sometimes that story is in a book and sometimes it is the story of our day and an event that has happened. We connect through story. We learn through story. We are formed through story. As we move through life, we collect stories. We collect the ones that bring us joy, the ones that bring us growth, and the ones that open our minds to new horizons. We are striving for all Ravens to find joy in story.
Our students love to learn through story. At Riverdale we are committed to focusing on developing literacy skills in all our learners, so they develop a joy of reading, strengthen their own voice to share their stories, and a willingness to hear the stories of others. Story is what connects us.
OUR FOCUS
As we celebrate and recognize the importance of stories to our Ravens, we have chosen to continue our literacy focus. Over the past couple of years we have focused on different elements of literacy, beginning with a look at our early readers and decodable books. Last year we shifted to an inquiry of fluency in our intermediate readers. This year we have come together as a whole team to inquire about both the joy of reading and the importance of including texts from different perspectives.
Our cohort this year consisted of one to two learners from each class so covered the full range of K-7. Each teacher selected a small cohort of students who are unmotivated readers. These student may be unmotivated for a variety of reasons, perhaps due to struggling with decoding text, not yet able to understand text or who simply haven't yet found the kind of text or story that brings joy and motivation.
Our student learning goals, as connected to the curriculum were:
- language and text can be a source of joy
- exploring stories and text helps us understand ourselves
- through stories we can build connections with others and the world
- texts can be understood from different perspectives
To target and guide student's success with the above goals the following learning experiences were used:
- Noisy reading
- School wide reading event
- Reader's Theatre
- Literacy games
- Reading in other languages
- Reading trivia
- Mystery guests to read or tell a story
- Displaying more diverse texts in the classroom
- Including different types of texts, such as songs, poems, oral storytelling, biographies, graphic novels, non-fiction
- Using more books that represent different cultures and perspectives
OUR NEXT STEPS
We completed a 6 week learning sprint in April to focus on our inquiry of joy of reading and using more diverse texts. At the beginning of the sprint, we collected data from our students using a survey. About half of our student population completed the survey. Students were asked about their enjoyment of reading, how frequently they read about other cultures, if reading helps them understand others and how enjoyment of reading can be increased at school.
Here's some of the information we learned. The results of the survey have been analyzed and graphed with the help of Microsoft CoPilot:
The majority of our students seem to like reading!
Overall our students don't spend a lot of time reading books or stories from different cultures or perspectives.
Our students have lots of ideas to increase enjoyment of reading . Thanks to Microsoft CoPilot, here is a summary of their ideas:
- Friends & Social Reading – Many students suggested reading with friends or in groups to make it more fun and engaging.
- Book Variety – Requests for more interesting, funny, or genre-specific books (e.g., manga, sports, fantasy, mystery, graphic novels).
- Interactive & Creative Activities – Ideas like book clubs, reading games, drawing characters, or making their own books.
- Technology Integration – Suggestions included audiobooks, reading on iPads, and online reading platforms.
- Quiet & Comfortable Environment – Students emphasized the need for quiet spaces and calm time to focus on reading.
- Incentives & Challenges – Competitions, reading goals, and rewards like pizza parties or quizzes were popular motivators.
- Teacher Involvement – Some students wanted teachers to read aloud or help guide discussions.
- Cultural & Language Diversity – Requests for books in different languages and about different cultures.
Our learning inquiry sprint was a bit too short to see a shift in data at the end of six weeks. However, teachers did make the following observations:
"In my class I introduced "Read to Someone". The goal was to have the students collaborate with each other in a positive way as well as engaging more joy in reading. Over the month I observed, students discussing and laughing over what they were reading."
"We liked the reading under the stars event because it was calm, positive, and made reading cool. It was nice to have a community event that wasn't a gathering."
"Read alouds, reading one-on-one, reading under the stars, silent reading, reading with a buddy. All these strategies made its little contributions . Students are developing their confidence. They are blending and segmenting to read the new vacabulary words, where ever possible."
The Raven team is already planning for the continuation of this work next year. There are lots of ideas for an increase in school wide reading events, as well as greater attention to the texts selected to support learning. We look forward to seeing the data change as the goal is continued.
Surrey Schools
Formed in 1906, the Surrey School District currently has the largest student enrolment in British Columbia and is one of the few growing districts in the province. It is governed by a publicly elected board of seven trustees.
The district serves the cities of Surrey and White Rock and the rural area of Barnston Island.
