Sammi Yip Grade 6 Artist
At Semiahmoo Trail Elementary, we promote academic excellence, mutual respect, responsibility for learning, and a sense of belonging. We pride ourselves on providing a welcoming school environment that embraces community involvement. Building leadership skills is a goal which is built into all our academic and social responsibility programming.
We continually work towards creating a culture that embraces the diversity of our students and an understanding of each student’s individual story.
Exploration of the arts is one way we encourage self-expression and celebrate each child's unique story. We work to ensure all students are seen. Sharing art projects helps build and define our inclusive school community at Semiahmoo Trail Elementary.
My art project is an owl mask made out of paper mache. My mask was supposed to be an eagle but midway I decide to make it a warrior owl moon. The colours were based on my mood and what the animal reminded me of. In China, Owls symbolize wisdom and eagles symbolize leadership and strength. I added stripes on its cheek because the stripes represent warriors. -Maria
This Term we did a project with paper mache. For this project, we made an Indigenous animal that the Indigenous people use for telling stories and use for dances. I chose an eagle for my mask because when Olivia cam, Ms. Bell's daughter, told us stories about each animal and I liked the eagle the most. The colours I chose for my mask were white, brown, green, red, and black, all of which are indigenous colours. This type of art relates to me and my culture because my culture also uses colour like the Indigenous peoples and makes powder with them. They use powder like it's a mask. My culture does this tradition on a holiday called Holi.
Anna
It is important for us to provide support to our learners as it makes them feel safe, and cared for, and allows them to thrive, both in and out of the classroom. Empowering our students to make them feel that they have opportunities to positively impact their school and community is a focus.
"I think we Scare Hunger is a super good contribution our school makes because we give people in need food and water"
"Collecting food helps families in need".
"Collecting food gives people the extra nutrition they may need."
Additional leadership opportunities are provided to our students through such initiatives as Basic Needs Drive, EROS Club with a Community Outreach and Social Activism focus, Restorative Action Monitors (RA's), Student Lunch Monitors, Big Buddies, Environmental Stewardship, Outdoor Education, Tech Crew and Lunch Bunch.
Our students are inclusive, welcoming, eager to learn, happy at school, inquisitive, imaginative, and energetic. In addition, our students display resiliency and perseverance and are respectful and supportive of one another. Our students learn best through play, interactive and hands-on learning activities, and inquiry projects. Our learners are eager to share their learning and mentor their peers. Our staff have also noticed that our Semiahmoo Trail students have a passion for literacy and love to read. We foster this passion with quality literature and resources that support learning in all curricular areas.
Watching our students contribute to group activities that make our classrooms, school community and natural world a better place is a source of pride for the staff. We know that learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, then land, the spirits and the ancestors. The students have a genuine desire to make their world a better place.
We are a school that is committed to explicitly teaching students the social and emotional skills they need in order to be successful in life. We do this by using an evidence-based approach that guides students to respectfully work together and self-regulate their emotions so that they can learn, make responsible decisions, and contribute to a caring community.
The research, Durlak et. al., (2011) clearly demonstrates a school focus on "SEL leads to improved academic outcomes and behaviours. When students have supportive relationships and opportunities to develop and practice social, emotional, and cognitive skills in different environments and contexts, academic learning accelerates." CASEL.org (2022).
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process that supports adults, youth, and children in developing skills that are necessary for school, work, and life. This includes self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness. These skills are embedded in all subject areas in BC's curriculum. Below, we celebrate our learners' successes and strengths in the areas of:
Individual students shared their personal learning journeys and what strategies they use to self-regulate and ready themselves for learning. Throughout the month students were given the opportunity to reflect on how they learn and identify the unique functions of their brains. The Assembly was the celebration of our learning about the neurodiverse students in our school community. Individual student stories highlighted how they use their strengths and unique abilities.
Community beyond the classroom and larger school community are made through school-wide initiatives. In an intermediate class, students decided the most impactful way to help the environment was through school participation in the BC Hydro initiative 10 000 Acts of Clean. These students educated their peers for the month through class presentations, announcements and their own visible participation. Data was collected and regular updates were provided. Semiahmoo Trail through collective action was able to complete 10 000 Acts of Clean. Upon completion of organizing this event, students reflected on their experiences.
10000 Acts pf Clean is an event made by BC Hydro which basically is just helping the environment. Each week we had to do something different to help the environment. For this event, our class decide to take on these Acts of Cleans so we challenged our whole school to get 10000 Acts of Clean in 4 Weeks. For all the weeks, I contributed every day for each week. Each week was different. At first there was water wise. We had to use as little water as possible for example, less than 5-minute showers and turn off the sink when you scrub your hands with soap. The second week was a conservation challenge which is saving as much energy as possible. For example, you could turn off the light in your room when you leave or unplug your device when it's fully charged. The third week we did a clean commute which was biking to school every day or wallking to school. You could also drive in an electric vehicle or encourage your parents to buy an electric vehicle. Lastly week 4 which was sustainability leader whihc was using resuable containers or Ziploc bags, you could also bring a water bottle every day that would count as well. To promote this, I presented to a hand full of classes in our school. I taught many classes each week so they could contribute to meeting our goal.
The year began with setting a school-wide goal to raise money for the Terry Fox Cancer Foundation. Understanding of the cause, and the desire to help drove a school-wide goal. As donations came in they were recorded so our goal-raising efforts were visible. Our final total was revealed and students surpassed their goal. Embedding the value and purpose of goal setting, and having students a part of the planning was a valuable experience that was drawn upon throughout the year.
Goal setting is explicating taught and embedded in curricular and extracurricular areas. Students' personal reflections demonstrate their understanding of goal setting and recognizing their strengths and abilities.
Participation in the district Mine Craft Challenge provided an opportunity for how our learners can explore issues with an openness and willingness to see others' perspectives. Through English Language Arts our learners can create and communicate; exchange ideas and viewpoints to build shared understanding and extend thinking.
Througout the buiulding and working on our Minecraft project, I , along with my group members, experience much growth in our core competencies. One of my communication core competencies grew greatly. The core competency is "I can participate in conversations for a variety of purposes". Our group had to communicate a lot to plan out who was goint to build what, and how we would get everything done in time. My group members are both very easy and fun to work with, so it was not hard to get ideas acros to them and communicate with each other. When we had issues with building in our Minecraft world, or writing our script, we easily resolved them and continued to be productive. I'm glad that my group members can communicate well with me. A core competency of mine is collaborating also grew. The statement is "I take on different roles and task in our group and work respectfuly and safely n our share space". Before bulding anything, wer planned out everything that we would build and agreed on spaces to build them, so as to not interfere with each other while building. doing this was a great choice, because not only did we not have any iterferences, but we also had extra space to add details and build extra things. This project in Minecraft greatly helped to gour our core competencies. I am sure that I will have a much easier time in future projects because of the growth that I made during the Minecraft project.
Our learners can explore issues with an openness and willingness to see other perspectives. Through the English Language Arts, our learners can create and communicate: exchange ideas and viewpoints to build shared understanding and extend thinking.
Literature studies provide an opportunity to learn different perspectives through the lives of the characters they read about. Students make connections to the text on a personal level, and then discuss their experiences as a small group. It is through that discussion, identifying character growth and analyzing their choices students broaden their own worldly perspectives.
Explicit lessons taught through SEL on perspective taking, enhance and enrich novel study discussions and project work.
Our learners are given opportunities on a daily basis that ensure inclusion and celebration of diversity. Assemblies showcase the learning activities that are taking place in the classroom which teach about and celebrate the cultural diversity that makes up the fabric of Semiahmoo Trai. Many different cultural celebrations such as Lunar New Year, Vaisakhi, Diwali, Ramadan, Passover and Easter are all explored to provide a deeper understanding of one another and thus enrich our own experiences and perspectives. Semiahmoo Trail recognizes diversity in all its forms and seeks opportunities to embed understanding within our school day. Throughout the year students have the opportunity to share their learning with the school community at the following assemblies.
Neurodiversity Month
Pride Month
Orange Shirt Day
Terry Fox
Pink Shirt Day
Spring Cultural Celebrations
Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits and the ancestors. First Peoples Principles of Learning
Every day, our learners are presented with opportunities to practice and demonstrate their Social and Emotional Learning skills and capabilities. Our team of educators provide our learners with these essential skills to set them up for success in today's rapidly changing world. To identify students' overall strengths and stretches (areas for growth), we tracked their Self Awareness (self-efficacy/self-confidence) and Responsible Decision-Making (identifying problems, analyzing solutions, solving problems, evaluating, reflecting) in two cohorts of learners across subject areas and grade levels. These cohorts include a diverse range of learners that are representative of our school's population.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is integrated into daily academic instruction. SEL content and objectives are integrated into rigorous instruction through interactive and collaborative pedagogies. This enables the ongoing practice of SEL skills and strengthens the teaching and learning of academic content.
We are a school that is committed to explicitly teaching students the social and emotional skills they need in order to be successful in life. We do this by using an evidence-based approach that guides students to respectfully work together and self-regulate their emotions so that they can learn, make responsible decisions, and contribute to a caring community.
The SEL competencies we focused on in relation to Self-Awareness and Responsible Decision-Making include:
Below are examples of our student's classroom experiences as they relate to Self-Awareness and Responsible Decision-Making.
In the neurodiversity celebration month in April, students were engaged in activities that allowed them to share their unique qualities and characteristics. There was a focus on the recognition that we are all different and that should be celebrated. We engaged in conversations and discussions with the students on things we can do as individuals to be kind and inclusive of others, which contributes to the well-being of all members of the school community.
We want to continue to advance our learner's skillsets in self-awareness and responsible decision-making as it has been very effective and impactful on their daily learning, curriculum enhancement and promotes positive contributions to the school community. Our students have progressed in their understanding of themselves and how this connects to their interactions with their peers, our school, and the surrounding community.
Two cohorts of students were used to collect data on how students saw themselves, interacted with others and made decisions on how they solved conflicts.
Evidence of student learning demonstrates our students are able to resolve conflicts without teacher support 95% of the time, whereas in the beginning of the year only 10% could problem-solve independently. In small group/team settings teachers observed appropriate and clear communication 75% of the time during times of disagreement, which was a notable increase from 50%. It is the work of both explicit instruction on problem solving and conflict management but also the curricular work that reinforces language and experiences that contribute to our student's progress.
Moving Forward
Based on evidence of student's progress in relation to our learning goals, our next steps will include:
At Semiahmoo Trail Elementary we are proud of the great progress our students have made in developing skills that allow them to be open to different perspectives, using this understanding to solve problems peacefully, and be able to reflect on their individual goals.
We will continue to advance our learner's skillsets in self-awareness and responsible decision-making. Our students have progressed in their understanding of themselves and how this connects to their interactions with their peers, our school, and the surrounding community.
We will continue to increase opportunities for all students to reflect on their own self-awareness and connect how their emotional and physiological responses impact their actions and behaviour. This will be done in different contexts for deeper understanding (classroom, playground, hallways, gym, etc.).
We will go deeper by developing mentor partnerships between outdoor-ed classes, local Indigenous partners, and our school to further develop an understanding of the connection between our actions and the environment.
We will go deeper with more intentional communication with our parent community to share the resources, strategies and skills, which are being taught in our classrooms.
We will explore more opportunities for students to take ownership of their learning and practice responsible decision-making (i.e. learning through inquiry)
We will explore and examine new issues, ideas, and events from different perspectives and alternative points of view in order to discern bias, develop balanced views, and build empathy for others.