Our grade fives have the good fortune to learn about government. No, that wasn’t sarcasm.

Find humour is one of our Habits, and a particularly welcome one for the government unit. I’m no stranger to the passionate possibilities for a unit on government, but the content to cover with ten-year-olds leaves a bit to be desired. It’s a unit requiring special intervention. That’s where the good fortune comes in.

The culminating task designed by our grade five teachers shows all the students learn a great deal about how government works, and have a hoot while doing so. Each is asked to design a parliamentary CD cover and song list. With tongue in cheek, hit songs include:

• What Does the Speaker Say?
• That’s My Party
• The Electoral Guitar
• Speaker in the Sky with Diamonds
• Most Votes Ever (Remix)
• Eye of the Premier
• We Are MPPs
• The New Law Has a Flaw
• The Page is on a Rage
• Take a Seat on my Side
• Happy House of Commons
• and as a salute to the recent season, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Premier.

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As our students get older, they will come to appreciate the serious work of government. Hopefully, they’ll also continue to be comfortable with a little respectful rib-poking. It’s healthy and encourages a creative culture.

Thanks grade fives. Your recent showcase gave us all some great chuckles. We’ll be sending your work to the Legislature. The evening news suggests they could use a laugh too. Any contribution you make to a happy, healthy, creative year ahead in government would be welcome news indeed.

Andrea Fanjoy,
Assistant Head, Academics
You can follow Andrea on Twitter @afanjoy.