The Giving Season

Posted on December 22, 2022 by KCSMATTERS

In the past 2 weeks, we have held our annual Christmas Concerts. It was the first time we have been able to gather for this tradition since 2019. It was wonderful to see all our families in the audience as they watched their children perform. When you see the smiles, you cannot help but feel a warmth and joy that comes out at this time of year. I ended the evening by reading a letter about the difference that the KCS community donations had recently made to 11 families identified by The George Hull Centre. Each family had their own story and needs ranging from resettling to a new country due to war in their home country, a single mom who recently lost her four-year-old child to cancer, families affected by mental health issues, to families torn apart by domestic violence. The KCS community has been providing financial support through the Reason for the Season for 17 years. This is a Parent Network driven event and our volunteers do a fantastic job collecting for those who are in need.

It got me thinking about some of the other things that have been happening at KCS and I wanted to share more about our students’ initiatives at KCS that also make me proud to be part of such a giving community. In the Junior School, students organized and collected gently used books to donate to the Children’s Book Bank in Toronto. They collected 22 boxes full of books for children who might not be able to afford to buy their own books. The organizing committee of students for this project were overwhelmed by the generosity they saw.

The Junior School also organized and held a food drive to support the Mississauga Food Bank. The Grade 5 class delivered the donations to the Food Bank and spent some time volunteering and sorting the donations on-site. Food insecurity is a huge issue, and sadly with the price of food escalating, the needs are increasing. Watching our students bring in their donations and seeing that they understand that others in the city are struggling and hungry, shows me that KCS’s Citizenship Door to Learning does make a difference. Students are learning to have empathy and to care for others.

Our Senior School students were also incredibly active. The Grade 9s learned about food insecurity as part of the curriculum in math and geography. In both courses they learned about the factors that influence food insecurity in Toronto and throughout Canada. As part of their learning, they visited the Four Villages Community Health Centre at Jane and Dundas to take action to mitigate food insecurity in the city. The Senior School also initiated a toy drive and delivered toys to the local Fire Department. As well, our students headed out into the city and donated food directly to those in need.

It has always been important at KCS to ensure that Citizenship is part of what we teach. At school, we know that academics are important. Sports and arts as well. At KCS, we also believe that becoming an empathetic, honest, good person is also integral to our students’ education. As I think about the last month and the activities led by students, parents, faculty, and staff to support and help others, I feel that warmth and joy. As the Head of School, I feel proud knowing that KCS and its team of educators, support staff, and volunteers have helped to instill a sense of citizenship in all our students.

It is the season of giving and I wish to thank everyone in the KCS community for their generosity towards others. I wish you all a great holiday season.

KCS Head of School

Derek Logan

KCS Student Leadership in the Classroom

Posted on December 7, 2022 by KCSMATTERS

KCS students in Grade 7 have been working on their leadership projects. They were inspired by Autumn Peltier, a clean water activist. Students designed projects of their choice. Here is a sample of just some of the projects that they have been working on at school.

Our group decided to make a presentation to tell the Grade 3 classes more about water pollution. We presented a slideshow, played a game of Kahoot, and did a little demonstration to show how much water we actually have to drink. We also told them about the ways we are polluting our water as well as helping it. We gave them a coloring sheet at the end of our presentation that had some messages about what is happening to fish in the ocean. Some of the messages were: “Less waste, more fish, better life” and “One ocean, one future.” We feel that it went pretty well and the Grade 3 students learned a lot about water pollution.

By: Zoe, Olivia, Abigail, Lauren

Our group decided to present what we learned to the Grade 2 students and teach them about water pollution. We started with a warm-up game because they just got back from their outdoor time, so they could be a little more active. After a few minutes, we started the presentation. We told them about plastic pollution and asked them if they knew about it. We also asked them if they could guess what else was in the water. After teaching them some ways to keep the water clean, we played a game. The purpose of this game was to simulate picking up garbage from the ocean. Each of the students got plastic bags, except for three of them. The three students were “it” and could tag those with bags. The students with the bags would collect dodgeballs, and put them in their bags. The winner was given a special sticker at the end of the game. Our presentation ended up going very well, and all of the students and presenters had fun.

By: Kate, Sara, Maggie, Amelia

Our group came up with the idea to send a letter to the Legislative Office of Ontario, more specifically Premier Ford. We decided to send this letter to raise awareness about the lack of clean water in Indigenous communities. We believe that it is poisoning the youth, and these marginalized people are at a loss for necessities. In the letter we explained why the government should divert funds towards clean water in Indigenous communities. From oil spills to diseases in the water, the Indigenous communities have been through enough. We recognized this is not right. We believe that the need for clean water, which is key toward our well-being, should be recognized and be a priority. Overall, the Canadian government has not been vigilant enough towards protecting the original inhabitants of this land.

By: Henry, Oscar, and Murad

Passion-Driven Learning at School and Home

Posted on May 22, 2020 by Andrea Fanjoy

The wisdom of the ages has taught us to strive for balance. To the extent that we practise it, we see the value it offers in health, happiness, and success.

Balance is also behind transformational learning.

For far too long, education has been designed with well-intended imbalance. The half of the equation most focused on – curriculum-driven learning – is absolutely valuable. For generations, students have shown up to school and worked their way through a long list of knowledge and skills. Learn the alphabet, count by tens, contemplate history, write with persuasion, dabble in science, and – of course – show what you know and can do with the content and skills adults choose.

This is a critical part of school. It helps students practise core skills as steps to mastery. But more is possible. Making room for students to bring their full selves – their passions, curiosity, and talents – makes for the full value in education that students deserve and we all need them to have. Balancing the school experience with time devoted to passion-driven learning means students not only learn in the area of their passions; if done right, it develops their core knowledge, skills, and habits of mind in precisely the directions we rightly seek in the curriculum.

Here’s how this works at KCS:

When students pursue their passions at school, they usually practise their research skills. Their curiosity is exercised and they develop their question-asking and problem-solving. Because they care, they read more (and read more complex text), they learn more, take more notes, and write with greater attention to quality. When expected to share their learning, which our teachers ask of their students, this information is synthesized and turned into a coherent written project or public presentation. In the case of some passions, sharing often means creating something to show their classmates. This might include building a model (real or virtual), coding a robot, drafting a business proposal, making a video game, creating works of art, composing music, or writing a book. The ownership and empowerment are palpable. While initial steps are often modest, robust seeds are planted that fuel intrinsic motivation, responsible risk-taking, persistence, and creativity.

Passion projects are a journey of self-discovery and determination. Animation, cooking, activism, architecture, and interior design are just a handful of topics currently being pursued and shared among our students. Infused with positive emotion, these are presentations that engage and move listeners, making what they’re hearing ‘stick’. They also inspire listeners, either to try their hand at what so excites the speaker or just to double-down on their own passions. In fact, there is copious scholarly research that demonstrates how passion is contagious. (For more on this, look no further than this TEDx Talk from the University of Waterloo.)

Our commitment to passion-driven learning is even stronger in this unusual time. From day one of our KCS At Home Learning Program, passion projects have been part of the Weekly Learning Plan (WLP) going home to every student. Encouraging students to devote part of their school week to pursuing their passions is as much about learning as it is about our other priority: well-being. Our facility closure and the physical distancing that has removed much of what used to bring happiness has also taken away much of our students’ healthy sense of control. A significant part of mental health is rooted in the feeling that we have control over important parts of our lives. Passion projects that are rooted in one’s own passion and pursued in a way of their choosing, at a pace that’s right for them, bring a powerful sense of control and source of joy back into our students’ lives.

Balance has always brought value to the KCS experience. Passion projects and “learning for the love of it” bring value to student learning. They also bring happiness, motivation, and inspiration at a troubling time. We’ll keep sharing internally and on our social media channels (#KCSPassionProjects) where those passions take our students. And we hope our sharing will inspire all in education to find the balance all students deserve.

Andrea Fanjoy
Head of Senior School

Dr. Matina Mosun
Assistant Head, Academics

Learning Partners Come in All Sizes

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Mark Magee

At KCS, we’re deeply committed to looking outside our school walls in order to connect with a range of learning partners in our city and beyond. But sometimes you don’t have to look that far to find experts who are ready and willing to share their knowledge and experiences.

At the end of the last school year, Madame Fanjoy heard about a young boy named Ethan in grade 1 who wanted to start a rock club at KCS. She supported the idea wholeheartedly, but it just couldn’t get rolling in the short time left before summer. The first week back in grade 2 she asked about his plan to start a rock club, and discovered that he was still very determined to share his love of rocks with his community.

Madame Fanjoy said that the grade 4’s were about to start studying rocks and minerals, and asked if he would visit the class as an expert. He immediately embraced the idea and started explaining what he would do to prepare. It was amazing to see his passion and commitment, and hear him speak about his “process” and “Plan Bs”! He quickly reached out to me (the grade 4 science teacher) to lock down a visit. He also let me know that his Uncle Ben was a geologist who travelled all over the country exploring potential mine sites, and that he might want to come and visit as well. This was going to be an exciting opportunity for both Ethan and the grade 4s!

A few weeks later, both Ethan and Ben ended up sharing their collective wisdom and knowledge with both the grade 4 classes. Ethan shared his rock collection and talked about how he learned so much about rocks, while his uncle talked about mining engineering, mine safety, and ways in which we can minimize the environmental impact of mining.

What was striking to me was the way in which the grade 4 students treated both their guests. They treated the “grown-up” guest with great respect and manners, and peppered him with a number of insightful questions and interesting facts. How did Ethan fare with this group of students? They listened attentively, spoke to him as an equal, and treated the entire experience with great gravitas and sincerity.

We take it for granted that we learn from those older and more experienced than us. And yes, in this case, we learned a lot about mining and engineering from a professional geologist with an impressive resume filled with university degrees and real-world experiences. But we also learned another valuable lesson from a grade 2 who just happened to love rocks. Namely, some of the best teachers and learning partners come from the most unexpected places, and that everyone who walks into a KCS classroom deserves our respect, attention, and willingness to learn from them.

Ensuring the Fundamentals: KCS Senior School Update #3

Posted on October 28, 2019 by Andrea Fanjoy

To be a defining force in developing lifelong learners, By stewarding a learning environment that inspires us to reach our ultimate potential.

– The KCS Vision and Mission Statement

We take our mission seriously. The KCS Senior School will build upon the strong foundation of the current KCS program, providing the same commitment to developing lifelong learners and adding unparalleled opportunities for students to discover and realise their potential. We look forward to explaining the distinctive features we have in mind. But first, let me share all the fundamentals included in our model:

Our facility will be mindfully designed to support learning, collaboration, and community-building. We are working with Oliver Beck, principal architect at Architecture Counsel, to help us choose a site that fits our vision and then design it to be a beautiful space meeting our needs. The chair of our senior campus committee, Greg Dunn, is a partner of the global architecture firm Adamson Associates. For those wondering about the quality of space we aspire to offer, we encourage you to visit their firms’ websites to see the kind of projects they represent.
The Senior School syllabus will include all mandatory credits and a wide variety of elective credits for students who seek to pursue sciences, technology, the arts, humanities, business and more.
Students will be challenged and inspired by exceptional teachers. The faculty will oversee and guide students, ensure safety, communicate with parents, and assess student learning for report card purposes. In addition, the presence of an Advisory teacher for each student, who will oversee their learning and success over their four years at school, will play a significant role in ensuring all the fundamentals are in place and serving students well.
As in all schools, our senior students will gather at the school each day, and will have time in class that includes teacher-led instruction. There will be content they need to learn, and there will be quizzes, tests and exams in addition to assignments and projects. Like the current KCS junior school, the senior school will demonstrate that an optimal program benefits from a variety of strategies, chosen intentionally and with each student in mind.
Students will also be taught in a distinctly impactful way so that their learning “sticks”, addressing a weakness long recognized in more traditional approaches to teaching and learning. Under teacher oversight, students will not only learn the core knowledge and skills required in each course, they will have enriched programs thanks to project-based learning, place-based learning, the engagement of external experts, and notable experience in applying their learning for actual impact.
Our school will offer a variety of extra-curricular activities in academics, arts, athletics, and citizenship, led by teachers, students, and external experts, on and off-site.
A sense of belonging, commitment to well-being, and the habit of community engagement, both within and beyond the site of our school, will be infused throughout the learning experience.

KCS has a long history of innovative practice. It also has a long history of being highly responsible. We’re proud of what those dispositions have helped us build in grades PK to 8. And we’re excited to show how they can make for a remarkable senior school.

Three Heads Joined Together (For One Last Time)

Posted on October 21, 2019 by Mark Magee

What brings three KCS heads together? The 2019 Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS) Heads & Chairs Conference. Last week marked the annual event, this year held in Niagara Falls, that gathered Heads and Chairs from CAIS schools. As always, our own Derek Logan was in attendance. And as always, he was excited to spend some time, share advice, engage in constructive conversation and fellowship with Hal Hannaford and Glenn Zederayko, two former KCS Heads of School.

This year’s conference theme highlighted “School Culture and Climate: Bringing Community Well-Being Into Focus.” The KCS reunion was a bit of a bittersweet one, as both Glenn and Hal have decided to make the leap into retirement at the end of the school year. Glenn will be leaving his post as Head at Glenlyon Norfolk School in Victoria, while Hal will be moving on from his role as Head at Selwyn House in Montreal.

Along with former Head Dave Richards, Hal and Glenn were instrumental in making KCS the amazing school it is today. In their time since leaving the halls of KCS, all three former Heads have spread the message of “Respect, Manners, Try Your Best” to schools and institutions across the country.

From all of us at KCS, we send our best wishes to Glenn and Hal as they take the next step in their lifelong learning adventure and enjoy a well-deserved retirement. Now we just have to find some new friends for Derek to hang out with at next year’s conference…

Photo Caption: Dr. Glenn Zederayko (L), Hal Hannaford (C), and Derek Logan (R) share a laugh at the CAIS Heads & Chairs conference.

45093815_1992742827486635_690222427245903872_o

44094668_1969597336467851_1824820214093578240_o

14718804_1174399389320987_6169039412371509275_n

Unleashing Potential

Posted on September 4, 2019 by Andrea Fanjoy

“The best plans are those that liberate other people’s plans” – Jane Jacobs (1916-2006)

Jane Jacobs understood potential. An urbanist icon, she saw how cities, and in particular how they were designed, could have profound impact on the lives within them, for better or worse. Even the humble neighborhood had power and potential beyond what most in her time realized.

I spent much of my summer learning from and about Torontonians who are making (or helped make) this city remarkable. My classroom was Toronto, and my textbook was the diverse voices, sights, and activity of Torontonians making a difference. I watched what happens when plans liberate other people’s plans.

There are many reasons to appreciate Jacobs. What I most appreciate is her ability to see potential in people where others didn’t. And this is why she belongs in a school blog.

To what extent do we see the potential in children and youth? To what extent is education set up to unleash it? How might childhood, youth, and even the world, be better if we could confidently say, “Yes, we see it, and by design it will be unleashed!”.

Greta Thunburg, 16, just finished crossing the ocean on her international mission to get adults to adequately act on climate change. Many other youth this past year (and years past!) demonstrated impressive abilities to make a difference through activism, service, innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership, and more. While their schools have no doubt contributed to their abilities, their unleashed potential often had little to do with systematic efforts at school.

At KCS, we’re committed to unleashing student potential by design, and we’re committed to nurturing the intrinsic motivation needed to fuel it. The foundation set in our junior school will align with unprecedented opportunity in our senior school. We see their potential already, and look forward to seeing it blossom and fuel exceptional learning in grades 9 to 12.

If this post leaves you unconvinced, let this TED Talk by 12-year-old Adora Svitak do the job. She’s one of those remarkable children, and she speaks on behalf of the many others who want to be listened to, believed in, and challenged more.

We’re listening and looking forward to watching plans unfold.

P.S. Adora shares the difficulty she faced to get her books published as a child, because she was a child. KCS has been publishing student books through our YAKCS program since 2013. We have since published 11 books that sit in our library plus the Library and Archives Canada, in addition to those in various homes.

Building a strong foundation in grade 1

Posted on May 14, 2019 by Mark Magee

Grade 1 is an essential year for academics. It’s the year when students develop a set of core skills that lay the foundation for future success in the elementary grades.

Throughout their time in Grade 1, students are given direct instruction in reading, writing, and mathematics, to ensure that they have a strong understanding of fundamental academic concepts. These lessons are supported by a number of daily routines that give the students opportunities to regularly practice their skills and solidify new concepts.

Reading is a huge priority in Grade 1. Every student participates in their own ability-leveled reading group for 50 minutes a day. For some students, this means a strong focus on phonics and decoding words, to help build their ability to read longer texts independently. For those needing more enriched work, this means more challenging books with a focus on comprehension, basic research skills, and responding to texts with detailed writing tasks.

The Grade 1 students also participate in weekly “writer’s workshops”, where they are taught the conventions of writing, ranging from spelling to grammar to punctuation. To build on those lessons, the students take part in daily journal writing. After they have written their journal, they work with a teacher to edit and correct their writing. This editing process not only reinforces key lessons, it also consistently raises the bar for each individual student’s writing.

When it comes to mathematics, our Grade 1 teachers blend hands-on exploration work with direct instruction in addition, subtraction, word problems, and place value. These lessons are supported by follow-up assignments that are designed to help students practice their basic facts and develop their problem-solving skills.

Any engineer will tell you that the strength of a structure depends on the strength of the foundation. In Grade 1 at KCS, we build the strongest foundation possible!

KCS Faculty are Lifelong Learners Too!

Posted on April 12, 2019 by matinamosun

At KCS, we focus on developing lifelong learners. It makes sense that each year our faculty embrace new and challenging learning opportunities so that they can continue to support each student in this goal. With the goal of each student becoming lifelong learners, each faculty member is also actively involved in learning that is relevant not only to their teaching practice, but also their ongoing commitment to learning. Many teachers choose to take courses, read, share, and attend conferences to support their professional learning and their students’ needs. KCS’s commitment to lifelong learning is not only evident at the student level, but at the teacher level as well.

One particularly relevant professional learning experience is offered each year through CIS Ontario. Now in its seventh season, Cohort 21 brings CIS Ontario educators together for a year-long professional learning opportunity. Working collaboratively with some of the most passionate educators in the province, participants share innovative ideas, connect with experts in the field, plan for change in their schools, and engage in Design Thinking workshops to help develop a focus of a personal project called an Action Plan.

As a veteran of Season 4 in 2014-2015, I can honestly say that my learning experiences through Cohort 21 played a role in my decision to continue to research learning for six more years. Having a good understanding of student learning, I wanted to better understand teacher learning, and of course as a lifelong learner I am still figuring it out. Since then, KCS has supported three more faculty members throughout their own Cohort 21 experience. Last year, Season 6 involved our grade 2 team. Lisa Woon ventured out to discover new technology and Keri Davis went on a ride through project based learning. This year, Bob Hayes is exploring how to solve the world’s greatest problem and I’m back as a coach, still learning about learning.

Cohort21

Lifelong learners tend to be those who are well supported in their learning efforts and this is something that KCS models across the entire school community. We’ll never stop learning because we are supported in both our efforts and our passions. We know from experience that this is what drives us to learn along with our students and our students know from experience that no matter what we are along for the ride.

Science Club Helps to Save Monarch Butterflies

Posted on March 14, 2019 by SFreeman

Traditionally, students of the first term Science is Fun club for grades 1 to 3 at KCS learn that monarch butterflies are a threatened species. They also learn that they can take action and create awareness by participating in a program called Symbolic Monarch Migration. This is a program promoting international cooperation for monarch conservation between Mexico, USA and Canada. Together eager KCS students turned a file folder into a large, beautiful, group butterfly, and they also made personalized, life-sized butterflies. These paper butterflies, along with pictures of our school and a message of cooperation, were all sent early October to coincide with the real monarch migration to the Oyamel Forests in Mexico. The first destination of our butterflies was Georgia, home of the Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia who works in partnership with Journey North, which is a large citizen science program for educators and the general public. Two of the largest monarch sanctuaries, El Rosario and Sierra Chincua are in central Mexico and provide shelter for the many thousands of butterflies that hang in clusters from the trees during the winter season. These monarchs become sedentary and live off the fat stored in their bodies before migration. Why they migrate to these cool mountain forests where they can get knocked out of the trees by hail or snow is a mystery. Only the monarchs born in late summer make it to Mexico.

Estela Romero is a program coordinator in Mexico for Journey North. She receives the symbolic butterflies from Georgia and delivers them by car to schools around the sanctuaries. Our KCS butterflies were received recently by a student at a private elementary Catholic school called Colegio Corregidora which is near one of the protective forests. This student will take care of our package of butterflies until it is time for the monarchs to migrate north again and will prepare a letter thanking participating students for taking care of the monarchs after they leave the protection of the forests and promising to help preserve the vital Oyamel Forests for overwintering.

We will not get our own symbolic butterfly back. Instead, it will be sent to a participating school from either Canada or the USA, and we will receive an exchange butterfly from another school. Each student will also receive their own small butterfly from somewhere across the three countries. That will happen in the spring to coincide with the migration north.

The wintering monarchs will make it to Texas in the spring where they will lay their eggs and die. It will take two more generations for the offspring to make it back to Canada. The latest reports say that the monarchs are hyperactive now and show signs of early migration due to an unusually mild winter in the mountains of Mexico. They are a month ahead of schedule. Roosting monarchs are actually counted and the good news is that the monarch count in Mexico has increased by 144% this year despite the declining numbers over the past several years. The bad news is that the monarchs overwintering in California have hit a record low count. As a side note, monarchs do not cross the Rocky Mountains, so there is an exclusive western population of monarchs.

Congratulations to our KCS students for helping to make a difference! We can all do our part by protecting and planting milkweed, the only host plant for the monarch caterpillars. Pollinator gardens are a boost for hungry butterflies, and KCS does a great job providing that element in our Learning Garden at the front entrance. Expect to see more monarchs greeting you this spring as you arrive at school and flitting around the community.

As a further note, this past summer I had the honour of raising a monarch from a tiny caterpillar, and it was indeed a very rewarding experience. I received the caterpillar from Carol Pasternak, author of How to Raise Monarch Butterflies: A Step-by-Step Guide for Kids, who was putting on a workshop at Christie Pits. I was able to obtain a signed copy of her book for our KCS library for any family interested in pursuing this adventure over the summer. The book was an excellent guide to prepare you for the signs of impending metamorphosis, which could be easily and quietly missed.

I will be following up with the first term Science is Fun students when our exchange butterflies arrive sometime around early May. Take a responsible risk, plant some milkweed; the monarchs will come to you.

Sharon Freeman RECE