Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow?

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Derek Logan

Each year KCS holds school wide fundraising activities for three designated charities: The Terry Fox Foundation, The Get Ahead Project, and Camp Oochigeas. As well, individual students help to support many other worthwhile charities through various other service learning projects. As part of our 25^th anniversary celebration, our school decided to set a goal of raising $25K for The Terry Fox Foundation. And as an incentive, a number of teachers and I agreed that we would have our heads shaved if we met our goal by October 25^th. This goal was a bit of a stretch for our school, as all worthy goals should be, but in the first nine years of holding a Terry Fox Run at KCS, we have raised over $170 000, so the goal we set back in the summer is certainly attainable. As of the writing of this blog, we have raised $24,747.

I am looking forward to having my hair shaved off for a number of reasons:

No more hat head. I can’t wait to start wearing toques in the winter and baseball caps at the gym without wondering whether it looks like I just got out of bed once I take the hat off.
Having less hair should help my gazelle-like running speed.
I won’t have to be checked for lice when The Lice Squad comes into the school. And they will come as they do every year.
“Be Like Mark” (he’s our new Senior Kindergarten teacher)
Savings on shampoo, conditioner and hair spray during the month of November can be converted into paying the grocery costs for one of my 15 year old son’s five “snacks” a day
I will be able to sleep in two minutes longer as I won’t have to “do” my hair in the morning
A bald head will be perfect for my Halloween costume
Finally, we will have met our goal of raising at least $25K for the Terry Fox Foundation. All of our families have been impacted by cancer; every dollar counts to finding better treatments for this disease.

Stay tuned to see if we met our goal on October 25^th. Knowing our students and our community, the five teachers and I are confident we will surpass this goal.

Derek Logan
Head of School

Embracing Learning

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Andrea Fanjoy

As expected, lots of learning is underway at KCS.

What you might find interesting is to learn about what our teachers are learning.

Every year includes ongoing professional growth for faculty. Much of the learning is individual in nature, as all faculty are encouraged to identify areas in which they feel they want or need to grow, and then to pursue that learning. Some learning is common to groups of faculty, such as when we collaboratively address a challenge or pilot a new initiative. On top of all this activity, each year has school-wide areas of learning.

So, what faculty learning is taking place this year?

Many are receiving formal training in teaching Reading Mastery, a Direct Instruction program that has proven very effective since our pilot the year before last.
Among those who are proficient in teaching Reading Mastery, two are now working on becoming certified trainers in Direct Instruction programs.
We have teachers taking additional Faculty of Education courses in areas such as math and special education.
One teacher is working on her PhD.
Many of us have attended conferences and workshops on best-practices in kindergarten.
Six are in the midst of a ten-module Leadership Institute with CAIS (Canadian Accredited Independent Schools).
A number of teachers are currently receiving professional development in the area of mental health, and sharing what they learn with all faculty. In addition, we are developing our own professional development in this area for all our staff which will begin early in 2014.
All teachers are learning about new applications in technology, from self-study, in-house training and by attending conferences.
Many teachers are learning from global professional networks on Twitter and Pinterest; an increasing number of teachers are learning to use these tools so they can develop their own network; a few teachers are learning how to leverage Twitter as a classroom tool.
Many teachers have signed up for external workshops specific to their subjects.
All are advancing their abilities to offer Project-Based Learning (PBL) opportunities in their classes, using the books PBL Starter Kit and PBL in the Elementary Grades that we all read over the summer as a common planning tool.
All are growing as a result of the collaborative planning and problem-solving inherent in making the most of every student’s day.

Our students have days full of learning. Our teachers do too. Developing lifelong learners is what we do at KCS. Whether young or old(er), embracing learning is a Habit that applies to us all.

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

Winning Without Coming in First Place

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Derek Logan

On Monday morning, our grade 3 cross country team went to their meet at Heart Lake in Brampton. I wasn’t able to attend, however, over the past 48 hours I have heard many comments from students and teachers that it was a great event. As usual, I heard about how hard our students competed, how much they enjoyed themselves, and how this event was a wonderful introduction for our youngest cross country athletes.

And then I heard another story. One that reminds me about the role an excellent coach, parent and teacher can have on a young person and how they choose to act.

One of our students fell at the beginning of the race. There was a question about whether or not he was intentionally pushed, but in the student’s words, “only the guy who pushed me will know…” He didn’t quit. Instead he got back up and ran until he couldn’t run anymore. After he finished running his friends came by, offered words of encouragement and checked in on him. Another student helped him by going to get his lunch off the bus. All wonderful gestures and not surprising from the students at KCS. What made this story even more heartwarming was what happened when the student realized he could not keep running. In the middle of the race, another boy stopped running himself and helped his classmate find a teacher. After he did this, the student got back in the race and finished it. The runner who was hurt said to his mom afterwards, “[He] stopped to help me”.

To Zach and Daniel, thanks for your efforts on behalf of our cross country team. More importantly, thanks for doing what is right. I’m proud to know both of you and you can be on my team any day.

Derek Logan
Head of School

Toronto TEDx Talks

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Derek Logan

On Thursday, September 26th I spent the day attending the Toronto TEDx Talks at the Royal Conservatory of Music downtown. Many of you have watched these Talks online, but it was quite an experience to see them live. The theme of the talks this year was “The Choices We Make.”

The speakers for the day included:

Ti-Anna Wang, Advocate for Chinese Dissident Families
Michael Stone, Director, Centre of Gravity
Rodolphe el-Khoury, University of Toronto and Parnter in Khoury Levit Fong
Darrell Bricker, CEO, Ipsos Global Public Affairs
Joel MacCharles, Co-Founder WellPreserved.ca, Writer, Cook
Steve Mann, University of Toronto
Gabrielle Scrimshaw, President, Aboriginal Professional Association of Canada
Steph Guthrie, Feminist Advocate and Community Manager
Mark Henick, Case Manager, Canadian Mental Health Association
Dr. Ivar Mendez, University of Saskatchewan
Brendan Frey, University of Toronto
Debbie Berlin-Romalis, Clinical Social Worker, SickKids
Mark Bowden, President, TRUTHPLANE

The organizers are beginning to post the talks from Toronto online, and most of them will be available later this month. You can find out more by going to: www.TEDxToronto.com. If you have ever considered attending a TED conference, I would encourage you to apply to be a delegate next year. September 26th was certainly a day full of thoughtful, inspiring and insightful ideas.

Derek Logan
Head of School

Wonderful Wondering

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Andrea Fanjoy

Are you wondering enough?

It’s widely regarded that we all start out as wonderers, asking endless questions as soon as we have the words to do so. As we get older, and more concerned with appearing all-knowing, wondering winds down.

That’s a loss for us all. The world is made a better place thanks to wondering. The global challenges we face need exponentially more wondering, not less.

That’s why I’m so excited about how our grade 6 students are practicing their wondering skills. Their teachers have led them in creating ‘I Wonder Wikis’. The students will add to them throughout the year, documenting what they wonder about, and including the multimedia fruits of their efforts to pursue this question of interest. The wikis will be shared with their classmates and all will have the opportunity to comment and contribute (such is the wonder of wikis). Wondering turns into learning about an unlimited array of topics.

What do they wonder about? Here’s a sample of what they’ve started with:

How was bubble gum invented?
How do you help stray dogs?
What are the origins of Halloween?
How do robots work?
How does a computer work?
How was the baseball formed?
How does a stereo read a CD?
What would happen if I swam to the bottom of the ocean?
Why are pitbulls discriminated against in Canada?
How do birds fly?
How do clouds float?
Why is a cloud white?
What is the atmosphere in Mercury like?
Why do you need to cook raw meat?
How does wireless work?

Have no fear. Most of their day is still spent learning within the regular curriculum. However, question and be curious is a habit we’re working to establish at KCS. It’s a habit that leads to lifelong learning. And it’s a habit that may lead to questions that will transform the world for the better.

Wonderful.

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

Volunteers

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Derek Logan

Last week was a rather busy week at KCS. We held our 10th annual Terry Fox Run on Wednesday, our 5th Annual Grandparents Day on Friday, and our Welcome Back BBQ on Saturday for about 800-1000 of our closest friends, families and alumni. In addition to those events, we held a couple of grade parties, a number of committee meetings, and various activities throughout the school. And that was just last week. All of these events were successful due to our staff working with our many amazing volunteers.

Cheering on the Terry Fox runners.

Welcome table at Grandparents & Grandfriends Day.

Making snow cones at the Welcome Back BBQ.

Extra tickets sales at the Welcome Back BBQ.

Our school has been a success for 25 years because of the outstanding commitment by many to give of their time for the current and future students of KCS. As I said to many of the alumni families who returned on Saturday for a visit, KCS has always been a great school. Throughout our history we did not always have the first class facility that we have now, but one thing we have always had in abundance at KCS were passionate and committed people, both staff and volunteers. For those of you who have volunteered to help us out in so many ways over the first month of the school year, you have my sincere thanks. Your time and efforts ensured we had a very successful first month of September.

Derek Logan
Head of School

What Can You Do But Laugh?

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Derek Logan

Today is Grandparents Day at KCS. We enjoyed a number of planned activities including a light lunch. As part of that lunch, we ordered 25^th Anniversary cookies. They are made of shortbread with the number 25 on them. Except when we picked them up this morning from the baker at 7 a.m. and opened up the box, all of the cookies had the number 24 on them. As one of our Habits state: Find Humour. It’s been my experience that it’s really not that hard to find if you are willing to look. At least we didn’t have to pay for them.

Derek Logan
Head of School

In Case You’re Wondering: Curriculum Planning By Design

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Andrea Fanjoy

I recall as an elementary student admiring the coiled manual my teacher held in her hand. Believing that book held the key to my learning, I ambled through my young non-teaching years thinking good teaching was pretty straight-forward.

Boy was I wrong.

Optimal teaching is anything but straightforward. It doesn’t come from a book, but grows thanks to the endless efforts of the teachers who deliver it, and thanks to a culture that supports them.

By now, KCS parents, you’ve already met many of the outstanding teachers at KCS. You might be wondering, however, about the culture that drives what we do. It’s worth wondering about. It explains how these teachers grow from each other’s strengths and create learning experiences that surpass anything a single teacher could deliver on their own. Here are the elements of a culture that leads to a curriculum where 1 + 1 = 3:

A foundation rooted in knowing each student’s needs, aspiring to our school mission, and a broad awareness of the tools and techniques that will help us meet both
Regular collaboration and frank conversations
A framework that meets or exceeds Ministry expectations
An environment free of practice based on doing what’s comfortable, unsupported opinion, what’s in fashion, how we were taught or what we’ve always done
An atmosphere saturated in the Habits of Mind, Body and Action, so teachers and students exercise and strengthen them through their work (Embrace learning, think flexibly, take responsible risks and do what is right are some of the stand-out Habits required in curriculum development.)
A balance between Direct Instruction, Project-Based Learning, and other learning experiences, as deemed worthy
An ever-present search for how to enrich learning, inspire a love for learning, inject critical and creative thinking, and differentiate instruction

I sure wasn’t aware of this as a young student, and don’t know that many outside of KCS faculty would be aware of it either. I do know you care a lot about what we do with your children, and thought I would share how we determine what we do, just in case you were wondering.

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

Another look back at 1989

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Derek Logan

I had a great response to my September 5^th blog from people around the school so here are a few more moments from 1989, the year our school opened its doors for the first time:

Nintendo released the Game Boy portable video game system in North America
Mme. Smith was changing diapers of her one year old daughter, Samantha.
Ms. Murphy graduated from high school in Halifax.
Thousands of Chinese students occupied Tiananmen Square in China
Mme. Lacroix met her future husband, Tom (who then waited nine years to ask her to marry him).
In a meeting off the coast of Malta, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev released statements indicating that the Cold War between their nations may be coming to an end.
Mr. Kim got his Driver’s license.
First McDonald’s restaurant in USSR began construction in Moscow
Ms. Biljetina went to French camp
The first unofficial text message was sent in 1989
Mrs. Morgan was obsessed by Michael Jackson (she even had the zippered jacket).
Rain Man won the Oscar for Best Picture
Mr. Stoyles was in grade 5 in Newfoundland
In Alaska’s Prince William Sound the Exxon Valdez spilled 240,000 barrels (11 million gallons) of oil after running aground
Ms. Davis was training to be a cashier (she was in high school)
Calgary Flames won the Stanley Cup
Mme. Klimenko was getting ready to graduate high school in Moscow.
Microsoft Office was first released and the 486 series of microprocessor introduced by Intel
Mr. Hayes was a provincial champion swimmer.
The song Don’t Worry Be Happy was released by Bobby McFerrin
Mme. Robins bought her first car with the money she saved up from working part time jobs: a silver Toyota Corolla. It should have been yellow as it was a lemon.

Derek Logan
Head of School

What We Learned at Camp

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Andrea Fanjoy

During free time, they returned to the familiar: basketball, soccer, Zombie Tag, and chatting with friends. It was a whole different story, however, when the grade 7 and 8 students at the Me to We Leadership Camp were in class.

Me to We is an offshoot of Free the Children, a charity established 18 years ago by a young man from Thornhill. What began as one 13-year-old’s mission to fight child labour has become a world-wide movement to inspire compassion and action among the young.

So, what did our students work on at their leadership and outdoor education camp? As rich and manifold as the jambalaya served at dinner, here is what I observed them directly learning:

To persist
To have the courage to share difficult thoughts
To reflect on how fundamentally our lives can differ from others in the world
To be silent
To listen
To be grateful
To work as a team
To be honest
To be mindful
To work through confusion
To question what happiness really is
To take responsible risks
To think by yourself
To experience some of the adversity that affects others in the world daily
To observe how difficult it is to DO what is right even when you KNOW what is right

“Goodness!” you might be thinking. What did the students think of that?

The first report received from a parent was that her son came home with two thumbs up, saying that was the best trip EVER.

And I’m reminded once again that the world is in good hands and will be a better place thanks to this young man and the many others who joined us at camp.

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