Gateway to Commerce
Lest we forget Lantzville legion fundraising for permanent cenotaph. PAGE 22 Timeless tales Actors bring children’s stories to life in stage shows. PAGE 29 In synch Diamonds club wants to finish synchronized swim season strongly. PAGE 6
GATEWAY IN NANAIMO TO COMMERCE
INSIDE
Under the Sun!
cessful City Nanaimo – A Suc
imo her to Inspire Nana rs working toget 2013 ISSUE business leade Community and GATEWAY
Celebrating
1988
2013
Years
TUESDAY, MAY 21, 2013
www.nanaimobulletin.com
VOL. 25, NO. 9
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Students learn their own way Gone are the days when children are expected to sit still, hands in their laps. BY JENN M C GARRIGLE THE NEWS BULLETIN
There is an order and calmness about Marcy Boudreau’s Grade 1 classroom at Uplands Park Elementary School that seems out of place for a room about to contain 20-odd sixyear-olds. Curtains cover student cubbyholes, the walls are free of the usual riot of colourful posters competing for one’s attention, beige paper covers up walls, binders and filing boxes, and the lighting is soft, coming from a series of lamps rather than the fluorescent tubes overhead. The students file in and, without prompting from the teacher, hang up their jackets in their cubby holes, drop off their homework in a bin by the back door and head toward their desks. As they have a quick snack, the students begin working on the morning message up on the overhead projector – this morning, the message reads: “When my engine runs high, I can”, and it is up to students to finish the sentence. One boy is not ready to sit down and copy out the message; the education assistant has him doing jumping jacks at the back of the classroom. There is another student using a teepee set up behind the desks; a third student uses a standing desk to write; a fourth
For some students, having something to chew on or squeeze can help them concentrate on the lesson at hand, says Brenda WhittamNeary, a speech and language pathologist Nanaimo school district has contracted to teach educators about the selfregulated learning method. The learning style is about determining what each student needs to stay calm, alert and focused so they can manage their behaviour and learn. JENN MCGARRIGLE THE NEWS BULLETIN
has a stretchy band and a roller under his desk to keep his feet occupied while he does his work. After the morning message comes circle time on the carpet in the back corner of the room. Some children sit on stools or little carpets and the teacher goes around handing out items like disposable coffee stir sticks for the children to chew on, squeeze balls and stuffed animals. Boudreau speaks quietly – she doesn’t need to shout over a hum of talking students like she might have had to in the past – and the morning routine of helping her students determine what they need to do so that they can learn begins. Each student has a paper car they place in slots on a chart under one of three headings – low, high or just right. One child who places his car in the ‘low’ spot, explains that his engine is running low because he is feeling tired. “I still think you’re going to be able to learn because you’re listening,” Boudreau tells him. One by one, the students discuss why their engines are running too low or too high – tummy pains, an exciting play date after school, a family trip – and what to do to get in that “just right” state to learn – chewing on a stir stick, kneading Silly Putty or sitting in the teepee. ◆ See ‘STUDENTS’ /7
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