Victory PS celebrates World Water Day, Water Friendship Project
March 23, 2018
GUELPH, Ontario – Staff, students, family and community members spent Thursday evening celebrating World Water Day and months of hard work by dedicated teachers and learners.
On March 22, Victory Public School took part in a water celebration at the Bookshelf eBar in downtown Guelph, along with Wellington Water Watchers.
The event was a culmination of the school’s Water Friendship Project, led by teachers Monique Cadieux, Olivia Vaughan and Amy Drumm.
L-R: Victory PS teachers Amy Drumm and Olivia Vaughan, author Joanne Robertson and teacher Monique Cadieux.
For the last several months, students have been learning about the importance of clean water and of the need to respect, thank and love our water.
According to the teaching team, their work began by discussing local rivers, and grounding their learning in experiences that the students had both during community walks with the school and outside of school.
Next, they incorporated the book The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson into their work, and that’s when the project really began to come to life. The Water Walker is a story about a determined Ojibwe Grandmother Josephine Mandamin and her dedication to raising awareness of the need to protect our water for future generations.
According to the teachers, “students were immediately inspired by the determination of Grandmother Josephine and her love for water.”
Throughout the project, students made meaningful connections to prior learning, curriculum content and to the importance of water as a life source.
Local artist and retired teacher Christine Bretherick would visit the grade 1/2s, speaking about our local waterways and how they connect to bodies of water far away. Students were also challenged to think about their relationship with water and make small changes to help conserve water on a daily basis.
The classes also took time to read and discuss The Water Walker and, using the book as their inspiration, created the art that was on display Thursday evening.
At the event, families took in the children’s art and stories, students shared why water and the story of The Water Walker is important to them, and guest speakers including Robertson and members of Wellington Water Watchers spoke to the crowd.
Also on display Thursday was art created by the Water Rockers, grade 6 students at Kortright Public School, who recently organized an assembly to teach their classmates about the importance of water.
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