One thing all our leaners have come away with from this week is to be begin to critically think about the world they interact and live in. They now have the skill-set and toolkit to examine spaces, people and artefacts around them in a critical manner.
We have covered some serious ground, but I'll note some highlights of our week for everyone!
Monday
We arrived and rushed quickly into council chambers to catch Mayor Nenshi's rendition of "Let It Go".... wow! The children were amused and impressed by that performance! We spent the rest of the rest of the morning getting a feel for the Municipal Building and looking around on a small tour.
In the afternoon we had a chance to meet and speak to Councillor Druh Farrell, as well, we examined the atrium of the Municipal Building as a public space, looking at its beauty, comfort, accessibility, landmarks and safety.
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| "Let It Go" with Mayor Nenshi |
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| Meeting with Cllr. Farrell |
We walked up to the Bow Building and examined what sort of space it was. We went with the knowledge that the Bow is a private space, and that access to the building was limited. Student's made great connections on how the art outside the Bow (Wonderland), was a in fact not public art, but publicly-placed private art. Students compared the differences and similarities to the Bow and Municipal Building.
On our way back, we came through Stephen Avenue and we investigated that as a public space and looking at its beauty, comfort, accessibility, landmarks and safety.
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| Journalling at the Bow |
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| Wonderland at the Bow |
Wednesday we evaluated Olympic Plaza as a public space (beauty, comfort, accessibility, landmarks and safety) and went on a shape hunt to look at the 2D and 3D shapes we could find in the plaza. Later in the morning we had a chance to meet with Mayor Nenshi and ask him some questions we had prepared.
Wednesday afternoon we wandered off in our small groups to look at how we use our senses to observe what's going on in public spaces. The group I worked with went back to Stephen Avenue to examine and journal about the smells, sights and sounds. We repeated this to see what might change if we moved 30 metres from the sun to the shade under a +15, giving us the chance to observe some interesting changes.
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| Journalling at Olympic Plaza |
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| Using our senses on Stephen Avenue |
Thursday
Thursday morning we continued to look at public spaces by examining Confederation Park. Jody came and met us at the school and we walked over to the east side of the park where we met Darrel Klint from Parks Calgary. We went on an informative guided tour to examine citizenship and responsibilities that we share with the city to care for some public spaces, such as Confederation park. The bus met us there to head to City Hall.
Thursday afternoon we spend examining and journalling about the artefacts that the Municipal Building had. Students noted in-depth descriptions and we began to crafts some stories based on these artefacts.
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| Learning about one of the time capsules in Confederation Park |
Friday
Friday morning we finished off our stories before heading down Stephen Avenue towards The Core. We stopped along significant pieces of public art for discussions and conversations before heading to Devonian Gardens. After having lunch there, we spend the afternoon looking at how Devonian Gardens as a city park, examining how it's similar and different to other public spaces and parks. We capped our week at the gardens journalling about a public space that we found important and why. On the way back to the Municipal Building we explored some of the +15 systems and talked about how these are private spaces that are open to the public.
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| Looking at "Seasonal" Public Art and how we only find this piano on Stephen Avenue in summer months. |
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| Lunch @ Devonian Gardens gave parents who work downtown a chance to share a moment with their kids! |
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| Journalling at Devonian Gardens |
Thanks again for all your help and support in this week!
