Reading this tweet from one of our creative Greystone teachers while I was away this month really got me curious…what clever prank was she up to this time?
Our Greystone staff are becoming very good at surprising each other, our students and me. Examples of the kinds of surprises we have had in the past include a whole school appreciation assembly, a piece of artwork students created for the school, a couple of flash mobs – the most recent one performing “Thriller” on Halloween, an entire classroom being relocated to the learning pod one day, and of course, the amazing success of our Innovation Week just before Christmas holidays.
When I walked into the school this past Tuesday morning, rushing to get to my supervision post, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I ended up being late for supervision because I couldn’t pull myself away from staring, in awe, at the latest Greystone surprise…
This is one of the five words that was represented by each of our five grade six classes – words that are the core of what our school is about. Each class had the task of looking around the school for images of the letters needed to make up the following words:
Synergy~Creativity~Citizenship~Exploration~Imagination
The best of the best photos were chosen, sent off to be transformed into banners and then the five banners were hung in the front foyer of our school – all done without me knowing a thing about it. I was overwhelmed with the work that went into this and so impressed that it had been a project involving an entire learning community of students and teachers.
The week ended with another great surprise – our Inferno School Assembly. This wasn’t a surprise assembly, nobody made a surprise appearance or shared a surprise performance. What surprised me was how moved I was with all of the sharing that was part of this one hour of time together and the positive energy that could be felt among our school community. Here are some highlights:
→Video of our Hair Massacure Project – created by one of our students and his parent (this year we had a record number of students participating – 140!) and students sharing their personal stories about why they got involved and how it felt to have their heads shaved (brought several of us to tears)
→Our Student Advisors sharing examples of how Synergy~Creativity~Citizenship~Exploration~Imagination come to life in their classrooms at each grade level through special projects and activities
Check out what the kids were talking about:
→Guests from Youth in Action inviting our students to join their organization and make a difference in our community (and comments like this from our guests made to me following the assembly…“your school is incredible!”)
→Pictures and videos from our SEVEC Student Exchange to Quebec got the whole school singing and swaying as the music played on in the background
→Standing ovation for our Drama Club who were amazing this week at our school’s first ever evening performance at Horizon Stage
Who doesn’t LOVE these kinds of surprises? Thank you Greystone!
I’m so proud of our students and very appreciative to have the opportunity to be a teacher within such a supportive school community. Carolyn, not only do you lead us, you inspire us. You’re an amazing role model to all 580 students and staff….hence the reason we like to surprise you.
Wow…thanks Patty!