Experience #1 - May 31st & June 1st, 2021

Each piece was delivered to its first pod by 2 of our strongest Indigenous students. We began on May 31st which was our first school day after the confirmation of the findings at the Kamloops Residential School were widespread knowledge. It was a very difficult weekend listening to the news reports and coming to greater understanding of what had happened there.

The pieces were introduced to one class in each pod who was asked to make sure it was share with the other two classes. Sometimes the art was held in the pod and sometimes it began in a room and moved from class to class. While we were delivering the art, students were in their classrooms learning more about and discussing the implications of the residential school system. It was heavy and heartbreaking teaching but we could feel the joy of the art seeping in and supporting us.

In some pods, students began interacting almost immediately as teachers allowed emergent engagement to occur.

Mrs. Friesen's Kindergarten students engaged with "Wolves" using unlined notebooks and began working in the style of Cowichan artist lessLIE.

While some students were inside, others were outside connecting to the number 215 and what it meant to know so many small students hadn't made it home from school.

Students tied 215 orange ribbons on our railing in honour of the Indigenous children who were confirmed buried at the Kamloops Residential School. Having the art to support us through that day was so helpful.

Ms. Charbonneau's Class also worked with "Wolves" and the following provocation: "What do you notice? What do you see?" They had conversation around interpreting art and what makes it unique as well as some quiet time sketching what they could see. Most students focused on the shapes they found interesting.

This little person drew the shapes he was interested in as well as tried writing some words.

June 1st was a beautifully sunny and warm day. Mrs. Fisher ventured out into the sun to talk about negative and positive space and some potato stamping with just water as the medium. We call this technique "Potato water on concrete."

We had 40 Lbs of potatoes on hand....

What does it look like underneath?

Getting more "paint"

During our initial exploration experience, we began looking ahead to what we could do with subsequent pieces by pairing resources from our LLC, the Ab Ed Resource Centre and our classroom resources.