We're a Homophobia-Free Zone #5

Fifth in our series of videos supporting inclusive language and attitude in our school, this installment by our grade 6 students is not to be missed. We think this will inspire others to be vigilant about bully-language in general and anti-homophobia in particular.


Make sure you tell us what YOU think! Click comments, below. Use only your first name....

music from freeplaymusic.com

Today we celebrate the Earth!

Earth Day

I am the Earth
And the Earth is me.
Each blade of grass,
Each honey tree.
Each bit of mud,
And stick and stone
Is blood and muscle,
Skin and bone.

And just as I
Need every bit
Of me to make
My body fit,
So Earth needs
Grass and stone and tree
And things that grow
Naturally.

That's why we
Celebrate this day.
That's why across
The world we say:
As long as life,
As dear, as free,
I am the Earth
And the Earth is me.

by wonderful author and poet Jane Yolen


RESPOND to this poem by listing 5 to 10 of the natural things which you personally overlook, and fail to appreciate, but which you know are part of the fabric of life on this planet. Put your list in "comments" below.


Next:

Calculate your ECO-FOOTPRINT.....find out how many "Earths" would be required to sustain us if everyone lived just like you do.

Go to: http://www.earthday.net/footprint/flash.html

Click comments below to write down your new insights about the "weight of your foot" on the planet and perhaps your new intentions!?

We are a Homophobia Free Zone #4

Here is Think about what you say, volume 4! Our grade 6 students have been using their thespian talents to bring you this convincing drama about the impact of language, and the importance of inclusion.

What do you think? Click comments below, and be sure to include your first name.

music from freeplaymusic.com

We are a Homophobia Free Zone #3

This is number three in a series of broadcasts by our grade 6 students, encouraging people to make better choices, and demonstating how language can be hurtful.

What do you think? Click comments below, and make sure to use your first name.......

music from freeplaymusic.com

We are a Homophobia Free Zone #2

Here is a second episode in the series that our grade 6 students have created to increase awareness about how language can be harmful. Check out this video ......

What do you think? Click comments below.... [Remember to use your first name.]

music from freeplaymusic.com

We are a Homophobia Free Zone #1

Our grade 6 students have done some very industrious and important work to increase awareness about how language can be harmful. Take a look at this video they made......

What do you think? Click comments below.... [Remember to use your first name.]

music fromfreeplaymusic.com

Ning's The Thing!

Check out the Senior Students' own blog for a new video featuring the fabulous final performance by our Dynamic Duo, vocalist and drummer. Click on the Seven/Eight-Confabulate link at the top left on this blog.

Also, check out Farihah's reports on the happenings this winter in the Senior side of school, in 3 posts called "What's Up - Grade 7 & 8 Adventures" ....... on the same main page of "Confabulate."

Liquid to Almost Solid, to Mouth!

Room 4's Great Ice Cream Making Adventure!

We Are The BRAINS Behind These Biographies!

Fab Finalists!

Here are our Junior Boys Basketball Division Finalists!

Their good sportsmanship make them worthy examples to represent Nelson Mandela Park anywhere they go!

Premium Team!

Send our team your words of encouragement!

Em POWER this HOUR !!! Earth needs our help!

What if YOU did NOTHING, when there was something
you COULD do?????

How will you feel, when you look out your window in Regent Park at 8:31pm - see all the windows dark around you, and know that yours is showing dark back at them all?!!!

Earth Hour, by M and R, grade 5, room 20 and 16

For Earth Hour this year, Nelson Mandela kids will go Global! We will be shutting off our lights in school on Friday, and at home on Saturday night. We will be showing the world that every LITTLE BIT each person does can contribute to the BIG change the world needs if we are going to survive.

Global warming is ruining the earth. If our climate gets warmer, the polar ice will melt, our coastlines will shrink, our barren deserts will grow, and people and animals will die without enough food and water.

People need to be much, much more careful with their energy. We can't keep burning so much wood, gasoline or coal that dirty the air and trap the sun's heat IN our atmosphere.

Earth Hour is on March 28th from 8:30 to 9:30. Governments and people all over the world, more than 84 countries, have promised to take part! Now, again, TORONTO's big buildings will go dark.

Go ahead, look out your window, and you will see the lights go off.

Will you turns yours off too?

Check out these links to learn more about climate change, and the reasons why observing EARTH HOUR is so urgent!

Earth Hour in Toronto

Greenhouse Effect - Junior kids (easier)

Polar Bears - Junior kids (harder)

Climate Change - Junior kids (harder)

Global Warming - Big kids, see presentation

Detective Game/Climate Change (a lot of reading)

The Event of the Season!

RETHINK: What you drink #6

These guys are going to the store.... what will they choose???

Special thanks to our movie "extra" who agreed to be cast as the cashier at the last moment!

RETHINK - What You Drink #5

Sometimes a RAP is worth a thousand words....Let this one persuade you to make healthy choices!

Let them know you heard their message!

RETHINK - What You Drink #4

When you go shopping for things to quench yur thirst, stay away from these!

RETHINK - What You Drink # 3

Here's what water can do for you! Choose it when you are thirsty....

RETHINK - What You Drink #2

Hop on Pop Soda Pop Company executives want to sell you their goods!!!
But is it GOOD?
Will you fall for their wily advertising????
Listen to what they have to say about their "wonderful" product....

What would you like to tell these guys about their hard-sell advertising?

RETHINK - What You Drink! #1

Eltaydon, the cow, persuades you to drink MILK! Click on the pic to hear "him" speak!


Do you recognise this cow from his voices?

FAIR, where? There, at NMPPS, that's where!

Follow the examples of "Team 15" as they show you how fairness makes everyone happier and safer at our school!

A podcast about an incident to be aware of.....

These articulate students express their feelings about a danger that happened recently in their neighborhood. They write in prose and read dramatic poetry. They give thoughtful ideas to other youngsters about how to stay safe when an unsavoury and possibly dangerous man is following children. To listen, click on this photo.....

Photo from Royalty free iStockphoto.com

Who knows what we can achieve....?

Mr. Ng's grade 6 students are ready to move mountains. Listen carefully to the lyrics they so beautifully sing, and hear their commitment ring out loud and clear.



If you would like to let them know how their song affected you, click comments, below, and leave your message. Remember to use your first name in the "name/url" window

Be safe in winter and don’t forget to have fun!!!

Hi. I'm Mahara, and I have some tips to follow if you want to stay safe during winter weather.

Click on the picture, and then click play, to hear my podcast!

The Birth of Change: Quote Contest and Watch Obama's Inaugural Speech

"Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run. Obama ran so we can all fly."
by Jay-Z

From the text and your own ideas, using RASER, explain what the quote means to you.
Ballot buckets for every grade division are located in the office on the front counter for students to drop off their answers.
Elizabeth will announce winners at the end of the week!
Thanks everyone for your participation!

The department of our own school board who want to make sure that own schools become more and more equitable are encouraging us to see Barack Obama's inaugural speech.

It is said, on their website:

"The events south of the border give us cause to celebrate the triumph of human decency over personal attack, social justice over implicit bias, and hope over fear. I believe that out of this unique experience comes an appreciation that difference is the lifeblood of a dynamic society. We do not merely tolerate diversity, but accept, respect, and celebrate it, recognizing that in an increasingly global society, it is our diversity that will be the underpinning of our social and economic success. Are we up to the challenge of addressing the attitudes, beliefs, and actions we know create barriers for certain segments of our population in order to inspire success in our most marginalized students? ---YES WE CAN!!"

To link up to this website, and to view the speech, click on the post title, above. Please leave us a sense of how this speech affected your thinking about your life, here in Regent Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada - or wherever you live in this global village. Click on comments, below to join our discussion.

Mandela kids observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day

To view students' I Have a Dream Poems!

.........click comments, below

Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established to honour Martin Luther King Jr. because he worked to make sure that the rights of African-Americans and other minorities were put into place.

After his death, legislation was put forward to make a day to honour King. Many people liked the idea but lots of people didn’t because they felt he should not be the only person who was honoured for fighting against racism.

When the day wasn’t made, many people protested by signing a petition. Six million signed it!

The first Martin Luther King Jr. Day was on January 20, 1986. Arizona only approved the holiday after a tourist boycott to protest because Arizona did not have the day.

Why don’t you make a poster about Martin Luther King Jr. to display in our hallways?

by Nadia and Aisha

Speak Out! in Poetry

Writing a poem is a powerful way to express your thoughts - quickly, persuasively, dramatically and uniquely. As we learned, The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child absolutely gives you the right to think for yourself and speak out when you have something important on your mind. It says you have the right to be heard.

Here, you have a forum, which means a discussion space.

In my mind, 3 things make a mockery of the rights of children in many places in the world:

1] Poverty
2] War
3] Devastation of the Earth

Use your own VOICE, "loud and clear" to make others understand what one of these issues means to YOU.

Or choose another world concern that you feel passionate about.

Post your poem here for others around the world to read.

Room 4 and the Peace Tree

A Special Visit to Room 8!

We were reading a story called The Mitten.

There was a hedgehog in the story.

We didn't know what a hedgehog was, because there aren't any of them in Canada.

So WIMZ brought us two hedgehogs, Ruby and Roscoe, to visit.

We touched them, and they felt like hairbrushes!

We get to do cool things in our class!

Click on the post title to find out facts about hedgehogs.......

Children Everywhere Have Rights

In 1989, the United Nations (see video) decided to officially decree that children everywhere in the world have the same indisputable rights.
Click on Nelson Mandela's picture, . Read his words.



Click on this poster to read what CHILDREN reported in 2005 about the world's progress on their behalf.


Get together in pairs. Using what you have just learned, talk to each other and
1] list the rights you remember
2] decide the most important part of what Mr. Mandela said....
3] recount what the CHILDREN say still needs to happen....

Write these things down in a way that suits you both.

------- ------- ------- -------

Now, it is 2008. You are a thoughtful, intelligent student in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Compose a note to Mr. Mandela and adults all over the world. (Remember, you are speaking to the whole WWW.) In it, state what is most important to you, what your own experiences have made you believe, and what you think needs to happen. (Remember to use R.A.S.E.R. as you reply.)

Put this note in "comments" below. Make sure to proof your note, and use you first name only.

Through Shaka's Lens: Gym Time, Fall '08

Catch a glimpse of the fun and spirit of Mandela Kids (kindergarten to grade 5) as they learn and play during phys. ed. with Mr. Abdul-Rashid.