Assignment
1 Community and Curriculum Analysis Report
Social
Studies
Grade
5
Major
units of study (students are expected to know):
- Development and evolution of Canadian identity over time
- Changing nature of Canadian immigration over time
- Past discriminatory government policies and actions, such as the
Head Tax, the Komagata Maru incident, residential schools, and interments
- Human rights and responses to discrimination in Canadian society
- Levels
of government, their main functions, and sources of funding
- Participation
and representation in Canada’s system of government
- Resources
and economic development in different regions of Canada
- First
Peoples land ownership and use
*Italics
for areas of special focus
Major
curriculum objectives (students should be able to do):
- Use
social studies inquiry processes and skills to - ask questions; gather,
interpret, and analyze ideas; and communicate findings and decisions
- Develop
a plan of action to address a selected problem or issue
- Construct
arguments defending the significance of individuals / groups, places,
events, and developments
- Ask
questions, corroborate inferences, and draw conclusions about the content
and origins of a variety of sources, including mass media
- Sequence
objects, images, and events, and recognize the positive and negative
aspects of continuities and changes in the past and present
- Differentiate
between intended and unintended consequences of events, decision, and
developments, and speculate about alternative outcomes
- Take
stakeholders’ perspectives on issues, developments, or events by making
inferences about their beliefs, values, and motivations
- Make
ethical judgements about events, decision, or actions that consider the
conditions of a particular time and place, and assess appropriate ways to
respond
Context
of my School and Community
- Our
school is the only single track French Immersion school in a district of
101 elementary schools.
- Hosts
kindergarten to grade 7. There is also a Montessori pre-school, and before
and after school care held in the same classroom.
- Our
enrollment for this year was 453 students.
- Projected
enrollment for next year will be 460 students.
- Our
students tend to come from middle to upper class families. The
neighbourhood is single family homes with no suites, no townhouses, and no
apartments.
- There
is some new building in the area, but it is mostly at capacity and not
cited for rezoning or densification.
- We have
a fairly large Asian population, with a larger percentage of Chinese
families.
- Family
centered events are important in the surrounding community, with events
hosted by local elementary schools, theatre companies, the public library,
and the Alexandra Neighbourhood House organization.
- The
community also caters to an older population with programs such as:
technology help, Remember When? (for reminiscing), yarn circles, and book
clubs all hosted by the public library.
- 2016
census data demonstrates that South Surrey has an older than average
population compared to the rest of British Columbia, comparing 24.7% at 65
and over to 18.3%. (Statistics Canada, 2016 Census of Population)
Potential
Partners and Community Resources
- The
Alexandra Neighbourhood House organization has a rich history, having been
established to care for underprivileged mothers and orphaned children at
the end of the 19th century. It was initially begun and maintained by
women. A study on the establishment of this organization and how it’s
changed over time would link well with the grade 5 and 6 curriculum and
help students dig into local history. (https://www.alexhouse.net/where-it-all-began)
- The
Historic Stewart Farm offers edukits and onsite education programs based
on immigrant perspectives (mainly Scottish and Chinese), which tie in
directly with many different aspects of the grade 5 Social Studies
curriculum (as well as a few cross-curricular ties with science): immigration,
discriminatory policies, and resources and economic development. (http://www.surrey.ca/culture-recreation/2879.aspx)
- I
discovered the book series Righting Canada’s Wrongs through United Library
Services. Each topic has its own book and the series covers: Chinese Head
Tax and Anti-Chinese Immigration Policies in the Twentieth Century,
Residential Schools their Impact and the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission’s Findings and Calls for Action, Italian Canadian Internment in
the Second World War, Japanese Canadian Internment in the Second World
War, and the Komagata Maru and Canada’s Anti-Indian Immigration Policies
in the Twentieth Century. The grade level recommendations for this series
vary between grades 6 to 12 so teacher access and assistance may be
necessary to assist students, but they will be a useful text resource for
the library to possess. Considering Ranganathan’s laws for libraries, we
do not currently have many factual text resources on these topics in our
collection for students to use. Also, because they are very topic specific
they fulfill a specific set of user’s specific needs (Mardis, Ch.1). From
previous experience with students researching this topic it is helpful to
have a few book resources to begin the research process so online research
can be more focused.
Contextual
Information
The grade level for this assignment
is 5 and the main area of focus is the Social Studies curriculum with special
emphasis on the italicized units of study noted above. We currently have two
classes of grade 5 students this year and are projected to have the same next
year. Those classes are currently at 27 and 28 students respectively. Both
grade 5 teachers were new to our school this year but have a number of years
experience teaching in upper intermediate (mainly grade 7). They both have
experience teaching in areas with similar economic and cultural backgrounds to
those found in our community (middle to upper class and larger Asian populations).
Both teachers are very committed to creating an immersive curricular experience
for their students in this subject area. This year they borrowed different
edukits from the Surrey Heritage organization to give their students a chance
to handle genuine artifacts, and both classes later participated in the
Surrey/Delta Heritage Fair. The grade 6 teachers may also want to access this
area collection as it applies to parts of their Social Studies curriculum as
well (global poverty and inequality issues, including class structure and
gender, and urbanization and the migration of people).
The entire school has access to the
library collection in a few different ways. We operate on a fixed schedule
where kindergarten to grade 4 classes come for a 40 minute prep block once a
week. Grades 5 to 7 have a 20 minute book exchange block each week where I give
a short lesson on research skills, resources, or a book talk, then students are
free to work or choose a book. The rest of the blocks are my prep, admin time,
and collaboration blocks. There are also open exchange blocks every morning and
afternoon where any student who needs to can come to find a book or resource.
Students come in regularly to look for and exchange personal reading books. You
can see in the analysis below that the top titles circulated in the past 90
days are all fiction titles.
The
top search results in the library paint a different picture. Whereas students
generally know where their favourite books are kept, when doing research they
rely more on the online catalogue system. The different research projects that
have taken place over the few months (the system does not keep data from the
previous year) are at the top of the list and form the majority of the
searches.
The goal of adding more resources that
will respond to students’ needs (indicated by searches 4, 5, 6, 7 in the image
above) and increasing community resource links is to provide greater
opportunities for students to engage with the curriculum and have rich learning
experiences. Part of developing student’s skills through the process of
research inquiry is for them to hopefully have a sense of accomplishment and
greater self-awareness when they reach the end (Riedling, pg.11). Having more
easily accessible resources gives a hand up to young students as they begin
developing those skills required in the curriculum that will be useful for them
as they continue in their school careers.
References
“BC's
New Curriculum.” Provincial Graduation Numeracy Assessment | Building
Student
Success - BC's New Curriculum,
curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/social-studies/5.
Statistics
Canada. 2017. South Surrey--White Rock [Federal electoral district], British
Columbia and British Columbia [Province] (table). Census Profile.
2016 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001. Ottawa. Released
November 29, 2017.https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E (accessed May
24, 2018).
City
of Surrey. “Stewart Farm School Programs.” City of Surrey, OpenText CMS,
Riedling,
Ann Marlow, et al. Reference skills for the school librarian: tools and tips.
California, 2013.
“The
Collection.” The Collection Program in Schools, by Marcia A. Mardis, 6th
ed., Libraries
Unlimited, 2016.
“Where
It All Began.” Alexandra Neighbourhood House, 1 May 1970,
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