All You Need Is Love and a Community in a Pandemic

Jilll Quirk and the Heloise Lorimer STEAM Team Virtual

Stay safe... stay safe...” this was my son yelling from the truck window. Our staff parade (April 9th) was a chance for us teachers to see our students from our truck or car windows, waving and wishing everyone a happy Easter. It was an emotional drive through the neighbourhoods. A way to make sure students know that we care and that we are always there for them. Global News and CTV were there to document the touching reunification of a community.

This parade was a pleasant reminder of how much we NEED our community. Students and colleagues give us teachers more than they know. The whole community was buzzing!

Currently, our lives as educators have changed. We communicate over google classroom and zoom calls. Every day at 2 pm I zoom call with the grade 5 students, playing games and communicating. However, our hearts are broken. We miss connecting face to face with our students.

So, we try our best. they have been creating. This especially happens over our Google Classroom Grade 5 Hangout Page.

We try to make the online course content relevant to what is happening. On Earth Day, for example, we made bracelets out of plastic bags after reading the book, One Plastic Bag about Isatou Ceesay and The Recycling Women of The Gambia.

The reality of living in a pandemic is that a lot of youth are feeling the stress, so we encourage students to know that they have the ability to help each other through this!

The youth can be powerful ChangeMakers.

A ChangeMaker is someone who notices something that needs to be changed or improved and acts on it. If you have read or watched THE LORAX, THE LORAX is a Changemaker.

If there are no Changemakers “nothing is going to get better, it’s not!”....

So... we asked the students...

Bake treats. Me, my mom and my brother panted hearts on the window to show love. Me and my mom made cookies with goody bags and delivered them to friends and family. – Cheyanne

Kingston wants to be a Changemaker by painting positive words and pictures on his windows. I feel like staying home is hard and sometimes boring. My mom’s friend is making masks for people. I see her being a Changemaker. My mom asked for two masks for my grandparents because they are old. I can be a Changemaker by staying home so the Corona Virus does not spread more. I can put up friendly signs to keep my neighbours in good spirits. - Hunter

CHANGE MAKERS What does it take to be a Changemaker in a pandemic? And these grade 5s sure do have some advice...

What we can do to help is not obsessing about it, we should still do the things we LOVE. We can buy elders food and toilet paper. – Arianna At this time, I like to help my parents to clean up the house and outside the house. Also, I like to give my mother a break from making breakfast for us and I prepare breakfast for the family. This helps me to spend time with my family and learn new things and be responsible for the household stuff. – Prabh We can be a change maker by baking treats for our family and friends and delivering them. We made and hung up Hearts <3 in our windows to show support for all the doctors and nurses working at our hospitals – Mya We could go around our neighbourhood with a garbage bag and some gloves and pick up any garbage we see, because many places in Airdrie are filled with trash and it is harmful to our environment – Cora

We can be Changemakers by following the rules and respecting the governments decisions on what we can and can’t do. We can help our family and neighbors by going to the grocery stores for the people who can’t. How I can be a Changemaker in a pandemic is for the people who can’t have birthdays, we can do parades to make their birthday special. – William (aka Austin)

During the pandemic we can continue to social distance, wash our hands and stay home. I like to FaceTime my grandparents, I miss them and wish I could visit them but staying home is keeping us safe. – Colton

I think we can try to be positive about this pandemic and make the most of it. Like for example

if it’s nice out maybe go for a walk or go on a bike ride with you family. You can go outside but maintain your distance. – Madison

I can be a Changemaker during this pandemic by not fighting with my sister or brother and

also by thinking of some things I can do the day before. For example, planning a family bike ride or walk. You can even use your creativity to invent a new game. I made a new snakes and ladders game with my sister and mom with new tiles like roll again and switch with a

Make the best of self-isolation! Talk with your neighbors over your fence or you could go for a calming walk and play a classic board game, just have fun with

staying home. Do some cleaning! My family has done a lot of cleaning we would not do in a normal school week. Also, do your part! Stay away from people and stay home as much as you can. - Carter

You should cook for your family and get your garden ready! So, start your seedlings! Use those garden veggies to make your own deliciousness. - Aurora

Be thoughtful by helping to celebrate a friend’s birthday by making a sign, driving

past their house with your mom or dad and wishing them happy birthday from a distance. (Right Matthew?) Be cheerful by making window pictures of rainbows and messages to stay safe or any other nice pictures. Be helpful by helping out my family by doing my chores and school work when my parents are busy. Also watching my younger brother by playing games with him. – Smith

What can we do to make this world better than it was? I guess that is the message I am trying to reflect on throughout the pandemic. How can we stop and assess our lives and become a better version of ourselves to continue to make our community better?

The pandemic is going to change the world as we know it. Together we can recreate a stronger more successful community. #ItTakesAllOfUs COMMUNITY = STRENGTH

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