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Lord Stanley's Gift Monument
2017
EXCITING NEWS
FOR WIGGINS AND MACLAREN STUDENTS!
Good Morning,
This is the first of a few emails that will be sent - please keep checking back for further information.
In the fall both classes wrote an opinion piece for the Lord Stanley's Gift Monument competition. I sent all of our suggestions in by the October 7th deadline and then we received a response from the organization... They were thrilled that we had taken the time to write and were even more excited that the kids were so engaged.
http://lordstanleysgift.com
To say that things have taken off since then might be an understatement! After several phone calls and emails, our classes have been invited to / will be participating in several events revolving around the new Lord Stanley's Gift Monument being erected at the corner of Sparks Street and Elgin Street.
1) Ground Breaking Ceremony - Saturday, March 18th
GROUNDBREAKING On Saturday, March 18th at 9:30am at Sparks Street and Elgin (monument site) is the Groundbreaking. It is open to the public but primarily a media event. It would be fantastic to have you and students there, especially as you and your students have been so engaged in the competition! If time allows, there may be a special opportunity to meet VIPs and perhaps take a photo opportunity with the Stanley Cup. As it’s March Break and therefor not an official school outing, we’ll need to coordinate meeting logistics. I would recommend parents who wish to attend arrive on site by 8:45am latest and to come find me. The media event will last 30 minutes.
** If you would like to attend, please email me so that I can let Koa know roughly how many students will be attending. We can arrange to meet around 8:30 and then proceed to the site. The Governor General, Mayor and the Stanley Cup wil be there! **
2) Lord Stanley's Gift Documentary - April / May
3) Hockey Exhibit at the Museum of History - Early May
4) Unveiling of the Monument - December 2017
Below I have pasted the original email that I sent (along with a 15 page word document with all the students opinion pieces which I haven't included) to the competition organizers.
Please let me know in the next couple of days via email if you are able to attend the ground breaking on Saturday. It is a short event, but an interesting part of the process for students.
Thanks,
Karen
Good Evening,
My name is Karen Wiggins and I am a grade 7 teacher at Goulbourn Middle School in Stittsville, Ontario. I read an article in the Ottawa Citizen recently about the Lord Stanley's Gift Competition describing the 8 finalists submissions. In the article is suggested that the public could send in their thoughts and opinions about the designs via email by October 7th. As a teacher, I am always looking for ways to connect real life situations with what I teach and the Lord Stanley's Gift Competition was the perfect opportunity!
I introduced my English classes to the 8 finalists via your website and spent a whole period reading with them, having informed conversations about their likes and dislikes, and encouraging them to back up their opinions with facts and examples. As you can well imagine 12 year olds have very strong opinions about things and when you add hockey into the mix they are passionate to share! They learned how to write an opinion paragraph and were able to express their choice for the Lord Stanley's Gift Monument in written form.
My students were also able to relate to the location of the monument as they are all residents of the City of Ottawa. They could envision the placement of the monument in relation to other important sites in the immediate area of Sparks Street and Confederation Square. This provided them with a sense of responsibility and motivation to share their opinions with you.
This writing assignment was the perfect opportunity to connect learning to every day life. They are looking forward to seeing who the winner is at the end of the month. I have attached their opinion paragraphs to this email, and realizing that it is a lengthy document, I want to thank you in advance for taking the time to read them and add them to the other Lord Stanley's Gift comments.
Kindest Regards,
Karen Wiggins
This is the first of a few emails that will be sent - please keep checking back for further information.
In the fall both classes wrote an opinion piece for the Lord Stanley's Gift Monument competition. I sent all of our suggestions in by the October 7th deadline and then we received a response from the organization... They were thrilled that we had taken the time to write and were even more excited that the kids were so engaged.
http://lordstanleysgift.com
To say that things have taken off since then might be an understatement! After several phone calls and emails, our classes have been invited to / will be participating in several events revolving around the new Lord Stanley's Gift Monument being erected at the corner of Sparks Street and Elgin Street.
1) Ground Breaking Ceremony - Saturday, March 18th
- Below is the information from the Koa Padolsky, the Associate Professional Advisor/Project Manager for Lord Stanley's Gift
GROUNDBREAKING On Saturday, March 18th at 9:30am at Sparks Street and Elgin (monument site) is the Groundbreaking. It is open to the public but primarily a media event. It would be fantastic to have you and students there, especially as you and your students have been so engaged in the competition! If time allows, there may be a special opportunity to meet VIPs and perhaps take a photo opportunity with the Stanley Cup. As it’s March Break and therefor not an official school outing, we’ll need to coordinate meeting logistics. I would recommend parents who wish to attend arrive on site by 8:45am latest and to come find me. The media event will last 30 minutes.
** If you would like to attend, please email me so that I can let Koa know roughly how many students will be attending. We can arrange to meet around 8:30 and then proceed to the site. The Governor General, Mayor and the Stanley Cup wil be there! **
2) Lord Stanley's Gift Documentary - April / May
- Filming at GMS
- Recreating the original fall writing class + another activity
- Filming for a couple of hours
- Whole classes participate with a select group of students being interviewed (in both English and French) about their experience and engagement.
3) Hockey Exhibit at the Museum of History - Early May
- Visiting the new exhibit
- Filming for documentary of classes walking through the exhibit
4) Unveiling of the Monument - December 2017
- Invitation to attend (even though they will be in grade 8)
Below I have pasted the original email that I sent (along with a 15 page word document with all the students opinion pieces which I haven't included) to the competition organizers.
Please let me know in the next couple of days via email if you are able to attend the ground breaking on Saturday. It is a short event, but an interesting part of the process for students.
Thanks,
Karen
Good Evening,
My name is Karen Wiggins and I am a grade 7 teacher at Goulbourn Middle School in Stittsville, Ontario. I read an article in the Ottawa Citizen recently about the Lord Stanley's Gift Competition describing the 8 finalists submissions. In the article is suggested that the public could send in their thoughts and opinions about the designs via email by October 7th. As a teacher, I am always looking for ways to connect real life situations with what I teach and the Lord Stanley's Gift Competition was the perfect opportunity!
I introduced my English classes to the 8 finalists via your website and spent a whole period reading with them, having informed conversations about their likes and dislikes, and encouraging them to back up their opinions with facts and examples. As you can well imagine 12 year olds have very strong opinions about things and when you add hockey into the mix they are passionate to share! They learned how to write an opinion paragraph and were able to express their choice for the Lord Stanley's Gift Monument in written form.
My students were also able to relate to the location of the monument as they are all residents of the City of Ottawa. They could envision the placement of the monument in relation to other important sites in the immediate area of Sparks Street and Confederation Square. This provided them with a sense of responsibility and motivation to share their opinions with you.
This writing assignment was the perfect opportunity to connect learning to every day life. They are looking forward to seeing who the winner is at the end of the month. I have attached their opinion paragraphs to this email, and realizing that it is a lengthy document, I want to thank you in advance for taking the time to read them and add them to the other Lord Stanley's Gift comments.
Kindest Regards,
Karen Wiggins