A local elementary school class is taking steps towards advocacy action in Ottawa.
The Grade 2 class taught by Brenda Watts at Ecole RW Bobby Bend School designed a pair of sneakers that made their way to Parliament Hill.
Recreation facilitator Laine Wilson was recently in Ottawa through her involvement with Canadian Parks and Recreation Association. The CPRA representatives wore sneakers to meetings with leaders on Parliament Hill as part of ParticipACTION’s Sneak-It-In Campaign, which encouraged folks to wear runners to work to add some activity during their workday. Wilson sported colourful sneakers artfully decorated by the Stonewall students when she attended the advocacy event.
For Watts, she thought the project was a great idea and was happy to get involved.
“After my students got over the initial shock of actually being able to colour on shoes, they were very excited,” she said.
“They took the project very seriously and were so careful and thoughtful in their planning and execution of the designs.”
The aim was to decorate the shoes in a way that represents Canada while also representing activities the students like to do in their own home community.
“We talked about different Canadian symbols and things that we enjoy doing specifically in Stonewall. The students drew Canadian symbols such as Canadian flags, maple leaves, loons, beavers and Canadian geese,” Watts said.
“They had lots of great ideas about what they like to do in Stonewall, including bike riding to The Kiln for ice cream, swimming at Kinsmen Lake, hiking in Quarry Park, visiting the library and playing hockey at the rink.”
For the final project, students were able to choose two of their pictures to draw on two different shoes, making sure there was a variety of representations on each one.
“These topics tied in perfectly with our social studies curriculum for Grade 2,” Watts added.
“We focus both on our local community and Canadian community, so this idea fit right in.”
The students were excited to be involved — and to see how far the sneakers travelled on their journey to the nation’s capital.
“When Laine was in Ottawa, she was sending me pictures of her wearing the shoes at Parliament. She also took photos with our class picture and different members of Parliament from across Canada. The students were so excited to see them and to know where the person was from that she was pictured with,” Watts said.
“This led to more discussions about different places in Canada. Student engagement was high, and this activity served as a springboard for more curiosity and learning about our country. When Laine returned from her trip, she brought in personalized Ottawa postcards, thanking all of us for our help with her special project, and Canada pins from one of the Parliament members. My students were thrilled.”
At the same time, Wilson said the artistic footwear made an impact on the leaders at Parliament Hill.
“I think it was a great way to show partnerships from all lenses,” Wilson said.
“Those kiddos did a fantastic job. I was so proud to wear them and show them off to everyone.”
