Kenora Catholic District School Board

Students at St. Louis School Explore Their Passions Through the Learning Festival

Posted on 06/28/2016

On June 22 and 23rd St. Louis School hosted their second annual Learning Festival, with 19 workshops focused on the interests of the students and the passions of the teachers.

Stephanie Williams, Core French Teacher helped to organize the event. She talks about the vision behind the Learning Festival. "The Learning Festival started last year as a way for staff to showcase their gifts and talents and keep students learning right to the end of the school year. Instead of teachers teaching their subject areas it allows them to share a passion that they may not be able to present in the classroom. We had Jamey Robertson teaching mountain biking and Jordan Temple teaching Wilderness Survival Skills. These are not things that we can teach in the classroom. What is really interesting is that you get to see some of the passions and interests of the students in their workshop choices."

This year the festival included 19 different workshops including Coding and Robotics, Geocaching, Woodworking, Cheerleading, Play Day, Musical Instruments, Jewelry Making and card crafting.

Here are a few pictures and highlights from the 2nd Annual Learning Festival:

Josh a Grade 4 student is taking a ride on a virtual roller coaster and talks us through what he's seeing. "I see a roller coaster. I'm moving. It's just like I'm in that environment but I know I'm not. I really like it." Josh was in the Coding and Robotics course using the Google Cardboard Virtual Reality Headset.	Students had the chance to explore many different kinds of fun technology gadgets in the Coding and Robotics Workshop.
Will a grade 6 student was also in the Coding and Robotics Course. He was working on creating the design of a robot using styrofoam and tooth pics. "I'm creating a robot. I started off the feet and tried to match colors then I went random. I really like the Learning Festival because you get to pick what you want to do and it's really fun."	In the music workshop students got to pretend to be rock and roll stars and ticker with a variety of different musical instruments.
In the Wilderness Survival Workshop students had the chance to learn about a variety of techniques for outdoor survival from Math Lead Jordan Temple	Students also had an opportunity to make their own fire.
Many students signed up for the cooking class where they had an opportunity to make their own hamburgers.	Students created jewlery in the Jewlery making workshop.
	The smiling, proud faces are evidence that students are loving what they are learning at the Learning Festival.
Haley a grade 5 student also signed up for Return to Kindergarten and talks about why she chose this workshop. "I chose Return to Kindergarten because when I look back at school, Kindergarten was the most fun grade I was ever in. We had the most freedom and creativity in Kindergarten. I love the Learning Festival because we are able to expand our knowledge and learn more. It's a great way to help kids find what they love and what their passions are."
Zi-Anne a grade 1 student signed up for the Return to Kindergarten workshop. "It's a lot of fun. I had fun when I was actually in Kindergarten so I decided to sign up again. I liked painting and playing at the water table the best."	Students enjoyed creating unique pieces of artwork in the Birds With Acrylics workshop.
Students had a chance to learn about carpentry in the Woodworking workshop.	Then they got to get messy and paint their own creations in a collaborative project.