Community Highlight

AFNTS strongly believes in promoting innovation in technology and encouraging communities to do the same. As part of this initiative, we are proud to feature a school community that is making great strides with technology. In this instance, we would like to acknowledge the efforts of We’koqma’q, who have been doing wonderful things with tech in their school. We spoke to Cindy Bernard, and here is what she had to say about it.

‍

"At our school, we have a Coding Club tailored for students in Grades 2-5, which meets twice a week for an afterschool program. The children actively engage with technology by using Dash robots to explore sight words in the hallways, playing with Sphero robotic balls, maneuvering indi car robots around the classroom, and creating words using the irobot drawing robot with coding.

‍

In addition to these activities, we have integrated Goosechase for virtual scavenger hunts across the school premises. Our dedicated Mi'kmaw teacher incorporates voice buttons to enhance the promotion of the language through technology. Moreover, she has developed an Interactive Voice Button Wall, allowing students to interact with the monthly language theme conveniently.

‍

Furthermore, our students utilize Osmo learning tools for various activities such as tangrams, numbers, alphabets, coding, and drawing. We recently hosted a representative from the Apple indigenous education initiative, who conducted insightful one-on-one sessions for our teachers to explore the full potential of Apple apps. The Middle school students had a special session to learn how to create diverse slideshows and presentations using their iPads.

‍

Our students have outdoor play, education, and land based teaching throughout the whole year from k3 - grade 12. Students are learning to document our learning through technology and have their own Tech class where they learn so much more in highschool with Rob Smith. Video editing, 3D printing, picture editing are some of the things they cover."

‍