Trent River Public School student Raises Pride Flag in Belleville
In the classroom - featured educator
HEATHER TAYLOR - North Hastings High School
Heather Taylor is an educator and leader at North Hastings High School. She works tirelessly to support students and bring Indigenous perspectives, histories and realities into her classes as well as the school as a whole. She created and supports the Wolf Pack, a student leadership group that focuses their learning and leading around Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Over the years, she and the Wolf Pack have organized Think Indigenous, a school wide learning opportunity with multiple guest speakers, performers and workshop presentations. In addition, Heather has successfully run Taylor Reads for the last six years. Taylor Reads is a competition based on Canada Reads where students select a novel and prepare a presentation to convince a panel of judges which book should be selected for all to read. 
In the classroom - Featured Educator
EMILY SEHL - Prince Edward Collegiate Institute
Emily is a Kindergarten teacher at Prince Edward Collegiate Institute who believes representation matters and is pivotal to creating inclusive and safer spaces for students, staff, families and school communities. Emily has contributed to HPEDSB Pride Month Resources and created five pride lessons you can do with your classes this month! 
Five Pride Month Lessons
- Pronouns lesson: Did you know it is TOTALLY okay to ask people what their pronouns are? It's just like asking them what their name is! Read one (or all) of these books and discuss as a class. I am Jazz, or Just Ask, or My Shadow is Purple, or My Shadow is Pink. THEN, have your learners self-reflect and make their own pronoun stickers to wear on their shirt (or signs to put at their desk if you don't have access to blank stickers) that say their own pronouns (she/her, they/them, he/him) *Note: worried about a student claiming they use pronouns you think they don't use? It's okay for them to experiment. You can use this as a chance to model what acceptance and inclusion looks like by validating them and moving on. What if they realize it's not a funny joke and change their mind back to other pronouns? Continue to show that it's no big deal, you will always respect them and accept them no matter what. This shows students who may not be comfortable expressing different/new pronouns that they are in a safe space and that they are allowed to experiment.
- Make posters for the school that promote equity and inclusion! My students will definitely be doing this by colouring pride flags and writing kind and inclusive messages about diversity!
- Have a rainbow day where your class tries to either: wear as many colours of the rainbow as possible OR in small groups have their own colour, and then as a class you can take a photo where you are physically recreating the pride flag.
- Sidewalk chalk! Decorate the playground and sidewalks around the school with positive messaging and rainbows. *Note: in my experience, if you are going to do this, you should brainstorm with your class what would be appropriate beforehand, write down those ideas on chart paper, and bring that chart paper outside, only allowing the approved ideas. This helps keep students on track and helps ensure that they are decorating appropriately*
- Inclusive read aloud passport! Using the books from the inclusion corner in your library, have your students colour one line on a Progress Pride Flag outline for each book read. Can they fill the whole flag? When they have, become book critics and discuss what some of your favourite books were, and why!?
June 2023
Indigenous History Month
Pride Month
7 - Canadian Armed Forces Day
10 - Bay of Quinte Pride Parade
19 - Juneteeth
21 - National Indigenous Peoples Day
27 - Canadian Multiculturalism Day
Big Car & Truck Show at York River Public School
On Tuesday, May 30th, York River Public School hosted their Big Car & Truck Show as a culminating Community Outreach event in support of Skilled Trades in the Motive Power Sector. This event showcased the work of K-6 students, including designing and building cars, learning about careers in the Skilled Trades, and sharing their findings with the community. This project was a fantastic example of a school utilizing funding from the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program Special Projects fund, and we encourage all schools to keep their eyes open in the Fall for next year’s OYAP Special Projects Application.
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Indigenous Mentor Texts
As another year draws to a close and you start thinking about next year, you should consider using some Indigenous texts as part of your start-up in September. Monique Gray-Smith is an Indigenous author from the west coast of Canada and through her writing she brings a gentle and caring voice that can help create a welcoming atmosphere in your classroom. I Hope –one of Monique’s latest publications– beautifully lays out the importance of recognizing everyone’s value and everyone’s hopes and dreams. This is just one of the many Indigenous texts available in your school library that could help create a welcoming and inclusive environment in your classroom.
Have a great summer and we’re looking forward to seeing you in September!
Quinte Adult Education Graduation
The Quinte Adult Education team is proud to recognize the hardworking graduates of 2022-2023. These students have worked very hard to earn their OSSD. Currently, we have 100 confirmed graduates. We will be celebrating our graduates in a ceremony on June 22. Thank you to all the teachers and community agencies who supported our learners. And a special 'thank you' to Rhonda and Kayla in the main office at Quinte Adult Education for their continued support of our adult learners.
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Crosswalk at PECI! | Pride Display at ESS! | Bracelet Making at CSS! |
Crosswalk at PECI!
Pride Display at ESS!
Bracelet Making at CSS!
