Becoming a #GIRLBOSS in Kindergarten

A university preparatory school for girls, Balmoral Hall fosters the collaborative discussion of career advancement from early years onward. These conversations take many forms. Kindergarten Teacher Arda Thomson regularly welcomes guest speakers to her classroom, integrating their professional experience with student units of inquiry. Speakers include doctors, engineers, artists, and others. Many of them are parents of students.

“We establish these connections to help the girls understand their opportunities,” says Thomson, adding that her students enthusiastically engage in discovery-based activities too.

 

Something to look forward to is a visit from two electrical engineers who will instruct them in building their very own “brushbots” using a simple set-up with limited parts, including an electric motor and the head of a toothbrush. With their assistance, students will learn about circuits, vibration, and more.

 

“Teaching for understanding encourages our students to demonstrate their knowledge by using it in authentic ways,” notes Head of School Joanne Kamins.

 

As a girls’ school, women’s rights, achievements, and challenges are studied with rigour. With 2016 marking the centennial of a woman’s right to vote in Manitoba, this will be the topic of many discussions leading up to Balmoral Hall School’s International Women’s Day Assembly on March 8. Meanwhile, in Kindergarten, students are researching the lives of notable women for a series of peer-led “Show & Teach” projects in early February.

 

Their time to lead with innovation is now.