Spotlight on Bright Futures: May 2026
Posted on 05/21/2026
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Trent River Public School Poetry Battle.
Winning literary engagement
The "Poetry Battle" at Trent River
Megan Webb, a teacher at Trent River Public School, recently introduced an engaging method to foster literary interest. For Poetry Month in April, she organized a “Poetry Battle.” Students listen to two poems of different lengths and styles, then vote for their favorite, continuing until one poem wins. This approach:
- Introduces students to a variety of poetry in a fun way
- Encourages them to reflect on and discuss their poem preferences
- Gently introduces hesitant students to poetry
Facilitating future engineers
Easthill's smart watering success
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Easthill Elementary School students Ben, Lincoln and Adam.
Through the HPEDSB ChangeMakers Challenge, Grade 7-8 students at Easthill Elementary School engaged in a rich learning experience by designing, constructing, and coding "smart" community garden watering systems. Using sensors and micro:bits, the students focused on an iterative design process to maximize water conservation efficiency. Teacher Jennifer Curtis supported the project's success by adopting a facilitator role, which encouraged the students to collaborate and solve problems independently.
Collaborative STEM
The wind-powered workhorse
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Susan Aide, teacher at Frankford Public School, tests a windmill.
Susan Aide, a Grade 2/3 teacher at Frankford Public School, showcased a best practice in collaborative STEM learning through the "Wind-Powered Workhorse" project. By integrating the Grade 2 air/water curriculum with the Grade 3 soils curriculum, students collaborated on interconnected challenges. Grade 2s focused on creating wind-powered windmills to lift weights and wind string, while Grade 3s built sturdy foundations for the windmills in sandy soil. The final step involved combining their work, where Grade 3 foundations supported Grade 2 windmills under the blast of a hairdryer. The project highlighted how split-grade classes can thrive through shared scientific discovery.