Monday 12 January 2015

Belvedere School Students Discover the World of Journalism

First Day in the Atrium
Wow, twenty five grade 6 students from Belvedere School went downtown to explore the news world.  They journeyed on the LRT on an exciting field trip to Edmonton Journal School from December 1st to 5th. The first amazing person they met at EJ School was Sandy VanRiper; she was the leader and guide on their spectacular week at EJ School! Students met reporters, other journal staff and practiced their interviewing skills. They toured the Journal building and other phenomenal places. They visited the City Hall, Art Gallery, the Citadel Theatre and the EPL (Edmonton Public Library). They did many activities, including exploring downtown, where they looked for signs of hope.

Randy Collins linotype expert
A favorite activity was “Fly on the Wall” where students split into groups and each group interviewed people. People like Karen Unland and Sam Brooks were interviewed. They work together on a project called Capital Ideas. Their job is to pay attention to people’s opinions and help support other small businesses. Jana G. Pruden was another of the many people interviewed; she is a reporter who is the Crime Bureau Chief and specializes in breaking news and going to crime scenes. Chris Zdeb shared her job as a reporter with another group of future writers while columnist, Paula Simons talked about her challenges in sharing sad stories. Those were only a few of many interesting interviews.
Meeting Malcolm Mayes

The Christmas Bureau is an organization that gives food to families who don't have
Interview guests for the Christmas Bureau
much money. The family gets a basket with a delicious dinner or a gift card to go to the store and buy what they need. Their goal is to raise 1.8 million dollars to help 65,000 people. The Copper Jackets help the Christmas Bureau raise over $100,000 dollars each year and the Christmas Bureau Charity increased by over 700 people! They help people because they want to spread the hope spirit and make sure everyone has a good Christmas. Students also walked around downtown and found signs of hope everywhere in the city.
 
Angie Mills at the Stanley Milner Library
The Edmonton Public Library is a really warm spot to go. But… do you realize if you want to use a computer, you could just go to the library and use it for free? You can read old newspapers that have been captured on microfilm. They have microfilm stored in a cabinet because it would be impossible to store all of the newspapers that they have on the microfilm. Reporters could look at old newspapers that help reporters write about history articles. There is also a work space in the library where a 3D machine can make 3D things like a butterfly.

The energetic grade 6 class went to the City Hall and they split into two groups. They did two mock council meetings. One was about banning the game of tag and the other was for banning energy drinks. The group tag did not ban the game and energy drinks got banned. After lunch at the Citadel the students traveled to the Art Gallery! At the Art Gallery they saw a lot of cool pieces of art. One of the activities the students did
On the steps of the Alberta Gallery of Art
was where one person described the art and the other person tried to draw what the person was describing. One of the students said, ‘’this game is challenging.’’ The art gallery was exciting and phenomenal. The story behind the unique design was that the architecture couldn't find an idea for the building. He crumpled up a piece of paper and that’s where he got his inspiration to create the art gallery.   

“They have learned so much since their time at EJ school,” is what Sandy Van Riper said.  Overall, the grade 6 students have learned how to be better reporters and how to interview people after Belvedere’s week at EJ school. 

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