Kulelakum- Whale Day (May 31st) - was celebrated with a school wide assembly that featured special guests from the Squamish First Nation and many of the artists and volunteers who helped with the many aspects of Whale Day during the last year.
Whale Day was a special event that celebrated a year of inquiry-based learning. The overall theme of Whale Day is: We are all part of the big picture. The picture is made up of many parts that include our forests, salmon-bearing streams, our connections to the Salish Sea and to the orca whales (yew yews) which have recently returned to Howe Sound.By looking through a First Nations' lens,we strove to deepen our understanding of how we are all part of a bigger, interconnected picture.
Throughout the year, we heard stories, read books, met special guests, watched Raven Tales,created art on cedar boards, wrote stories, met guest authors, wrote poems to cedar trees, grew and planted cedar seedlings, made clay whales and paper whales, studied the lifecycle of the salmon, raised and hatched salmon and released them into our local streams.
TheKulelakumWhale Day Mosaic was created to represent and to celebrate our collective learning, experiences and connections that we created throughout a year of ecological, scientific, historic, cultural and creative explorations and learning. Thanks to funding from ArtStarts, the PAC, CSA and a generous donation from Opus Art Supplies, every student was invited to 'go back in time,' to learn about painting from renowned B.C. painter Emily Carr. Each student painted one of the 300 canvases that were part of the overall 2.5 by 6.1 metre mosaic. A big thank you to artist Saffron Gurney for bringing Emily Carr to life and artist GeraldMorrisseau for project support.
We created this mosaic, which was inspired by theKunamokst mural mosaic, with special permission from the Lewis Lavoie's Mural Mosaic Process creators.
Thanks to funding from the West Vancouver School District, we were able to continue to offer Aboriginal Education Enrichment opportunities atBICS this year. The West Vancouver School District Aboriginal Education Enhancement Committee has been working with principal JenniferPardee and community school coordinator SarahHaxby to develop and support the Whale Day Project with Lynne Tomlinson, director of instruction; Bob Baker (Sa7plek Lanakila) our school district's Aboriginal education worker; and Faye Halls (Yeltsilewet), our school district's Aboriginal education facilitator.
On Whale Day, we recognized that we are on Squamish territory; were given the gift of hearing a story about the killer whales passed down from Faye Halls' great grandmother Mary Capilano; witnessed the unveiling of the Sophie's Stories Whale artwork and theKulelakum Whale Day Mosaic; and, through a presentation by the Eagle Song Dancers, we experienced and participated in song, dance, and gained a deeper appreciation of culture, our island, and our many connections. Thank you to everyone for helping with each element of this project.The mosaic is the perfect metaphor that represents our relationship with nature and each other with special recognition of our connection with the Squamish Nation. After all, we are all interconnected each one ofusis part of the 'big picture'.
