Blue Sky School

Responsibilities by Mikey At Red Pine Camp, we each contributed at meal times. Some learners set tables and some cleaned the dishes. At RPC, washing the dishes is called slopping. The “sloppers” wear rain boots and aprons because you can get wet. The staff really appreciated our help in the kitchen.  Red Pine Waterfront by Julia Something that is always a highlight  when we go to Red Pine Camp is the amazing waterfront and beautiful Golden Lake. In the beginning we were all worried that it was going to be rainy and the water was going to be cold. Boy, were we wrong! When we got there the weather was sunny and a crisp 19 degrees. The first afternoon we were there we had independent choice time, practically everyone wanted to go swimming, boating or just hang out by the water.  We made our way down to the waterfront and immediately jumped into the water! It was very refreshing and crisp (in other words really really cold). After a few jumps in and out, the...

Hello readers of this blog. I’m going to fill you in on what I have been doing for a group project. If you don't know what Blue Sky School is, it is an experimental prototype school of tomorrow. It was started by Shauna Pollock and Karen Hill. It was designed for students that want to explore their passions or want to try something new. The idea is that we will build the skills to become changemakers. I started at Blue Sky because I needed more help with work and I was having trouble making friends. I was one of the first students out of nine in the whole school. Now that you are caught up, a couple of months ago, Shauna asked a few of the learners if we wanted to do a group project and we all said “yes!” She told us that we were going to be working on a project about LeBreton Flats (where the Ottawa Senators were going to build a new arena) with the purpose of drafting a proposal for how LeBreton Flats could be redesigned, followed by a presentation to the NCC (National Cap...

For me to learn I need a quiet space, if I don’t have a quiet space I will be chating with the other learners in the school,  If I do that I will be screwing up everyone's learning and that’s just not good. At my other schools I would talk to everyone and be distracting and get sent to the office a lot, so at Blue Sky School I wanted a new start I’m trying my best to not chat with the other learners when they are working. When someone is usually trying to teach me something I won’t get it because of my dyslexia. Working is something I have trouble with but if I'm working with my hands I can accomplish a ton of things. Last year I built a table with a guy (Phil Wood) I met at a workshop called Functional Reclaimed. It took a bit of time with all of the stages of building. Some of the steps were shopping to get the materials, planning the design, cutting the wood, fitting the wood, building the base, getting the glass,  and fitting the glass. It took me about 4 and a half m...

Emma Wallace spoke with me, Carson Kennedy, to get the scoop on my love of cooking and food! I am a pioneer student at Blue Sky School. I’m famously known for my pita chips, stir frys AND cookie pizzas. “ Carson won’t stop making concoctions.” John Kennedy (Carson’s Dad) Q: Why do you love cooking? A: It is fun. You get to eat something that you made and you try to make something that someone who is good at cooking tried to make. I like to succeed at things that others have succeeded at. I like to chop vegetables and physically prepare the food. I don’t like measuring things. Q: Where do you find your recipes? A:  I don’t really use recipes. I just make things how I know how to make them. I make things to my taste. In the summer, I have made a party drink that I call “The Iceberg”. You take 7-up or Sprite and Cool Whip (the liquid stuff in the can). You pour the cool whip into the 7-up. Since it is fizzy it foams up and makes it look like an iceberg when y...