The class worked in collaboration with Craig Cardiff, Canadian singer and songwriter, and his company Song Collab Studio, to animate and voice their book, The Story of Rosa Parks.  

The writing portion of the book was student-led, based on questions and discussions during planning sessions with the students, Pleasant Corners Public School (PCPS) teacher Stacy Schwendemann, Early Childhood Educator Anna Martin and Cardiff’s Song Collab Studio used hand-drawn student artwork, along with digitally-drawn illustrations and student narration to complete the digital storybook. 

The class had a final day of voice recording February 22, took part in a sing-along with Cardiff, and had serious discussions about kindness, treatment of others, and taking action on things that everyone can control versus what they can’t. 

“This class has been working very hard and it makes me so happy to get the privilege of sharing their hard work,” said Schwendemann. 

The class was joined by UCDSB Vice-Chair Corina Parisien and Ottawa Centre MPP Joel Harden (who grew up in Vankleek Hill) for the final day of voice recording and these discussions. 

“This real-world learning opportunity is a unique and special project,” said PCPS Principal Laura Kirby. “Valuable life lessons were discussed, and they have a digital version of a story as a reminder.” 

“I am very proud of this group of young learners,” said Parisien. “They are touching on many of the UCDSB Character Always traits: Responsibility, Fairness, Respect, Caring, Honesty, Generosity, Empathy, Courage, Perseverance, and Resiliency.” 

The PCPS Kindergarten class Story of Rosa Parks is available to view on the UCDSB YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpWiWv0de7M&feature=youtu.be.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpWiWv0de7M&feature=youtu.be