In a school-wide collaboration, the intermediate students at Monck Public School (MPS) hosted the school’s first-ever “Chill” Fair on November 15, where students showcased their knowledge of mental health from recent classroom lessons.
As part of Trillium Lakelands District School Board’s (TLDSB) Mental Health Strategy, MPS Grade 7 to 8 classes are focussing on stress lessons, facilitating whole class learning in the promotion and understanding of mental health literacy.
As an opportunity to engage in their lessons and show other students what they have been learning over the past seven weeks, the whole school and their parents/guardians were invited to an afternoon fair. Throughout the day attendees could visit various stations that showcased learnings in multiple formats (podcasts, speeches, newcasts, infographics, interactive activities, and even a karaoke station), answer the following questions:
- What is stress?
- What is the brain’s role in stress?
- How can we cope with stress?
- How can we challenge our thinking to be more positive?
- How can we break down problems and use program-solving skills?
“One important observation we had from the fair was that it exposed our students to a major stressor asking them to create this presentation and showcase it in a fair,” explained TLDSB mental health counsellor, Allison Jones. “Students found this to be extremely stressful, and it required them to use the very tools we had been learning together. While this wasn’t our explicit intention of engaging in the fair, it was undoubtedly one of its greatest achievements.”
