The Bears Are In

On Thursday September 29th, many months of hard work by students, and community members is coming to fruition. The BEARS are installed and are on display. They represent the time and connection that was made between students of Bell Park and many community members.

The BEARS project was featured on CBC radio on Friday morning. Community contact Dwanye Provo spent 10 minutes chronicling the project from the beginning to the recent installation.

Click here to listen the radio podcas: http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/nsinfomorn_20110930_43726.mp3

The Bears Are Going In!

The BEARS were sprayed and put away for the summer. They have risen from their slumber and are ready to be installed! 110 ft of rebar has been inserted into the bears. There are 4 concrete pads ready, and 2 30 ft beds waiting for the bears and stumps.

The BEARS will be installed by the end of the week!

Come check them out!

Bears Are Sprayed

Don't worry this isn't a bad thing. 5 dads from Bell Park packed up all 16 bears and their stumps into 2 trucks, a trailer, and my wagon. They were carefully trucked over 5 km to a secret location. At this special location, a spray was used to keep them safe when they are put outside. They dried overnight and then we moved them back to Bell Park. This time they were packed in special cardboard sleeves to keep them safe. They were moved back 5 km Sunday afternoon to Bell Park. They are safe and sound back at the school.

Thanks to Lee, Dave, Gordan, Martin, and Eric. This was a big deal.

Saturday Was Great!

Our last Saturday of the project was an amazing mix of pancakes, people, and paint. With over 50 people attending we had students from the project, siblings, friends from other schools, parents, and one of our special volunteers from GCJH- it was a fantastic mix. EVERYONE painted: little hands, big hands, young hands, older hands- everyone had a hand in making the bears look so good. The base or background colours were applied this weekend. We'll be working on the details this Friday.
Thanks to everyone who was able to attend.

Amazing Friday: Designs Are Set!

This was a fantastic Friday. We had parents, grandparents, younger siblings, as well as students from Auburn High School, and Graham Creighton Jr. High join us. It was a high energy day with the design ideas being set. They included: Alien/Secret Agent bear, Spiderman/Space bear, Butterfly bear, and Bugs bear.

There was tons of energy as everyone worked together. It was great to see the adults, teens, and children on the floor trying to draw their designs on the mock bears. There was sharing. There was caring. There was laughing. And oh the noise….the Grade 1’s were a barrel of energy as they worked on their ideas in the gym.

One of the guys from Auburn connected really well with some of the Grade 1 and 2 boys. They hung off him like he was a superhero. It was great to see.

Thanks everyone who came out today.

Phase 3: The Little Ones!

Our Grade Primary and Grade 1 students have begun the last phase of the project. The kids got right into the connecting and having fun by actting out their name to the group. The group repeated their name and the action. The groups moved quickly into some group art making as an ice breaker for the kids and the adults. Each session ended with a brainstorming session on what themes their bears might contain. It was a great day with our LARGE Grade 1 group with over 60 people in the afternoon.

See you next Friday.

Saturday Morning FeedBack

Tell Us About Painting On A Saturday

- This is feedback from students and community members who participated with our BEAR project's Saturday Workshop.-

The best part of the day was watching the bears transform into masterpieces. All of the children with different ideas coming together as one.

The best part was seeing everybody have fun painting the bears and it's really fun and I really liked eating the pancakes because I was hungry and I like painting a lot.

It was nice to see everyone working together as a team and having a fun time .The kids have great talent in their ideas for the bears they are looking great .Can't wait to see them all around.

I'm having fun! It is looking really good. There's lots of flames on the back and kinda looks like a fireman on the front.

I'm having fun! I really love the panting and its nice to see people working together.

I'm having lots of fun painting with all my friends.

It's nice to see everybody having fun!

I was trying to put white on white: it didn't work .

My bear was a beach bear it was relly fun painting the bear at the end it looked relly cooooooooooooooooooooooool.THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

I LOVE THE BEAR PROJECT IT MAKES ME SO RELAXED AND VERY HAPPY.

It was very fun doing the bear project J J J J J J J JJ

Love the bear project is sooo fun

Fun time painting with the kids.

I don't get to do a lot with the kids, it was fun.....A great time...Oliver's Dad.

It was great watching all of the kids being creative and working together so happily! It was also amazing watching the bears transform into beautifully painted creations!

Saturday is BEARS days

This Saturday the paint hits the bears.  The weeks of preparation is now going to pay off: WE PAINT!  Students and community members are invited to come in for a pancake breakfast at 8:45 and then we’ll start painting from 9 am until 11:30.

Bring you parent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, or grandparent- all are welcome!!!

John Fry

Vice-Principal,

Bell Park Academic Centre

829-4215 (o)

237-5064 (c)

In my school: kids are safe, learning, and respected

All The Bears Have Arrived

Mr. White has finished delivering us his amazing bears. We have all 16 either in the school painted, primed, or off site to be primed. Each bear has it's own speacial look and attributes. There are bears with wings, kneeling, carring bags/books, running, and even with skates. One of the new bears has gone to a new level with a flag. Students were gathered around him all day. Many students remarked that we'll now have a flag in front if the school. Thank you and Great work Mr. White!

Phase 2 Has Begun

Students and community members have particpated in 2 sessions in the last 2 weeks.  It has been a change moving to the younger students.   Students in grade 2,3,and 4 are working on the project this time.  After intial icebreaking activities, students and community members got to the hard work of creating.  By the end of the second session all the groups had chosen their themes:
Fire
Athletics
Candyland
Zoo
Egpyt
The Beach

The energy was flowing throughout the day .  After picking their themes, each group  started to mock up their design on a large sheet of paper.  The ideas and colours were flying as groups started the amazing process of making their own bear.

Stay tuned...