A Tribute to Teaching – A magical world of authentic learning

Teacher Nancy Shelsted delivered school supplies to Purepecha students in Michoacan, Mexico.

Grade 1 student Robert Savard-Toulouse packs school supplies for delivery to children in Mexico.

Bronwynn Kuilboer, a Grade 2 student at Wembley Public School, participated in the butterfly release when she was in Grade 1.

Students from Wembley Public School, including Alyssa Samaroo and Dante Porter, bought school supplies for the students in Michoacan so they could learn to read and write and continue to protect their forests.

Nancy Shelsted, Grade 1 teacher at Wembley Public School, visited the Sierra Chincua butterfly sanctuary in Mexico.

The school year has come to an end and students are now free to fly, much like the Monarch butterflies who have returned for the summer.

This year, Wembley Public School’s Grade 1 students contributed to the Sierra Chincua Butterfly Sanctuary and to the students of Miguel Hidalgo School in Michoacan.

“They are proud to be friends of the monarch,” says teacher Nancy Shelsted, whose Grade 1 classroom was a magical world of authentic learning.

This past school year, Shelsted brought the curriculum to life “one butterfly at a time”.

Students learned about the monarch’s migration to Mexico and the threat of climate change and illegal logging.

They also baked and sold tortilla butterflies to buy school supplies for Mexican children and encouraged their new friends to take good care of the monarchs so they would return every year.

“The monarch butterfly has the most fantastic migration of any insect in the world,” says Shelsted, who visited Mexico this past spring as part of the Monarch Teacher Network.

“The butterflies that fly to Mexico each winter have never been there before,” she explains. “Their grandchildren return to North America the following spring.”

Nancy Shelsted took children on an educational journey throughout the world focused on global issues while developing higher order thinking skills that challenged and engaged.

For her work, she received a 2010 Award of Excellence from Rainbow District School Board.