Students at Winlaw Elementary School have been getting a crash course on social justice and our country’s history through music.
Teacher Linda Out says students from grades 4-6 have been involved in the lessons which feature help from local vocalists and musicians in the community.
The kids have learned 10 Canadian songs, many of them historic protest tunes, and are tying the songs’ relevance to current and past social and environmental issues.
While the historical components to these lessons are prevalent, students have also learned to read music, create harmonies and even some percussion accompaniment.
Out says the students have been able to take topics from these songs and delve into them more thoroughly.
Out says it has been rewarding to see the students become so engaged with these lessons.
Their talents were on display at a performance at the school before Spring Break called “Songs for Social Justice”. Kootenay Lake School District superintendent Dr. Christine Perkins called their work “first-class”.