One of our field trips this year was to Bodo. We were able to extend our learning about the environment here in ALberta, about the historical importance of studying the land, and about Aboriginal life in the area as the first people to live on the land. We got to have a good look at real bison bones and learned about what they can tell us. Students got to see different artifacts like rock and pottery that the centre has found over the years. They got to try their hand at uncovering artifacts like the above and bone and petrified wood, in a makeshift dig site. After lunch, we got to try our hand at throwing a traditional hunting spear. We then took a trip out to the fields where students got to see a dig site in progress and hear stories of cool finds like skulls! We even got to try our hand at surveying, and found many real artifacts peeking the surface of the land.
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We took on the challenge on learning about the art of making dreamcatchers! Students learned that dreamcatchers are meant as a gift to others with the purpose of expelling bad dreams. They had to think of a special individual and put those positive thoughts into their efforts of making the dreamcatcher. Students worked very hard to learn this skill and appreciate the meaning it has for Aboriginal culture.
Students were then given the task of making some trades at a Trading Post, thinking like a settler and creating a kind of shopping list to get what they needed in the new territory.
In discussing the Parkland region, we were introduced to the idea of making decisions about land. Settlers moving into the area often claimed and bought land as their own for farming. However, many First Nations groups already lived on the land and had their own way of using and respecting it. As well, when oil was discovered, the oil industry also bought up land to access this natural resource. Students choose whose perspective they had a connection to and went into groups. They discussed the point of view of the land 'owner' and debated with each other why and how the land was important to them.
Worksheets can be so boring...so we try and mix them up. Scavenger Hunt style!
Students just finished learning about the Grassland Region of Alberta and it's natural resources. On this day, they went searching in the halls for posters of natural resources and the services they provide. They then had to mark the areas on a map of Alberta that they are plentiful. Sometimes all you need are sticky notes to make learning fun!
We spend the last few social classes exploring the 2Learn.ca interactive website on Alberta's regions: http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/sszi/en/index.html . Then I challenged to students to sort through the geographical features of each and determine which region the facts were of. They were so focused and serious about the task, and truly worked those brains analyzing. Learning about the timeline of dinosaurs in Alberta's history is both fascinating and tricky to wrap your head around sometimes. As a culminating project, students were told to choose an interesting point on the timeline and create a comic of the event. They did have some creative license to add funny elements and facts to help move along the plot. Their finished products are wonderful. I found it interesting where the students chose to focus their comic on the timeline.
Students had time to research elements of India's culture. They will be 'travelling' there on Tuesday and had some time to prepare themselves for what they might see. We reviewed that culture is a way of life of a group of people, and touched on elements that make up one's culture, such as: beliefs, traditions and celebrations, clothing, food, language, etc. The students are getting very excited to learn about a culture so different from their own. Especially after learning about a culture much like their own, Ukraine.
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Home Reading
300 minutes a month (approx. 10 min. per night) Word Work (due Wed.)
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"Observe and reflect, and become a little wiser every day" |