Hello Division 3,
Today we start a year long of blog posts on hot topics, that can be controversial,
thought-provoking and even blood-pressure rising!
Enjoy and have fun 🙂
-Ms Panesar
Category: Uncategorized
Father’s Day!
Hi guys, as we spoke about, please detail the day that you had with your Dad, step-Dad, Grandfather, Uncle, or even another parent/guardian! I hope it was fun, and you had a nice day together!
Ramadan
As we have learned, Ramadan has been happening for a a few weeks now – it began on the the 23rd and will end off on the 23 with a large celebration. Please note down your responses from your Exit Slips along with your newly learned facts!
Happy Mother’s Day!
Sunday marked a very special day for all Mums, Aunts, Grandmothers and/or parents. I know we were all busy prepping so that it was a special day. Let us know what you made / got up to!
Cinco de Mayo
Now that we have another celebration to add to our ‘culture belt,’ please write your new facts and question responses below 🙂
Spring Celebrations!
So as well as know, this weekend marked a very special period in many parts of the world. First, there was Easter which many of you celebrated! There were also two other celebrations which did not receive much recognition but were equally important to the Sikh nation, as well as the Tamil people of Sri Lanka. Sikhs celebrated Vaisakhi, whereas Tamils celebrated Chithirai Varudam.
Please post your reflection from your Exit Slip below!
Hello!
Morning guys! It’s the start of a new week and it’s sunny!
Thank you for messaging on the blog. Please continue to message your peers! Before you know it, our class ‘feel’ will be back to normal! I am setting up some platforms for us to work on our subjects. We will start these on Thursday. In the meantime, many of you have not given me your email address which I need to give you your log in details. If I do not have it by Thursday, I will just have to put it into a chat.
Also, I have sent your parents an email saying all of this, and if you could send a message on Teams. I will be using that as well, and you can message your peers here too.
Talk soon,
-Ms. Panesar!
Hi Again!
Hi Guys!
I know some of you guys have your own email addresses that you use. Can you please email them to me. If you do not have one, please email me your school email address please. I am setting up some Math/ LA accounts for you and require them!
Thanks 🙂
Welcome Back!
Helloooooo Division, 5!
First of all, I hope that you guys are all doing as well as can be with what is currently happening. Second, I am sad that I am not able to see you all back in class. I mean, I have a lottttttt of questions / comments, primarily:
-Who are Labib and Salina going to roar at now? And how am I going to fake lecture Labib without his nervous laugh? How can I copy Salina’s accent now?
-Who are Vincent and Marko going to fine? They won’t be able to walk up to the board, pens ready, writing fine slips!
-How are Maya, Noorai and Albert (part-time Lorenzo, sorry Lorenzo, lol) going to do the classroom clean-up now? Well, Lorenzo seems to have no problem finding bubbles…in a bathtub! Plus, Albert was negotiating hard for a third job!
-Alan, Lucas and Leo won’t be able to finish their work before I have barely finished explaining it! I also won’t be able to say, ‘good try, keep adding more’ and hear them say, ‘ohhhh mannnnnnn.’ I’m even wondering if Lucas has his 9,000 packs of seaweed at school still!
-Lyn, who is going to make my tea!!!! Come on, this is some serious Fresh Noob stuff. Wait, it’s fake noob, right?
-Easter is coming up, and my Décor Crew would have been nicely pressuring me with their adorably, pretty smiles, asking if they could stay in and decorate at lunch, especially Marina, Zoe, Ella, Athena, Sally, Tiana and Althea. And let’s not forget the Oompa Loompas!
-Who is going to show me those crazy Youtube videos if I don’t have Landon, Josh, Tyson and Noah? Let us not forget Landon’s, Fridge video or Tyson and Noah saying, ‘shhhh, this is library’ even though most of the time, we were never in the library! I can never look at a Big-Mac the same way, courtesy of Josh!
-Jeremy, the dimples man!!! That hat too, but the dimples!
– Without Kelvin, nobody is going to say ‘okay’ to every question I have. For example, Kelvin, how are you doing today? Kelvin nods his head and says, ‘okay,’ while frowning and moving backwards.
-I won’t be able to cue Mohamed saying, ‘People these days!’
-Zhaoyu won’t be able to stare at my eyebrows!
-Teran, AKA Chewie, won’t be able to give me his nervous smile while trying to verbally defeat me. Yes Teran, Star Wars is terrrrrrrrrrrrrr…. I’ll let you fill that in! Was I going to say terrible or terrific? Oooo, the suspense!
-I can’t hear Kadin’s notoriously fantastic manners and appreciation! Who is going to say thank you and appreciate all of my millions of good deeds! Like seriously, Kadin never missed an opportuinity!
-Or, Gordon, purposefully terrorising me… but, I guess you all somehow terrorise me!
Anyways with all that said, I want you to know that we are still Division 5… the crazy class, with a fantastic, amazing, wonderful, funny, smart, caring, considerate, reliable, awesome teacher. I just mentioned a few of my traits, but of course I have many more… as you know! Don’t roll your eyes Ella, Tiana and Marina. Salina, don’t say anything. Lyn, no Lyn, just no! I know Noah, Tyson and Landon would be about to say something now too. Don’t smile Althea, or give me that funny face! Vincent, please take a seat. I know somehow, you would be standing up by now, screaming! We have had a lot of fun experiences throughout the year and will continue to do so 😊! Who knows, more pictures of Lorenzo may begin to surface?
Without further adieu, I would like for our first post to be something about you and your Spring Break. In about 20 sentences or so, please tell us:
- How are you? How are you feeling?
- How was Spring Break? Even though you were indoors for most of it, what did you get up to?
- Any highlights or things that you would like to share with the class.
I would like for you to read your peers comments and be sure to respond back to them!
I’m leaving you with some pictures of you! Talk to you soon,
-Ms. Panesar 🙂
What’s Worse: The Coronavirus or The Racism/Xenophobia ?
So, as we have all heard, the Coronavirus is currently all the talk! Turn on the news, and there it is! Not that we should discredit the toll that this virus is taking, nor the people that it is effecting, however there seems to be a large, maybe even a larger storm brewing. What is that, you may ask? Racism and Xenophobia.
Remember we defined these terms as the following:
- Racism: Is a form of prejudice, discrimination, or hatred against someone of a different ethnicity / cultural group. Racism is also related to the belief that ‘their’ group is superior to all others.
- Racism can be shown in jokes, phrases or ‘hate crimes.’ For example, simply beating someone up because of their ethnicity. (Yes, this has happened in the lower mainland before). It is apparent in attitudes, values and stereotypical beliefs (yes, you will be surprised, some people believe stereotypes to be true.)
2. Racial Discrimination: The acting out of racism.
- Racial discrimination: Includes any action(s) that singles someone out based on their ethnicity. Racial harassment is a form of discrimination which can include: comments, jokes, name-calling, insulting pictures, or put downs based on ethnicity.
3. Stereotypes: A generalised, over-simplified idea/thought about a group of people or thing.
4. Xenophobia: A dislike/hatred against people from other countries. (People who are thought to ‘foreign’). In this case, it would be a fear against East-Asians.
As we have been discussing in Social Studies, racism was very apparent in our Canadian history but also very relevant in our society today. With the outbreak of the Coronavirus, many East-Asians are feeling that they are being treated differently…in a negative way.
This article tells the story of Amy Go’s friend who witnessed a racist comment being made on the bus. A woman said to two East- Asian men wearing face masks: “Do you have the Chinese disease?” Please read the article below and watch the video clips.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/racism-coronavirus-canada-1.5449023
This link has a short video that explains what the virus actually is and how it began:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
This article below tells the tale of a ten year old student in Ontario who is half Pakistani and half Chinese is bullied because of his Chinese background:
https://time.com/5775716/xenophobia-racism-stereotypes-coronavirus/
or this article about Australian-Asians:
and globally :
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/30/world/asia/coronavirus-chinese-racism.html
Of reading these articles and exploring these terms, what are your thoughts about what is occurring? Have you noticed people being treated differently because of their cultural background or have you been treated differently? Why do you think that some people of East-Asian backgrounds are being targeted by racial discrimination or xenophobia? What are your thoughts on Justin Trudeau’s words in the clip you watched? Hashtags are very important phrases that help people connect. We saw of some in the last article listed in this post, like #IamNotaVirus. If you were starting a movement, what hashtag would you create? Grade 5’s 20 sentences, grade 6’s 25 sentences. Please try to use the words that were listed above in your response (racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, xenophobic, and stereotypes).