A collection of moments from our Grade 7 learning community
Why do people sprinkle salt on their driveways when the weather gets cold? We tested what substances would melt ice the most quickly: fine salt, coarse salt, or sugar. We also tested what liquids would melt the ice quickly: salt water, regular water, oil, or vinegar.
What do you think our results were?
Thank you to all of our Garden Club members! Everyone worked very hard this week preparing the garden for the winter season. We worked to remove weeds, invasive species, and even found some potatoes in the dirt!
Garden Club is on Tuesdays/Thursdays, rain or shine. Please feel free to bring your own gardening gloves, and dress for the weather!
This week, we started our new read aloud: Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling. This realistic fiction/humour/mystery novel follows Aven, a 13-year-old girl who was born without arms. So far, we’ve learned that Aven has a very strange sense of humour (like telling people she lost her arms wrestling alligators) and has worked her whole life to be self-sufficient. But when she moves to a new school, her classmates either try to help her, avoid her, or stare at her because she is different.
Many people are born with disabilities (and different abilities), just like Aven. Feel free to watch the video below of Sophi, a girl who was also born without arms. She is an amazing, independent, and confident person!
Please remember: not every person who has a disability is the same, and not every disability is one that you can ‘see’. We should treat everyone with respect, understanding, and empathy.
Who is an Elder in your life? It might be a parent, grandparent, coach, teacher, religious leader, family friend, etc. An Elder is someone who has lived longer than us, demonstrates natural leadership, and possesses lots of life experience and knowledge that we can learn from.
Over the next few weeks, we will be thinking of interview questions to ask an Elder in our lives. Whether over Zoom, Skype, a phone call, e-mail, texting, or in person, each student will ask their Elder 3-4 questions. We hope to be able to share what we learn with each other!
My (Ms. Ward) Elder was my grandmother, Lenore, who lived to be 96 years old! I interviewed her a few weeks before she passed away earlier this month.
Feel free to watch the video below, where 100-year-olds were interviewed about how to have a happy life!
Today, we learned that many countries, cities, and communities use flags to represent their unique identities. Canada has a flag that includes red and white, with a maple leaf in the center. The LGBT+ community uses a rainbow flag to represent their identities. We read about the creation of the rainbow flag and the life of Harvey Milk. Then, we created our own flags that will be used when we make our own ‘micronations’!
What symbols, colours, plants, animals, etc. would you use to represent your identity?
I am so impressed with our Van Gogh inspired sunflowers so far! We used oil pastels to create layered, detailed sunflowers. Just like Van Gogh used colours like yellow, blue, and orange to represent how he felt and how he saw the world, we used colours creatively to craft these pieces of Art!
Have you ever heard of a ‘code talker’? Code talkers were a ‘secret weapon’, a group of Indigenous soldiers that translated American and Canadian messages into different Indigenous languages (ex: Cree), then sent the message to another code talker who would translate it back into English. This way, when the message was sent, if any soldiers on the opposing side were listening in they could not decode the message!
Though these brave Indigenous soldiers were very crucial to keeping important messages safe, they rarely receive any mention in history textbooks or acknowledgement during Remembrance Day ceremonies! Hopefully, but learning more about the important role Indigenous soldiers played in Canadian history we will be able to honour and respect their sacrifices.
After watching this video, we discussed our reactions to some of the facts. Why do so many people across the globe have so little access to healthcare and medicine? Why are girls and women more likely to be illiterate than men/boys? Why do so many people not have a safe, clean source of drinking water?
And, most interestingly perhaps, would the results of this survey be different now in 2020 due to COVID-19?
As we continue examining sociology on a local and global scale, it is important for us to acknowledge how many people still do not have access to resources (such as clean water, education, and food security) as well as human rights (such as voting and freedom of religion) that many Canadians do.
While we can learn a lot from videos, statistics, and maps, it is always important to practice critical thinking and ask “why” and “what source is this from”!
Today, we read a story based on the life of Vincent Van Gogh. We learned that most people did not appreciate his artistic talents, and thought he was too strange, too foolish, and too unique to be a famous artist. He only ever sold 1 painting during his entire life, and suffered from mental illness. But now, he is considered by many people to be one of the greatest artists of all time. His paintings are worth over $100 million. Here is a video of the ‘immersive’ exhibit in France. Maybe, one day we can see it in person!
Today, we read a story about Fauja Singh, who set the world record for oldest person to ever run a marathon!
Fauja faced lots of challenges in his life. He was born with several physical disabilities, and did not learn to walk until he was 5 years old. When he moved to England from Punjab, he faced discrimination because of his Sikh cultural background. Some people said racist, hurtful things to him because he wore a turban (part of his religious regalia).
But he never gave up, and decided to show the world that you can achieve anything, no matter who doubts you!
In the Foreward of this book, Fauja wrote: “All my life, people set limitations on me. They said I would never walk. Then they said I would never farm. They certainly never thought I would set records with my running. No matter what people said, I always believed in myself…
I’m now 108 years old, which means I’m probably 100 years older than [the readers of this book]! Can you believe that?
My secret to a long and healthy life has been taking care of my mind, body, and soul…I’d love for you to take care of yourself, try your hardest, and always choose yes when you meet and challenge. And who knows? Maybe one day you can break my record…Nothing would make me happier!”