A collection of moments from Division 3's learning community
Today, we learned about Viola Desmond and her fight against racial segregation in Canada. We watched the Heritage Minute dedicated to her and read a biography about her life, Viola Desmond Will Not Be Budged.
We will be continuing to explore historical (and contemporary) examples of people who stood up against injustice, racism, and prejudice. Who are some ‘changemakers’ that you think we should learn about?
There are thousands and thousands of species of fruit all over the world, from apples to durians and everything in between! For Sci-Fri this week, our class (along with Ms. Ramen’s class) examined some fruits that we may not have seen before! We made detailed observations, drew diagrams, and predicted what the fruit might look like inside!
The different fruits were: red-fleshed papaya, purple passionfruit, orange passionfruit, white pomelo, tangelo, aloe leaves, dragon fruit, baby bananas, starfruit, pomegranate, and durian!
Ms. Ward tried each of the fruits and described them. We learned that some fruits, such as the durian, are an acquired taste. While many people love it and have grown up eating it, durian can be very unusual the first time you taste it!
Ms. Ward described it as “custardy, smooth, a bit sweet and caramelized, with a strong oniony/green onion flavour”. The scent of the durian was so strong you could smell it throughout the whole school!
Have you ever tried a durian?
Would you ever consider snacking on a beetle larvae? Would you ever order a cricket taco for dinner? Our class began exploring the pros and cons of entomophagy (the practice of eating insects). We learned there are many people who already consume insects (over 2 billion people around the world).
But should Canadians be more open to eating insects? We all have our own unique opinions on the subject. Students are continuing to create a persuasive paragraph either encouraging or discouraging entomophagy. We will begin editing our drafts this upcoming week, so please remember to bring your rough copy with you to school!
For more information, feel free to access the articles linked below:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mdQSG-eNYL4GGVTGSyVr2pi2wa1K47ggWUASxEVLGZ0/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TM0YY6top6CM5eYyKxhsGpcof1KzwAYUcUAFgbSsrEs/edit?usp=sharing
Have you ever heard of Pharaoh Hatshepsut? Don’t be surprised if you haven’t! Someone tried very hard to erase her from history by removing the faces from her statues and destroying hieroglyphics that mentioned her!
Our class used primary sources, new articles, and archaeological evidence to try to solve the mystery of what happened to one of Egypt’s only female Pharaohs. For more information, check out our ‘Evidence Files’ by accessing the link below:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Gk2l3CCjxEhAcuMEViSq0br2DfB6_W160-06B8f_HKE/edit?usp=sharing
Our class went outside to find leaves, flowers, and plants that matched our paint swatches as closely as possible. We learned about why leaves appear green and extracted chlorophyll from spinach and iceberg lettuce leaves. Did you know chlorophyll turns red under a UV light?
October is ‘Spooky Science’ Month in our classroom! For our experiment, we learned about DNA in plants, animals, and humans. We explored the science behind the cloning of Dolly the sheep. Finally, we extracted the DNA from strawberries using dish soap, salt, strawberries, and isopropyl alcohol.