Day: January 9, 2023

During our discussions about perspective and problem-solving, we have focused on the meaning of discrimination. To better understand how discrimination has happened in Canadian history, we will look closely at the Komagata Maru incident, the Chinese Head Tax, Residential Schools, and Japanese Internment.

We began watching In the Shadow of Gold Mountain in class, which is about the Chinese Head Tax. You can watch the rest of the video at the National Film Board site, here.

We watched this video about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, narrated by Chief Robert Joseph and sharing his own experiences with Residential Schools.

We watched the David Suzuki narrated short film on Japanese Canadian Internment.

And finally, we watched a short film about the Komagata Maru Incident in Canada.

Here are some of the ways you can help with Reconciliation, with this list from CBC, posted as part of National Indigenous History Month in June 2020. There are many examples of personal acts you can take to help, such as educating oneself about Indigenous issues through books and videos.

Here is the Government of Canada website on What is Reconciliation?

We will be going on a field trip to the Museum of Vancouver January 17th to participate in the program “Stories of Resilience and the Road to Reconciliation.” During this we will learn more about the Musqueam Peoples and the reconciliation efforts the museum is participating in as regards Musqueam belongings and history. During our self-guided tour, we can also view the exhibit A Seat at the Table about Chinese Immigration, which is related to our unit.

I will continue to add to this post as I find more resources.

In relating to our overall unit on PROBLEM SOLVING, do some independent research one of the four historical events we discussed in class (which has been assigned as of Friday Jan. 6th) to answer these questions:

1. What is the incident?
2. What happened? Tell me the history and events involved.
3. Why did it happen?
4. Who was involved?
5. What kind of discrimination happened?
6. What has Canada done to try and make it right? Has there been an apology? Reparations? Reconciliation?
7.  Is there an interesting story you can learn that happened during this incident?
8.  Any other facts you believe are important for people to know?

Take detailed notes in your journal under each of these questions. Try to see if you can use at least 5 different resources. There are some books in class you can use in the green bins on top of our bookcases.

Make sure to record your resources where you found information. Take care to use the T-Chart to take notes, and make sure they are neat so I can see your research. You can use a MS Word document to take notes, if you wish, but you still need to have a chart. Please avoid cutting and pasting, and use your own words to take notes.

Research will be due Friday, January 13th, and you can show it to the teacher in class by Friday afternoon. Then we will discuss when Ms. D gets back what we will do to share our research. We will be working in groups to share our findings in a skit format.

HERE ARE SOME LINKS YOU CAN USE TO HELP:

Websites about KOMAGATA MARU

Komagata Maru Grade 4 Video

You Tube Remembering Komagata Maru

History of Metropolitan Vancouver Komagata Maru

CBC Komagata Maru 100 Years Later

CBC Komagata Maru: Justin Trudeau to Apologize

CBC Komagata Maru: Descendants Surprised By Stories

CBC Komagata Maru Memorial Defaced in Vancouver

Canadian Encyclopedia on Komagata Maru

Komagata Maru Continuing the Journey

OHRC Komagata Maru as a Violation of Human Rights

 

Websites about JAPANESE INTERNMENT

CBC Learning A Canada’s History Japanese Internment

Virtual Museum Aya’s Story

Japanese Canadian History. NET

Canadian Encyclopedia Beyond the Tears: Japanese Internment

SEDAI Japanese Canadian Legacy Project

Pictures of Japanese Internment Sites in BC from book Vanishing British Columbia

Websites about CHINESE HEAD TAX

Ties that Bind Website on Chinese Canadians

Canadian Encyclopedia on Chinese Head Tax

CBC Chinese Head Tax Reparations Called For

Globe and Mail PM Offers Apology and Symbolic Payments for Chinese Head Tax

TC2 Background History on Chinese Head Tax

and Response to Head Tax

Historica Canada Building of the CPR

CBC Archives The Personal Impact of Racism

CBC Digital Archives Chinese Immigration Not Welcome Anymore

Websites About Residential Schools:

UBC Residential School History

Canadian Geographic History of Residential Schools

Learning Portal Royal BC Museum Residential Schools

CBC History of Residential Schools in Canada

This entry is due Monday, January 16th. Please make sure you finished the Problem Solving E-Port from before the winter break, as well. Some of the answers to these questions may come from work you are doing the week of January 9th.

Title:  Discrimination and Understanding Why it Happens

Questions:

What is discrimination? Why do you think it happens?

Can you give and explain some examples of things in society we hear about that may not be necessarily true?  (Think about our discussions on gender, family structure, the value of certain jobs, stereotypes.)

How does understanding the many ways people express themselves, the many differences in the world, help us either right now or in the future?

Every behaviour has a reason behind it, and people are usually trying to get one of their needs met. What are the other needs a human being may have other than survival (air, food, water, shelter)? Please use the handout we did in class to help you.

What did we learn about “words that hurt”? What do you think YOU can do to help solve the problem of hurtful words being said at school?

What did you think about as we learned about four of the ways discrimination has happened in the history of Canada?   (Komagata Maru, Residential Schools, Japanese Canadian Internment, Chinese Head Tax)

Which human rights were denied during these events of discrimination and racism in Canada?

Was or is an apology necessary for these events in our history? Why?

Hello Everyone!

As part of our unit on problem solving, and in connection with language arts curriculum, we have been looking closely at mystery stories!

We watched Scooby Doo Aloha and broke down the elements of a good mystery. We read a variety of mystery stories, some from Chris Grabenstein’s book Super Puzzletastic Mysteries, a collection of short story mysteries by a variety of popular authors at this grade level. All of this was to help us see how mystery stories are structured, so we could write our own!

We discussed the elements of a mystery story, including characters, setting, clues, red herrings and distractions, and the conclusion.

You already have these documents in your binder to do the MYSTERY WRITING project: Mystery Words, Mystery Elements Writing Guide, and the Mystery Graphic Organizer.

We will talk together how to write dialogue between characters on Monday, January 9th, and give you more practice to do as a class.

I encourage you to use other synonyms for “said” to make our stories more interesting, and you will receive a list to help with this.

We will then write mystery stories of our own, mainly during class time. If you do work on stories at home, please note, parents are not to help you. Some of the writing MUST be done in class so I can observe your writing process for assessment and know the writing is your work.

Complete a brainstorm handout and show it to the teacher in class before starting to write. Drafting can be on the computer.

Here are some criteria, which we went over in class:

Your stories need (a):

• Beginning: Start with a HOOK, introduce interesting characters and setting. Try to come up with a name for your characters that would appeal to everyone, not just you. Remember this story is a mystery. It can have funny elements, but the story needs to make sense and not be silly.

• Middle: Talk about the CRIME, the SUSPECTS, the CLUES, and key ACTION as the characters try to solve the mystery. You will need a DISTRACTION, some WITNESSES, and a RED HERRING.

• End: Solve the crime. Who did it? What was their motive (why did they do it)? What is the reward for solving the crime OR how do the characters end their story?

• CSI Details: Use the labs we have done so far during the unit. How will fingerprints, a crime scene, dental records, fibres, bones, etc. be used as clues and evidence?

• DESCRIPTIVE Language: Use our brainstorm lists in the classroom to add adjectives to your stories to make them more interesting. Describe the character, setting, and clues with exciting words. How will you set the mood? This is a mystery, not a funny story, so what kinds of words would you hear? Use a thesaurus online actively to look for synonyms.

• DIALOGUE: Your story must have some dialogue. I would like to see at least 10 sentences in quotes in the story. Check your dialogue punctuation that we discussed in class.

• INDENTS: Remember to indent paragraphs (except for the first one) and to start a new line when a new speaker starts speaking!

• EDITING: Make sure you edit your work. Use a dictionary for spelling and/or spell check. Have a peer look over your work using the mystery peer checker worksheet from Ms. D.

• LENGTH/FORMAT:  Minimum 4 pages long, maximum 6 pages. Typed on the computer. Use size 12 font, and one of two styles: Arial or Comic Sans. Double Space your story using 1.5 spacing.
• TITLE/AUTHOR: Make sure your story has a title and author at the top of the first page.
• PLANNING:  Use your planning handout in your binder to structure your mystery AND to make sure your mystery has all of the elements we have talked about. Use the handout as a checklist!
• TRANSITION WORDS AND CONJUNCTIONS to make your sentences more complex, just like we were practicing in term one and during our five paragraph essay work.

I look forward to reading your mysteries! Due Date: January 30th.