Ann Ford

Today I went to a field trip with my class. We were the only class that went on a field trip so we were lucky. Mrs. Ford wanted us to pair up with partners and she let us choose our partners so I chose Louis and we went to the school bus and Mrs. Ford told us our seat numbers. I’m pretty sure I was the only one that brought a water bottle to the field trip. I brought one because I thought I was gonna dehydrate. After recess we ate lunch. And after lunch we went on the school bus. It took us about 20 minutes to get there and I also found some familiar places as well as some new ones. Louis recognized more places than me. Then Kashvi drew a picture and she showed it to almost everyone on the school bus (the other people were too far to reach). The picture was kinda bad although a little better than what I could draw. And my ears were popping when I was on the school bus and I forgot to mention that the school bus was very big and shaky and we didn’t have any seat belts. Luckily I had the window seat so I had a less chance of falling off my seat. When we got there I realized I went there before with my parents and my brother. We also saw a statue about Simon Fraser (because this field trip was about the Fraser River). And we also saw the biggest tin soldier statue in the entire world. Then we waited for the Pollution to Solution people to come and then when they did they told us their names and then tested out knowledge about the Fraser River. We said it was 1375 km and we knew because we did research about it because it was our homework. Then we went into the building and put our jackets (and my water bottle) in a cubby. Then we went into a straight line and followed a person into the smallest theatre I have ever seen and the person gave us a PowerPoint presentation about the Fraser River, about the biodiversities and how it gets polluted and how we can solve the pollution and they also showed us a man in the 1980s I think and they said that that person saw a lot of pollution in the Fraser River and it upset him and he didn’t like it so he went for a swim. No not a swim in your average pool, he went for a swim in he Fraser River and I thought that was the most amazing thing that a person could do. While he swam in the River he also went to schools and other buildings and stuff and told the people inside that the Fraser River was really polluted and that those people should help. After he was done swimming in the Fraser River he rested and in 2000 or something he decided to go for a swim a second time in the Fraser River. The first time he went the chemicals in the river made his eyes sting so sometimes he couldn’t see where he was going, the second time it was much better and he also saw less garbage in the River.  After the Presentation Mrs. Ford split the class in half because the presenters told her to do so and then one of the presenters took on half and we went to a place where we formed a circle and she asked us whether we knew the term Food Web. Then she asked us whether we knew the term Food Chain and we did and she said the Food Chain is basically the Food Chain and the Food Chain is where an animal eats another animal eats another animal or plant and so on. We’re at the top of the food chain. She said if you tried to draw the Food chain on a piece of paper, it would look more like a web so thats why she refers it to the term Food Web. And then she told us that if a plant was polluted and an insect stopped to rest and decided to take a bite off the plant, the insect would also get polluted, and if the insect got eaten by a bird, then the bird would get polluted and so on. Then she told us we were gonna play a game and that we were pollution and we were having a journey through different animals’ stomach. We were supposed to get a piece of paper and sharpie and we would start at a random animal or plant and we would write that animal or plant’s name on the piece of paper and roll a dice and whatever animal or plant that we get, we have to go to that station and write their name down. We had to repeat this process 12 times and I think I was the first person to finish it. There were a lot of things that didn’t make sense, like how could a mushroom eat a bear? But then when everyone was done (well ALMOST everyone since my partner, Louis didn’t finish) we got a mat to sit on and I got 2 mats and gave one to Louis and then we placed our mats in a circle and we sat down. The presenter was like * I bet your all wondering how a mushroom can eat a black bear so I’m gonna explain.* She said that the bear that had the pollution could die in the forest and decompose, but a mushroom could speed up the process of decomposing by eating bits of the bear. And then we gave our papers and sharpies back and we went to the other activity. When we got there there was a place where you put your face in it so you complete the picture of the human, but to me it just looked like a place where someone could chop your neck off. Then we went to this table where there were buttons that were covered in a black cloth. She said this was a map of the Fraser River and the little balls were the pollution. We got in a single file line, though it took us a little more than a few seconds, and we got to push one button for two seconds, and in those two seconds little balls of pollution would erupt out of the holes and they would fall down into the Fraser River. After we were done that, we went into the tiny theatre room and we went into a circle and the presenter said we were gonna play a game that involved out knowledge of objects that pollute or help the environment. She dumped out two bins of different objects and we each took turns taking a random objects from the pile and the rest of us were using our thumbs to say whether it was pollution or solution. There were things like plastic cups (no one picked that one) and plastic bags ( no one picked that to ) and a school bus. There were a lot more objects, but my hand feels too tired to type anymore. Then the other half of the class came and we went to watch a short movie about a young kid doing a science experiment. When he was done ( I think he was trying to make slime or something) he didn’t know what to do with it ( but then again why would a little kid not play with slime?) so he decided to dump it into the sink, but he changed his mind and decided to take a walk around his neighbourhood and dumped the slime in a small river instead and watched it flow away and he left and went back home. The slime floated around in t river and eventually went on the shore of a beach and it evaporated slowly and it was obviously edited, because slime can’t evaporate that fast ( I think ). And then the slime went into the clouds and it started snowing and the slime was in the snow and it looked weird and disgusting at the same time, and then the slime started dripping into another tiny river, until it formed into the slime again and it floated all the way into a water dam and it went into a hose and then we saw the boy again who was getting ready to go for a swim ( no not in your average Fraser River) in his kiddie pool and the water stopped working and he checked it and then the hose threw up his science experiment and it appeared right in front of him. I thought that was really funny and I bet that the boy was thinking *What were the chances?*. Then after that it was time to go so we went in pairs again with our partners and then Jayden wanted to sit with me so I sad yes and we sat in row 2 and Louis sat in row 3 so we could all chat with each other. Jayden said he biked from Marlborough to the Fraser River, and he said it took him about 40 minutes so he knew all the directions, but this was before Covid so he might have forgotten some of the directions. And as I already told you the bus was really shaky and bumpy and we had no seat belts, so I nearly fell off because this time I didn’t have the window seat. But thankfully Jayden caught me before I completely fell off. When the bus ride was over, I got back with my partner, Louis and Jayden got back his, Daren. And that was my field trip. And this is the longest blog post I’ve ever wrote. 1642 words can you believe that?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!???????????????

From Pollution to Solution workshop

What is Robotics?

Robotics is a form of specialized engineering that deals with design, construction, operation and application of robots.

The world needs the students of today to become scientists, engineers and problem solving leaders of tomorrow. Science is increasingly presenting us with challenges in how we problem solve through the use of technology. 

In this unit, students learn to assemble a robot (Clawbot), a fully operational robot. Once assembled, students try coding the bot to perform simple tasks.

STEM: STEM combines Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education to form an engaging field of study. The VEX IQ platform provides a stimulating, hands on experience while learning. This is the program we are using so please have your child discuss with you how they are assembling these robots.  

Collaborating and problem-solving are some of the many skills built into this program.

This term, Division 13 explored poetry writing.  Students enjoyed playing with language and creating many forms of poetry writing.  We kicked off the unit with a mini virtual  workshop with Adrienne Gear, where she outlined how students can be engaged to write meaningful poetry. Students did a guided activity by writing an earth day poetry. Over the few weeks, students wrote and published their poetry booklets. Our Poetry Cafe is on June 8th when our classroom will be transformed into a cafe style setting for students to present their poems.

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Stefan binding his poetry book

When you think of chocolate, you may have several treats in mind. But, where does chocolate come from? In this unit, we focus our attention on another part of the world – Ghana! We explore the country, why this country is the second largest producer of cocoa beans, Fairtrade, how cocoa beans are traded in world markets and finally how the beans are made into chocolate that we enjoy. This term, students explored the relationship between chocolate and Fairtrade in Ghana. Students made connections between their lives and the lives of children in this part of the world, the effects of fairtrade on the people of Ghana, how chocolate is made, where in the world cocoa trees grow. Most importantly, students explored how  we are connected globally and how our actions here in Canada affect the people in other parts of the world.

Students will “travel” virtually to this part of the world and learn all about chocolate and Fairtrade.

Yenny’s post about the documentary:

The documentary was about an interesting subject to me. I didn’t even know about this kind of thing until I watched the documentary. The cocoa bean farmers are a hard working group of farmers, and so they deserve a large amount of money. The companies that buy the cocoa beans sometimes do not give the cocoa bean farmers a fair amount of money. This causes a big impact to the cocoa bean farmers. This is due to the fact that the farmers are very poor. For example, they need to walk miles and miles to get water from the well. The water, however, is not clean. The farmers in the documentary live in Ghana, the world’s second largest cocoa bean producer, which is located in Africa. One of the farmers in Ghana said that once they got cheated from a big company that promised a lot of money but didn’t give the amount they had promised.

The tools the cocoa bean farmers use were new to most of us. The most simple one was a hook, situated on top of a long, carved, wood, which I suppose was drenched in water and left to dry in the sun for hours until it was finally strong and smooth enough to use. It wouldn’t be all that safe if the wood wasn’t carved, because then it would be possible to get a lot of splinters. Another useful tool was a small, dagger-like knife that is called a machete. I’m not too sure how to spell it, though. Anyway, this tool is used for cutting open the cocoa pods in order to get to the seed or bean. 

There are many steps to making chocolate from cocoa beans. The farmers first have to pick the cocoa pods from the tree using the long tool with a hook on top. After this task is completed, then they can go ahead a use the machete to open the pod. Then, they get the giant banana leaves and spread it on a long, wooden table. The farmers would then dry the seeds for a couple of days in the sun. I think one of the reasons that Ghana is such a good place to produce  cocoa beans is that there is a lot of sun and is very humid as well. The reason for this is that it is close to the equator. Back to the many steps of the cocoa-to-chocolate. After the seeds are dry, the farmers put it in bags, ready to be shipped to all the parts of the world. 

Alia and Jayden are two the many students celebrating the Lunar New Year with their families!

Thank you Ryder for bringing in the lovely treats for everyone.

Hazel had almost the whole field full of snow to work on her cat sculpture yesterday.

Hello Families,

As we approach the end of this year, I would like to extend the warmest regards to you all. I have enjoyed the learning journey together with your child this term. They have really bonded with each other. I love seeing them come in with excitement in their faces . They have embraced the different units this term with Mr. Hoffard, our student teacher, and myself. I enjoy the lively discussions that usually take place when we open up the floor for topics.

I look forward to seeing them in the new year. We will  explore Ghana and the chocolate trade, work on a novel study, and explore the Fraser River Estuary through virtual field trips. As well, I have some fun in-class field trips planned with the Burnaby Art Gallery.

I hope you all have a healthy and restful break. Looking forward to working with your child in 2022. Best,

Ann Ford

We will miss you! Not a goodbye- just see you later! Best always- Div. 13

(Card art by Lisa Deane. Thank you Lisa)!