A collection of moments from our Grade 7 learning community
Our analysis of Cartoon Network’s mini-series Over the Garden Wall has come to an end! Throughout this month, we have been exploring: important characters, clues and symbols, changes in settings, and key plot events. We also began analyzing the musical soundtrack for different tones, themes, and lyrics. Now, our classes are crafting our own theories about some unanswered questions within the show!
Today, we began exploring the next continent in our Books Around the World… we started in Australia! Mr. Murray read us a story about Fluffles, a koala who survived the large wildfires in Australia. This country is home to many different species of animals, including koalas, who are impacted by natural disasters like wildfires.
Look at the video below to learn more about Australia!
Have you ever thought about climbing Mount Everest? This perilous, treacherous climb draws many tourists every year. We learned that Mount Everest is located between Nepal and China. We learned that this mountain has cultural and religious significance to many people in Nepal.
We also learned that there are some possible environmental impacts caused by all of these people climbing the mountain. Many climbing expeditions leave behind lots of garbage, which is causing this pristine mountain to look more and more like a garbage dump.
Above: many people hike along Mount Everest, accompanied by experienced guides (Sherpas).
Below: many people from both Nepal and China are working hard to try to clean up the garbage on Mount Everest.
Some questions to consider:
-Why do you think it might be challenging to clean the garbage off Mount Everest?
-Would you ever climb Mount Everest?
-Why should we care about the garbage on Mount Everest? How might it impact the environment?
Recently, we visited China through Andrea Wang’s Watercress. The children in the story learn to find a balance between their family’s traditions and the pressures of North American culture. While on a road trip, her family stops to harvest watercress from the roadside. She feels embarrassed as she wades through the ditch, collecting watercress with her parents and siblings. At dinner that night, her mother shares stories from her own childhood, exposing her children to new aspects of their family’s story, their heritage, and their Chinese culture.
Many people find connection to their family and culture through the food that they eat. Are there foods that you enjoy with your family?
Check out the video below to hear about Cecilia Chiang’s connection to family and food through story.
We are continuing to learn about different countries in Asia! We read a book called I Dream of Popo, a story about moving away from your family based on the authour’s childhood experience moving from Taiwan to America. The child in the story keeps in contact with their grandmother back in Taiwan, and their love prevails despite physical distance!
Taiwan is a small country off the coast of China. It is a very culturally distinct country, with lots of unique culture!
To learn a little more about Taiwan, please watch the video below. You can compare and contrast these Taiwanese noodles with the Japanese noodles we learned about earlier!
We are continuing to ‘travel the world’ via our picture books! We learned about the invention of instant ramen, created by chef Momofuku Ando. He was inspired by the many people in Japan who experienced famine after World War II. Ando wanted to create a easy, inexpensive, and filling food that many people would enjoy:
Check out the video below about the history of this amazing invention!
Have you ever been to a parade? Today, we read the story of Tony Sarg the puppeteer. He was one of the first people to design and create the floating balloon ‘puppets’ commonly used in the Macy’s parade in New York City! This parade has been going on since 1924 (almost 100 years). Below is a photo of one of the first balloon puppets designed by Tony:
Some questions to consider:
-How has the design of the balloons changed over the years? Why do you think they have made these changes?
-Why do the designers use helium instead of another gas (like oxygen)?
-If you were going to design a balloon float, what character/creature would you design?
As part of our investigation of pizzas around the world, we learned about the “most expensive pizza on Earth”! Check out these 2 examples below.
If you ever find yourself in Richmond and have an extra $450 in your pocket, perhaps you might want to try this luxury pizza! The C6 features lobster thermidor, black Alaskan cod, prawns, smoked salmon and Russian Osetra caviar – one of he world’s most expensive caviars. Would you ever try this pizza?
The most expensive pizza in the world serves 2 people… so in a way this only $6,000 apiece. The dough is made from organic flour, is dusted with Murray River pink salt and takes 72-hours to prepare, which allows it time to rest before being cooked.
The toppings are as excessive as you’d expect with three rare types of caviar, Norwegian lobster, and 7 types of cheese.
Have you ever tried caviar? What would you put on your ‘luxury’ pizza?
This week, we began our novel study/read aloud for Alan Gratz’s Ban This Book. The novel follows a student named Amy Anne, who must find her voice in order to speak up against censorship. When Amy Anne’s favourite book is taken off her school library’s shelves, she takes matters into her own hands by creating a secret banned book library.
As we read this novel, we will discuss censorship and representation in children’s literature. Did you know that the Captain Underpants series is one of the most banned books across North America?
If you want to learn more about the importance of reading, you can watch this persuasive Ted-Talk speech from a 9-year-old student. Do you agree or disagree with their ideas?
Hello writers!
We’ve been working on our ‘odes to an everyday object’ in class. Please see the criteria sheet, instructions, and examples attached below. By Friday this week, every student should have 2-3 odes. Please feel free to continue working on these at home this week if needed!