Indigenous Peoples Day & Summer Solistice

Medicine Wheel art

We had a Community Walk today to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day and Summer Solstice that was on Wednesday. The weather was fantastic and we had a great two hours exploring nature with Ms Harris' class.

Our task was to choose something from the Nature Activity list and work on it with a partner from Ms Harris' Grade Three class. We could choose to spend the whole half hour working on one thing or try lots of different nature activities. We used the space along the river at Enmax Park as our classroom. 

Here are some photos of our work: 

Building homes

Making Nature
Art

After working, we stopped at the Rainbow Trout playground for our recess break then we walked back to the school. 

Some of us saw the merganser ducklings, the osprey carrying sticks to its nest, minnows in the shallow water, a pair of mallard ducks, and mushrooms. 

Fractions & Decimals Work and Upcoming Quiz

For the past couple of weeks in Math, we have been exploring fractions and decimals. We know that fractions:

• are a part of a whole
• the pieces of a fraction are equal
• the top number is called the numerator and the bottom number is called the denominator
• the line in between the numerator and denominator is a division line
• when we cut the fractions into smaller pieces, the denominator gets bigger
• are connected to division because we can use fractions sometimes to represent a remainder
• the language we use to express a fraction has a "th" at the end of it (for example, "seven hundredths," "two tenths," "two hundredths," "four hundredths," "two thousandths," "two millionths," "one fifth," "three sixths.

We know that we can convert fractions to decimals when: 

• the denominator has a base of ten (10, 100, 1000, etc)

To practice, we have been making Pixel Art creations. For this Math & Art assignment, we have to colour the pixels one-by-one to create a piece of art. Then, you count the number of squares for each colour and write the fraction and decimal. So, for example, if there were 17 red squares, that equals 17/100 and 0.17. If there were 5 yellow, the fraction would be 5/100 and the decimal would be 0.05.

 

On Monday, June 5, we will have a Quiz on Fractions and Decimals. Here are the things students will need to know: 

• Write a fraction to represent a given picture.
• Write a decimal to represent a given picture.
• Draw a picture to represent a given fraction.
• Draw a picture to represent a given decimal. 
• Order fractions (with the same denominator) and decimals from least to greatest.
• Circle objects in sets to show a given fraction or decimal.

If students are looking for ways to practice, they are encouraged to try the assignments on Mathletics: Fractions and Decimals. There are also resources under "Math" on the Google Classroom that can help.

Personalized Land Acknowlegements and Artwork

Over the course of this year, students have been learning about the Indigenous history of this land we call Alberta. One of the learning tasks the students have taken part in is creating their own personalized statement to proceed the CBE's standard land acknowledgement. This exercise has been encouraged by many experts in the hopes of people internalizing the importance of the land acknowledgement and not just reciting it mindlessly. 

To read more about our personalized writing, click here to see a previous blog post. 

Now that students have finished their paragraphs, they are taking turns reading them out loud for the class as a way for us to start each school day. Many students have been excited about this; we are never short of volunteers to read!

To accompany the land acknowledgements, students created a multi-media form of art that we called "Extending the Frame." Students brought in a picture from home of themselves in nature, in a place in Alberta that is special to them (thanks, parents, for your support with this activity!). Students glued the photo on to a canvas then used light pencil sketching to extend the land around them. They made artistic decisions, such as where to put their photo on the canvas to best provide opportunities to extend the land, whether to arrange their canvas in portrait or landscape style, and whether to use watercolours or acrylic paints to best match the original photo. The outcome was outstanding! Just look at these beautiful creations!

These works of art will be on display for the next month both in our classroom and on the bulletin board outside the Gym. If you're in the school, you're encouraged to check them out. 

If you don't see your child's beautiful work below, it is because you have not signed the Consent to Publish work form so I am not allowed to share pictures of their faces or work. You can adjust this by going in to MySchool account and "forms" or contact Ms Tammy in the office for help. Or, it is because your child has not yet finished. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing all mothers a special day today! 

We worked hard these past two weeks to create these beautiful wreaths for you. Not only are they pretty, but they relate to our work in Science on plants. Students have been studying different petal shapes. We modelled our wreath flowers after real-life flowers. Some students doubled-up their egg cartons to create sepals. We used various materials to create accurate looking stamen and pistils. 

Thank you for all that you do, Moms. 

Tracing our wreaths

Learning how to cut out a middle section

Painting our wreaths and flowers

Reminder: HOMEWORK due Monday: Bring a photo of myself on the land

Reminder: You have homework due Monday. 

Check our previous blog post for more information (click here). 

Minecraft Challenge Sharing

Collaborating in Minecraft

This week, we finished up our Minecraft projects for the City of Calgary Level Up Challenge! Students worked alone or with a partner to build something that honours the Indigenous history and importance of the land where Fort Calgary stands. To see more details about the purpose of this activity, click here. 

Shots of our planning sheets and explanations

Here are some pictures of us building in Minecraft:

Helping out our teammates

One partner building and one script-writing

Students presented their designs to the class and we voted on our favourite. The top four teams were submitted to the Minecraft Committee (Ms Elder, Mr Turner, Ms Lacour). The Committee chose the winner using the rubric the city provided. The winning team from our class was M and V! Congrats!!! Here is a picture of their design: 

We also visited Fort Calgary on Thursday on a Community Walk. We took part in the IndigiTrail, which is a series of trivia questions to show what we know about the Indigenous history of this area, and help us learn more. Students really enjoyed this interactive tool and touring the grounds in small groups. We had a debriefing after the trivia where we shared the answers we knew (like, Why is Fort Calgary located in this area? and What are the four Nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy? and How do you say 'hello' in the Treaty 7 languages? and What do the Blackfoot people call Calgary?). We also shared new learning. 

The Treaty 7 trivia trail is available through the IndigiTrail app. I'd highly recommend visiting the Fort and doing it as a family. For details, click here. 

While there, we saw a new installation next to the statue of MacLeod, which honours the Indigenous history of this place. Click here to read the article we read in class. We had a very powerful conversation about why these new signs are important. Try talking with your child about this. 

Visiting the Col MacLeod statue

HOMEWORK: Bring in a photograph for Art by May 1

Students, this is a friendly reminder that you need to find a photograph of yourself at a place in nature that is special to you. 

The place must be outside, in nature and it must be in Alberta. 

You need to be in the photo but it's ok if we can't see your face (like a picture of your back). It is ok if there are other people in the photo. 

Photographs need to be brought in to the school by Monday, May 1.

Here are some examples: 

Minecraft Challenge

Our class is participating in the Level Up City of Calgary Season 2 Minecraft Challenge! 

The city has asked students to consider how we can create a vibrant space at Fort Calgary that reflects its Indigenous history and celebrates the cultural heritage of our city. 

Students are working alone or in pairs to design the space in Minecraft. Each student will "pitch" their design to the class and then we'll vote on our favourite design to submit to the city. 

This project aligns perfectly with our Social Studies program where we are learning past stories of Alberta and finding ways to reconcile the relationship between European settlers and Indigenous People. Our class has already visited Fort Calgary once this year and learned a bit about the importance of the area (Mohkinstsis) to various Indigenous groups (click here for a recap of our earlier work in this area). This project is similar to our Memorial Artwork Project, which many students completed in Minecraft, so we may use inspiration and/or designs from that project for this challenge (click here to view our Memorial Artwork and here!). 

The project expectations have been posted in the Google Classroom. We will be working hard the first two weeks of April to create our designs in Minecraft. Although this work will be done at school, students are encouraged to brainstorm over Spring Break to come prepared with an idea of what they'd like to build.

Mark your calendars because we will also be doing a full-day Community Walk on Thursday, April 13 to Fort Calgary to complete the Indi-Trail Treaty 7 Trivia walking loop and discuss the Minecraft Challenge. Who better to design this space then Ramsay Students - one of the closest schools to this place!!! :) 

Puppet Wrap-Up

The Cranky

This week, we had our last two sessions with Monica in the Puppet Studio. We each made a "cranky." This is a a box that is a window viewer for our story strips. You can turn one handle and the story plays in front of the screen like a tv. 

Most students are working on two different stories right now: one that relates to their puppets, and another that they're writing in teams in class. 

Students have engaged in Story-Writing lessons in class that relate to story elements, such as writing a descriptive setting, interesting characters, and a related problem and solution. 

Once we finished our cranky stories today, we had time to work on making newspaper and masking tape puppets. Here are some examples!

Thanks, Monica, for teaching us new skills and inspiring us with your creativity. :)