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. 

Time Capsule sharing

Today we shared the time capsule from 1996-1997 by hosting a community event where people could come and look at it. Ramsay classes also toured the exhibit. Some of us were wearing black to act like museum staff members with name tags. 

Two kids from Mrs Kruk's Ramsay's 1997 class came to the school this morning and saw the artifacts and heard our presentations! 

The Time Capsule box had paintings from what the kids thought the past, present, and future looked like. It was held in Ms Kruk's basement for 25 years and she brought it to Ramsay School last spring.

It was exciting that we were able to find some of the original students and the principal from the time. 

"I really liked that we get a gallery walk and that everyone got to be a part of it." ~ Aarav

"I liked the way the artist painted the paintings." ~ Avni

"I really liked seeing what was in the time capsule from the past." ~ Alice

"I really liked that we made it like a museum with nametags." ~ Sage

"I liked how it was open to the public because we did something helping the whole community." ~ Arsh

"I really liked how we got our communication out to four other people from Ramsay School at the time. We did not expect that." ~ Kashvi

Time Capsule Exhibit

Parents, we hope that you can visit the school to see our Time Capsule exhibit/gallery walk tomorrow between the hours of 10-11:30 and/or 1-2. Our class will be "hosting" between 10-10:30 so if you'd like to see your own child, that would be the time to come. 

I'll post pictures later this week in case you can't make it.

Erin

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. :)

Tourism Project Sharing

"Touring" the Rocky Mountain Region

Over the last few months we have learned about each land region in Alberta. There are six: Rocky Mountains, Foothills, Parklands, Grasslands, Boreal Forest, and Canadian Shield. We learned about the land in each region, along with its climate, plants, animals, and natural resources. 

We discussed what Tourism is and ways that cities and regions advertise for people to come visit them. Here are some thoughts we had: 

Last week, we finished up our Tourism Projects on the regions of Alberta. Students had the choice of the region they worked on and the type of project they did (tv commercial (iMovie), radio commercial (podcast announcement), travel brochure, or poster). 

On Friday, we "travelled" around Alberta. Each station was a different region of Alberta and had the different projects for that region. Students completed "passports" for each region by writing down a fact they learned. 

Writing down a fact in
our "passport"

Students will be bringing home their evaluations today. Please take the time to look over my marks and comments. 

Note: Students also took home Science Tests and Division Tests on Friday so I hope you got the chance to look at those, too.

If you have any questions, please reach out.

~ Ms Elder

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). 

Ticket to Curlew Novel Study

This week, we started a class read aloud called Ticket to Curlew by Celia Barker Lottridge. It is a story about a boy named Sam who's eleven years old who comes to Curlew, Alberta with his family in 1915. This story describes the European settler experience of arriving on "empty" land and starting to build a homestead. 

This novel study relates to both Language Arts and Social Studies. Students each have their own copy of the book. We practice reading aloud for the class, one paragraph each, paraphrasing in our own words, adding expression to our voices, examining traits of fiction books such as quotation marks, "time passed" symbols, etc. We are also keeping track of Social Studies vocabulary words and their meanings, like "satchel," "compass," and "horizon." After each chapter, we discuss the story, ask questions, make predictions, summarize information, and answer a few short comprehension questions. We will also be discussing connections between the book and our previous learning of the land and history of Alberta.

You can support your child at home by asking them what's happening so far in the story. The ability to summarize and retell is an important quality of a good reader. Prompt them to see if they have any questions or predictions.

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: