Short Story Pitch and Independent Reading

Students have been preparing and presenting a "pitch" of their short story this week. The idea is to give a presentation of the story that they wrote before Christmas to the publisher of a major pubishing company in the hope that it will be "published" in the class anthology. They have been encouraged to make their pitch persuasive and engaging and include an exerpt to spark our interest in reading the story.

We have started off reading for term 2 by choosing and reading independent novels. Students have been reading these novels in class for the past week and should read their novels each evening at home for at least 20 minutes. A bookmark assignment, based on the first half of their novel is due in class at the end of this week.

History Presentations

I apologize for the long delay in updating the blog. Since the holidays I have been consumed with evaluation and writing of first term report cards and 8-4 and 8-5 students have been very busy preparing and presenting their History projects. The presentations covered the final unit for History on the changes that faced Canada at the turn of the 20th Century.
Project topics included early homesteading on the praries, new inventions, the Winnipeg General Strike, the women's suffrage movement and the causes of World War 1, just to name a few. Above is a picture of Alexander Graham Bell speaking into his early version of the telephone. Students were to find three sources for their information and then put together an engaging lesson for the class on their topics. Many students included powerpoint presentations or engaging games and activities with their lessons. We are just wrapping up the presentations this week and will be starting our Geography curriculum next week.

Building the Canadian Pacific Railway

In History we have been learning about the building of the CPR, a railway which was built across the country and helped to secure and open up the Canadian West for settlement. We have learned about the many challenges in building the railway, including blasting through solid rock and spanning dangerous river valleys. Chinese workers were hired to work do some of the most dangerous jobs in building the British Columbia stretch of the line. They were lowered down cliff faces in baskets to set dynamite charges and many died. Many others survived the dangerous work and poor living conditions in the camps, to eventually settle in Canada and start businesses.

Our November Adventure!

Earlier this month students from 8-2, 8-4 and 8-5 spent two days and one night at the Macskimming Outdoor Education Centre. We had a great time cooking and preparing for the trip. The weather was lovely on the first day and we participated in lots of group building and cooperation activities designed to challenge us to come up with creative problem solving ideas. We had a yummy pasta dinner, apple crumble and a bonfire complete with ghost stories before the rain hit. The second day we did our best to find our way around using a compass and learned to start a fire in the rain. We arrived back at school damp but with lots of stories to share.

The Development of the West

We have recently started a new History unit on the Development of the Canadian West. Last week we discussed the Gold Rushes in British Columbia which led to the creation of that province. This week we are learning about the events which led to the formation of the North West Mounted Police. The Cypress Hills Massacre was one critical incident. American wolf hunters who believed an Assiniboine man had stolen one of their horses, burst into an Assiniboine Camp and killed 36 men, women and children. It turned out that the horse had just wandered away. The government believed that the new police force would help to bring law and order to the west and bring a stop to the illegal whiskey trade. The force started as a small group of 300 recruits and they established their presence during The Great March, a long and difficult trek from Manitoba to Alberta. They were paid $1.00 a day and eventually would receive a small plot of land to settle once they had completed three years of service.

The Canadian War Museum

On November 11th, Remembrance Day, we went on a field trip to the Canadian War Museum. We watched the ceremony to honour our veterans and observed a minute of silence. We were able to explore some of the exhibits, especially in the World War One gallery. Before we went, Miss D. had read the book, A Bear in War, so students were anxious to find Teddy, who is the narrator in the story. Teddy is a genuine artifact from the First World War. He is a ragged, little stuffed bear who accompanied a Canadian medical officer overseas during the war. His daughter gave the bear to her father to keep him safe. Sadly, the officer died at Passchendaele and the bear was sent home. Students were given an assignment to choose two pieces of art and write a response to these while they were at the museum. If students had difficulty completing the assignment, they can finish it using some of the art which is available to view online at http://www.warmuseum.ca/ This assignment will be collected in Art class this week.

Parent Teacher Conferences

I hope that I will get to meet a lot of parents this Thursday evening at parent teacher conferences. The meetings will take place between 5 and 7:30 in the large gym at the school. All of the teachers will be in there, so you can plan to meet more than one of us on the same evening. Please drop by if you have any concerns you would like to discuss or just want to meet and put a face to the name. On the same evening there will be a silent auction to support students going on the grade 7 Quebec City trip, so you can drop by and check out some great gift ideas. If Thursday evening doesn't work for a meeting, please let me know and we can arrange another time.