MR. Brewer
HUMANITIES - SOCIAL STUDIES/LANGUAGE ARTS
This week students had a spelling test and Social Studies unit test on Monday. Both of these tests were marked and students received constructive feedback on them on Thursday this week. Social studies marks were published on PowerSchool. Treaties are legal documents between the government and a First Nation that confer rights and obligations on both parties. The word 'treaty' was in our spelling list from this week. To First Nations peoples, treaties are sacred. We talked further in class about what treaties are and looked at a map of Alberta showing the areas of various treaties. Calgary is located on Treaty 7 land. This treaty was signed on September 22, 1877, at Blackfoot Crossing between the Crown and five First Nations in southern Alberta: the Kainai, Siksika, Piikani, Nakoda, and Tsuu T’ina. From the First Nations’ perspective, they understood the treaty to be a peaceful agreement of sharing of land and resources. The government's understanding of the treaty however was different because it included First Nations moving to small parcels of reservation land. In class we spoke about how major changes happened that deeply impacted the way of life for First Nations people in the 1800s and 1900s. We viewed several videos that addressed the disappearance of the buffalo herds from the prairies, settlement and building of the railway that enabled settlers to come to Alberta to engage in agriculture. The map below shows where reserves and Métis settlements are in Alberta: In class we recalled our discussions of the many uses of the buffalo. First Nations traditionally used buffalo for food, clothing and sacred purposes. The bison was integral to their way of life. When bison were over-hunted, this had tragic effects on First Nations people. We acknowledged this tragedy and spoke of how it is part of our shared experience in Alberta.
0 Comments
This week, humanities lessons were punctuated by trips to Vivo to participate in swimming lessons. Increased physical activity can improve your appearance, improve stamina and strengthen endurance. Walking to and from Vivo was great exercise for teacher and students! Specifically for students, having the opportunity to swim was very much worthwhile. Swimming is an essential life skill that can save your life. We thank the lifeguards and instructors at Vivo who made this week so memorable: When students were not at swimming lessons, we reviewed about resources in Alberta and moved into a study of settlers who came to our province in the 19th and early 20th century . We touched on the end of the fur trade and focused on the movement of people mainly from Europe to the area now known as Alberta. Settlers came from places like Poland, Ukraine and Germany where they had been farmers for generations to homestead in Alberta. We recognized in class that the diversity of immigrants from Europe and other continents has enriched Alberta’s rural and urban communities and that European immigrants engaged in agriculture which is a major part of our economy in western Canada. In class we viewed a poster from the 19th century encouraging people to come to the Canadian West: These types of posters were put up all over Europe. Here are some in different languages. They all have the same message and layout: We talked about what the posters said, whether or not they showed a truly accurate picture of what life would be like for newcomers and why the government offered 160 free acres of land to encourage people to immigrate. We contrasted the claims in the posters with a slide show about the realities of life on the prairies for a group of newcomers who came from Ontario to homestead in southern Manitoba: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhwjpVfirlM
For Monday's class all students are encouraged to review material about natural resources. Students are likewise reminded that on Monday there is a spelling quiz. 4A and 4B will be swimming at Vivo next week! Mr. Brewer spoke to both classes about the importance of bringing a swimsuit & towel. There has been one change in the itinerary. On Friday we will swim from: 10:00 to 11:00.
On Monday this week we took up homework about John and Mildred Ware and had a spelling test. Students received spelling marks on Thursday and edited their sentences in class. Results from the quiz itself were very strong overall. The quality, length and complexity of spelling sentences has been a strong area of improvement for many students. Both 4A and 4B got time this week in class to class to finish typing their oil sands letters. Students could follow models to type their letters. They learned that a letter contains certain elements like a date in the upper right hand corner, a greeting, a body and closing: Before typing, they had an opportunity to look at exemplars (based on letters written in previous years). During lecture, students asked questions and explored ideas in order to understand new concepts. Through their writing they strove to identify other perspectives by exploring a variety of ideas, opinions, responses, oral, print and other media texts. In doing this, they learned how natural resources are used by Albertans. A pre-writing exercise involved having a class discussion and making a chart like this: Virtually every student wrote the letter. Many also were able to complete typing the draft copy of their legendary story during the time given in class to do so. Mr. Brewer encourages any student who has not finished their story to complete it by typing it in Google documents then sharing it with me at: [email protected] Luckily, most students now have already done so. I noticed that many students used the red flag words and phrases we studied in class and that most stories have essential story elements like main characters, story problems, settings, climax of action and solution to the story problem. A number of students were able to complete their typing and logged into Read Theory to practice reading comprehension passages.
There will be a test on Alberta's natural resources on Monday May 13. Students will be given the following list of topics for study in class on Monday May 6:
Students discussed oil sands development and began writing a short opinion piece in the form of a letter to the C.E.O. of an oil company. They wrote this letter from either the point of view of:
John and Mildred Ware - Early Ranchers: Homework assigned on Fri. April 26, 2019. Due on Monday April 29:
|
|