Ms Collins Loves Books

Today we did a role drama activity, which was a bit of a new kind of drama activity for Division 7. In a role drama everyone assumes a role, and we use those roles to explore an idea, theme, historical event, etc.

Today I was Captain Pierre, leading a group of fur traders on a voyage from Europe to Hudson’s Bay in Canada.  On board our ship we had many characters, including several hunters and trappers, a tracking dog, a seamstress, a cook, and even some royalty!  We boarded our boat, sailed across the Atlantic, and explored the new world.  We found lots of beavers, and took the pelts back to Europe to sell for making into hats.  Our hunters killed a bison, and our cook prepared it over a fire.  It was tasty, but a bit burnt, so Chef Zoe decided she needed more practice cooking over an open flame.  We also found some diamonds, which we took back to Europe.  The Queen of England was generous enough to grant us an audience, and purchased our entire bag of diamonds!

It was lots of fun to get into character, and already the students want to travel somewhere else again soon!  If you haven’t visited our class blog lately, check it out.  There are some posts about our fur trading exploration and Amazing Race Canada challenges.

After a short stay in Ontario, we headed to Saskatchewan today.  I got to share a special place with the students: the farm outside Saskatoon where my grandparents lived.  I spent almost every other summer there growing up, and although my Grannie had to leave the farm when my Grandpa died, my aunt and uncle still live just down the road.

Saskatchewan has plenty of farmland, and grows many different crops.  We acknowledged that, as well as the Ukrainian heritage of settlers in the province, with a baking challenge!

We baked poppyseed rolled up cookies, traditionally made with a shortbread cookie dough.  We made things easier by using prepared crescent roll dough and spreading it with the following filling:

• 4 Tbsp poppy seeds
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp raisins, chopped
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375°,  makes 8 rolls.

Today our travels took us to Ontario, and Canada’s largest city, Toronto.  The challenge was to build a replica of the CN tower out of toilet paper rolls, newspaper, styrofoam, and tape.  I think the limited materials were as much of a challenge as listening to each other and working as a team.  Our teams pulled together to create some amazing structures!

Today I discovered the most exciting thing: you can explore museums using Google street view!  We travelled to Alberta today from Manitoba, to visit Drumheller where lots of dinosaur fossils have been found.  As I was preparing our Google Earth flight, I noticed that you could drop a pegman inside the museum and “walk” around.  Our student palaeontologists had a three part challenge today: explore the museum, excavate a fossil, and put skeletons back together.  Thank you Mrs. Clark for organizing the dinosaur dig, it is quite delicate work so we will continue to excavate over the next few days.

My favourite discovery in the museum was the fact that you could explore the basement and see palaeontologists at work!  I think it is so amazing that technology can allow us to visit somewhere without having to leave our school grounds!

Today on the Amazing Race we travelled from PEI to Manitoba.  We learned about the First Nations and Métis people who live in Manitoba, and how important the bison was to their traditional way of life.  The bison is a symbol of Manitoba, found on the coat of arms and flag.  The challenge today was to identify how aboriginal people used all parts of the bison, including the meat, bones, skin, horns, hooves, and even the dung!  This really stretched our brains, to figure out what body parts might be used for clothing, spoons, sled runners, and glue (especially tricky!)

If you’d like to explore more about the provinces we’ve visited, or play some geography games, check out the Canada page on my Symbaloo.