Parliament and Bank of Canada Museum trip

Today's trip to Parliament Hill started off with us walking to the transit way and catching a bus downtown. Our arrival on the hill was met with blue skies and sunshine… An omen for a fantastic trip.

Olivia's love of books meant that she pretty much had to be restrained during our visit to the parliamentary library 😝

We were fortunate enough to be in the hall of honour when the Sergeant at arms paraded by carrying the ceremonial mace to start parliamentary debate.

Just outside the doors to the Senate chamber students stopped to view the portraits of all of Canada's reining monarchs.  They learn the story about this painting of queen Victoria. It's a rather swashbuckling tail. Be sure to ask your child about it and see if they recall the details or even the general idea.

For your information, you're not allowed to bring a bike helmet in the parliament :-)

After a break for lunch on the steps of the Parliament buildings, we had it over to the bank of Canada building on Sparks Street. Here we toured ox was newest museum, the Canadian currency museum. We had a limited amount of time there, and I think I speak for everyone in the group when I say that we all could easily go back for another visit. There were tons of interactive activities.it's a very modern design, with very forward thinking displays to engage the visitor. Oh and did we mention that it was free to everyone?!

Learning to Be Persuasive

We have been exploring the skills required to write really persuasive pieces of writing.  Tomorrow we will look at the book I Wanna Iguana.  This story might hit close to home for some of you, so I thought I would post a link to a PDF of the book.  Enjoy, and enjoy some of our This or That topics below.  They have sparked some great conversation in class.  Remember, if you pick one or the other, you need to be able to support your choice with two fact- based reasons for your decision...
I Wanna Iguana

Dog or Cat?

Netflix or YouTube?

Phone Call or Text?

Toast n Eggs or Cereal?

Sneakers or Sandals?

Bath or Shower?

Holiday in a tent or Holiday in a Hotel?

Read or Watch? (book or show?)

Mobile Games or Console Games?

Swings or Slide?

Tablet or Computer/chromebook?

Winter or Summer?

Football and Frisbee Fun

If your child seems a bit tired this evening, they came by it honestly.  This morning we walked to McKellar park for our second phys ed in the park field trip, and our third Thursday in a row (Terry Fox) at a park.  We had some lessons on how to handle a football, underhand passing while running (lateral passes), forward passes, and how to run simple receiving patterns.  By the end each student was calling plays for their receivers, and I saw that everyone was able to celebrate success on their own terms.

We finished off with a big game of ultimate frisbee, with everyone getting involved and having a lot of fun.  Although I put my phone down for a portion of the trip, it was in my pocket for much of the time, and it registered over 6km of distance travelled by the end of our trip, with all of the running included.  An active day for all!

Just a reminder to you all that we travel to Dovercourt for our last park phys ed event next Thursday, and we are looking for a few more volunteers for our parliament trip (forms came home yesterday ).

Social Studies Activities today

Today we finished up our discussion about residential schools in Canada. We finished the book Secret Path, by Gord Downie.  The students were very engaged and drawn in by the story and the amazing illustrations.  Ask your child about the secret path story or about residential schools.

As part of our social studies exploration of Canadian government and Canada's links to the world, we did a web activity that dealt with Canada and international trade. Students were able to get a firsthand look at how interconnected countries are through trade, and how important it is that we support all of the members of the international community.