Friday, October 28, 2011

Star LAB Friday Oct 28,2011

STAR LAB


On Friday we had the pleasure of spending the morning in the Star Lab with Mr. Waldron; the Grade5/6 Teacher. Mr.Waldron shared his knowledge of  the history and origins of the stars and constellations of Astronomy. He explained how most of the constellations originated from the ancient Middle Eastern, Greek, and Roman cultures. That they identified clusters of stars as gods, goddesses, animals, and objects of their stories. How each star formed a pattern or picture like Orion the Great Hunter, Leo the Lion, or Taurus the Bull.


Just before lunch Mr. Yves Bousquet our Principal of Fairhaven School shared his knowledge that was given to him by First Nations Elders. He shared the Indigenous perspective and their origins of the stars and constellations . The constellations we learned about were the Lizard Constellation, from the Native American-Navajo Culture and the Spider Web Constellation of the First Nations-Cree & the Anishinaabe-Ojibway Culture.





LA
In Language Arts we have read half way through the Novel "No Time to Say Goodbye" by Silvia Olsen which is about 5 children who were sent to residential school. Through this novel the class is learning what it was like for students who attended Residential Schools. The students have read up to page100 and and are working on Post #7 on their EDMODO student accounts. We watched an Interview with Authur Fourstar a former Residential School Survivor. Later the students discussed the the similarities and differences between the Survivor-Arthur Four-star to the characters within the Novel. They worked on a handout comparing and contrasting the characters to Authur.
Social
I am teaching about the different Worldview of the British ( Western) and First Nations Cultures in relation to the Treaties and the perspective that both groups were coming from. Using the example from the Star Lab we examined the different worldviews of the Roman & Greeks to the Aboriginal Worldview of the stars and the origins of their constellations.  We listened to a oral story The Coyote and The Stars that I shared using Vocaroo (it was my first time using) which was made into a children's story. The story is about how the stars and constellations came to be with the help of the character named Coyote. This Native American story is derived from The Navajo Nation. If you click on the Vocaroo tab you will be able to listen to the story. 






Math
In Math - I worked with the the Grade 7s  on a handout where the students had to show fractions using pattern blocks while Mr. Catton taught the Grade 8's. We ended the day Sock Wrestling which was my first time playing and alot of Fun! It was a good day as everyone was excited that it was Friday and the weekend. The  Grade 8's students planned a Halloween Dance fundraiser for their After grad party.


Hope to See you there! Mrs. Nelson

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