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Thursday 16 March 2017

TODAY WAS OUR LAST DAY WITH PAM

Today we reflected on the learning that we had done with Pam over the past 3 weeks.  WE LOVED having Pam join our family.  We learned so much about each other during our talking circles. 





Joel: "I had a lot of fun during the times that Pam came to our class. I learned about how when you take from Mother Earth you need to give something in return."
Laina: "It was really educational and the things I learned about the most were how to smudge and the 7 Sacred Teachings."
Aaron: "I liked when we got to smudge and learn about the 7 Sacred teaching.  I also like sharing the book we made with Pam."
Ethan: "I liked when we smudged and ate the bannock. I also liked learning about the 7 Sacred teachings."
Alexander: "I liked when we got to eat Bannock and learning about the 7 Teachings."
Abbey: "I liked that we got to smudge and that Pam brought us bannock."
Abany: I like everything and my favorite part was the smudging and the bannock."
Amanda: "I liked everything and mostly I liked learning about all the things in the Indigenous culture."
Chloie:"I liked everything, especially eating bannock."
Mady: "I liked when she brought a bunch of things and we got to learn about them."
Diego:"I liked that we got to learn about the 7 Sacred Teachings and also making the crafts."
Raine: "I liked when she brought her turtle shell."
Michael: "I liked when we got to make the trees, have bannock and smudging."
Brooke: "I liked when she read books to us and my favorite one was Shi-shi-etko."
Erik: "I liked when she brought sage and when she read us all of the books."




Wednesday 15 March 2017

TODAY WE SMUDGED!

First we started our Talking Circle with BANNOCK.  Pam made us bannock and brought butter and jam.  IT WAS SO YUMMY!  






Then we smudged.  Smudging is when you cleanse the air and your body with smoke.  Today we used the smoke from SAGE.  Joel says that the smell is similar to when you start a bonfire.  When we smudge we start with our hands, then our head, our ears, our eyes with them closed, our throat, our heart and lastly our whole body.   It was a very calming experience






















Raine liked the bannock.
Aaron liked how we got to eat bannock and then we smudged. 
Brooke liked when we smudged.


Ethan and Chloie both felt calm when they smudged.
Joel felt warm inside when he smudged. 
Abbey felt good when she smudged. 
Diego felt steady when he smudged. 
Amanda felt very very calm when she smudged. 
Michael felt awesome when he smudged.
Brooke felt lucky that she got to smudge. 
Smudging made Mady feel brave. 
Alexander felt awesome when smudging.  

Tuesday 14 March 2017

Why Should We Have a Talking Circle?

Today in our talking circle Pam read us the book Brother Eagle, Sister Sky, Susan Jeffers and Chief Seattle.   The book was about that we belong to the earth and the earth does not belong to them.  It also spoke about how what we do to the earth has a direct impact on us.  



We then talked about reasons for which we could have a talking circle in our class.  Some of the reasons that we came up with are:
Share how we are feeling.
Problems at recess.
Problems at home.
To learn more about our classmates.
To create a family in our classroom.
To talk about what is good and what is bad.
To talk about issues that may come up that may affect us.


Ethan liked the book that we read. 
Mady liked how Alex brought his rock to share with us. 
Abany liked everything about todays talking circle. 
Brooke liked when we made the list of reasons for talking circles with Pam
Erik liked when we were talking about YouTube challenges. 
Yuna liked that Joel brought another wooden shelf that his sister made. 
Diego liked that we got to talk about our feelings today.
Amanda liked that we spoke in French a little. 
Michael liked the book.
Chloie liked the rock that Alexander brought. 
Joel like sharing the videos that he likes to watch.
Aaron liked everything. 

Thursday 9 March 2017

RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS

Today in Talking Circle Pam taught us about residential schools.  A residential school is when you are taken away from your parents.  Only Indigenous students were taken away from their families and their homes.  When these children were at these schools they were not allowed to speak in their language.  The children had to have their hair cut off of their heads.  Hair in the Indigenous culture is very important, Pam explained that this culture grows their hair long like the sweet grass of Mother Earth.  They only cut their hair when someone passes away.  The children were only allowed to go home in the summer.  
Pam read us two books to help explain what Residential schools are.  The first one was Shi-shi-etko by Nicola I. Campbell and the second book was Shin-chi's Canoe by Nicola I. Campbell.   While Pam was reading us the books, we wrote things that were important to us on leaves, cut them out and glued them to our trees.  







We still have many questions about Residential schools:

Chloie wonders why they made the schools.
Aaron wonders why they cut off their hair.
Joel wonders if the teachers were nice.
Michael wonders why the teachers teased the students by eating good food while they ate horrible food.
Abbey wonders why the laws were like that.
Diego wonders why they were taken away for 10 months.
Yuna wonders why they cannot be close to their siblings.
Ethan wonders why they sleep at school.
Amanda wonders why the girls and boys are separated, why the girls go in one door and the boys go in another. 






Wednesday 8 March 2017

WE GOT TO FACE TIME TODAY!

Today, we were excited to FACETIME with one classmates who is away.  It was so much fun.  We tried our very best to speak in French.  It is so neat that we live in a time in which we can connect with students who are away.  



HONESTY AND TRUTH

Today in our Talking Circle we talked about HONESTY AND TRUTH.  Pam explained that HONESTY comes from within us and TRUTH is what we tell.  Then we talked about rules.  Pam opened our conversation with telling us that some rules do not make sense.  

Some of the rules we talked about are:
Hands and feet to ourselves: Sometimes we want to give a person a hug or help them but if we cannot touch them, how do we do this.  Even giving them a HIGH FIVE would be breaking this rule.

We are not allowed to talk about birthdays: Sometimes not everyone in class can be invited.  We do not want to hurt others feelings.  M Gomes,  Mme Boychuk and Pam were surprised by the rule, because sometimes we cannot all be invited to events.  This teaches us that it is ok to be jealous. 

If you get a low mark on your report card you lose privileges: Mme explained that sometimes low marks are not a result of us not trying.  Sometimes we tried are very best but we just have not reached the bar yet.  

Today Chloie liked that we got to talk about rules that we don't like, because she never gets to talk about rules.
Brooke liked that Yuna brought in a rock to close our circle. 
Michael liked that we got to talk about honesty and truth.

Tuesday 7 March 2017

COURAGE

Today we learned about the teaching of COURAGE.  COURAGE is when you are scared of something but then you try it.  Laina explains that you could have a knot in your stomach or butterflies but you try to do what you are scared of anyways.  Michael tells us that after you do something that you are scared of you feel good and proud of yourself.  The BEAR is the animal that represents courage. 

We shared an experience in which we had to have COURAGE.  


Then, Pam read us the book called Little Tree by Loren Long.  In the book the tree was afraid to let go of his leaves.  He did not grow.  He finally had the  COURAGE to do this and then he grew.



After the book we created our own trees, we will continue with these in the coming days. We are excited to see what the next steps are. 





We closed our circle with a crystal that Chase brought to school to share with us. 



Today Alexander liked the tree activity that we did today.
Joel liked the rock that Chase brought. 
Diego liked learning about COURAGE.
Chloie liked when Pam read us the book. 
Amanda like that the tree had COURAGE in the book. 

Monday 6 March 2017

LOVE AND HUMILITY

On Friday we learned about the teaching of LOVE.  The EAGLE represents LOVE.  
We shared about people who love us and how we know they love us.  We also shared about who we love.  Pam read us the book I Carry Your Heart With Me by E. E Cummings and Mati Rose McDonough. 


Today we learned about the teaching of HUMILITY.  HUMILITY means that you know that you are good at something, but you do not brag about it.  The WOLVE represents HUMILITY.  We learned that the wolf travels in a pack and in a straight line.  The young and the elderly are kept in the middle of the line and the strongest wolves are in the back and the front.  
Pam read us the book The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Baylor and Peter Parnall.

Abany liked that in the book every person had a value of 1 million dollars.
Amanda liked everything about the book. 
Michael like when the girl realized that the family was rich. 
Joel liked the part where the boy's nick named was Ocean Boy.
Laina liked the part where they made a list of the things that they had that made them rich.  This did not include any money at all.




 We closed our sharing circle by watching the video How Wolves Change the Rivers