Our Canadian history studies have landed us in the 50’s and 60’s so I was intrigued to hear of a shop in the Byward Market which is displaying and selling a selection of clothes which belonged to Miss Canada 1954. We visited Victoire and had a little fun with some history which didn’t involve politics or battles.
Last Friday my children, along with six others participated in a History Fair. This is the third time we have been involved in one and every time I am impressed with the learning that happens as a result of all the research each child does. Participants pick their own Canadian History topic and can present it in whatever way they think appropriate.
L14 began researching the involvement of Canadian children on the home front during WWII. After reading from several books she changed her topic to the evacuated British children who were brought to Canada during WWII. She has been interested in this topic ever since she read Kit Pearson’s Guests of War trilogy. Over the weeks of preparation she worked quite independently but would sometimes talk to me about information she had read. I also joined her as she watched a video where former evacuees were interviewed about their experiences. It was hard to believe that some children as young as four and five were transported to Canada, expecting to be home within months but ending up here for years. Many children became closer to their foster families than their own parents. Siblings of big families could not always stay together so did not see each other or their parents for years.
A12 was inspired by a history lesson we did last year on the Klondike Gold rush. She chose to focus, not on the gold mining, but on the treacherous journey to get there. The journey had four main parts: the sea trip on over-crowded boats, the hazardous trek over the White Pass or equally difficult Chilkoot Pass. This trip straight up a snow covered mountain had to be repeated time after time as the miners carried their supplies in 50lb packs, then slid back down the mountain for another load! The next leg of the journey involved cutting down trees and building a boat, in order to complete the last part, the boat trip through rapids and canyons to Dawson City, the gateway to the Klondike. Not content with just researching and presenting her material on a display board, A12 made a miniature version of a miner’s required kit to show the range of the supplies that had to be purchased and transported by each miner.
Helping B8 with his project was a bit of a stretch for me. I had been reading to him about Canada’s involvement in the D-Day landing on Juno Beach. He was very intersted and thought he could make a model showing where the tanks and troops came ashore, etc. Then out of the blue he changed his mind and wanted learn about WW2 tanks only! As the project has to be Canadian history I explained that he would have to concentrate on Canadian tanks. I tried for several days to steer him back to Juno, but couldn’t budge him. So we started at the War Museum, where we talked to a veteran who was volunteering in the LeBreton gallery where all the tanks and armoured vehicles are dispayed. He took us to the four main tanks used by the Canadians in WWII and told us a little about each one. Of the four we saw, B8 chose to research the Sherman M4, the Churchill and the Valentine. He enjoyed learning about the specifications and uses of the three tanks and finding our where they had been instrument in allied victories and where they had failed. I certainly know more about tanks now than I ever did before!
At the fair all three children presented with confidence and I was pleased to see the improvement from last year. All the projects presented were fascinating from the history of the Heintzman Piano company to the history of the national anthem “O Canada”. I learnt about Adelaide Hoodless, who described herself as a “domestic crusader” and decided that next time I have to write down “occupation” on a form, that is what I am going to write! There was a beautiful diorama of a Mi’kmaq wigwam and surrounding hunting ground and an informative project about an orphan who came to Canada as a ‘home child” in the 1930’s. I forgot the camera that day but I hope to post some photos that a friend took.
On the heels of our stock market unit we decided to do a novel study with group of four. One of the mums found the perfect book which just happens to be funny, appropriate for the 8-12 year old age group, appealing to boys and girls, not too long and related to the stock market.
Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen is about a twelve year old boy facing a long summer with little money and no firm plans. His grandmother, an unusual woman, gives him her late husband’s ride-on lawn mower. Understandably Lawn Boy is a little bemused by his grandma’s gift but investigates the machine only to find that, despite its age, it works fine. He sets off down the street on his birthday gift and within minutes has the beginnings of a summer job.
He finds out, as he picks up client after client, that the previous lawn cutter was involved in a neighbourhood scandal so there is plenty of work for him. One of his first clients, Arnold, offers him an unusual deal, promising to pay him in shares, not cash. He tells Lawn Boy he will buy shares for him and then sell and re-invest in whatever companies look promising. Lawn Boy agrees, deciding that all he has to lose is the $40 fee.
The business grows beyond what Lawn Boy can handle and Arnold comes to his aid with suggestions and a partner. Lawn Boy’s business and his stock portfolio grow without his parents’ knowledge. There are encounters with a prize fighter and a local thug, also without his parents’ knowledge. As Lawn Boy’s circumstances become more and more complicated he tries to explain them to his parents, but it is only when someone’s life is in danger that he finally spills the whole story!
All the children in Group of Four enjoyed the book and wanted to know why they couldn’t make money in the same amounts that Lawn Boy was raking it in. We did some predicting along the way, but no-one even came close to guessing all the twists and turns. Each child took a chapter and converted it into a comic strip page, picking out the main events of the chapter and reading through the descriptions before drawing. As most of the group are willing to act whenever given the chance, we gave out a couple of scripts taken directly from the book with narration removed.
Both weeks of the novel study we started with a story building activity, where the story was started by one child and then passed on to the next who took it wherever they liked and so on around the circle. The first time we did it with no parameters and the second week the characters and setting were given. The story made much more sense the second week, but was not as funny! To make the most of the children’s enthusiasm for making money we asked them all to think of a job they could do in their own community and make posters advertising their services. We’ll see if anything comes of their ideas.
In past novel studies we have given the children an open-ended creative project to complete over a couple of weeks, then present to the group at the end of the unit. I am always impressed with the variety and quality of the projects. This time was no different. One of the girls decorated a t-shirt with the word “POW” on the front and “Pinch your head” on the back! (You will need to read the book to find out why) Another made a movie with playmobil people playing the characters. B8 made a lego model of Lawn Boy on his mower halfway around the yard of a lego house. There was also a poster and a very detailed 3D bookmark.
I am always on the lookout for new authors, so this introduction to Gary Paulsen has been great. Paulsen has written a great many books for children, often with boys as the main character. I’m sure we will be reading more.
The girls and I did some doodling last week inspired by a post I read over at Semicolon. Sherry found the idea and a tutorial on Julie’s Blog.
I am hoping we can do some drawing each week and this looked like an enjoyable activity to start with. It was very relaxing just sitting with the girls and doodling. We all doodle but it doesn’t usually end up in a form we want to keep, so it was fun to create a design with some structure but not so much that the freedom of doodling was lost. We didn’t finish them in the lesson time but kept them out on the table and sat down and added to them when we had a spare moment.
Here is what we came up with:
We wrapped up our Stock Market unit at Group of Four this week with a simulation game. We (the mums) invented five companies, some blue chip, some up and coming. We had a bank, an airline, a power company, a spa and a department store with creative little names like “Trusty Trusty Safe Bank” and “StuffMart”. Ahead of time we had decided on ten days of closing prices on the Group of Four Stock Exchange (GOFSX) and then graphed the first four days. Each child was given $300 and the charts necessary to keep track of their stock portfolio.
We opened for trading at the day 4 prices and the children chose what they would like to buy based on what they could see on the graph and their own opinion of the companies. No-one spent all their money and all but one bought from several different companies. At the end of each day’s trading (we had six days) we helped everyone update their portfolio sheets making sure that they knew how much their stocks were currently worth. The graph was updated before the new day’s trading began and when the market opened the children noted down the new prices and began trading.
The prices had been determined by us ahead of time so did not reflect the buying and selling that was going on amongst the group, but we had tried to make the path of each stock realistic for the type of stock it was. The power company stayed very steady, the spa rose dramatically and then crashed, finally going bankrupt on the last day. On the fourth day of trading there was a news flash explaining that there had been some terrorist attacks in the US. That day all the stock prices dropped, some more dramatically than others.
At the end of trading everyone tallied up the worth of their stock and cash in hand. The profits ranged from $10 to $130, no-one ended up with less than they started. Everyone discussed the strategies they had used, the mistakes and the successful choices they had made.
The unit went very well overall. Although it was a topic very few of them knew anything about, we incorporated enough games to keep everyone interested and to simulate the real thing. One of the most valuable parts of each lesson was the discussion time as the children tried to come to grips with the concepts of stewardship and investment.
That was the topic in our history class this week. We were privileged to have a guest speaker, a friend of mine who really knows his stuff. When I asked him if he would teach for us on this topic we both realised what a huge topic it was. He chose what he would cover, concentrating on three very different operations. We began in Hong Kong, learning military terms as we went. Ortona, Italy was the next “theatre” we visited and finally we looked at the clearing of the Scheldt. All three operations were very different, so as we listened to our guest speaker, viewed the pictures he had gathered and asked questions we got a taste of the involvement Canadian forces had in WW2.
All that we learnt was interesting but we enjoyed it most when our speaker strayed from his notes to explain in detail how a regiment would move into position, and how various battles proceeded depending on the terrain, the numbers of troops and the type of artillery being used. We learnt about the “house to house” and “hand to hand’ combat in Ortona, the feats of engineering necessary for success in the canal filled Scheldt pocket and the last ditch efforts of the infantry in Hong Kong.
We could have spent several weeks on WW2 and will certainly keep reading about it over the next few weeks. Both L14 and B8 have chosed WW2 topics for their History Fair projects this year so they are narrowing in on different aspects of Canada’s involvement.
I did not realise at the time of our class but last week was a very significant week for our guest, LCol Bernard Ciarroni OMM, CD. He taught us on Wednesday rather than our regular Friday afternoon history time slot because on Friday he was at Rideau Hall being presented with the Order of Military Merit by the Governor General!
The temperatures have climbed a little since I last wrote. It’s amazing how -10°C can seem so warm after a few days of -20°C! We did not go skiing last week due to the temperatures, but everything else in our routine is happening again. I think it is getting a little easier to get up in the mornings too.
Group of Four has met twice, first for a morning of snow fort building and tobogganing and then last Friday for the first lesson in our Stock Market unit. We began with a game of Stock Ticker, actually two games running at the same time in the hope that each stock market would act differently. It was a great way to start as the children really didn’t know much at all about the topic at the beginning. After a brief introduction we played the game, which they really enjoyed, getting more involved the more they played. It was interesting to watch the different approaches, I was banker for one game and all four players were very cautious investers, they didn’t buy when stock prices were low, in fear that they would just go lower. The winner by a large margin was one of the mothers who only bought low and sold any time those stocks rose even a little.
After the game was finished we were able to explain many more terms as we now had some “experience” to refer to. We hope to be able to play a game using actual companies on an actual Stock Exchange, but we haven’t found one totally suitable for our purposes yet.
Last Sunday we attended the award ceremony for the gingerbread houses. A12’s group won, with L 14’s group coming second. When the gingerbread houses were picked up yesterday they were found to be very fragile as well as dusty and dried out; I don’t thing there will be any eating of the wreckage this year.
L14 is putting in a lot of practice at present as she is taking her Grade 8 violin exam on Friday. She has been working towards this for months and will be very relieved when it is over.
L14 and her friends P and E designed, built and decorated this house. The group worked really well together as each participant had their own area of expertise which was employed as needed.
As you can see the scale is quite big, there was definitely the need for a little structural reinforcement inside this one!
A little frozen creek was added along with the pretzel bridge.
The final entry from the Group of Four, an outdoor hockey rink, was made by two of the boys, who did a fantastic job and managed to put it all together in the shortest time. It was funny to hear them discussing the details, they were not in the least concerned about how to make the lights stay up, or how to make a gingerbread sign, they were deep in conversation about the exact position of the gummy bear players. They were setting up actual hockey plays! I intended to get another picture from the other signs which would have showed the little “Ginger-rena” sign, but I didn’t get to it before it was taken to the competition. See the little gingerbread zamboni yet to be positioned on the board.
The gingerbread structures took quite some time to complete, as you can probably imagine. We had scheduled three mornings but the church definitely needed more time. Even though all the moms lobbied for a winter scene the girls making the church were determined to surround the church with a spring garden. We were very impressed with their finished product, especially as it had all been their own design, from sketch and cardboard model through to completion. By the way the stained glass windows will be shown off with little lights inside.
Ducks on the pond:
and graveyard out the back:
They painstakingly put together the pretzel fence and sprinkled the parsley grass around. There are also several garden beds and a bridge over the pond.
For the last two weeks my dining room table and several kitchen counters have been covered with gingerbread shapes and structures. They are the components of four different entries for a local gingerbread house competition. Last year we teamed up with another family and entered a lighthouse and the little house on the prairie. This year the Group of Four families are all involved and there are four different entries.
B8 teamed up with the two other 8 year olds in our homeschooling group to make “Gummyville” a gingerbread village inhabited by gummy bears. This worked very well because each child made two houses and was able to decorate them as they wished.
There was some negotiating done about surrounding parkland, but they were all very accommodating of each others ideas. It was their idea to have a little frozen pond with gummy bears skating as well as some parkbenches for those gummies who just wanted sit by the fire.
They also came up with the name “Gummyville” but no matter how hard I campaigned I could not get them to agree to have “…where life is sweet” on their sign!
There were several tense moments during the assembly day, but you can always turn a broken wall into a little shop.
I will post photos of the other three entries soon, so check back later.
Sentient 
