ela-30-a-outline.doc

 ela-30canada-source-list.doc

1. Students started the class by filling out a question sheet for me. I’d like to learn a bit more about themselves as individuals and their thoughts about their community. They also were allowed to include a personal question for me and I read through them with the class and answered a few of their questions.
2. Students received an outline for the A30 class and we read through the initial parts of it. They also were given a handout with the list of sources we will be reading from and the specific assignments they will be required to complete.
3. We talked briefly about the geography of Canada, the actual foundation that all of Canada stands on, and how it is essential in any piece of Canadian writing. One of the most precious experiences people can have of our country is one that involves the landscape, regions, or environment that is so unique to Canada.
4. To look into this idea, we watched a few videos that focused on the landscape of Canada, some of the differences geographically, and reminded us of the diversity and vastness of Canada as a whole.
5. Students did a great job of filling in information on the blank outline of Canada drawn on the whiteboard. They then watched a few more videos and were asked to come up with three adjectives, descriptive words, for each of the provinces and territories. These adjectives will be used in an upcoming activity.
6. We compared, on a world map, the size of Canada, it’s shape and system of division for the provinces. Compared to other countries in Europe, our straight-line-borders seem very foreign and peculiar, whereas they form their soverign boundaries by natural boundaries, such as water or mountain formations. We also discussed the North-South Pull reality where the majority of Canada’s population lives within the bottom portion of the country, leaving vast areas sparsley populated. Canada is a unique country, physically, and this is the basis of what our study will be to begin with.

Here are a few of the videos we watched, if you’d like to see for yourself. (They especially liked the “Rocks and Trees…” song.)

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[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/dBija4x4Ra4" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

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