Confederation Co-op

 

What a great day we had in our Co-op session on Confederation. 

First we had our study of Hermeneutics. It is great to see all of the students bibles open and them studying. This session was all about - what is the bible and can it be trusted? I am so thankful that we have such a great pastor leading our children like this every co-op - what a great blessing!

Next it was on to Confederation. The first thing that I had the students do is draw a very "out of scale" map of Canada - they then worked together and added when their province joined Confederation and why from this site. 

I only had long thin paper to use so our Canadian map - good thing a scaled map was not the purpose of the exercise ;)
They then presented for their group each province and why they joined Confederation. There were definitely some reoccurring themes the students recognized.

 
After this the students broke out into groups of 3 or 4 and I gave them one of the reasons for or against Confederation  on this page, on this one, this one and this one. They then did a newscast skit based on their points. 
At the end of the class we then watched a video about before, during and after Confederation to reiterate the main points and review what we had learned. It was from Discovery Education.

 
The kids (and adults) enjoyed lunch and then it was off to art! The students finished up their Picasso based collages. It is so great to see them enjoying art!

They work together, chat together and enjoy each others company during this quieter time.

 
Wrapping up the day was PE with soccer at the indoor arena. It is so great that we have access to such a wonderful facility. 

A long wonderful day filled with learning and fun!! 
Blessings, Natalie

Immigration - A great start to our Co-op year!

Our first Co-op this year started a new chapter with the addition of Biblical Hermeneutics. For the first hour of the morning we had the benefit of a wonderful pastor teaching our children about Hermeneutics. It is pretty deep first thing for these teens but it will be such a great addition to our day!

This Co-op centered around Immigration in Canada. Each of the students told a story about how their ancestors came to Canada.  For this session the students were asked to be prepared to answer:
Who had come? (how many generations ago?)
Why had they come?
Where had they come from?

The students ended up hearing immigration stories from many different generations, countries and reasons for coming to Canada. I think this was such a visual representation of diversity in this relatively small sample of BC. 

After lunch, the students learned about Picasso and started on their Picasso-like self portrait collages. As always our art instructor sets up the lesson with the life of the artist and facts about the art that our students will be creating. There is always a lively lesson with one so gifted in art and drama!

Then the students "went to town"! Such a great lesson and lots of opportunity for creativity!!
After art it was off to the ball diamond for a great game of softball to finish off a full, but very fun day!! 
Blessings!!

Grade 9 Electricity Co-op - Such a great day!!

It was such a great day this month for Co-op! I love the way all of our moms and our PE dad teach our children with such passion for their topics! It is such a blessing to have devoted members of a co-op!

Our topic was Electricity and our two moms that were teaching set up 4 stations and divided the students in 4 groups. 

The first station used the card game AC DC to learn about circuits. You can learn more about this card game here. This took a little explanation but once the students got ahold of the rules away they went!

The second station was several experiments testing static electricity. They certainly had fun with those balloons! They  learned about bending water and static charges and our moms had provided a sheet to record their findings. Great fun!!

The third station they tested a wide variety of items for electrical charges. Our students then recorded their results. 

The fourth station was using Squishy Circuits to create electrical circuits. This was awesome! Our moms had made up conductive and insulating play dough ahead of time and then the students used is as part of the experiments! It looked like alot of fun!!

So much learning took place that morning just from listening to the students interact with each other and experiment in different ways! Such a great morning!!

In the afternoon the students finished up their Sunflower (Van Gogh) or Scream (Munch) paintings from last month. It is always a joy to see our students embrace this art time! 

Over the years our students have learned about so many artists and then tested their skills! We have such a gifted art/drama mom who really encourages our students to be creative and do their best!

Spring means baseball and so our students got the opportunity to play baseball together! I love the team sports aspect of our co-op! Many of our students don’t participate in a team sport so co-op has been such a great way to learn a wide variety of sports! Each year I think the experience get’s richer for them!!

One of the greatest blessings of co-op are our families - meeting with the moms each month gives me such encouragement - they are a committed, loving group of moms!! Seeing the students learning and interacting with each other gives me such hope for our future leaders!! We are truly blessed!!

Henry VIII and the Beginning of Divorce Co-op

We had a great time at Co-op this month studying Henry VIII and the beginning of divorce. 

I started by using a powerpoint from this site to teach from. The title is  “Why did Henry VIII divorce Catherine of Aragon”. I then made up this note sheet based on the powerpoint so that the children could make notes on the lesson.

I then had them do a “Chatterbox” and a Timeline of Henry and his wives. The Chatterbox I got here and the timeline here.

I then created 2 sets of task cards based on the powerpoint above. They are available here and here.

I divided the group into 4 groups and gave the groups 15 minutes to discuss the questions. I also gave the groups that were exploring divorce statistics to look at about divorce around the world. They were shocked at how high some of the divorce rates were. They did very well in citing reasons why they thought that Henry acted the way he did. I love that these students move beyond what is presented and give ideas of their own. Many of them have done their own studying ahead of time. It makes for lots of discussion!

Finally I had the children get into groups and create a jingle, a song or a skit about Henry VIII and his 6 wives. I ran off these as flash cards (6 per page) just to help them remember who was beheaded, divorced, died or outlived Henry. These presentations were ingenious!! 

We all had lunch and then the fun began. Our art and drama mom taught the group about Vincent Van Gogh and they began their paintings based on "The Starry Night". 

The kids have such a great time painting, but beyond that they are learning about the life and times of the painter. Today was just putting on the first steps! Next month they will continue with their Starry nights!!

PE today was floor hockey. Lots of great exercise for the kids!! Lots of great exercise for our gym dad as well!!

Another wonderful co-op with the "Tremendous Twenty"!! Blessings, Natalie!!

Robin Hood, King John and the Magna Carta - Another Great Co-op!

Our co-op this month was based mainly on the Magna Carta and King John with a little of Robin Hood thrown in!

First I had our students shout out what they knew about Robin Hood and King John. Then I gave them the sheet of paper below to work on. They got into groups and discussed, looked up verses and determined as a group if they felt that Robin Hood was justified in stealing. We had some amazing points come forward from these students, and they really thought about this dillemma - what a great group of kids they are!!

 

We then moved on to the Magna Carta. I chopped it up and each of the children read about points from the Magna Carta. 

I then highlighted areas that were important to us today. I asked some “what if” questions as well, just getting our students thinking what would have happened if the Magna Carta was never signed.

I then had the kids number off and play the King John Decision Game.

It was so great to hear the discussion from the groups as they were challenged to make the most “kingly” decisions that would further their Kingdom. After we went through the decisions that they made and whether they would lose crowns or not for them. They started with 10 crowns and the team with the most crowns in the end “won”. I used this graphic for the crowns.

I love hearing the discussion amongst these students. They didn't just answer anything, they engaged in the process. They thought critically about the implications of their decisions.

After lunch we had another amazing drama written by our drama mom. This one was during the time of the Black Plague. 

They did a run through and then performed for us once again! These plays are history lessons in themselves!! 

After drama time it was off to the gym for European Handball. We didn’t know about this game so we watched this you tube video and this one sent by our PE dad. 

We are so blessed to have this kind of variety in our Co-op. It is a long day from 10 in the morning until 3:30 in the afternoon, but all the kids seem to leave with smiles on their faces. 

Such a blessing!!

Natalie