Co-op - Canadian History - The CPR

We are so blessed each month to be able to start with an amazing pastor teaching our students Hermeneutics. Each month there is detailed lessons on some aspect of learning about the bible. This month was no different with the lesson being focussed on “Using the Bible to Interpret the Bible”. This first hour seems to fly by and then we are on to Social Studies.

Our Social Studies study this month was focused on the CPR and Chinese Canadians. Our teacher used this resource for leading our session and it was a great one!

She had them do the first lesson in this outline with all of the chairs lined against the wall and each student representing some group in Canada. This was excellent. It was both visual and thought provoking!

She had the mom’s in the group read the short bio’s on those who were influences in Confederation and Annexation… the group then voted on what point of view each person was coming from.

The students also looked at political cartoons and their messages as well as the maps in this package.

Finally, a large portion of the Co-op time was spent discussing the lessons, Chinese Labor Conditions and Chinese Labor Policies. The had group discussions based on the above lessons. Our mom’s read the poetry that is in these lessons to further point out the points of view about Chinese Canadians.

Finally, they watched these two videos:

Not Welcome Anymore

Stephen Harper's Apology to the Chinese Canadians

This was a very full 2.5 hours! 

In the afternoon our students ran through the first reading of the second drama they will be performing for us. 

Finally, it was off to the gym for Volleyball! What amazing days these Co-ops are!

Blessings, Natalie

BC Legislature

It was great visiting the BC Legislature last week. I hadn’t been on the tour for many years and I appreciated getting a reminder of the history of BC and of our government. Francis Rattenbury certainly designed beautiful buildings and the Parliament buildings are no exception. 

The docent who led us through the Legislature was very knowledgeable and gave us several art lessons from the intricacies of the coat of arms to the beautiful stained glass in the waiting room. She pointed out the architecture and really made the building “come alive”. 

She also explained to us about the Legislature, how it runs what we would see when we went into the question period. We had the opportunity to see government in action.
Being in the gallery really helped us to see what a regular day in government looked like, I heard more children come out and say, I am not going to ever be a politician, but Elizabeth found it interesting.

We had a visit from the MLA who is from his riding in Kelowna. It was great to have Norm Letnick visit us as Heritage Christian Online School is certainly part of his centre of influence. He also shared with the students that he is the current Minister of Agriculture for BC. He handed out cards and let us know that the students could contact him with any concerns.
Experiencing the Legislature and question period really put into perspective that governing is happening each day they are in session and that it takes real representatives who have the people’s best interests at heart to govern in a responsible way. 
We had just been reading about representative and responsible government and I think this really deepened that understanding.
Blessings! Natalie

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

Canadian Immigration Lapbook

This Canadian Immigration Lapbook uses Susan Hughes' book Coming to Canada, Building a Life in a New Land. It was a great study!! Canadian Immigration Lapbook. Go to this post for resource information.

Canadian Government Lapbook

 Here is the Canadian Government Lapbook that I created several years ago.
Canadian Government Lapbook

Blessings,
Natalie