Welcome to the 2015-2016 School Year

Looking forward to another great year at St. James Collegiate. I hope you are all settling in to your school routines, getting some sleep and are ready for another exciting year ahead! Be well!

The "Others"

https://i.vimeocdn.com/channel/383199_980?mh=250

Just a quick post to mention a site I came across last week, 7 billion Others. This is a project launched by Yann Arthus-Bertrand (author of Earth from Above and the director of the fascinating documentary Home) with Sybille d'Orgeval and Baptiste Rouget-Luchaire. The project is a collection of 6,000 interviews filmed in over 80 countries by about 20 directors who went on search of the "Others".  Questions were asked of the participants to help find out what separates us and unites us. There is hours of footage on the site organized by theme/concerns of "Others" around the world. It's worth checking out.

"Today, we have at our disposal extraordinary tools for communication: we can see everything, know everything. The quantity of information in circulation has never been greater. All of that is very positive. The irony is that at the same time we still know very little about our neighbours. 

There are more than seven billion of us on Earth, and there will be no sustainable development if we cannot manage to live together. "

                                                                                   Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Manitoba Love

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/back_issues/covers/may15.jpg

Canadian Geographic publishes a special Travel edition of their magazine 4 times a year. For May 2015, the theme of the magazine is Manitoba! I haven't seen the print edition yet, but there is a lot of great stories and photographs that celebrate the places, people and traditions in our province in the online issue.  Of course there are videos (such as catfishing and the polar bears at Assiniboine Park Zoo, for example) on the site as well as a number of "online exclusive" photo galleries that you won't see in the magazine. There's also a great photo essay about the diversity of Manitoba's people by photographer David Lipnowski. His entire photo-a-day collection can be seen here - maybe you will see someone you know!

Apprendre en Faisant

On Tuesday, April 21, the grade 9 French class had the opportunity to attend "Apprendre en Faisant" (Learning by Doing) hosted by MATF (Manitoba Association of Teachers of French). Students chose four activities and participated in them while using their additional language, French. The facilitators spoke only French to the students and encouraged them to do the same. Most of the students were really nervous about speaking French, but all students did a fantastic job trying to use French as much as possible and listening carefully to understand all the instructions. The activities the students participated in included yoga, hip hop dancing, magic, karate, chocolate making, African drumming, art activity (making their own bags and wallets out of duct tape!). Tout le monde dit que c'était une journée amusante et valable! Ils ont hâte de participer l'année prochaine.

The Human Influence

We've been talking about Climate Change in Geography class in preparation for our discussion about our global food system and agriculture in general.  While doing some other research on this topic, I came across this site with some striking photographs and quotes about the human influence on the Earth's natural resources and our new "landscapes" that have emerged with energy use, deforestation, agricultural patterns and resource development.  There's some photos representing some of the issues we talked about during our Resources unit as well. It's called overpopulation, overconsumption - in pictures and it's worth taking a look.

"Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans."                      Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Earth Day 2015

Earth Day is celebrated every Spring on April 22 - it is the largest environmental event in the world. This year it is the 25th anniversary of Earth Day Canada. While I believe that we should celebrate Earth Day on the designated day in some way, we really should make "Earth Day Every Day". This year's Earth Day Canada theme is Clean Your Commute. Canadians are encouraged to use active transportation as much as possible between April 22 and May 22 (and beyond, of course!). This site offers ways to help find alternative options to carbon intensive transportation. Please, find your way to recognize the Earth and its precious resources. #EarthDay2015

Water is Life

As a followup to my World Water Day post, The David Suzuki Foundation comes through again for the Geography side of my teaching life with another fantastic blog post: "Water is life: We can't afford to waste it." A good read!

I've started becoming a regular reader and follower of dailyinfographic.com and there's usually something that I can use based on what is being taught in my classes. During Spring Break the infographic Where's all the water going? was posted and it is right in line with what we talked about during the Water Resources topic and what we will be discussing in the Food from the Land unit next week. 

It's so important to recognize our water usage, especially considering the situation in California right now, yet another issue we will discussing in the coming weeks in class.

Tree Hugging

During Spring Break I came across a timely article about the features of Manitoba's Boreal forest and "celebrating the natural value of an intact landscape". We were just learning about forestry in Canada in Geography class so I just wanted to share these features of Manitoba's boreal forest.

Earth Hour

Earth Hour started in 2007 as an event to raise awareness about climate change. Households and businesses around the world are encouraged to turn out the lights for one hour. This year's Earth Hour will take place on Saturday, March 28, 2015 from 8:30-9:30 p.m. local time.

"Climate change is the one of the biggest environmental challenges our planet faces today. Earth Hour aims to inspire and empower individuals, businesses and governments around the world to push climate change to the top of the agenda. From promoting renewable energy and sustainable agriculture to funding projects to protect forests and ecosystems and encouraging climate education, there are many actions we can take as individuals and organisations to help change climate change."     earthhour.org

On the Earth Hour site, the importance of going beyond the hour is mentioned; "it is only through continued dedication can real changes be made with truly sustainable environmental impacts to our planet". You can also perform simple, environmentally-friendly actions everyday:

• take public transport, walk or cycle
• inform yourself and others on climate change and its impact on our planet
• switch to LED lights
• use reusable bags as often as possible
• only print and make use of paper when necessary
• purchase what is necessary to minimize food waste
• use reusable lunch-boxes and water bottles

Back to Brooklands

On, Monday, March 23, we held our annual Brooklands Breakfast Literacy event. Once again, several Jimmies, who are former Brooklands students, returned to their neighborhood elementary school to make breakfast and share their love of reading. St. James students arrived at 7:00 a.m. to make pancakes for the staff and students of Brooklands School. Breakfast was followed by guest readers in each classroom, an assembly with an appearance by a popular snowman and finally, by the presentation of a new book personally selected for each Brooklands student, complete with a positive message from the SJCI students. We are looking forward to visiting again later in the Spring to hopefully share some garden-themed books as Brooklands prepares for their new community garden - an exciting new project that some of our SJCI families are hoping to be a part of as well.  

Hé Ho: Encore!

On Friday, March 20, George Waters Middle School hosted Festival du George Waters. This is an event that celebrates the Voyageur and Francophone culture right here in Manitoba. (And it just happened to take place on International Francophonie Day!)  Instead of heading to Voyageur Park in February like the grade 9s did this year, they held their own event so the entire staff and student body can participate. The grade 9 French students were part of the organizing team for the Festival du George Waters. There was a full day of events for all grade 6, 7 and 8 students including lacrosse, leg wrestling, photo booth, enjoying crepes and "tire d'érable" (maple taffy), voyageur games, bingo and art activities (ceinture fléchée "weaving" and making yarn wrapped talking sticks). Bon festival! #hehogwms

Inspiration at Siloam Mission

This is perfect. Words to live by. (posted on the basement walls at Siloam Mission)

World Water Day

On Sunday, March 22 it is World Water Day.  We just finished our discussion about Canada's water resources and the global water crisis in the Geography classes. Although recognition of this day seems to be a good fit for the grade 10 students in these classes considering this, the state of the world's water supply is something that everyone should be aware of. Water is involved in the production of everything - growing and processing our food, manufacturing of goods, electricity production, and in our direct water consumption (drinking, showering, etc.). I encourage all of my students to visit the above website, check out the posters and literature on display and consider posting an image via Facebook, Twitter, Vine or Instagram with the hashtag #WaterIs. 

Follow these simple steps to post your selfie in support of World Water Day. 

- take a piece of paper and write what water is to you (#WaterIs hope, #WaterIs a day at the Beach, #WaterIs in need of our help, etc...)

- take a selfie or a make a video including your water message and tag it with the hashtag #WaterIs (also include #sjasd and #sjci)

- upload it via Facebook, Twitter, Vine or Instagram. 

Search the hashtag #WaterIs to read the other messages that are being uploaded from all over the world. 

Look to the sky!

If you have a chance over the next few days, check out the northern lights. I saw them on Saturday night from Osborne Village. They are going to be visible for another night or two...so get outside tonight and look for them! It's best to be outside of the city, but it is possible if the timing is right to see them from your own backyard. They're pretty spectacular!

Défi photo

J'invite ma classe de français à faire un défi photo avec moi. Merci École Robert Browning pour l'invitation! 

How to Participate

Starting March 1, take a picture every day that fits within the daily theme. For example, March 1 is rouge, so take pictures of things that are red. Post your picture to Instagram and/or Twitter using the hashtags #rouge and #photodujourmars. This will allow other classes to find the pictures you share.

Hé ho!

On a mangé...

On s'est amusé avec les amis...

On s'est caché...

On Friday, February 20, the French classes from first and second semester along with some of our International friends spent the day at Festival du Voyageur. We lucked out with the weather, getting the nicest day of the week to be venturing outdoors. We had lots of time to explore Voyageur Park's attractions and sample many of its delicious offerings - pea soup (la soupe aux pois), beaver tails (les queues de castor), la poutine and of course the favorite maple taffy on snow (la tire d'érable). We watched a concert by the French band Bon Débarras to end our day. 

French for the Future

I spent some time this week in George Waters Middle School next door chatting with the grade 8 students who will be registering for high school next month. Enrollment in French: Communication and Culture is declining in Manitoba and I'm really trying to encourage more students to stay in French. I made this flyer to share with the students and share it during our Open House on February 9. I hope to see lots of the grade 8's out with their parents and guardians and we can talk about the benefits of learning French.

Choose French! Your future will thank you!

Winter...love it or leave it?

We've been having a roller coaster this winter in regards to our weather. It's been a huge improvement over last year so I'm definitely not complaining. It's been nice being able to get out this year and enjoy what winter has to offer. I am truly grateful to live in an area where we get to have four distinct seasons and all the beauty and adventure each season brings. In case you don't feel the same way I do, here's another blog post from David Suzuki, this time inviting us to celebrate winter.

Winnipeg for Wasichana

Yesterday, our Social Justice group visited Golden Gate Middle School (a partner UNESCO school with St. James Collegiate). Groups of students presented "Give Girls a Chance: Barriers to Education" to all grade 7 classes. Our students spent several weeks preparing for these presentations which featured the videos below. These presentations were meant as an introduction to some of the barriers to education that young girls face in rural Africa - for example, Kenyan girls will miss up to 20% of their classes because of menstruation. We will be presenting to all the classes in George Waters Middle School tomorrow. We are promoting the "Winnipeg for Wasichana" bake sale that is taking place at both St. James Collegiate and Golden Gate (as well as a number of other schools in Winnipeg) in support of the Wasichana Fund. All money raised will go to #padsforchange. Check out this website and video here for more information.

Happy New Year!

Here's hoping that 2015 is off to a good start for everyone! Only three weeks until exams - where has the semester gone?!?

There's a really good blog post from the David Suzuki Foundation that I read over the break I'd like to share. Many people begin a new year with some goals or resolutions for the coming year. I'm usually not one who does, but I'm hoping to generally just be more mindful and in the moment instead of worrying about what lies ahead. David Suzuki reminds us to slow down, not only for ourselves but for the sake of our fragile environment too.

"Let's slow down, breathe, listen, look and feel. Only then will we understand our place in the world and what we must do to live well on this small blue dot spinning in an enormous universe. " 

- David Suzuki, October 9, 2014

Here's to a happy, healthy and mindful 2015 - for you and Planet Earth!