I'm back!

Well, it seems as though I completely neglected my blog last year. Hoping for a more successful year of posting.

I hope everyone had a great summer and is ready for the 2016-2017 school year.

I had a wonderful summer exploring the province once again. I love visiting the beaches of Lake Winnipeg each and every summer. If you have been in my Geography class, we have spoken about the state of Lake Winnipeg. We are so very lucky in Manitoba to be able to have such a spectacular place to visit. It is very important we protect this valuable and beautiful resource so we can enjoy it for decades to come. Visit the Lake Winnipeg Foundation for more info about Lake Winnipeg.

Looking forward to seeing everyone again soon!

 

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