what's up with Division Two

Now I know I promised to put a few things on this blog!  First of all here is the link to UNICEF to the grade six students who are having a bake sale to benefit UNICEF.  We are also going to sell paperblank journals to help the Nepal Library Association.  This group provides libraries and internet connections in one of the world's countries with the lowest literacy rates.  The grade sixes are also doing research into what services our community provides to help children meet their needs.  We feel very fortunate that organizations such as Sunset Community Centre and the YWCA bring programs right to our school. 

The grade seven's have been learning about life in high school with presentations about JO's mini-school and tomorrow about Ideal School at Churchill.  

We have done some fun things in the last while, visiting the downtown library, performing at the Remembrance Day ceremony, and doing a workshop on digital photography for two Monday mornings.  Apparently our slide shows that were finished are already up so if you remember our code you can have a look at Code Canada.  I am having trouble doing so right now. 

Here we are at the library in the photograph!  Remind me to take my camera to the symphony!

War and Peace

  Next week we will observe Remembrance Day and I always like my class to learn a bit about why we observe this day.  The closest I think I have actually felt to war was on September 11, 2001 when there were terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.  In North America we have been very lucky and this was the closest terror had come in my life time to me even though it was still far away.  It was such a sad day and many lives were lost.  That day has had many effects.  It is one reason we have so much security now when we fly. I am including a video link for you here.
   Four years ago I went to London on July 7, 2005.  I took a train from the airport to Paddington Station and then I was going to take the subway to Waterloo Station where I was leaving to go to France the next day.  When I got to the Bakerloo line the trains had stopped.  Later I found out that there were several trains and a bus that were bombed.  If I had been just a few minutes earlier I could have been a bomb victim as the next station to Paddington going to Waterloo was bombed probably just as I walked into Paddington.
  It was one of the strangest days of my life as we really didn't know what was going on.  I understood a bit  how people in New York must have felt on September 11.  People in London were amazing partly because they are more used to terrorist bombings (though not to that extent of that day) as well as having been directly affected by bombing in the Second World War.  Again I felt how lucky we are in Canada.
  But many of you have parents who have experienced war and have come to Canada seeking peace.  I think it's very important that we learn and think about war and peace. Check out the link for Remembrance Day for some good ideas of what we can do.  Another great link on Peace is this one.

Saying good-bye to Hannah

It's always sad when someone has to move and we felt sad to see Hannah go on Friday.  Hannah moved to Vancouver from the Philippines this summer but she really got involved at Trudeau, even joining the soccer team.  We were really proud of Hannah when she took part in a skit in front of the whole school at Olympic Torch Relay Assembly.  We really hope she likes her new school in New Westminster.  It is not easy changing schools but Hannah has a great attitude and we know she will do well.
Earlier Katherine moved to Moberly School.  We had hoped she might be able to stay but her family decided it was better to go nearer to where they now lived. 

Science links

I just found a useful website for you grade seven scientists which goes with our text.  I even found a tree identification guide.  How useful is that?  Here is the link for grade six scientists.  If you look a bit you can even find quizzes to practice.  Wonder what that interesting creature is at the beginning of the article.  Can you identify this tree which is outside the front of the school?