Miss Brakke's Grade Six Humanities

This week in humanities we:  Completed our second picture prompt. We were given a picture from the NY Times What's Going on in this picture? with no caption or context. Our job was to examine the picture and using clues from the five W's (who, what, when, where, and why) try and figure out what is happening in the picture.  Learned about the Federal Election which is taking place on October 21st. Each student had a chance to complete the Youth Vote Compass , which explained the different political parties and which group their beliefs and values align with most.  We have no school next week. Students will return to school on Monday October 21st. Enjoy your Fall Break!

Read the article about Greta Thunberg and then complete the Google Form with your answers. Greta Thunberg Article  Google Form

This week in humanities we: learned about the  Pillars of Democracy : Justice, Equity, Freedom, and Representation. Students created vocabulary booklets to help them with their understanding of each term.  practiced using a  plot diagram  with the short video called  Sweet Cocoon . Check out the vocabulary page to find out more!  learned about three types of government systems: dictatorship, oligarchy, and democracy. Each student chose a piece of paper with a coloured dot on it, representing a different government system. We then had to make a decision as a class using each type of government system.  Next week:  Field Trip to YouthLink on Wednesday - please bring back your field trip forms before then! Student Progress Conferences Thursday afternoon and Friday! 

This week in humanities students: learned about the rights  we have as Canadians as found on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . These include: fundamental rights, democratic rights, equality rights, mobility rights, legal rights, and minority language educational rights. Check out the vocabulary page to find the definition of each of these rights!  explored the history of colonization, assimilation, and cultural genocide of Indigenous people in Canada as a result of Residential Schools. Students created a timeline of events and government laws which began in 1763. Students then examined Unicef's  Convention on the Rights of the Child   document which includes 56 articles on the rights every child under 18 has. We discussed how the rights of Indigenous children were violated as a result of Residential Schools. With Ms. Harbour, we discussed the meaning of reconciliation and students wrote messages of hope for survivors and victims of Residential Schoo...

This week in Grade Six Humanities we: Continued to read Sit by Deborah Ellis. We read two stories this week about Sue and Noosala. We have one story left to read before we complete the novel! Learned about how we can connect The Medicine Wheel to mindfulness . This week we focused on awareness and vision.  We practiced "Raisin Meditation" every morning when we came into class. Ask me what this means!  Learned about what a treaty is and the different treaties in Alberta. Additionally, we looked at one map of Alberta and one map of Canada.  For our weekly current event, we learned about the tiny homes that ATCO and Homes for Heroes are making for homeless veterans in Calgary. Today we went on a walking field trip to visit the building site!  

We have had a busy four weeks of school! Here are some of the projects and tasks we have been working on since August: We read the story Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox by author Danielle Daniels. The story is about totem animals and how we can connect our feelings, emotions, and characteristics with different animals. We had to choose an animal we feel connected with and explain why we chose that specific animal.  We learned what a Coat of Arms was and how it can be related to our collective and individual identity. We then created our own personal Coat of Arms which had to include our totem animal, a person who is important to us, a personal strength, and a future goal.  We began our first class novel study Sit   by author Deborah Ellis. The novel is made up of ten short stories about different kids from around the world and how they gain independence in their current situations.  Last week we had a guest speaker come to our school, Alvin Law! He shared his ...

Welcome to Grade 6 at Ernest Morrow School!  We had an awesome first (full) week back at school. Students have now attended all of their classes (math/science, humanities, physical eduction, and exploratory classes).  This blog is where you will find important school information, weekly humanities (social studies and language arts) class updates, curricular vocabulary and resources.  Please contact me at mabrakke@cbe.ab.ca or 403-777-7800 ext. 2030 if you have any questions or concerns!  I'm looking forward to a fantastic 2019-2020 school year!