Socials: Parts of the Buffalo

I read a passage from a book today about how the First Nations of the plains used every part of the Buffalo after the hunt. Students listened to write down at least 10 things (many wrote more) that the Buffalo could be used for. We will be using this information in the next few lessons to talk about using our resources wisely. There was no homework for this lesson.

Socials: Sustainability

We took up work we had done in class regarding sustainability. We had 10 phrases which I had students sort into sustainability, maybe sustainability and not sustainability. We discussed their answers and why they put their answers where they did. Their homework was to come up with two examples: one for sustainability and one for not sustainability.

Socials: Sustainability

We discussed The Lorax today and how it relates to Socials. We then looked at the term "Sustainability" and what that means. I gave the students a definition and some criteria for what sustainability is. They were then to sort various sentences and phrases into three categories: Sustainability, Maybe Sustainability and Not Sustainability. This work was done in partners or in threes and was not homework.

Socials: The Lorax

Today in Socials I read The Lorax by Dr. Seuss to the class and asked them two questions:

1) What does "The Lorax" have to do with socials?

2) Why would Mr. Davidson read us this book?

Both questions are to be answered for Tuesday.

Socials: Deserted Island Game

We played something of a game today in Socials. The students were pretending they were stranded on a desert island and they could only eat berries or nuts (fish could be substituted for nuts). They had to choose how much of each they ate each week in order to survive the longest they could. Each week they got more or each.

There were a few questions about this game that students answered in class.

Socials: Canada's Resources

Today we looked at the different resources throughout Canada. We talked about the advantages of having more resources.

Students were given a short activity to do in class. They were given a variety of natural resources and asked to explain what those resources could be used for. If this was not finished it was homework.

Socials: Survival Plans

Today in socials we finished our pastel drawings of what the local area might have looked like before people came here. Afterwards, students were given a Survival Plan to fill out. They are to think about what they would do to fulfill four basic needs: food, water, shelter and clothing. I asked that they talk to someone about their plan and have that person sign the back of their page indicating that they did have a conversation.

Social Studies: Local Resources

Sorry for not posting this yesterday, but as you know a lot went on and I did not have the time to get this up.

Yesterday in Socials we talked about what resources are. We then took a walk around the school to look at all of the natural characteristics of our area. Once back in the classroom, I had the students create a picture of what this area might have looked like 10,000 years ago or before any human beings had come to the area. We did not finish these pictures so we will continue with them another day.

There was no homework for Socials today.