Wednesday 30 August 2023

Welcome to Grade 7 - Wednesday, August 30

The first day of school went quickly for our students.  They spent the morning in our homeroom:

  • getting organized
  • figuring out the timetable
  • learning about junior high expectations
  • getting their lockers set up
On Friday, students need to have their gym clothes to change into for their phys ed class.

Please take the time to ask your child about his or her day at school, today.  Many students find the move to junior high to be stressful.  If your child did not enjoy his/her day, please take the time to email me privately to let me know how I can make tomorrow a better day.

Tuesday 29 August 2023

Getting Ready for Grade 7 - Tomorrow

Tomorrow, your child will be welcomed to Ecole Leduc Junior High School as a grade 7 student.  Your child should enter through the front doors of the school, and will find Room 10.  I am the homeroom teacher for 7G and will help your child to find their desk and locker.

  • Through the morning, I will provide an orientation to prepare students to start their first classes later in the day
  • Students will have time to eat their lunch in the homeroom between 12:25 and 12:42 pm
  • Students will have an outdoor break at noon between 12:42 and 1:12 pm
  • In the afternoon, students will have their first option classes

  • Please make sure that your child has all of their school supplies for the first day.
  • They will be using pencils, pens, and PENCIL CRAYONS on the first day.
Thank you!

Thursday 1 June 2023

Grade 7 Social Studies - Week of May 29 to June 2

This week, we have completed our twelfth chapter from the textbook.  Be sure to complete all of the REVIEW section while preparing for the test.  

On Thursday, June 8th we will have our Chapter 12 Test about Changing Societies in the West.  The following items will be tested:

Vocabulary:

  • assimilate
  • Benefit Society
  • homesteader
  • religious persecution

Also, know the following events, concepts or places:

  • Head Tax—why did the government impose the tax on Chinese immigrants?
    • Why did the Canadian government worry that Asians would not assimilate easily in the settling of Western Canada?
  • Eastern European immigrants—why were they considered good citizens for populating Western Canada?
    • Which countries did the Eastern European settlers come from?
    • Why did the government feel that the Eastern European settlers would assimilate easily into Western Canada?
    • Why did the Eastern European settlers prefer to establish large farms?
    • Why did the Eastern European settlers prefer to only socialize with people from their own background?
    • Why didn’t the Eastern European settlers place a high emphasis on education?
  • Francophone struggle for language rights in the West
    • was the struggle like climbing a ladder (steady, straight progress) or like a teeter-totter (up and down)?
  • Haultain Resolution
  • Manitoba Act
  • Reserves
  • Residential School
  • What does the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms state regarding Francophone Canadians education rights (who live as minorities)?
  • Why do Chinese-Canadians build cultural centres in their cities in the modern day?
  • Why does moving from country to another has a large impact on the identity that a group develops?
  • Why was the building of Catholic schools important to Francophones in the late 1800s?
  • Why were Catholic church leaders concerned that most of the settlers to the west were not Catholic?
  • Treaty—what moved the First Nations people to sign the Numbered Treaties?
    • Did the Canadian Government and First Nations people understand the terms of the Numbered Treaties in the exact same way?
    • First Nations people were used to recording their events in oral histories and the Canadian government insisted that everything was in writing—why was the problem for the Treaties?
  • UFA

Students will need to study and understand the material, and will not be allowed to use any reference materials during the test.  They will also need to be able to use their knowledge and understanding to:

·         show critical thinking

·      apply historical and geographic skills to bring meaning to issues and events

·      apply skills of metacognition, reflecting upon what they have learned

·      communicate ideas and information in an informed, organized, and persuasive manner

Friday 12 May 2023

Grade 7 Social Studies - Week of May 8 to 12

 This week, we have completed our eleventh chapter from the textbook.  Be sure to complete all of the REVIEW section while preparing for the test.  

On Thursday, May 18th, we will have our Chapter 11 Test about Encouraging Immigration.  The following items will be tested:

 Vocabulary:

  • Bias
  • Emigrant
  • False Advertising
  • Identity
  • Immigrant
  • Internal Migrant
  • Open Door Policy
  • Perspective
  • Pluralistic Society
  • Prairie Way
  • Pull Factor
  • Push Factor
  • Settlement Patterns
  • Sod House

Also, know the following events, concepts or places:

  • In the early 1900’s, which places did the Canadian government target to recruit new citizens?
  • In the early 1900’s, what was the largest ethnic group found in western Canada?
  • In the early 1900’s, what were the main crops grown on the Canadian prairies?
  • What were the main reasons that religious groups immigrated to Canada?
  • Which French Canadian Prime Minister wanted farmers and immigrants to start farms in the west?  What was his reason for encouraging immigration?
  • Which strategies did the Canadian government use to attract new people to Canada?
  • Why did the Prime Minister (in the early 1900’s) feel that Canada needed more people to make the country grow and prosper?
  • Why did the Prime Minister (in the early 1900’s) feel that immigration would help Canada to have a strong economy?
  • Why did the Catholic Church take on the job of attracting more French Catholics to the West?
  • Why did the Canadian Pacific Railway sell some of the land given to it by the Canadian government?

Know the following people:

  • Who was Clifford Sifton, and what did he do?
  • Who was George Lloyd, and what did he do?
  • Who was Isaac Barr, and what did he do?
  • Who was Dr. Thomas Barnardo, and what did he do?

Students will need to study and understand the material, and will not be allowed to use any reference materials during the test.  They will also need to be able to use their knowledge and understanding to:

·         show critical thinking

·         apply historical and geographic skills to bring meaning to issues and events

·         apply skills of metacognition, reflecting upon what they have learned

·         communicate ideas and information in an informed, organized, and persuasive manner

Thursday 27 April 2023

Grade 7 Social Studies - Week of April 24 to 28

 This week, we have completed our tenth chapter from the textbook.  Be sure to complete all of the REVIEW section in the duotang while preparing for the test.  

On Friday, May 5th, we will have our Chapter 10 Test about Expanding Confederation.  The following items will be tested:

 Vocabulary:

  • Absentee Landlords (& which colony wanted to get rid of them)
  • American Takeover (& which colony feared it)
  • Assimilation of the First Nations
  • Cariboo Road
  • Confederation Bridge
  • Economics
  • Great Depression (& which colony almost went bankrupt during this time)
  • Historical Perspective
  • Lennox Island
  • Magistrates
  • Political Cartoon
  • Private School
  • Public School
  • Reserves – First Nations
  • Residential Schools – First Nations
  • Separate School
  • Steamboat Service (PEI)

Also, know the following people, events, concepts or places:

  • James Douglas
  • where the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of Canada are located
  • The first four provinces to join Confederation were:
    • New Brunswick
    • Nova Scotia
    • Ontario
    • Quebec
  • why Edmonton was chosen as the capital city of Alberta

For the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan know the following:

  • ·         What was the date that each one became a province?
  • ·         Why Alberta and Saskatchewan didn’t have to join Confederation—but were divided into provinces out of existing Canadian territory?

For the provinces of British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland-Labrador, and Nunavut—know the following:

  • ·         What was the date that each one joined Confederation?
  • ·         What were the “agreed to” conditions with Canada for each province joining Confederation?
  • ·         The economy that supported most of the people in the province at the time it joined Confederation

Students will need to study and understand the material, and will not be allowed to use any reference materials during the test.  They will also need to be able to use their knowledge and understanding to:

·         show critical thinking

·         apply historical and geographic skills to bring meaning to issues and events

·         apply skills of metacognition, reflecting upon what they have learned

·         communicate ideas and information in an informed, organized, and persuasive manner

Wednesday 5 April 2023

Grade 7 Social Studies - Week of April 3 to 6

 This week, we completed our ninth chapter from the textbook.  Students will be handing in their duotangs for grading on Wednesday, April 12.  Be sure to complete all of the REVIEW section while preparing for the test.   

On Wednesday, April 12, we will have our Chapter 9 Test about Growth in the West.  The following items will be tested:

 Vocabulary:

  • Assimilate
  • Enforce
  • Homestead
  • Identity
  • Immigration
  • Manufacturer
  • The 49th Parallel
  • Cypress Hills – Whoop-up Country
  • Father Albert Lacombe
  • Natural Resources
  • Protective Tariff – a tax placed on a product crossing the border
    • This tax adds to the cost of the product
    • The product becomes more expensive
      • The tariff made American goods more expensive than Canadian goods which encouraged Canadians to purchase the goods made in Canada

§  Be sure to understand Figure 9.21 on page 213—which shows why some would be in favour of the Tariff and others would be opposed to the Tariff.

  • Wolfer (page 198 & 199) – what did they do?
    • massacre of the Nakoda people by American wolfers

Also, know the following people, events, concepts or places:

  • The establishing of the North West Mounted Police.
    • Their job was to:
      • protect First Nations people
      • arrested lawbreakers of all types and put them on trial
      • cleared out the whiskey traders
      • delivered the mail
      • fought grass fires and assisted the new farmers
      • fought in the second Metis Uprising of 1885
    • The Great March
    • Jerry Potts
  • The National Policy was made up of three parts:
    • Economic – to build a strong national economy for Canadians
    • Immigration – to encourage farmers to populate Western Canada
    • Transportation – to build a railway across the continent (ensure that that land purchased from the Hudson’s Bay Company was used properly to make Canada a stronger country)
  • The Canadian Pacific Railway runs through the southern part of Canada because:
    • it was close to the American border
    • it was close to coal deposits that provided fuel for steam engines
    • it was easier to build there since the land was flatter and there were fewer trees to deal with
    • the railway company controlled most of the land
    • the south was reported to have better farmland
  • The Chinese immigrants were a very crucial factor in helping to build the railway.  They were discriminated against in the following ways:
    • they had to pay money for room and board which was in poor condition
    • they received much less pay than other workers
    • they were given the worst and most dangerous jobs—many of them died.
  • The following people had opinions about the railway—be sure to know what their opinions were:
    • a CPR shareholder
    • a logger from British Columbia
    • a member of the Cree tribe
    • a miner from the prairies
    • an Ontario farmer
    • a prairie farmer
    • a resident of the prairies
  • Know how the surveyors divided the land:
    • Each township was divided into 36 squares called sections, and each section was divided into four quarters of 160 acres each
    • A township is 10 km by 10 km which totals 100 km of land in total
    • Surveyors drove iron stakes into the ground to mark off each quarter section
  • In 1872 the Dominion Lands Act was passed:
    • any male at least 21 years of age could apply for a quarter section of land (called a homestead) for $10
    • applicants had to promise
      • to live on the land for at least six months of the year
      • to build a house
      • to start farming
    • after three years the homesteader got to keep the land if the above terms had been fulfilled
    • after 1882—women could apply for land, as well
  • Why did the following newcomers come to settle on the farmland in the Canadian West?
    • from Ontario and Quebec
    • from Russia (Mennonites)
    • from Iceland
  • The First Nations people signed treaties with the government in which the government agreed to help them to become successful farmers.  The government broke these promises made in the treaties, in the following ways:
    • the government did not bring instructors to teach farming skills to the First Nations people
    • the equipment that was promised to the First Nations people never arrived, and then they were also not allowed to purchase farm machinery even if they had the money to do so
    • the land given to the First Nations people was very poor farmland
    • once the First Nations people produced crops, they had a very difficult time selling them due to discrimination

Students will need to study and understand the material, and will not be allowed to use any reference materials during the test.  They will also need to be able to use their knowledge and understanding to:

·         show critical thinking

·         apply historical and geographic skills to bring meaning to issues and events

·         apply skills of metacognition, reflecting upon what they have learned

·         communicate ideas and information in an informed, organized, and persuasive manner

 

Wednesday 8 March 2023

Grade 7 Social Studies - Week of March 6 to 10

This week, we completed our eighth chapter from the textbook.  Students will be handing in their duotangs for grading on Wednesday, March 15th.  Be sure to complete all of the REVIEW section while preparing for the test.  

On Wednesday, March 15th, we will have our Chapter 8 Test about The Metis.  The following items will be tested:

 Vocabulary:

  • Assimilate
  • Demographics
  • Michif
  • Pardon
  • Pemmican Proclamation
  • Provisional Government
  • Red River Cart
  • Scrip
  • Surveyors
  • Treason
  • York Boat

Also, know the following people, events, concepts or places:

  • Who are the Metis?
    • descendants of children of First Nation mothers and European fathers
  • The Red River settlement included communities along the Assiniboine River & the Red River
  • What was the Battle of Seven Oaks?
    • Who was involved?
    • Why did it happen
  • What was Rupert’s Land?
  • How did Lord Selkirk (from Scotland) create a major problem by purchasing a large piece of land from the Hudson’s Bay Company around the Red River?
  • How did the government trigger the Red River Resistance in 1869?
  • Soldiers were sent to keep peace in the new province of Manitoba.  What did they actually do—even though it was not what the government sent them to do?
  • What was the economy of the Metis?
  • What were the mains reasons why the Selkirk colonists left the Red River area?
  • Who was Gabriel Dumont?
  • Who was the president of the Metis provisional government?  And what was the Bill of Rights that they created?
  • Louis Riel:
    • Why was the Prime Minister conflicted regarding his execution?
    • Was Louis Riel a hero? (why or why not)
    • Was Louis Riel a criminal? (why or why not)
  • Why is the Manitoba Act of 1870 important in Canadian history?
  • Who was Thomas Scott?

Students will be allowed to use their Chapter 8 materials in the duotang for the test.  However, students will still need to study and understand the material, in order for this to benefit them during the test.  They will need to be able to use their knowledge and understanding to:

·         show critical thinking

·         apply historical and geographic skills to bring meaning to issues and events

·         apply skills of metacognition, reflecting upon what they have learned

·         communicate ideas and information in an informed, organized, and persuasive manner