Tuesday, May 31, 2011

First Nations Visitor and Forest Art

On May 30, Mr. King (or Sierra’s dad), came in to tell us about First Nations People. He was half First Nations, and showed us very old artifacts such as a piece of rock used to grind corn and grain into cornmeal and flour. His paternal grandmother is alive today and is First Nations. She had lived in a hogan (that’s a traditional Navajo house). When he and his brother visited her to install a fridge and build a washroom (so she didn’t have to walk 100 yards to the outhouse), some strange things happened. A few days after they went to install the fridge, they saw that she had unplugged it. They asked why she had done it. She said that it was because the light was always on. They explained to her that there was a button and when the fridge door closes and hits the button, the light turns off. While they were there, they checked the washroom and found it being used as a storage room. She hadn’t lived with electricity or running water ever before, so she didn’t use them the way we do. Now she lives in a nursing home, as she is 98 years old.

First Nations Visitor and Art in the Forest

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

4S talks about the properties of light

Fort Langley Field Trip


At Fort Langley, we visited the blacksmith where we learned how to make hooks and that young boys at the age of 12 started working as a blacksmith.
We got to carry bails of fur around the whole fort. The way to carry fur bails is to carry it like a backpack. There are two straps that you hold on to and you just put it on your back. The fur bails were actually, surprisingly light.
We learned about where the servant’s quarters were, how they accommodated all of their belongings, and how different kinds of servants had different kinds of homes. The servants that were from Quebec had tin plates and not much fine china. The servants from England had fine china and a four poster bed for the adults to sleep in as the children had a bed without four posts. The toys that the children had were handmade and some of them even taught the kids a skill that they would need later on.
The Fort Langley experience was a success and it was a lot of fun, even though it was pouring rain.


Julia