Today we had some very special guests in the school. Sara, Jussi,
Tuukka, Juhani, Iika, Elina, Tero and Mikko are from Finland and are a part of a group called Friends of Sointula. Many members of the group were here for a visit last year as well.
They played a game of Line Tag with us to get warmed up and then we played two very fun drama games: Slime and Fairies, and another game very much like Hospital Tag.
Before our time was up we also had time to learn some words in Finnish and hear a traditional Finnish song.
30 minutes went way too fast. We hope they will be able to come and visit again next year!
Sointula is hosting a wonderful group of dancers for two weeks this month as part of the Chutzpah! Festival Youth Engagement Project. Donald Sales and his company of dancers-Sarah Brinson, Katie Cassady, Taylor McAuley and Rebecca Margolick-are here rehearsing and working with the local area youth and the community.
We were very lucky to have them in our school last week. They shared with us a small part of their piece called “gR33N” and then taught two dance classes for the primary and intermediate students. It was a wonderful afternoon. Take a peek!
Don’t forget, Visual Arts with Betty and Iris at the F.O. Hall this afternoon and I hope to see many of you at the performance this weekend.
On Wednesday, Mr Child and his family visited our school for the day. My. Child is the District Principal of First Nations Programs. He brought along his 3 daughters and their Ada (grandmother). It is always wonderful when Mr. Child comes to visit and this visit was no different!
We starting the morning in the gym looking at the amazing treasures Mr. Child brought to share with us and then Mr. Child invited us to try on the regalia. This was a very special treat! When we were all dressed we put on our own fashion show while Mr. Child described the different pieces we were modelling.
Before we went out for recess we had time for a quick song and dance. Lorren got to help sing the song!
After recess Mr. Child visited our class and retold a Kwakiutl legend about Tsigis the Monster of the Deep. This story was originally told by Chief James Wallas. We all got to play parts in the story!
What a great day!
Linden-When we were in the gym with Mr. Child it was really fun trying on all the regalia and dancing.
Sharon-I thought it was really nice that Kaleb brought some of his family.
Riley-My favourite part was when we got to act out the story. NOw I know I why I have one foot bigger than the other. I loved trying on the apron I was wearing and I would love to have one. I would also like a button blanket.
Bronwen-I thought that when we did all the acting it was really funny. I thought Jorja was a great sea monster. She was really funny.
Jorja-My favourite part was when we did the dancing and tried on the regalia. I tried on a yellow blanket. Kaleb’s great grandma made it I think. I like when Kaleb went around asking our names and we had to reply in Kwakwala.
May-I think the play was really funny because all the people who weren’t in the beginning got barfed up at the end.
Lorren-My favourite part was dancing and singing. I got to sing and that’s what made it so fun.
Merissa-I liked it when we got to do the dance. I also liked it when we got to act out the story.
Randi-I liked dancing. I liked acting out the story. I have my own button blanket. I have a tree on my button blanket. I also have my own apron.
Melliah-I loved trying the apron and headband on.
Brooklynn-I liked how we got to try on the regalia and then we had a little fashion show.
If you were in the school today, you probably noticed the wonderful smells coming from the intermediate classroom. We celebrated Chinese New Year with an amazing stir fry lunch prepared by the grade 5/6/7 students and staff. The stir fry was full of delicious vegetables brought in by the students. There were carrots, broccoli, bok choy, celery, cabbage, peppers, snow peas, and baby corn. You could also chose to have pineapple, cashews, and sesame seeds in your stir fry. For dessert we had almond cookies and fruit.
It was so nice to share a meal together! A special thank you to the intermediate class, Mrs. McKee, Ms. Lansdowne, and Claudia for all their hard work to make this such a success!
My apologies for the late posts. Time seems to be flying by at a rapid pace this year and things have been a little strange with so many students away sick.
We had a wonderful Halloween and we can’t thank PAC and Rec enough for their support! Here’s a video showing some of the fun we had:
This post is long overdue! Several weeks ago Wheat in the Barley, a Canadian musical group, visited our school. The students loved hearing the different instruments and styles of music they shared with us. They especially loved getting to sing along and becoming the percussion section for one of the songs!
Which instrument would you like to learn to play? Did you have a favourite song?
This morning Meghan and Lisa from Forestry stopped by our classroom with a very special guest. They came to talk to us about the forest. We learned about renewable resources and invasive species.
We talked about making sure that we leave animals and plants where their home is and not taking them somewhere else to live. Our social guest, Slimy the Bullfrog, isn’t meant to be living in Campbell River, but that is where he was found. Bullfrogs are actually supposed to be living on the other side of Canada! Invasive species can cause a lot of damage.
Even tough bullfrogs are invasive species, we sure did have a lot of fun visiting with Slimy today!
Kezra-I got to hold the cutest frog ever named Slimy. He is really strong and he hit the the glass in his little tank and he has a bruise now. You can tell by the eardrum if they are a female or a male frog.
May-I got to hold him. He was really calm when I held him. He was really chubby.
Ava-When they are babies they are tadpoles.
Cherish-Frogs can breathe under water when they are babies. They duck under water. Slimy is a bullfrog.
Sierra-Frogs are really slimy because they are under the water. When frogs get bigger they have to keep their head out of the water so they can breathe some air.
Kaydan- Slimy eats birds, other frogs, and snakes.
Mya-Frogs can hop very high and they eat lots of food.
Have you ever held a bullfrog before? What kinds of invasive species can be found where you live?
Yesterday we were lucky to get a visit from the Masala youth group who came all the way from Finland! In Finland they were performing a play all in Fin called Sointula. Then someone from Sointula contacted them and asked if they would put the play on here, and guess what, they said yes!
They are going to put on the play on the weekend that is all in Finnish and three hours long so on Wednesday they came to the school to do theater with us. It was so much fun!
We played Socket Tag when someone is it if they tag you you put your hands on your hips and to be freed someone who is not it has to put their arms through yours. We played it in the gym.
Photos taken by Jonathan
We also played a game to learn names where you shake two hands at once say your name twice then let go and find two more people. Eventually it turns into one long chain.
We all loved it. We hope they could come again and do it with us soon. It was so much fun!
This morning Flyin’ Bob visited our school. Flyin’ Bob is a one man circus! We were treated to balancing, juggling, unicycle riding, and high wire walking. The show was amazing and the students were talking about Flyin’ Bob all day. After watching our slideshow we think you’ll be talking about Bob too!
Lily-I think it was pretty funny when his clothes got stuck on the high wire and his pants fell down showing his Hello Kitty underwear. Jacob-I think it was really cool when he was on the unicycle. Brooklynn-I thought it was funny when Daddy and Mr. Neilson had to march after him and then they had to lift him onto the high wire with their hands. Jorja-It was really scary when Shirley was throwing the pins and then he jumped off the unicycle and it went through her legs! Merissa-It was cool when Karin did a chin-up on the high wire and she balanced without any help. Kezra-I thought it was really cool when ping pong balls kept coming out of his mouth and there were like 6 in his mouth! Teagan-I thought it was cool that Lorren was juggling with two balls on top of his shoulders. Koa-I thought it was really cool when he balanced things on his nose. Taegan-To me it was really scary because he was going to catch ping pong balls in his mouth and I thought that he was going to choke. May-I think it was funny when he said that two chairs together was good for locking kids. Lorren-I thought it was cool when he had the feather. Bronwen-I thought it was a bit funny that he hung by his clothes, but he had hooked himself to the wire and he could swing back and forth. Solomon- This is going to be about Flying Bob. I liked it when he got hung up on the wire. He got a volunteer that did stuff with him.The volunteer juggled hats. He was super funny .The whole show was super funny.
Would you like to learn any of the circus skills Flyin’ Bob shared with us?
Today was our Christmas Potluck and Celebration. A wonderful time was had by everyone!
We walked to our community hall after recess to get ready. We practised our songs and made sure that everything was all set-up. We couldn’t believe how many people joined us for lunch. The hall was full of all our families and friends.
The food was amazing! There was turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, buns, vegetables, salads, pickles, cranberry sauce, and deserts galore. The cookies we made yesterday looked great on the table and were a big hit. Our town certainly knows how to do a potluck!
Just a few of the cookies we made yesterday.
After the delicious lunch it was time for a little entertainment. We sang the Vegan Wonderland song that Mr. Neilson wrote and then the intermediate students had 3 dances to share. Next we had a sing-a-long. The Christmas carols sounded beautiful with that many voices joining together.
To wrap up the program we had a special surprise planned for our guests. Our town has Finnish roots, so we learned to sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in Finnish.
Here is a short clip of us singing Petteri Punakuono:
We would like to say a special thank you to our families for making all the wonderful food, Paul Davidson and Ross Bangham for allowing us to use their sound equipment and for helping us to set it all up, Sue Hamilton for baking with us, Rec for allowing us to hold our celebration in the hall, everyone who pitched in and made the clean-up so quick, and all the community members who joined us and made it such a special afternoon!
