Boreal Forest
This was a six week class about the impressive Boreal Forest of Alberta and the captivating creatures that call it their home. Throughout the program we built a 3D map of Alberta and the other ecosystems that make our province so diverse. We were inspired by the beauty of the Northern Lights, creating our own chalk pastel scene that sought to capture a little of the colour and movement of this amazing phenomenon. We had fun making a felt mask of the quietest hunter in the forest (owls) and used pom-poms to paint this majestic birds of prey. We laughed at the prickly defences of the porcupine as we attempted to make a critter as spiky as the real thing! We learned about the stealth of cats that prowl the forest and the unique traits that enable them to thrive in every season including the depths of winter. We enjoyed creating water colour paintings of the cutest little chipmunks and snowshoe hares. To wrap up the class we build an an interactive food web to see how everything worked together as we linked plants, animals and even decomposers and bugs that help after a forest fire. The Boreal Forest is a rich and diverse eco system just waiting to be explored, we had a great time learning all about this amazing place.
Medieval Makers
Medieval Makers was a fun 6 week hands-on learning program that covered medieval history, literature and STEM projects! We created our own castle with movable drawbridge! We appreciated the strength and skills of a knight as we fashioned our own armour, including a helmet, sword and shield! We learned how battles could be won against seemingly impenetrable stone castles by building a siege tower, battering ram and catapult! We enjoyed beautiful aspects of the medieval period as we created stained glass art and learned how to write with a quill pen! Taught By: Naomi & Carlye
Simple Machines (STEM)
We had so much fun in this class discovering what Newton meant when he wrote his Laws?! We figured out interesting ways that we could translate his Laws into something actionable that could be put to the test. We learned about what things like velocity, acceleration, mass, friction and kinetic energy meant. We built balloon cars, did egg drop experiments, shot catapults and made airplanes, so we could learn in a hands on way all these concepts and more. After that we studied the six simple machines. By “study” I mean we made wedge boats so we could see what advantage could be gained from wedges and then of course we tested what we built to see how it worked. We built a ferris wheel and learned its amazing history to discover not only the usefulness but also the joy from wheels and axles. We made a poster board full of gears to see how many we could get to work together. We build a play dough marble track to learn about inclined planes, not to mention levers and how a large amount of mass can be moved so easily, Archimedes screw (so we could defy gravity and move water up) and so many more discoveries. It was a great class and I enjoyed seeing how engaged and excited my students were to find out what I had planned for them each week! Taught By: Naomi
Wondrous Wetlands
We built dioramas with the layers of a wetland, plants, bugs, amphibians and birds that are all at home in the marshy environment. We learned about the ingenuity of the beaver and made our own dam. How clever the Red-winged Blackbird is at hiding her nest among the reeds, we had fun constructing a nest of our own! We discover the unique traits of the Tiger Salamander and Northern Leopard Frog and made our own recreations of these little critters out of clay. We also saw the amazing traits of snails, water beetles and dragonflies as we attempted to capture them in a water colour paintings. It was so much fun creating cattails and water lilies. Wetlands are a rich and diverse eco system that were so much fun to be explored! Taught By: Naomi & Carlye
Ancient Wonders (Jr. High)
History, its just a bunch of names and dates about things that don’t matter and aren’t interesting anyways, right?!?
No way! Its fascinating! Did you know there are so many buildings and ruins that have been around for thousands of years? Things we can still see today! Who came before us and how can we start to figure it out? This ancient history class was a blast as we discovered the ingenuity of people as they began to farm and figure out ways to use the river flooding to their advantage to grow their crops. We learned about the beauty and brilliance behind the 7 ancient wonders, we build stupas that we hoped could withstand the monsoon season just as the ancient people did, we constructed ziggurats and saw their elaborate designs. We heard how people still haven’t figured out how the pyramids were constructed and some amazing hypothesis. History began to come alive as we found lessons still relevant for today. It was no longer just a list of names and dates, instead it was real people with real stories! Taught By: Naomi
Ancient History (Elementary)
Who knew that learning about ancient history would be so much fun?! Even for elementary students!
In these classes we learned about so many wonders of the ancient world by creating our own versions! We made the Trojan Horse, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, a graham cracker Ziggurat of Ur, a sugar cube Egyptian pyramid, a Hittite chariot and Greek temple! We made Indian Rangoli with coloured sand and Indian Frescos with paint on real plaster. We drew and painted the Taj Mahal and Hannibals war elephants! We made mosaic self-portraits just like Justinian and Theodora from the Byzantine empire. By studying these famous parts of ancient history in enough depth to recreate them, we learned a lot about the culture and people of that time and place. Taught By: Carlye
Ziggurat of Ur