Citizenship and WE Day

Democratic Citizenship is one of the four stated outcomes for Social Study students in Manitoba, K-12. For WE day, the school is looking to take people who are committed to being good citizens. In class we will be making presentations about what it means to be a good citizen, why we should be good citizens, and how we plan on being good citizens. From the curriculum, Democratic Citizenship is broken down into the following 4 categories.

Canadian Citizenship 

• Being aware of the issues and doing something to improve  the local lives of people. Examples could be working at a shelter, helping an elderly neighbour, sticking up for somebody's rights.

Citizenship in the Global Context

• Being knowledgeable and concerned about International issues that affect people and doing something to improve the lives of people in other parts of the world. Examples could be providing funds to dig a well in Africa, only buying fair trade chocolate, signing a petition supporting equal rights for women around the world. 

Environmental Citizenship

• Being engaged in efforts to protect our environment because you know how important our Earth is. Examples could be reducing your intake of red meat, choosing to use other means of transit than a personal car, using cloth bags. 

Be Creative and make a Submission showing how you are knowledgeable, concerned, and active in improving the World at a Local and International level. 

Rubric, taken from WE Day, out of 15

Using Work Time Effectively

Always remains on task, showing exemplary adherence to boundaries and rules.

Consistently remains on task, showing respect to boundaries and rules.

Sometimes on task, showing inconsistent observance of boundaries and rules.

Sometimes on task, showing limited observance of boundaries and rules.

Not on task, showing no observance of boundaries and rules.

Knowledge Of Topic

Demonstrates thorough knowledge and understanding of concepts.

Demonstrates considerable knowledge and understanding of concepts.

Demonstrates some knowledge and understanding of concepts.

Demonstrates limited knowledge and understanding of concepts.

Demonstrates no knowledge and understanding of concepts.

Communicating Effectively

Expresses and organizes ideas and information with a high degree of effectiveness.

Expresses and organizes ideas and information with considerable effectiveness.

Expresses and organizes ideas and information with some effectiveness.

Expresses and organizes ideas and information with limited effectiveness.

Expresses and organizes ideas and information with no effectiveness.

Showbie code to hand in to Mr. Harland to mark NYQ6J

Showbie code for to hand in to School to go on WE Day NY8CV

Friday's Class

Join the edmodo group, the code is above. Take the test that awaits you in Edmodo (you are welcome). Make sure that your group has completed the assignments from the previous days. Be prepared  to present your tools on Monday to boost your marks. Being prepared will mean having your tool sheet that I handed back to you (Jessica, I picked yours up off the table, you are welcome). Please browse the blog posting below and make a thoughtful posting. What we study about ancient Egypt will be tailored on the feedback you give me.

New Technologies

New to us, but old to early people, are the everyday tools and skills used to survive. 

With the power of writing, Hammurabi gave Mesopotamia a set of rules to live by, with clear consequences for breaking those rules. This helped make everyone accountable, a clear set of rules for all to live by. 

Here is a list of those rules put forth by Hammurabi 

Browse through the list. Blog the answers below

1. If Mariah's locker was robbed and we don't catch the robber, then what do we have to do?

2. How much would Joshua have to be paid for working in the fields for a whole year?

3. The concept of money also began in Mesopotamia. Explain how the concept of money makes it easier to buy a onion rings at A&W and then a slurpee at 7-11.

Communicating with only pictures

In your group, we will be creating a message without the use of letters and numbers. Use the paper provided, and only using one side, communicate one of the following two messages. Your Choice.

"Take your younger sister Suzy tomorrow morning to help farmer Brown harrow his field. If you are done early, catch some fish in the irrigation canal for your supper"

"Take your younger sister tomorrow morning to help rake Mrs Brown's leaves. If you are done early, you can use your allowance to buy a treat at the store"

Communication with Text

Writing with pictures has been done since the prehistoric times. We still do it with emoticons. What is an emoticon and why might we use it in a text message? Writing with symbols or text that represented a phonetic sound greatly facilitated the passing of information (such as how to grow crops), keeping records (such as taxes paid) and the writing down of rules and first appeared in Mesopotamia. 

Mesopotamia and the start of agriculture

The advent of agriculture changed how people lived. It is widely believed that this change started in Mesopotamia, the site of modern day Iraq, and is often called the Cradle of Civilization and the Fertile Crescent. Look at the map of the Fertile Crescent. Many parts of the world, such as where we live, is good farming land. The huge advantage that Mesopotamia had was access to crops and animals that can be easily farmed and domesticated.

Consider some of the crops and animals that they had access to and what this meant to changing their lifestyle from a hunter and gatherer to a farmer.   

Like where we live, ancient farmers in Mesopotamia had to deal with flooding and drought. They came up with an interesting solution. Click here and try your hand at being a Mesopotatmia farmer. 

If done early, and many of you are or will be

Something very exciting happens today. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights opens today here in Winnipeg. The content of the museum and the building itself has been the topic of much discussion.  Explore the official website. Of particular interest to me was the blog of personal stories and they have a section in the blog featuring Children Rights. In that section there is the story of Garabed Haroutounian who as a teenager survived the Armenian Genocide and found refuge in Manitoba. Do you know about the Armenian Genocide? Hitler is famously quoted as saying he wasn't worried what people would think about his Holocaust plans, because nobody remembers or seems to care about the Armenian Genocide. What caught your interest on the CMHR website?

"First they came for the Jews"

---

 

In Germany they first came for the Communists

  and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,

  and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists

  and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics

  and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me

  and by that time no one was left to speak up.

 

--The Reverend Martin Niemöller, a pastor in the German Confessing Church who spent seven years in a concentration camp.