Our  final experience of the year is underway. We're spending 3 days at Development and Peace. Day 1 started with Luke Stocking getting our minds  moving with a simple and effective demonstration of how wealth is controlled  around the world.

 A stat that resonated with us was the idea that  1% of the world controls  50% of  the wealth. In  the simulation Luke did, Mitzi was the 1%. Of course, Mitzi being Mitzi, she shared all her resources! If only the rest of the world worked like Mitzi....

Our minds were also turning from Regi's idea of the fact that  we  spend  our money on fidget  spinners and games while for others throughout  the world,  there  are  no games - the  idea  is to  survive. We did a walk through the downtown core to consider this idea  by a look at how we spend our money  and time.  

Going forward, we''re considering  how we can part  of the solution rather  than the problem  as it  relates  to  the global  world. Stay tuned for some pictures and more learning in the days ahead.

Padlet for Day 1 is pasted below.

You've  been asked to include the following:

https://padlet.com/StSylvester/beyondtheclassdevelopmentanndpeaceday1 

We had a great Day 2 that was inspiring and educational.

Luke started us off with an activity that taught us all about the challenges of ecological farming.

We learned that industrial farming accounts for 50% of the greenhouse gases and were blown away by the fact that the increase in global warming from the early 1900s to today has been astronomical.

Check out the video half way down the page on the link below that shows info on the hottest years on record

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-noaa-data-show-2016-warmest-year-on-record-globally

Our walk today took us to Our Lady of Lourdes Church for the 12:10 Mass.

Once back from Church we discussed how our world would be divided in different ways if we only had 100 people. Check out the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFrqTFRy-LU 

Day 2 Math is pasted below. It's based on If the World were a 100 people. Not due until Thursday. You can get your stats from the youtube video OR from the link below.

http://www.100people.org/statistics_detailed_statistics.php 

Real Life Math world were a 100 people.pdf

And we're ready to take on our final artifact.

It's explained here   development and peace final artifact.pdf

Your personal solutions chart is also attached. (We're giving you a hard copy on Wednesday)

Being part of the solution chart.pdf

The first part of the artifact completion involves explaining your question on the padlet pasted below. Remember to comment on someone's padlet post as well.

https://padlet.com/StSylvester/developmentandpeaceday2

Day 3

Our time at Development  and Peace came to a close today with fantastic  discussion, role play, and activity.

We began the day with the completion of our small farming activity. Each group was given  three choices for their farm.

1. Quit

2. Take a Loan

3.  Join the Farming Union.

We found out that many small farmers end up being forced to quit because the conditions are too difficult to continue. Taking a loan can lead to extreme debt, and having  your land taken away when you can't pay back the loan because the  interest is so high.Unions or Farming Associations  offer some protection to  small farmers from corrupt or power hungry companies but often times civil unrest and rebellion are the net  result. All  in all,  there are many, many obstacles to help small farmers go on.  And yet as we  learned, small farming  is so key to helping  reduce climate change worldwide, so  therein lies our dilemna and initial inquiry question - How can we be part of the solution rather  than  the problem as it pertains to the global world? Our answers? Stay tuned for the Gr. 6 and 7 students' final reports.

A real life example of equity of resoures took place with the pizza experience. The bottom line? Equity of resources does not happen enough in our world and we have to think about how to change this.

Every tried to divide a large pizza into 33 slices? It can be done!

Our walk and journal writing/sketching had us set up by St. Paul's Anglican Church where we saw a very relevant statue (look carefully in the picture because the statue blends in)  and Biblical passage to our Development and Peace unit.

Our final  Beyond  the  Classroom  experience has  come to a close and we are  very grateful for the many opportunites we have had, and can't  wait to see what's coming  NEXT  year.

With that in mind,  our final padlet asks our Gr. 7 students (who had their first Beyond the Classroom Experience with us) two things

1. What did you enjoy about this  Beyond The Classroom experience?

2. What would you like to see change for next year?

https://padlet.com/StSylvester/developmentandpeacereflections 

An example of one of our best final artifacts from Mitzi. Thanks Mitzi!

mitzi final artifact.pdf