The Floating Classroom - A Unique Outdoor Learning Adventure

Paddling for students burns off energy and introduces the great Canadian Outdoors. By combining paddling with interactive learning, a floating classroom is created... that no student will forget.

A new approach to outdoor education has been the concept of a floating classroom. In southern Ontario, near Paris, the Grand River is being used as a teaching backdrop. Students can hop aboard a raft with naturalists, foresters and historians to do a paddling adventure into the valley.

Eight-man rafts are used because they paddle like large canoes, but offer total safety. The goal is to get all students into the outdoors... far from the computer screens of feigned reality. The paddle in the hands of the student becomes like the familiar "computer mouse"... maneuvering through the large "River" screen.

The very act of rafting creates team work. As students paddle together, the guide reads a "Joe Bushman" quiz. In response, students banter... seeking the answers. From ridiculous laughter to amazing insight, everyone finds themselves cheering or groaning. There are tough inventive questions like "which animal in the valley fights bum to bum... or how can you keep your pots shiney without scrubbing them?"

Then there is the natural competition between rafts, great effort and energy is spent trying to sneak up and splash. Added are competitions where teams pull to shore to compete in "Cook dat Egg". In this situation, each team is given a pot, egg and matches. The goal is to see which team can build a fire, boil the egg and eat it. The desire to win develops instant team strategy... along with the decision of who will eat it! This whole event brings forth leaders & doers from unexpected corners.

Along the way students can stop to swim or body surf a river swift with life jackets. They also enjoy dumping out their water bottles and filling up with the real stuff from springs. The highlight is the unexpected... spotting a deer, seeing a plunging osprey or surprised by the flash of a large fish. The excitement of "where is it" catches every ones attention.

Hikes are conducted to give a "feel" for the Carolinian Forest that the group is paddling through. There is the chance to see beaver chews, try wild edible plants, taste wild honey and learn aboriginal remedies. Trees identification is taught by using the quirks of smell and touch. There are climbs to scenic bluffs where students Sitting in a classroom overview, the specific characteristics of extinct Neutral feel down in the valley.

The narrative in sitting together in rafts, is where the interest is on the ground and the story says. Every leader has a repertoire of stories ... It tells of animals, European settlers and indigenous people. accommodate the students, not just the story being told. And the flow of issues.

These four hours floating classrooms make the Grand River Valley adventure alive. During the rafting,Students explore the variance in depth of flow. The experience of water power walk against the current of the difficulty of surprises ... gaining a healthy respect for the more turbulent water.

The concept of mobile classroom offers a unique way "to do everything together." Many institutions have blind sided by the image of white water to permit identification of all rafting as risky.

Ironically, it is safer than a canoe or kayak rafting, because the leaderscan control where the students go, and the rafts don't tip.

Teachers will discover that the "inattentive" student thrive in this world of hands-on experiences and story telling. The youth's pretentious veneer peels back with each learning experience. These students are the very ones wishing the trip would not end... and talk about it for days after.

Rafting the Grand River is an excellent field trip. Regardless of size, skill or swimming ability, students can safely experience the river... and still be right in the middle of it all. And that's what the concept of the floating classroom is all about!

Hello From Nova Scotia - Learning about native heritage assets to Bear River First Nation

About an hour after my departure from Annapolis Royal after a beautiful drive along the shoreline of the Annapolis Basin and through the early autumn colors of the Bear River Valley, (also known as "Little Switzerland. I came to Bear River First Nation Heritage and Cultural Center. I was saluted by McEwan Joudry-Wanda Finigan and Robert (Robbie), while Frederick Harlow was manning the cash register. All are members of Bear River First Nation, and Wandaand Robbie went to my arrival with a special welcome song to celebrate.

Wanda explained that the song our common relatives, grandparents and ancestors are invited to participate on this occasion. The lobby of the Centre holds various artifacts and a Heritage Gallery is a tribute to former and current chiefs and elders of the Bear River First Nation. Wanda said current Chief Frank Meuse, the junior also runs one for adults and young people who want to know the LoggiaMi'kmaq culture. Another photo was Agnes Potter, a famous and respected leader of the Bear River First Nation Elder.

Then I was invited to take a brief look at the river Maas film about Willie, Grandpa Frank Bear, shown in photographs since 1930 a. The film also marks the launch of the construction and birch bark canoe built first since 1927. The launch took place in 2004 and talks about the importance of ancestors.

We left the halland entered a large multipurpose room house a variety of interpretive display about the life and history of the first Mi'kmaq Nation. This space is used for theatrical performances, sports games for young people, community card parties, holiday celebrations and presentations. Friedrich came to me and gave me an overview of the birch bark canoes. He explained that the canoe weighs about 90 pounds to 95 and has used methods canoe authentic historical buildingin the area. The canoe is a canoe over ocean, half occupied by the sharp increase. Canoe freshwater are not increasing at the center of the canoe.

The ship will be of different types of ash and birch and also built outside covered with birch bark. The openings for oily skin patch in a canoe with a mixture of spruce gum and wear. Canoe used for transport are the main form of firstNations people and their skills of navigation, fishing and hunting knowledge helped the French settlers for the first time in this area in 1600. This format canoe life was made leader of the Mi'kmaq Todd Labrador and Cory Ryan is a seventh generation descendant of Malti Pictou, a well-known Bear River. Cory First it was the last person in the area of a birch bark canoe.

The next show features a variety of arts and crafts products hereMi'kmaq artistic traditions. Robbie came to me a deeper insight into some of the local crafts. He said that the leather gloves, jackets, produce, clothing, moccasins and other items. Dreamcatcher is an important symbol of the Mi'kmaq. float with its complex web design, as they are suspended, the dreams through the night air trapping. There is a saying that good dreams to pass through a dream catcher, but also protects from bad dreams.

Jewelry is aVariety of glass beads, pearls, bones and tendons imitation. In the past, tendons elk were used to make necklaces and bracelets. Decorated in deer and elk hides available for purchase. Robert has recently declared a dress decorated with an indigenous leader in Newfoundland. His artistic abilities of some of the most impressive pieces of work produced by Robert showed me a decorative jewel box that is working. The box is made of birch bark and porcupineSpine, with the sweet grass, I smell the scent limited. He explained that porcupine quills easily removed by police and are mainly used to design an elaborate trick. For each spring, a hole and the spring is pulled. By the time this story is finished, Robert will have invested over 200 hours to produce the model developed in this window decoration.

Wanda us and took me to a display of a wigwam, explain certain rituals and conventionsFields will be held in First Nations. Visitors are invited to sit in the place of honor in your home or wigwam. The same would go for the children so that they would be able to everything on the left and right to see them be able to learn. In winter mats made by parties would be used for insulation against the cold. Baskets were made by hand, to collect scallops, clams, mussels o. Each of these special baskets were up to 10 poundsSeafood. Other ash baskets were used for the collection of potatoes and apples. These baskets were made by hand in large quantities in 1900 as a major means of economic survival in changing times. Today these baskets are sold as decorative items.

Types also offers a variety of furs, including lynx, hare, mink, fox and silver fox. During 1920 and 1930, the Silver Fox was a fashion craze in Britain and many women had a fox fur, with heads and legs, drapedthe neck as a statement of elegance. The head of a fox would be so close on the lapel of his jacket woman could be cut mounted.

I learned that the wigwam is made from birch bark. Wigwams were light, which made it easy from one place to another and to move water resistant. Store would be up near the mouth of the rivers that would provide ample opportunities for food and transportation can be set. Much of the native diet consists of fish, the rest was up toberry, fruit and meat. Often fish weirs were used for catching eels. Wanda explained that in recent years, about 800 fields in Nova Scotia found with more than 4,000 artifacts from 2500 to 4000 years.

Mi'kmaq hunting traditions including bear traps, which were baited with fish. Once the animal has been captured, the women would remove the liver, skin and tendons and bring it to the camp to prepare. Too much meat and fat would be scraped from the skinscrape with tools, stones or shells. Wanda tells me that women were very high against the company First Nations, as well as the lives of caregivers. The meals were placed in a hollowed-out log that the red-hot stones that had been heated on the stove cooked preserved. The water would be about the food and hot stones to cook the meal to be expressed. The spices were collected in the woods, and be served instead of a potato plant called the Jerusalem artichokes with meat would be. Fish and meat were dried or smoked, and eggs werecollected by wading.

We moved on a display in Mi'kmaq language and Wanda said there were seven Mi'kmaq districts, each with their boss. The Bear River Reservation is located in a place called "Kespukwik, which means Bear River flows into the Annapolis Basin, where water no longer flows, based on. Mi'kmaq language is based on action verbs and pronouns are important indicators of ownership and possession. For example, the words "mother" or"Sister" you can never say of himself, always need a pronoun to indicate whose mother we're talking about. The Mi'kmaq would say the words: "Your mother," my mother "or" mother ", etc.

On the next screen we saw a photo of the 1936 great-grandmother, Wanda, Sarah Fossey, who lived until 1961 at the ripe age of 101. Wanda has memories of Sarah, who used to bring their grandchildren and great-grandson of oranges as a special treatment. Sarah was in a movie from the captured1930, which was exhibited at the Cultural Center Bear River First Nation Heritage and. Wanda was overwhelmed when he first saw moving pictures of her great-grandmother in the film.

We also discussed life as a Mi'kmaq today. Wanda explained that the Mi'kmaq society was matriarchal until the arrival of the first Europeans. In recent years, from 1920 to 1990, the government initiated a policy of residential schools where Native children were separated from their familiesand has taught "white man's ways." That's led to a significant loss of culture and heritage, the status of women subsequently suffered and the Mi'kmaq family structure is eroding. The government wanted to "integrate" the force native children into society and in the process of an ancient way of life destroyed. Brothers and sisters were often not allowed to talk among themselves and their families have been torn apart. Many of the local children spiritual, physical and sexual abuse suffered in residential schools. AsAs a result of this policy, many older people are learning the Mi'kmaq language by the younger generation.

Today there is a counter-trend, where young people discover their native language, culture and heritage. The conditions of Bear River Reservation Wanda said that a forest is managed and there is no poverty on the reserve list, which contains about 100 people Wanda has lived in the reserve for life and wasSelf-efficient.

Wanda also explained that with "native" was an important factor for First Nations. Native confer advantages in terms of health, taxation and education. Bill C31, introduced in 1985, the General Staff of native women, in that it can happen that the status of indigenous children in their first generation could, even if the children were from a mixed native / non-native marriage. Men on the other hand, the native state to run for an indefinite timeGenerations, even if a woman marry non-native. This often creates economic inequality and friction within the same family, it was possible to find a number of cousins native state, while another cousin would not officially be a native speaker. Even relatively new legislation extends the European tradition of favoring male bloodlines.

Wanda gave me the names of several books, training on the life of First Nations and communities, and that if I go, she generouslygave me a gift of two books to read: "The sitkuk - The story of Bear River Mi'kmaw Community" by Darlene Ricker and "were not savages - a Mi'kmaq perspective on the conflict between the civilizations of Native Americans and Europe "by Daniel N. Paul, excellent reading for further my education on native culture and history. As a parting gift she gave me some medicine bags made by hand, which had become an example of the Mi'kmaq tradition of generosity andPeace.

Wanda and I thanked the team on the Bear River First Nation Heritage and Cultural Centre for their exciting introduction to Mi'kmaq heritage and culture and decided to read these books soon to educate myself. I started to drive down the mountain and all the people gathered at the local office of Bear River Band greeted me. It was time for me to continue my drive along the Evangeline Trail destination today: Yarmouth.