Thursday, October 24, 2013

Mr. Toft's One Minute Challenge

We were given a challenge by Mr. Toft and his class in Ottawa, Canada. These Canadians challenged us to pass the ball in an over/under fashion for one minute. The ball could not touch the ground or we had to start all over.

After much practice, here is our video!


One Minute Challenge from yourwonderfulteacher on Vimeo.








The challenge provided us with an opportunity to get to know our neighbors to the north! Here are some facts we learned about Canada from our World Book Online Encyclopedia. Some students search using the keyword CANADA.



 Others use the COMPARE COUNTRIES feature on World Book Online.






  1. Canada is the second largest country in the world. Only Russia is larger.
  2. There are approximately 35 million Canadians and there are about 321 million Americans.
  3. The lowest elevation in Canada is sea level. America's lowest elevation is Death Valley in California. Death Valley is the lowest place in North America. (282 feet / 86 meters below sea level)
  4. Canada's national capital is Ottawa, where Mr. Toft and his students live. America's national capital is Washington, D.C. 
  5. Canada is made up of TEN provinces and THREE territories. America is made up of FIFTY states.



What are some fun facts that you discovered about our Canadian friends and their beautiful country?

What did you like about the challenge? 







8 comments:

  1. Dear Mrs. Yollis

    That was an awesome video especially when you fast forwarded though the video to show us in fast motion. Everybody was so excited to see that we passed their record.

    @lec

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    The part that I cherish was the part when the ball came to me! I was surprised how hard it was to move your arms over and under so fast.

    One fact that the name Canada probably came from kanata-kon, which is an Iroquois Indian word. The word meant to the village or to the small houses.

    Canada and The United States have very good cooperation and friendship together since the 1800's.

    The greatest possession of Canada is the wealth of the natural resources.

    Ottawa is the capital of Canada, but Toronto is the largest city.


    Can you search Canada in World Book Online and find some more facts?

    Sincerely,
    Heather

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Mrs. Yollis & students,
    I live in North Western Ontario, Canada. Right now, it is snowing. Our winters seem really long, especially in January and February, when we get our coldest temperatures. Sometimes our buses can't run because our temperatures dip below -30 degrees celsius (plus wind chill!).
    This weekend, many people have gone moose hunting. The season opened up a few weeks ago, and many people try to hunt the animals to provide meat for their families. It sure is nice to have a freezer full of the yummiest meat that will last quite a while!
    It isn't easy to track moose, though, so some people also try to hunt deer. The meat isn't as tasty as moose, but it's better than nothing!
    Fishing is really popular up here as well. The best fish to eat here is probably pickerel (some people call them walleye). Catching some pickerel is great in the summer, but many people go ice fishing in the winter as well. Since our temperatures dip so low, many of our fresh water lakes have ice that are several feet thick. Most people take their snow machines to their favourite fishing spot, drill holes in the ice, and brave the cold to catch some fish.
    I hope you have a wonderful time learning about Canada!
    Sincerely,
    Mrs. Rose
    Twitter: @ColleenKR

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adam, Roxy, Darius, and BenOctober 29, 2013 at 10:01 AM

      Dear Mrs. Rose,

      Thank you for a very interesting comment! We are very surprised to learn about ice fishing. Has anyone ever fallen into the freezing water? How thick is the ice? How deep is the water where you fish? Is is shallow, like ten feet or more like 70 feet? Do you fish in any of the Great Lakes?

      We are also amazed that you hunt deer and moose. How many pounds does an average moose weigh? Darius and Adam think around 100 pounds, Ben thinks possibly they weigh 80 pounds, and Roxie thinks the moose might weigh 85 pounds.

      How many pounds are the deer?

      How many moose or deer can you can you hunt per season?

      It is windy here today, but it never snows here in our community. One time, back in the 80s it snowed, but that was unusual.

      Sincerely,
      Adam, Roxy, Darius, and Ben

      Delete
    2. Daniel, Nate and ChanceOctober 29, 2013 at 10:09 AM

      @ Mrs. Rose,

      Thank you for your grand comment! We thought it was cold in Canada, but not so early in the year. Nate would like to try Moose because he tried deer, and he liked it. Chance goes hunting every year. This year it will be canceled because his dad will be going racing.

      Have you ever gone hunting or does your husband hunt?

      Sincerely,
      Nate, Daniel and Chance

      Delete
    3. Hello everyone!

      I just read your comments to my class of grade 11 students, and they're willing to answer some of your questions.

      Mostly, we fish on inland lakes, which are roughly 40 feet deep. The ice gets about 1 1/2 - 3 feet thick (roughly one metre), so it's very strong and you can drive on it.
      Yes, people have fallen through the ice, but it isn't very common. Unfortunately sometimes if people aren't careful, and they go on ice that's too thin (in spring or fall), it can be a very tragic event.
      Since we live on the North shore of Lake Superior, we have the chance to go fishing there as well. The ice can get up to about a metre and a half. When we try to drill holes for ice fishing, sometimes we can't get through the ice because it's so thick. The ice auger just isn't long enough!
      An average bull moose is between 800 - 1200 pounds -- they're huge. A deer is between 250 - 350 pounds. We can prepare the meat in different ways: sausages, steaks, roasts, pepperettes, beef jerky and hamburger.
      In one season, you can shoot one bull or cow moose, and a calf. You can shoot one deer.
      The different types of fish we try to catch in inland lakes are: pickerel/walleye, Northern pike, speckled trout and yellow perch. When we go to Lake Superior, we try to catch lake trout, salmon, white fish, herring, rainbow trout, speckled trout and yellow perch.

      Depending on the year, we get about 2-4 feet of snow, but that can change quite a bit. If we get lots of snow, there are lots of students here who enjoy going snowmobiling. People can go just for fun, or use snowmobiles for transportation (especially if we're headed out to go ice fishing!.
      Thanks so much for your interesting questions. We hope that our answers help you to learn lots about our culture.

      Sincerely,
      Alex, Braiden and Cody

      Delete
    4. @ Alex, Braiden, and Cody,

      Thank you for commenting back to us. No one in our class has an auger because it doesn't snow. Daniel never went ice fishing, but he would like to. He does not really want to go hunting.

      Do you like our video, and did you see that we beat his challenge?Also we practiced about 7 times, and we finally got to video tape it. It took some practice, but we did it.

      Sincerely,
      Daniel and Ben

      Delete
  4. Echo (Heather's mom)November 8, 2013 at 10:00 PM

    Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    This is such a fun activity with Mr. Toft's class.

    I have been in Vancouver for 4 years. I can think of some fun facts of Vancouver:

    1. Vancouver is a rainy city. The rainy season will start from October and last half a year.

    2. Vancouver has over 200 parks, and the largest park is Stanley Park.

    3. Vancouver is very residential and there is no freeways in the city.

    4. Public transportation is very convenient in Vancouver. The buses and sky-trains can take people to anywhere.

    Sincerely,
    Echo (Heather's mom)

    ReplyDelete

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