Black History Month (Assignment #6)

Have you ever heard of Mary Matilda Winslow (or Mary Matilda Winslow McAlpine/MacAlpine or Tillie Winslow)? Do you know who she is ? Read on for answers...
Mary Matilda Winslow is the first black Canadian woman to graduate from the University of New Brunswick with a bachelor's degree. She was born in Fredricton, New Brunswick. She entered UNB in 1901 and graduated in 1905. Soon after her graduaton, she found a teaching positon in Nova Scotia, although she moved to the United States afterwards.
In 1906, she taught Greek and some other subjects at a high school in Birmington, Alabama. She also moved around the country to experience public education. Finally she settled in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1916 and taught at Springfield College.

Check out some other information from these websites:

• http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Mary-Matilda-Winslow
• http://www.saintjohn.nbcc.nb.ca/heritage/Black/Education.htm
  

Canadian Settlers (Assignment #5): It's Really Cold

Did you ever imagine living outside for a whole day in January, in this freezing cold weather? Imaging that you don't have boots, hats, coats, and mittens. What will that feel like? Did you ever think about how some people living about 500 years ago would actually survive? That's how the Canadian settlers that first came felt. Take a moment to think about it. Settlers then had to relied on wood and fire to keep themselves warm! Should you be happy with heated buildings and thick walls?!?

You're probably going to ask me this question, "why did the Canadian settlers even bother to stay here if life was so hard and cold?". Read on for some answers...

Back when Europeans just arrived, the settlers had a very difficult life. Everything has to be self-sufficient, from homes to boats, and from kitchen utensils to chairs. During winter, many people suffocated from scurvy, a sickness from a lack of Vitamin C. There's also other diseases like cholera and smallpox. As I'd say, there will always be good from the bad. If you think this way, the new settlers will have freedom (without some governments to "control" them), get a chance to have better jobs (get a lot of money and have land), and maybe even trying to get away from crowded cities.

The North America settlers soon adapted to the cold weather. They made houses out of logs and even put sand, lime, and water to fill the holes on the walls. Some people made houses out of stones. Roofs of the houses were made of wood shingles and sloped to keep snow off. The settlers even build huge fireplaces for heating and cooking. (Click here for more information)

My family came to Canada many years ago, a bit too long to remember. My family had thought about how a great country Canada is, and how good the environment was. But we were very surprised at how cold the weather was, although we did think about that. "It's much different than the weather back in my country", my grandparents said when they visited Canada. Luckily, some sweaters were brought and we did survive.

Check out some websites for more information:

• About more Canadian History


• About the Settlers


• About Other Settlers

Linking back to your peers (Assignment #4)

Hello everyone again!

Did anyone saw some of other my other friends and classmate's blogs? I found some of them very interesting.

First of all, I found my friend, Grace have an funny blog. She add alot of detail, not boring information, but very entertaining! "It's just like the future-- really" she said in her blog. That's what I mean, as if the reader was part of the post, not being left out. Just don't forget to check out her blog!

Also, I saw Jessica's blog and her post on Assignment #3. It was surprisingly short, but it was pretty cool. I liked how she said,"We will die because of global warming." It kind of convince people to protect the planet and prevent bad events in the future.

Finally, I looked at Mariam Me's blog and found it very different from mines. I really enjoyed how she talked about living underwater caused by melting glaciers and global warming (does everyone talk about global warming?). "There will be halls to get from place to place that connect to everything else like, buildings, schools, shopping malls, dentists/doctors/hospitals, movies, because there won't be any vehicles around but scooters and skateboards and bikes, carts; etc.". I really liked her imagenation.

I hope everyone will enjoy my classmate's blogs. Don't forget to see Mrs. Pollock's blog.

History of the Future: What will happen in the next 100 years? (Assignment #3)

I have always wonder of what will happen in the future. I believed that many things will change in the next 100 years. Depending on the world right now and on the past 500 years, stuff in the year 2109 will be very different.

About 500 years ago, many Europeans or other humans on this lovely planet doesn't even think Canada exists. The people then used tools, labor, and poor technology. Now in modern times, new inventions are made (maybe robots in the future), and the populations are growing quicker everyday. What happens if there is no more room for any more people on Earth? Did you ever thought about that?

Did anyone ever believe that flying cars will be invented in 2109? Or maybe population grows to much and humans began living on the moon or even on Mars? Anything could change. Maybe Global Warming goes too terrible that everything dies. We couldn't change any of the past, but we could prevent things that happen in the future. Like stop using cars that run on gasoline. And making less factories that harm the world.

I just think that 100 years later, that Earth will look like what I believe:

• Many big fancy cities
• A clean world without global warming
• New useful inventions and cool technology
• Good leadership in countries and no racists
• Happy people and peace

I think Canada is a great country, better in saving electricity, good environment, great politics and leadership, and very special. All Canadians (same as other people on the planet) should protect Canada and the world to the utmost.

I also thought about what may happen in 1000 years later. Maybe in 3009, the people might be exploring the Universe! But whatever changes there is, I hope it won't be too soon, nor too late!

Welcome Everybody!

Hi everybody, I'm Janet. Welcome to my blog! I'm in grade seven in Ottawa, Canada. Our class is doing a project on blogs for Canadian history. Feel free to post any questions or comments for my blog. Doing a History course online is super exciting (because textbooks are boring)!

Also, check out my teacher's blog, too!