Rock Crystal Candy

A couple Fridays ago we set up an experiment in class to make Rock Crystals.

These ones are just made of sugar mixed in water. The trick is to heat the water so that it can dissolve even more sugar than normal (called "super-saturation"). When the solution evaporates, sugar crystals should be left behind.

We used a kettle to boil the water in the classroom, then mixed it with as much sugar as we could in a large mixing bowl. Each of us came up with our own colour combination using food colouring mixtures.

The following Tuesday... nothing had happened. That was a surprise! The instructions called for crystals forming overnight but three days had passed with no effect!

By the following Friday, some small crystals had started to form on the surface of the sugar solutions. The red one solution by far the best looking crystal growth -- it had been the last one from the mixing bowl, which meant it had all the extra sugar from the bottom.

Next time we should try to keep a constant heat on the water and really try to super-saturate the solution before it cools.

Some brave souls tried to eat the rock crystals... Check out this YouTube < VIDEO LINK > to see what happened!

Posted by Karen

The Setting Sun

Last night we saw a beautiful sunset outside the windows of our classroom.

Now that we're into Winter and the sun is setting earlier every day, the sky becomes lit up with the gorgeous patterns of orange, pink, and purple hues only about a half hour after our classes finish.

Here it is, captured on camera in three shots and rendered into a panoramic view:

Posted by Karen

Traditional Teachings with Elder Joseph McQuabbie

This week on Tuesday we had an inspiring and motivational traditional teaching by Elder, Joseph McQuabbie. We are so happy to welcome Joseph to the college and to join us in Pimooteewin.

He taught about the various uses of 4 in the Medicine Wheel such as the four directions, the four seasons, the four stages of life, the four sacred medicines, the four races of the world and the four dimensions of self.


He also taught us about the power of 3 and how we have three major responsibilities on the Red Road we call life and that is to 1) Self  2) Family  and 3) Community


What does 3+4 equal? Joseph then brilliantly moved into the seven Grandfather teachings, helping us to pull together the teachings into the ultimate teaching: WISDOM, the state we achieve once the other teachings have been balanced into our lives.


Most of all, the teachings Joseph spoke of were about empowerment and self-direction, about standing proud in the light of who we are as individuals, distinctly beautiful and authentically powerful, each in our own way and for our own purpose.

As a class we reflected on Joseph's teachings and this is the poem we wrote together to represent these thoughts:

PAUWAUWIN THROUGH PIMOOTEEWIN

2010©Pimooteewin Program

Pauwauwin means gaining insight and understanding through dreams

Learning lessons to see what our experience means

On the Pimooteewin—finding the path through the trees

I feel a nice cool breeze

Trust truth and what it brings

A butterfly dances across the meadow

Making a change is to know yourself

Bee-Leave!!!

Miig Wetch to Joseph and all our fabulous students!!!

By Rachel Larabee

Portfolios and the White Ribbon Campaign

This morning before lunch we took a short field trip out to the Dollarama just down the street. We helped choose a ton of supplies for making our portfolios. Keep posted for updates!

Sneak peak: metallic paper, feathers, colourful beads, wacky letters, words, pipe cleaners, earth tone card stock, ribbons...

Since December 6th is coming up. This is the National Day for Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, Centennial College invited a guest speaker to kick off the White Ribbon Campaign in the Auditorium over lunch...

Carlos Andres Gomez challenged the audience's definition of masculinity through performances of his poems and led animated discussions, truly getting "Behind the Masc". Gomez is an actor, a playwright, a spoken word poet, and a teacher with a ton of experience influencing young minds and perceptions around North America. He left us wanting to hear more.

Back in math class for the afternoon, we discussed the talk and then listened to a podcast Kevin helped develop for a previous White Ribbon campaign called "Tie Your Shoe With A White Ribbon". The project delves into issues such as gender, violence, and healthy relationships. < PODCAST LINK >

"Our future has no violence against women." Wear a white ribbon if you agree.

Height of a Tree

This morning in math class we worked on our own for a little while, finishing off some tests and surveys from last week. Later we worked together to figure out the height of a tree using some simple trigonometry concepts.

In the activity, we were asked to accurately find the height of a tree using only a measuring tape and a protractor. So we brainstormed how to figure out the different measurements we could take with our tools... We had to assume that we couldn't just climb up the tree and dangle the measuring tape down to the bottom!

First we drew a tree outline on the chalkboard to help us visualize the dimensions. Using the tape measure, we then measured the distance between the chalkboard and where we were standing. (This formed two sides of a right angle triangle.) Then we put the protractor at our feet and measured the angle from the top of the tree down to the pivot point of the protractor (with the help of a bit of string).

So what was the calculated height of the tree? It was 183 cm multiplied by the tangent of 49, or about 211 cm tall... and the measuring tape confirmed it!

Mobius Strips

Yesterday in Math class we did a short activity on Mobius Strips.

To make them, we took a strip of paper and taped the ends together. Some we put in one twist, some two. Then we cut the strips in half length-wise to see what happened.

It was mind-boggling! Some of them turned into bigger mobius strips, some of them cut into two linked circles, and one of the bigger ones turned into a square!

Mr. August Mobius (shown here) lived over 150 years ago in Germany. He is best known for his work in topology, but is especially known for creating these two-dimensional surfaces with only one side.

Interestingly, Mobius studied astronomy under Gauss, a famous mathematician in his day, and later studied mathematics under Gauss' teacher, Johann Pfaff.

Sweat Lodge Ceremony

Last Friday's Sweat Lodge ceremony was incredible.

Rachel hugs a tree!

The day started at 9:30am.


We met up at the House of Geishig in the morning and all drove over to the Glen Rouge Campground to spend the day there, setting up the fires and preparing the lodge and area for ceremony. The genders went off to tend their tasks for the ceremony and regrouped later around the fire.

Kyle tends to the woodpile

It was the first ceremony for a couple people and we were humbly honoured to be present when they received Spirit Names from the Elder during the ceremony.


The preparation processes were really interesting to see unfold throughout the day. After lunch, everyone chatted around the campfire and told stories while the stones were heating. The ceremony itself took about an hour, with four sessions of Grandfathers invited into the lodge. It was getting dark and very cold by the time we emerged, steaming and cleansed.

Kelly gathers cedar

To read more about what goes on during the day of a Sweat Lodge ceremony, Richard Wagamese has written a beautiful book called "For Joshua: An Ojibway Father Teaches His Son" in which he tells many tales from his lifetime, one of which is about his first Sweat Lodge ceremony when he was a young man. Here's an excerpt (p.150):

The Lodges, before preparations

Then, when it seemed like the heat and the energy in the lodge could climb no higher, Walter called for the Fire Keeper to open the door.

This was the coming of the Light.

Parisa relaxes by the campfire.

From the darkness, heat, and discomfort, I was instantly transported to a world of light, cool air, and ease. The burdens, so cumbersome in the darkness, were light-ened. I sat there, breathing deeply, drinking the cool air into the very depths of my spirit. All I could think and feel was gratitude. The only thoughts I could hold onto were those concerned with the difficulty of the ceremony, of this ritual journey, and how the light represented the easing of that difficulty. We laughed now as we relaxed in the coolness and the light... My heart felt alive inside my chest. My mind was clear.
 
(Richard Wagemese has written several wonderful books about Native life and lives in Ontario.)

The view of the river behind the lodges

imagineNATIVE Film Festival

A few weeks ago, our class took a field trip to the opening ceremonies of the imagineNATIVE film festival, which is held annually in Toronto. On the Friday we went to the theatre and watched two native films and one short video.

Check out this < VIDEO LINK > for the highlights of the festival opening ceremonies, the films we watched, and also how we felt about some of the issues that were discussed in the films.

Just Another Friday?

This morning an Elder came into our classroom to talk about the sweat lodge and associated traditional teachings. Next Friday our class will be going on a field trip to a sweat lodge ceremony.

Traditional sweat lodge ceremonies were used to cleanse, purify and renew old energies. They involved a ritual process of a physical cleanse or "sweat" as well as a spiritual, emotional, and mental cleanse. It was considered a ritual rebirth or renewal of the self, though participants often joined family and friends as a community event.

This afternoon in Math class, we listened to Native music from Danny Beaton, Eagle & Hawk, and Crystal Shawanda. The newest math assignment (due next week) is on Cryptograms, those puzzles where each letter is replaced by a corresponding number. We also watched the end of Part 2 of the movie, "The History of Mathematics".

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It's November 11th, Remembrance Day. We attended a ceremony in the auditorium to remember fallen soldiers and the Canadians who risk their lives to honour our country's rights and freedoms.

We are currently working on a take-home math assignment about Remembrance Day and the poem, In Flanders Fields, written by Canadian Lt. Col. John McCrae.in 1915.