Humanities with Ms. Abma

Dear Students and Families,  Thank you for welcoming me to Willow Park. It's been great getting to know all of you. You are a creative and clever class! What a wild time getting through these last 2 crazy months together but you have adapted well, and I'm sure you'll finish strong.  It's time for me to say "see you later" now that Mrs. Pedersen is back. Welcome back! Here is her blog for Humanities:  www.pedersenhum.blogspot.com    

Ms. Abma's Meme Art by: Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Veronica Veronese (1872) This week's writing challenge has 2 parts, and it is optional.  PART 1 is to take a tour of a museum online and choose a work of art as your writing prompt. Use that image as a jumping off point for creative writing. It could be a story about what lead up to what is happening in the image, or it could be descriptive writing about the art or the characters, have fun with it.  Be sure you copy the picture into your document and include the Title, Artist,  and  Date.  For example, this painting by Caravaggio sets a scene. What do you think is happening?  Here are lots of links to virtual museums to explore:  https://artsandculture.google.com/partner PART 2 is to make a meme! Humour can help us get through difficult times together. Use an image (or 2) you found during the virtual tour. Again, remember to include the original Title, Artist and Date of the work. Download the image you want to meme and use  ht

How are you all doing this week? Here are some ideas of where to go to check in. Remember, you can email me if you need to talk about anything. htabma@educbe.ca https://bethere.org/Home “When you don’t know what to say to a friend who doesn’t seem okay, we’ve got you.” If someone has approached you for help and you need some tips of how to help them better, check out, Be There. It is full of tips to help you. https://kidshelpphone.ca/get-info/worry-rockets/ One of the things Kids Help Phone created was Worry Rockets, where you type out your worry and then launch it into space. https://kidshelpphone.ca/ If you need to talk to someone and you don’t know where to turn or none of your friends are available, Kids Help Phone has many different options for you to connect to them.

This Week at a Glance: Tuesday meet at 3PM. Thursday meet at 3PM for GAMES!  WGOITP? What’s going on in this picture?  Go the  New York Times Picture Challenge  page to discuss what in the world you think is going on here.  We’ll reveal the answer on Thursday. What is going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can you find? Respond in the discussion by clicking the speech bubble below the photo at the New York Times site to share your thoughts.   

Check the classroom to answer whether this song is a Jam or Not a Jam! I would like to hear why you think the song is a jam or not a jam in the private comment section. Also, if you have a song you would like to put forward, please add that to the comments as well. This week's video is: Ends of the Earth by Lord Huron Results from Like Sugar: I'ts a jam! 11 to 4 votes. Also, everyone is invited to the Willow Park 9 Dance party today at 1:30. Check your classroom for the nickname! Just a reminder to say "Happy Mothers Day" to your mom, grandma or special someone who helped raise you on Sunday! If you are looking for some songs for Mother's Day, here are three: Brandi Carlile - The Mother Spice Girls - Mama Boys II Men - Mama There are many more out there. You just have to look!

What's Going on in this Picture?(WGOITP?) Reveal For those of you who did the New York Times picture challenge, here is the reveal of the caption attached to this picture. This week’s image comes from a May 20, 2013 At War blog article " R.O.T.C. Returns to New York’s City College More Than Four Decades After Removal. " The original caption read: Commune and Yippy forces at the City College of New York gathered to watch military trainees crawling on the ground during R.O.T.C training in 1968. The photographer is Eddie Hausner Poetry Corner Here are a few poems along the theme of, "Masks." Masks by G. Boston                                                                                                             Safae Bizgarne: We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar       

Todays writing challenge is to write from the perspective of an inanimate object.  Listen to an episode of the Everything Is Alive Podcast. In it, the host interviews someone who improvises their responses as if they are the object.  Choose a specific object from your house, think about where it's been, what it's used for and how it might see the world. Be descriptive in it's experiences. Your writing can be a story from the object's perspective, or it can be a conversation with the object.  Find lots of good episodes here:  Everything Is Alive Podcast  or on  spotify Writing Wednesday is an optional activity. I would be more than happy to take a look at your work if you share it with me. Here is a silly video the podcast reminded me of:

Mental Health Week is May 4-10 Information provided by the Canadian Mental Health Association The  Canadian Mental Health Association  recognizes May 4-10 as Mental Health Week: a yearly tradition with communities, schools and workplaces rallying to celebrate, protect and promote mental health. This year, the theme is ‘social connection’ and its importance for mental health. Each year, one in five Canadians will experience a mental illness or mental health issue, but five in five Canadians has mental health. We all need social connection, more now than ever before. This year’s campaign is based on the insight that people in Canada commonly ask one another how we are but that it is also common not to provide – or expect – a truthful answer. Many of us say we’re fine, even when we don’t mean it. ‘Fine’ keeps us at arm’s length from real social connections with others. Every time we just go through the motions, we miss a chance to connect with others in a meaningful w

What is going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can you find? Join the discussion here:  WGOITP?  or make your guesses in the classroom comments. This week: we'll have our Tuesday meet at 3. Thursday's meet at 3 is an optional check-in. Our work continues with part 2 of the Covid-19 Socratic Creative assignment. It is due Tuesday, however, if you need more time to complete the work, just let me know. I am aware this may take more time.

Check the classroom to answer whether this song is a Jam or Not a Jam! If you like the song/video it is a Jam, if you don’t it is Not a Jam. It is totally your opinion. I would like to hear why you think the song is a jam or not a jam in the private comment section. Also, if you have a song you would like to put forward, please add that to the comments as well. This song was requested by me, Ms. Abma. This week’s video is: Like Sugar by Chaka Kahn Results from Video Killed the Radio Star: It's a Jam! The answer to the trivia question was that Video Killed the Radio star was the first music video to be played on MTV when it launched August 1, 1981. Also, everyone is invited to the Willow Park 9 Dance party today at 1:30. Check your classroom for the nickname!