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Link to our GrassRoots Communities@ca project
| School: | Millarville Community School |
| District: |
Foothills School Division #38 |
| City: | Millarville |
| Province: | Alberta, Canada |
| Email: | irvingp@fsd38.ab.ca |
| Teachers: | Mrs. Pam Irving, Mrs. Patti Thorne, Mrs. Kathleen Patterson |
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Grades: |
There was a grade 1,2 and 3 class of 65 students |
| Ages | The students participating were 6 - 9 year olds. |
The community was very involved in this project. The following people gave of their time to retell stories or work with the kids: Gene Blakely, Pat Fisher, Cathie Scatterty, Helen Preston, Susan Graham, Agnes Ball, Bill & Dorothy Jackson, Mike and Leslie Patterson, Brian Kinsman, Ev Prestie and the ladies of the Quilt Guild.
Millarville Community School is located in the Hamlet of Millarville. This Hamlet, of approximately 60 people, is situated in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Alberta. This ranching community is more than one hundred years old and is slowly and gradually changing to an acreage community. The school is a small school of 200 students from kindergarten to grade 8. Many of the students have had generations before them graduate from this school. A unique feature of this school is the attached Marigold Community library, which enhances the true spirit of community. Students are often seen working and learning with older or younger students as cross graded activities are often undertaken.
This year being the Millenium and also the 25th anniversary of the Millarville Community Library. It started the teachers talking about what they could study with the students that would help them gain an understanding of the importance of celebrating the past and also, at the same time, looking at the present. The students began to talk about what was needed to keep a community together and it was decided that the people, the buildings and the traditions are important factors. They set out to discover all that they could about the people, the buildings and the traditions of the Millarville Community. The grade one students took a closer look at the family and the school, talking about the importance of families and traditions. They had their parents help them recall family stories and they also retold stories through the art of the quilt. The grade two students looked at the buildings of the community of Millarville in the present. They took trips to the local buildings and gathered stories from the people of the Hamlet. The grade three students looked at the people of the past who came to Millarville in the 1800's and what their life was like. They interviewed the members of the community and shared their stories.
The curriculum for Grade One Social Studies, in Alberta, involves a study of "Family", taking a close look at "What is a family"? "What are the traditions of the family"? The curriculum also has a look at the topic "My School". By looking at the traditions of the quilt and also the Christmas Concert and the drawings and stories of the family, the curriculum areas were explored. The Grade Two Curriculum for Social Studies, in Alberta, involves a study of the people in the present in the student's immediate community. With the opportunity to walk to local buisnesses and community landmarks and gather information first hand about the community of Millarville, it seemed like this would be exciting. The curriculum for Grade Three Social Studies, in Alberta, involves a study of a community in the past. We were able to access the information that the community library had researched as they were writing and performing a play about the history of Millarville. All of the stories of the children started with art. The students were able to do their work using a word processor, a digital camera and a scanner. This helped them meet the objectives of the ICT curriculum. Using the skills of communication and representation, the students worked on their stories revising and editing.
The main tool that was used for this project was Microsoft Word. This was a familiar tool for the kids to use for their writing. They also used the digital camera and the scanner to capture the art work. For our html editors we used Front Page, Dreamweaver, Photo editor, Photo Draw and Fireworks. We would like to thank Mr. Gaskell and Mrs. Martin for all of their expertise and help with our web site.
Our community was a very big help for us. They brought in artifacts and told us stories of the past. They were preparing for their own play and so they had a lot of history to tell us. We were also able to walk down to the center of the Hamlet and visit the store and talk to the people who work and live there. This was easy as there are very few stores in town. We chose the General Store and the Rancher's Hall to visit. The community also helped us with the writing of our project as they were more than willing to help with the editing process. They were our editors and helped us check if our information was correct.
This project has given the students a sense of the history of Millarville and the importance of the past. It was powerful that the members of the community were able to bring in real objects and tell real real stories. The students and the teachers had to use the skills of communication as many times it was difficult to know what the other classes were doing and how it was all going to fit together.
One of the skills that the group had to work on was the skill of communication and team work. This was a very important skill and sometimes was difficult.
The community members who have come in to work with the students have learned from them and also the students have learned from the community. They enjoyed interacting with people rather than just reading from books and we know that the visitors enjoyed telling their stories.
This project was a very large project and the coordination and the planning and the working with three different classes was difficult. It was hard to get the project to a size that was manageable. We worked together as much as we could but found that is was necessary at times to work on our own. One of our biggest challenges was the technology. Our learning curve for this project was very steep but with the help of Mr. Gaskell and Mrs. Martin we were able to accomplish what we set out to do. We had to get some help because we had many creative ideas and we did not know how to accomplish them. Because our website was so involved with art, we wanted to make sure that there was art throughout. Time management was also tough for us. We thought that we had things so well planned but discovered that we were not even close.
We learned that it is very important to work as a team and respect the work of each other. It is also important to make sure that all of your work is completed on time. It is very important to meet a deadline and make sure that you don·t let the other members of your group down. Teamwork is very important, besides you learn more that way. A group is better than one person working on their own.
Our web site was designed to be an ongoing project that will expand to include participation from all of the grades of the Millarville School from Kindergarten to grade 8. We plan to invite alll members of our community to add to this web site throughout the next two years. That way it is a true community website. In the next years we plan to expand the information about the present and also look into the future of Millarville, keeping in mind the importance of the stories behind the art. We also plan to include more of the traditions of this school.