If you had a loonie and a toonie

in your pocket,

where might you be?

These students know….

A quick look inside the global classroom at Delmar…

Canada!

Hello PattiI am teaching at a Xit'olacw Community School, a First Nations school up in Mount Currie, British Columbia, Canada

Our school is for Native Indian students - they are part of the inner Salish group of Indians. We would love to write to your students and would like to set up a simple project of sharing our culture with you.My young students have no concept of what the rest of the world is like and so I would also like postcards from your country to show where you live.

We are all busy catching salmon and picking berries but we are experiencing severe dry conditions so we are not allowed to go onto the mountains because of the danger of fire. This is causing the community great stress as we need to collect food to put away for winter. With no rain we also have no mushrooms. Does your community pick and eat mushrooms? ~Liz

“We would love to write to your students…” ~Liz

We located our friends on a map.

A First Nations CommunityHello Patti and the students at Delmar Elementary School.

We would like to share some information with you about our-selves. We divided our class into subjects so we could tell you some things about us. We are grade 7 students living in Mount Currie, British Columbia, Canada. We are a first Nations community.

Mount Currie has two parts; the old Reserve in the valley is the original community, and the Xit’olacw Site is a newer community on a ridge above the old Reserve. Mount Currie is about 30 km north and east of Whistler and 150 km north of Vancouver. As Mount. Currie only has 1 corner store and 1 gas station people tend to travel to buy what they want and need. Vancouver will host the 2010 Winter Olympics and many of the events will be in Whistler. Many of us have family and friends in Vancouver, Lillooet and we all travel to the city several times each year.

Pow Wow“We had a pow-wow today at our school.  We danced with all the children in our community.  There were lots of drummers and singers and many elders came.  We made necklace to give to the elders.  We will send you some photos.” ~Aneta

“This is our second powwow.  We had one at the beginning of the year too. In the community there are drumming circles and powwows all the time to mark celebrations like weddings and births.  Our favorite thing about the powwow was the hoop dance.  The dancers have 5 sturdy 'hoola hoops‘ that they weave their bodies in and out of and it is quite difficult and entertaining. “~Aneta

Salmon Fishing

“We are all going salmon fishing today and will be barbecueing them in the special Indian way.The students have made special cedar sticks for this.” ~Liz

Drumming as a FamilyMy name is Romuald

I am in Grade 3I like dancing and I am a Grass dancer. I wear special regalia when I dance. Ross, my stepmother made my regalia for me. I drum and I dance and I have a family drum group. My uncle and aunty and my dad and step mom, Kenneth, Byron and I all drum as a family. It makes me feel very proud when we drum as a family. Washtepo is my favorite drumming song.

A Fancy DancerHello My name is ToniI am in Grade 4. Pam is my teacher. I am also a dancer but I am a Fancy Dancer and I wear regalia to dance in. It is made of soft buckskin leather and I wear moccasins on my feet. My sister Helena taught me to dance.

I do not pick mushrooms but I like picking berries.

Our school is right under a big mountain and we are close to a river. The salmon are running and when they have laid their eggs they die and it smells really bad.I like to go hiking with my grandpa.

Our School Bus

We visit Holly our nurse at the Health Care center.

Hiding in the snow

Loonies and TooniesFrom Canada:FROM: "Aneta Prettie" DATE: Wed, 18 Feb 2004 16:44:12 -0800

Hello Mrs. Spicer's Class:Yes, we have money in Canada. Our penny is also worth $.01, nickel $.05, dime $.10, and the quarter $.25. We use to have a dollar bill but now it's a one dollar coin, called a loonie! We no longer have a two dollar bill either, it's a two dollar coin called a toonie. (Change purses are a must!)

What is a Reserve?

Dear Ms. Aneta’s Class, Thank you for the PowerPoint. We liked it a lot! What is the Reserve? We don’t have mountains here. Our 100th day of school was Wednesday. Loonie and toonie are neat names for money. We have a cartoons called Looney Tunes! We have a $1.00 coin called a golden dollar. When we help with chores around the house we get an allowance from ours parents. Sometimes we spend our money. Sometimes we save our money in the bank. Do you get an allowance? Do you spend or save your allowance? Please write back soon! From, Mrs. Spicer’s Class

Dear Mrs. Spicer's Class, Thank you for all your wonderful questions. We are an Indian Band school which is located on an Indian reservation. All of the students are Indian but some of the teachers are not. Included in our education is learning our Indian language, which is taught by our elders. Do you know a second language? Our school does a lot of fundraising throughout the school year, like selling baked goods in the cafeteria or helping with lunch sales. We all love gym class. We are learning about gymnastics. As well, we love working on the computer. What are your favourite subjects? From, Mrs. Prettie's Class

To be continued..

June came too quickly… but our exchanges will continue in the fall.