From Flat Mrs Donnelly and Gayle in Alberta, Canada to Bhargav: [Gayle took Flat Stanley along whilst she was waiting for Flat Mrs Donelly to arrive]
Greetings Bhargav,
Gayle took me on a journey. We do not have Flat Mrs. Donelly yet so I
thought I would invite myself along to keep her company. We drove 14 hours from Port Coquitlam,
British Columbia where Gayle lives to St. Albert, Alberta which is very close
to Edmonton. You can see Alberta on the
map.
We thought you might like to know a bit about the city
of Edmonton and the province of Alberta.
We call Alberta a Prairie Province. Canada has 10
provinces and 3 territories. You can
look them up if you’d like!
To get to
Edmonton from our home in Port Coquitlam you need to drive through British
Columbia’s Pacific Coast mountains as well as the famous Canadian Rockies. It is a beautiful drive with many lakes and
rivers.
I want to
show you our road trip!
After a VERY long drive we arrived in St Albert, Alberta. This is about a 25 minute drive from Edmonton.
These are photos of West Edmonton Mall – the largest mall in North
America. It is theme based. There is a hotel with theme rooms like cars
for beds, a seaworld, a skating rink, a swimming pool, a pirate play area, and
more! Imagine all this inside of a mall.
Pretty awesome, right?
We spent some time at the market in downtown St Albert. I know you have markets like this in
Australia too. Gayle enjoyed them when
she lived in Sydney. Gayle got some jam,
garlic, fresh veggies and for lunch some poutine, a Canadian dish with french
fries, gravy and white cheese curds.
YUMMY!
Every night we went for a walk around our friends house in St Albert. These are pictures of the Sturgeon
River. There are beaver living in this
river as well as river rats and fish.
The fish that live there are called walleye, pike, perch, burbot, goldeye, sturgeon, whitefish,
and sauger.
The aboriginal people found the abundant supply of bison a very good reason to stay where they lived. These animals would provide them with food, shelter, tools and fuel for thousands of years. Over time the aboriginal people came to regard the bison as their special gift from the Great Spirit.
Many towns in the Prairie Provinces like Alberta have grain elevators like this one. A grain elevator is a building that stores grain harvested from the fields.
Well that’s it for today Bhargav. I hope you enjoy reading about our trip. We were tired when we got home. 14 hours was a long time for Gayle to drive.
We look forward to the next time we post an
adventure. Maybe next time you can see
the area just outside of Vancouver, British Columbia where Gayle lives. It is beautiful there too.
Have a great day!
Respectfully,
Flat Stanley
G’day Bhargav,
It is Flat Stanley here. Still waiting for Flat Mrs. Donelly to
arrive. Australia is a VERY long way
from Port Coquitlam, a suburb of Vancouver.
Perhaps she took a slow boat to get here? I am so excited to meet her! 😊
Gayle is busy making a salad. She is always making something it seems! The food in the Vancouver area of British
Columbia, a province of Canada, is very similar to food in Australia’s cities. When Gayle goes out, she likes to eat
hamburgers, Sushi, Thai, Indian, Italian, hot dogs and more. She loves all kinds of food.
Canada is famous for its smoked salmon, bagels, Nanaimo bars, butter tarts, Montreal smoked meat, maple syrup and bannock. Mmmm! Nanaimo Bars and Butter Tarts are Christmas treats in Gayle’s house. Nanaimo Bars come from a town on Vancouver Island close to where Gayle lives. Bannock is a Canadian indigenous food. Just some trivia for you!
In British Columbia many of the holidays are the same
as in Australia, though some are different.
There is: New Years Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday,
Victoria Day, Canada Day, British Columbia Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving,
Remembrance Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
For most of these days people get a day off from work and school. It is nice.
Gayle’s favourite holiday is Christmas, which is in
the middle of winter – not summer like in Australia. In the Vancouver area there is not much
snow. Mostly rain and dark days from
about October or November right through to February. Here is Gayle’s balcony with snow one
Christmas. Snow for Christmas in the
Vancouver area is an exciting event!
From Sarah and Flat Paige in Wolverhampton, England
Well Flat Paige has had a very busy week, in between lots of thunder and lightning we have managed to have a look around Wolverhampton.
Our first visit was to the statue of Lady Wulfruna who founded the town in 985A.D she was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who held lots of land in the area. She was very important (girl power existed even then!) and she founded Saint Peters church which was next on our visit. (3 photos below). The church and gardens is the oldest place in Wolverhampton.The last photo was taken whilst we were driving through town (I wasn’t driving!) and it shows where the first automated traffic lights in Britain were put in 1927.
Our adventures will continue on my next email.....
The next stop was West Park which was created in 1881 and is a typical Victorian park with the original bandstand still being used.
Our final visit this week was to St Philips church which I think you may have heard about as it’s where your nan and grandad were married.
That’s all for now but Flat Paige has plans for more adventures next week!
Have a good week, stay safe,
Sarah and Flat Paige xx
From Tania and Flat Hayden in Iceland
Hi Students!
This week my host family took me to see a
hot water spring and taught me about geothermal energy.
Iceland has about 30 active volcanos, which
means that there is lots of magma underneath the ground. When all of the
rainwater drains into the earth, it gets really hot from the magma and forms a
hot spring. The water then boils back up to the surface, and it is really
smelly, like rotten eggs! Icelanders use this hot water for bathing and heating
their homes. You can’t drink it though, because it tastes as bad as it smells.
Here is a picture of me in front of the spring. You can see the water boiling behind me.
As you can see, the water is boiling and can be really dangerous! I have also sent a short video of the water boiling up from the ground.
They also use this hot water for heating greenhouses where they grow all of their vegetables. We visited a greenhouse where they grow tomatoes. We saw one which was really big!
The hot water is also used to create electricity to power their homes. They also use it to fill their swimming pools. It must be really strange to go swimming outside in the winter. My host family showed me a picture of a warm lake, called the Blue Lagoon. People come here to swim all year-round. It is really beautiful, and I would really like to go there. Here is the picture that they showed me.
They also told me about the geysers which shoot hot water really high into the air! Here is a picture of one erupting.
On the way home from the hot spring we saw some mountains, and even though it is summer here, there is still some snow on them!
Bye for now! Flat Hayden
Hello from the United
States! My name is Kathy. Flat Mrs. Harrison is here with my 14 year
old son David and I. We live in Elgin, near Chicago Illinois. I am a kindergarten teacher. David is starting high school. It is warm here – summertime and we have had
a lot of indoor activities.
Flat Mrs. Harrison has been on YouTube with David. He does commentary on YouTube videos. He watches then talks about them. He also raps and plays the drums. Check out Flat Mrs. Harrison on the drums! Sometimes our cats interfere with his videotaping.
Corey is sleeping with Flat Mrs. Harrison. His brother Caiden was sleeping in the other room. The boys are brothers – the only difference is one is bigger than the other. Both are very quiet and like to cuddle.
Flat Mrs. Harrison has been learning American History. We love to watch the movie Hamilton. It was made from a theater production. It tells the story of how the United States became a country. It is all music – rap music! We have all learned a lot from it. Alexander Hamilton is on the American $10 bill.
My two favorite things in the summer are Chicago Cubs baseball and iced coffee. The Cubs are a professional team. I have been to Wrigley Field where they play but I love listening to them on the radio. They won the championship in 1908. The next time they won it was 2016 – that is a long time to go between championships. Chicago has 2 baseball teams. You either the like the Cubs or the Chicago White Sox – not both!
My iced coffee from Dunkin’ is wonderful. I drink it year ‘round but especially in the summer. I like the half price special in the afternoon. People went to Dunkin’ for donuts – now it is for coffee!
I will send more pictures and tell you more about Elgin next week – David and I getting ready to start school, our hometown Elgin (near Chicago) and even taking our cats to church on Sunday!
See you next week!
Kathy Mikel
UPDATE - SPETEMBER 10.
Hello,
My son David and I live in Elgin, Illinois, outside of the large city of Chicago in Illinois. It’s in the middle of the United States, by one of the great lakes, Lake Michigan.
This is a famous landmark in Chicago called the “Bean”. You can see the reflection of the downtown skyline in the bean. Poor Flat Mrs Harrison did not get to go see it due to COVID.
Illinois is known the “Land of Lincoln”, a famous US President from the 1860s.
I am a preps teacher and David is in Grade 9. We enjoy playing games, watching videos and sports, especially baseball, basketball and Aussie Rules Football.
Our cats Caiden and Corey are brothers and they like to sleep, look at people from up high (notice the globe is showing Australia!) and Caiden is a champion yawner! Flat Mrs Harrison can’t believe how many hours they can sleep each day!
Our family likes the Chicago Cubs baseball team – here is Wrigley Field (stadium where they play) and one of the players ready to hit the ball. Our team is doing well – Go Cubs!
We like to celebrate holidays with family from Minnesota, including Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, and school holidays. We are getting really good at Zoom parties now!!!
We like to eat different types of food from around the world and recently tried octopus!
We enjoy many kinds of music, David particularly likes rap/hip-hop and I like musical theater. I sing along with the radio in the car, Good thing no one can hear me!
David and I go for a drive to get out of the house. These are pictures from Elgin – along the Fox River. I haven’t gone to the casino boat but a lot of people do. One of our parks even has a mini zoo – with buffalo!
We are back in school. We start in August. I teach my kids online every day. David goes to his school 2 days a week and studies from home 3 days a week. It is going pretty well.
Flat Mrs Harrison has seen and heard a lot. We loved having her with us!
Love,
Kathy and David Mikel
From Marilyn in Newfoundland, Canada.
[Did you know that the furtherest point from Melbourne, Australia is Cape Spear, Newfoundland, just near Marilyn? That's from Ms Moore. I was very excited to stand at the edge of land there, knowing it was the furtherest point on Earth from home!!]
Hello Mrs. Moore and class,
I am
delighted that I was asked to take part in your Flat Teacher/Student project
inspired by Flat Stanley! I was given Flat Mrs. Moore, drawn by the very
talented Harriette! I would like to tell you about where I live and a little
bit about myself.
I am a grade 5 French Immersion teacher
at a school called Villanova Junior High which means that while the school
consists mainly of classes in English, my students do their lessons in their
second language, French. We
are a grade 5 - 8 school with 664 students and 45 teaching staff. In Canada, there are two official
languages, English and French, and every Canadian student has the right to be
instructed in both languages! Canada is a multicultural country and we have
people living here from all over the world! Our country is very big and
consists of large forests, prairies, and the beautiful Rocky Mountains.
I have been a French teacher for about
25 years and I love it. I am married and have twins, a boy and a girl, aged 16
years old. I have a Havanese dog named Lexie and she is almost 9 years old. I
live outside of the capital city of Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John’s)
which is the most easterly province of Canada. St. John’s is the oldest city in
North America! Guglielmo Marconi sent the first trans-atlantic wireless message
from the top of Signal Hill in a place called Cabot Tower in 1901.
I
live in a town called Paradise, although, with our harsh Canadian winters, it
doesn’t always live up to its name. LOL. My school is located in a part of
Conception Bay South called Manuels and right behind it flows the beautiful
Manuel’s River where people can walk along the scenic trails or swim in
freshwater. Newfoundland itself is an island, like Australia, but much smaller,
and we also have a mainland part called Labrador. Here are some maps to help
you locate where I am relative to where you live in the world.
Here is a map of Newfoundland and Labrador so you can find St. John’s.
And here is a map of the area surrounding St. John’s where my home and
school are located.
Newfoundland
and Labrador has a vast terrain. We have mountains, a famous fjord called Gros
Morne, forests, lakes, ponds, bogs, lots of cliffs and rocks and hiking trails
galore! One of the most popular hiking spots is called the East Coast Trail
which takes hikers on rough terrain along the cliffs above the harsh Atlantic
ocean which surrounds us. It gets VERY windy here in Newfoundland. We also have
what are called The Tablelands on the west coast of the island that were formed
by glaciers millions of years ago, just like the fjord called Gros Morne. I
hiked The Tablelands with my family and they are spectacular.
We
also have an abundance of wildlife here. We have large mammals on land and sea,
such as the mighty caribou, the moose (which was brought here in the early
1900s so they are not native to us), and the most spectacular humpback whales
who put on a show every year for the locals and tourists.
Gros Morne:
The Tablelands:
East Coast Trail:
Moose:
Caribou:
Humpback whale:
We have small mammals as well such as hares, beavers, foxes, squirrels and many, many species of fish and birds.
Hare:
Beaver:
Fox:
Squirrel:
Because we are surrounded by the ocean, there are many fishing villages which are located next to the coast. We are most known for fishing the mighty cod fish.
Cod:
It is said that when John Cabot discovered Newfoundland in 1497, that his ship was stopped in the waters off our coast because of the millions of fish in our waters! He sailed back to England to tell the King and people from England, Ireland, French, Spain and Portugal came here to fish, and they inhabited the island. Most of our ancestors are English, Irish and French. Many of our towns have French names, such as Lourdes, Port-aux-Basques, Baie Verte, and lots more. We also have towns with very silly names such as Heart’s Delight, Heart’s Desire, Heart’s Content, Little Heart’s Ease, Cupids, Joe Batt’s Arm and so, so many more! We also speak in a fairly strong Irish accent depending on where on the island you live and we love to tell jokes. Newfoundlanders are known to be some of the kindest people on earth because of our hospitality and we have a very good sense of humour.
Did you know that
Newfoundland and Labrador was first inhabited by aboriginal people much like
Australia? The island portion of the province was inhabited by the Beothuk
Indians who are now, unfortunately, extinct :( That means that they have all
died off and there are none left. The last surviving Beothuk was taken to St.
John’s. Her name was Shawnadithit. She died there in June, 1829 of
tuberculosis.
Artist drawing of the Beothuk trading with the colonists from Europe:
Portrait of Shawnadithit:
Mi’kmaq:
Pow wow:
And how can I not mention that before the eastern Europeans came to Newfoundland, it had first been discovered by the Vikings!!!! In a place on the north coast called L'Anse-aux-Meadows, there are viking dwellings that you can visit. Here are some pictures.
Newfoundland is an archaeologist's paradise! So many artifacts have been found here. And did I mention that Newfoundland has some of the oldest fossils in the world!? Some have been found by the Manuel’s River by my school. Here are some examples of trilobites which have been discovered.
Newfoundland and Labrador is also home to four of UNESCO’S World Heritage Sites. Gros Morne and The Tablelands, which are located in the first one, Gros Morne National Park, and L’Anse-aux-Meadows, which I have already mentioned. But there are also Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve and the Red Bay Basque Whaling Station.
And I would also like to mention that Newfoundland has an ecological reserve in Cape St. Mary’s which is home to gulls, razorbills, common murres, black-legged kittiwakes, northern gannets, and double-crested and great cormorants. But we were known for the Auk which is now extinct, and we are home to thousands of Puffins-they are so cute!
The Extinct Auk:
The Titanic hit an iceberg on August 15, 1912 off the southern coast of Newfoundland in the area of the Grand Banks and sank :(
I really hope you have enjoyed learning about Newfoundland and Labrador. There is still so much I could tell you. If you have any questions or would like to know more, your teacher can let me know.
Here are the Canadian and Newfoundland flags that you can also use for your display:
