Artefact: Star Wars Lego Videogames

Description: I have two Star Wars Lego video games! These video games play on Playstation 2.  This is a compact disc.The names of these two video games are Lego Star Wars the Video game and Lego Star Wars II The Original Trilogy

Date: I got these two video games on November 22, 2008 (my birthday)

Owner: I am the owner of these two Star Wars video games

Notes: What happens in these video games is that you need to reproduce all the Star Wars but in Legos !!! You can build and ride vehicles, mix and match character or play with a buddy !!

Blogger: Jim

Something to think about:

Did PlayStations exist when the first Star Wars movie came out in the theatre?

Did Legos exist?

What does Lego have to do with Star Wars?

Artefact: Star Wars Lightsaber of Darth Maul

Description: This is from the 2004 episode 1 Darth Maul battle damaged lightsaber. It was molded after the lightsaber Obi wan Kenobi severed in the battle to the death between him and Darth Maul. It is made of some kind of metal.

Date: I think it was made in 2004 by Master replicas. I don’t remember exactly when I got it.

Owner: Giles

Notes: It is very special to me because my dad put a lot of effort in to getting it. He was trying hard to find and get it.

Blogger: Giles

Something to think about:

What might someone learn about you, if they looked at this artefact 50 years from now?

Artefact: Star Wars Card

Description: This artifact is 6.4 cm x 8.3 cm. It is made out of card board and was inside a gum pack.

Date: It was made in 1977.

Owner:M.C. (my mommy)

Notes: My Mom bought this card 32 years ago. In a gum pack. My mom kept it because it’s a big, big part of her childhood and it’s a collectable. She still is a Star Wars fan and we still have all the movies.

Artefacts are objects that human beings have made or modified.

Artefact: Star Wars – Lightsaber

Description: My Star Wars artefact is a plastic lightsaber. The lightsaber is red. The name of the owner (in Star Wars) is Count Dooku. Also the handle is curved and black with some silver.

Date: I got my light saber in 2003 in April.

Owner: The lightsaber is mine. all mine. I got it when I was small.

Notes: When I was small I was a fan of Star Wars.

Blogger: Paul

Artefacts are objects that human beings have made or modified.

Artefact: Star Wars – Han Solo

Description: This character is called Han Solo.

He is 15.2cm.He is made in plastic.

Date: I got it in 2007.

Owner: The owner is myself.

Notes: Han Solo is a gunner. He is a good person in the movie.

Blogger: Lex

Artefacts are objects that human beings have made or modified.

Artefact: Star Wars Movie – La Menace Fantome

Description: My Star Wars object is a French movie of Star Wars. It is the movie #1 (the 1st movie). It’s a VHS format.

Date: It was made in 2000, and we received it by gift in December 2007. My dad’s co-worker gave it to us.
Owner: My family owns this movie.

Notes: Star Wars is for all ages, but mostly for kids.

Blogger: Spike

Artefacts are objects that human beings have made or modified.

Popular Culture: Television

Which television shows do you watch?

What is your favourite genre?

Why?

Vintage Postcard: St.James Cathedral & YMCA

An early twentieth century night-view of St.James Cathedral & YMCA, Montreal

 

Question: A reader called Spike asked “Is YMCA a city?”

Answer: No, Spike. The letters YMCA are initials standing for Young Men’s Christian Association. It was founded as  an organization “to put Christian principles into practice” (source: Wikipedia) although it is best known to the general public for its gyms (health clubs).

YMCA Canada - YMCA Canada

Dear Grade 6

Thank you for being such a great group of students- you’ve made teaching such a great joy!

I’m very proud of you for everything you’ve done all year including this brand-new blog, You are the first St-Lawrence students to write a blog like this and you’ve started a great project for next year’s students.

Have fun in high school!

Mrs. Theriault

Spinning Wheel, Chateau de Ramezay

A spinning wheel and fireplace at Chateau de Ramezay, now a Montreal museum.

Hockey Poll

Martin Brodeur

I chose Martin Brodeur because I think that he is the best goalie in the NHL and he beat Patrick Roy’s record.

I will never forget the day that Martin Brodeur scored a goal in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He fired the puck high in the air and it landed in the goal.

Martin Brodeur is in the NHL since 1994 (15 years). He has always been with the New Jersey Devils his shirt number is 30.

He won 3 Stanley Cups, 4 Vezina Trophies (best goalie), 4 William M Jennings Trophy (fewest goals allowed), 1 Calder Memorial trophy (most proficient player), He played in 9 all-star games. Martin Brodeur was born May 6th, 1972.

Author: Bobby

Podnieks, Andrew. The Unbeatable Martin Brodeur.

Jeanne Mance and the Hotel Dieu

Do you know what the oldest hospital in Montreal, Quebec is? That ’s right the Hôtel Dieu de Montréal. It is also one of my favourite hospitals because my 2 grandparents met there and became close friends when they were both there to visit their sick relatives. Then my parents became good friends and got married. Also my 2 great grandparents died there.

Jeanne Mance - Quebec Nurse

Jeanne Mance was the one who founded the hospital on October 8, 1645 , that ’s 364 years ago. The hospital had a kitchen, 2 sick rooms and a room for her and another room for a helper. In 1645 a shipload of supplies was sent to Jeanne from the Society of Our Lady. Medicines, linens, surgical instruments, furniture and copper pots, 3 cows and 20 sheep came with the supplies. Madame de Bullion was a lady who gave Jeanne Mance money to build the hospital.

The Hôtel-Dieu was so important that when it burned down 3 times it got rebuilt each time. Can you imagine that? It is so popular that it contains more than 300 beds. Do you know how any patients it was estimated to care for between 1760? That ’s right 82 000 patients! Isn ‘t that incredible?

I believe Jeanne Mance is a caring person because when her mother died she cared for eleven brothers and sisters. She also built the hospital to help aboriginals and devoted her life to religion,

She was born November 12, 1606 and died June 18, 1673. But sadly she died of a long and painful illness. She was so important that a street in Montreal and a public park has the name Mance.

Author: Lucky Puppy

References:

Auclair, E. (1910). Jeanne Mance. The Catholic Encyclopedia

Emery, Joanna. Caring for a colony: the story of Jeanne Mance.

Moose

Almost all the moose that live in North America live in Canada.

The moose is the largest member of the deer family. Female moose are named cows. A baby moose calf just like a baby deer. The part that hangs off the moose’s chin is called a bell. If you want to know what a adult moose is, you just have to look at the coat of the moose . So if it has a dark brown coat it is an adult if not it is a calf or a kid. And to tell what a young moose would look like – it has a brownish red coat.

Author: Razzle

References:

www.saskschools.ca

www.wikipedia.com

Inuit Shelter – The Igloo

BUILDING AN IGLOO

An igloo is basically a dome of ice cubes and snow. Inuits use snow to make their homes because the air pockets in the snow act like isolation. The snow used for the igloos has to have structural strength to be able to be cut without breaking and then be easily stacked. The ice cubes are cut by a hand made knife. The Inuits often take one block of snow out of the igloos structure to form a window. Some Inuits even make a hole through the ice inside of the dome to be able to ice fish inside their homes. An Inuit men can build an igloo in about one hour.

LIVING IN AN IGLOO

To prevent cold air from coming inside the igloo, a tunnel is dug in the snow and a door is put at the end of the tunnel to not let the cold air penetrate the igloo. The entrance (tunnel) acts like a trap to cold air so it doesn’t go inside the Inuit’s dwelling. Out side an igloo temperatures varie at about -45c. and inside of an igloo the temperature varie between about -7c. to about 16c. when the only source of heat is body heat. When the Inuits build their igloos the sleeping areas are always higher then the other areas. That is because heat goes upwards and coldness stays towards the ground. When there is a source of heat inside the igloo the walls tend to melt and then refreeze to make a layer of ice on the walls and then reinforce the structure of the igloo. That said not all Inuits live and build igloos only the Inuits of Canada central Arctic and Greenland live and build igloos.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF IGLOOS

There are mainly three different types of igloos that Inuits build. The smallest of the three is used for hunting trips of only one or two nights. These igloos are often built on open sea ice.

The other igloo considered “medium” is semi-permanent for a medium sized family. It is usually a one roomed igloo for only one or two families, sometimes many of these are made in one area to form an Inuit village.

The largest of the three igloos is 50% for living and the other 50% is used for special occasions. These igloos can have up to 5 rooms and have up to 20 people living inside of it. A large igloo might consist of plenty of small igloos connected together. These large igloos were used to hold committee fest and dances and other occasions.

References:

-igloo/www.Wikipedia.org

-Places in time (2007) Savoie Sylvie, Laroche Louis

-www.saskschools.ca

-www.ih.kl2.oh.us/

Author: Jaques

Related Posts:

Inuit Portal

Inuit Traditional Fishing

Detail: CDN Stamp - Kayak

 

 

The Inuit used to fish to live. Without fish they would have had nothing to eat since there was a lack of food over there in the winter. The children and women are the ones that would mostly go fishing. They would fish for Crisco trout and more with nets and spears and they would ice fish with hooks. In the summer fishing was done in open waters on boats.

After a long day of fishing the children and women would come back to their camp with their catch and the Inuit would cut and gut their fish.The tool they use to cut and also gut their fish is called an ulu. The ulu is a sort of knife. The handle of the knife is made of wood or bone and it can be made of antler. The sharp part of the knife was either made of stone or meta. They would hold the ulu with the handle in their hand with the blade going downwards through their middle finger and the ring finger. When cutting they would slice the sides of the fish then clean it after the would hang it up to dry then cook it and then they ate.

Today the Inuit are more modern. They don’t go fishing with kayaks or canoes. Now the Inuit go fishing with all the new sorts of metal boats that are less dangerous then kayaks or canoes because they’re more modern. Today fishing for Inuit is an economic activity.

If a long time ago the Inuit did not know about fish or fishing they would not be where they are today and fish is what kept the Inuit going for all these years.

References:

Leblance, Genevieve and Sarrasin, Louise. Places in time (series)(2007)

Smith Greg J.H. Eskimos The Inuit of the Arctic

Author: Bub

Related Post:

Inuit Portal

Inuit Traditional Clothing and Kamiits

Who made Inuit clothing?

One of the main traditions is that the woman makes the cloth. The Inuit clothes consist of parkas such as: an outer layer, inner parkas, a trousers, mittens, caribou or rabbit socks and kamiits. Inuit makes clothes from animal skins, sewn together using needles made from animals bones and threads. Parkas are made with leather and fur. Some of the animals used to make the clothes are:

• caribou
• seal
• squirrel
• wolf
• wolverine
• mink
• bears
• foxes

Inuit woman wore parkas with extra large hoods, to allow the mother to carry a baby against their back and to protect it from the harsh wind. The styles of parkas vary from region to region , from shape of hood to length of the tails. Today parkas are still worn in other parts of the world and are made in other materials.

The woman also makes kamiits. Kamiits are waterproof boats. The boats are made of sealskins. They are very useful in the spring when the snow melts.

 

How Do They Prepare The Skins?

Parkas and kamiits is a long job to do. Inuit woman prepare the skins using a scraper called an ulu. The scraper removes the fat from the skins , after the woman chews the skin to soften it, Through the years the woman loses their teeth.

The Inuit still wear traditional clothes,such as parkas and kamiits in the far north. They also wear clothes like pants and shirts from the south.

References: Leblanc , Genevieve and Sarrasin, Louise. Place In Time (2007)

The Canadian Arctic Inuit(1998)

wikipedia.org. Inuit

www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/polar/inuit_.html

Arctic Studies Center .Eskimo

Author: Magick

Related Posts:

Inuit Portal

Inuit Traditional Hunting

For centuries the Inuits hunted for food. They took off all the meat of the animal and froze a little to conserve. They did not want to waste it. They took the skin for cloth and drums tops. The tool to take off the skin was called a Ulu (scrapper) it was easier with the Ulu which was very useful.

The antlers of a moose or caribou were used for sculptures. The caribou bones was often used for the harpoon tips. The Inuits hunted for sea animals and mammals. When they hunted for seals and belugas, to not get lost they built Inuksuks (land marks made of stone). The Inuits have some expeditions in winter to hunt. A seal’s baby is called a whitecoat because they are all white. The Inuits had to dress very warmly to go hunt because by the river or where they hunt it was it was very cold.

The weapons the Inuit ’s used in the past 1000 years were…

• rifles
• harpoons
• bow and arrows
• other wooden objects
• animal bones

The Inuits mostly ate meat like fish and mammals. These ways of life are very different from today. Inuit’s never hunted for nothing, they wouldn’t kill for nothing, they would just eat for one thing to survive. When they went hunting on the ice or on land they needed transportation so they had canoes and kayaks to or on land they had dog sleds and today the have snowmobiles. If you went hunting you would have to have skills and be fast. The blubber of the seal was made for oil.The meat that the hunters would bring home would feed a lot of people.

References:

Leblanc , Genevieve and sarrasin louise. Places in time series (2007) Santella Andrew The Inuit (2007) The Inuit Williams M. Suzanne (2003)

Author: Bob

Related Posts:

Inuit Portal

Inuit Portal

Inuit Traditional Clothing and Kamiits

Inuit Traditional Fishing

Inuit Traditional Hunting

Inuit Shelter – The Igloo

Family History Portal

Immigration Stories

• The Amranis in Canada
• Manuel Mendes and Selene Machado: a Portuguese Story
• Siberia: My Missing Ancestor

Quebec Stories

• The de LaRochelles of St-Victoire, Quebec
• My Lemieux Ancestors
• My Tremblay Ancestors

Work Stories

• Alphonse Perreault and Astro Taxi

Family History/Genealogy Methods

 

• Collecting
• A Rose By Any Other Name

Missing in Siberia: A Ukranian Story

The name of my immigrant ancestor was Andre Semlanoi and he was my grandfather. He spoke French, English, Ukranian, Polish, Russian and German. He was born in 1916 in Kharkow in the Ukraine on a farm. It was hard for him because he lived on a farm. So it was rural, not urban.

Artefact: Mortuary Card

In 1932 the communists took over the Ukraine and took all the land away from the people.Seven million Ukrainians died. Andre’s father, my Great grandpa Paulo Semlanoi, lost his farm and was sent to a Siberian prison. Another word for where he was sent in Siberia is the Gulag. There were more than eighteen million people that went to the Gulag from 1929 to 1953. My great-grandfather’s crime was owning land. People were sent to Siberia because the government wanted to take their land away.

My grandpa Andre was 16 years old when his father was sent to Siberia. Andre and his sister Halyna were sent to a communist prison school! That was the last time my grandpa saw his sister. After five years great-grandpa Paulo returned from Siberia but he couldn’t come within 100 kilometres of his old farm.

Finally, it was 1937 and my Grandpa Andre went into the Russian army. He was taken prisoner by the German army and then he escaped and went to the French resistance army. He lived in France after the war until 1952. Then he came to Canada. Andre left all of his family behind and did not keep in touch with them and it was very hard for him.

Andre came to Canada by sea. He travelled by a boat which is called an ocean liner. On this voyage he was alone. He was sad and alone. He met other Ukranian people and became friends but then he had to go on.

Andre came here to live in Canada and to also find a job. He did not care what he did for a living. He just needed money for food and shelter. He chose Canada because he wanted a new start in life. When he came to Canada he started off in Toronto, then he settled in Montreal for a couple of years and after that he moved to Ontario where he spent the remainder of his life.

My grandfather died on January 1st and his funeral was on January 5th, 2008.

Author: Sparky829

Related Posts:

Family History Portal

Collecting

“Collection … any group of things systematically assembled…” Oxford Dictionary

Sometimes we can tell something about a person or the society they live in by what they collect. What type of objects have you – or someone in your family -collected?

Want to know what kids are collecting nowadays?
Look in the comment boxes below.

 

Related Posts:

Family History Portal

A Rose By Any Other Name …

In his article on the De La Rochelles, Eric explained that his surname has changed many times through the years.

Choose one of your family surnames and give examples of the different ways it might be spelled.

Mrs. Theriault

Related Posts:
Family History Portal

Related Links:
“You like po-tato and I like po-tahto!” Pt.1<

My Lemieux Ancestors

I looked up my ancestors on the BMS2000 site. The BMS is a site where we can get marriage, birth and death records so we can find out, for instance, the year when people got married and who they got married with. It also tells the father’s and mother’s name. We can also find out where they got married and probably also lived. I knew my grandparents’ names (Andre Lemieux and Yolande Lefrancois) and from that I found my great grandparents names, their parents names etc.

Mortuary Cards

These are the mortuary cards of my great-grandparents Adelard Lemieux and Juliette Lapointe.

Mortuary cards are given to people who come to the funeral. They are used as something to remember a loving family member.

On mortuary cards we can find out when the person died, at what age they died and who they were married with. Some mortuary cards also have little messages to comfort the sad family members. Sometimes there are even appealing pictures, again to comfort the family members.

Artefacts: Mortuary Cards

Author: Jaques

GEN TIP: Mortuary cards are not official documents but they’re a great place to start when looking for death dates and approximate birth dates.

Related Link:

Mortuary Card from Mrs. Theriault’s Great-grandfather

Family History Portal

The de LaRochelles of St-Victoire, Quebec

I chose to do my project on the Larochelles because my dad once told me that we originally came from France and had been in Canada for more than 100 years, so this interested me. I was also interested to find out how my ancestors made a living in the 1800s and the early 1900s. I found out this information in the 1881 and 1901 census and in the BMS2000 database. 

1881 Census
In 1881 the French origin family of the Larochelles was living in Quebec as a household of 9 people. The family lived on a farm with four children. One of the children (Victor) was already working with his dad on the farm. According to the census, Israel was “en voyage”. I think maybe he was on vacation or maybe he was a merchant who was travelling. The children’s mom – Victoire Larochelle – didn’t have an official job. Maybe she stayed home to take care of six year old Jean Baptiste.

1901 Census

During the 1901 census the Larochelle family had grown even more than in 1881. The family still lived in the rural area of St-Victoire. In 1901 the Larochelles were still a farming family. I used to think that the head of the household, Victor, came from Europe but I later on found out on the 1901 census that he was born in Quebec.

1901 Canada Census, Ste-Victoire, Richelieu, Quebec

BMS2000 Database

I also now know from the BMS2000 database that Victor Larochelle and Victoria Peloquin got married on February 11th, 1890 in Ste. Victoire. Victoria’s name on the census is Larochelle because it was the custom for a wife to use her husband’s surname. Six years later Elise Larochelle was born. Elise was Victor and Victoria’s first child and then in 1901 Victoria gave birth to Charles. 

The de LaRochelle Name

I was very surprised when I was finding information because my surname (de la Rochelle) has changed many times. For instance, I found it listed as: Larochel, Larochelle and De Larochelle!

Sources: Coming Later This Week (post under construction)

Author: Eric

GEN TIP: Here are some reasons why surname spellings change. 1.Your ancestor – or the person filling out the document – was uneducated or unfamiliar with the name and made a mistake. 2. The name was changed so it would be easier to pronounce. 3. The name was translated. For instance, Meunier = Miller 4. Sometimes Quebec priests deliberately changed spellings to differentiate between two families. 

Related Posts:

Family History Portal

The Amranis in Canada

My father, my mother and I traveled from Morocco to Canada. My father came from Goulmima in southern Morocco and my mother came from Mohamedia in northern Morocco. We speak Berber and Arabic (as well as

English). We came by plane to Canada. We came here because it was an adventure for us. We could come because Canada wanted immigrants and had a good procedure. Our first destination in Canada was the city of Edmonton, Alberta and we landed on October 18th, 1998.

Traditional Moroccan Foods

In our family tradition we eat a lot of couscous. What is couscous you may ask? It is a very small round north-African pasta. It is made from durum wheat. In couscous we do not put tomato sauce as in Italian pasta. Instead we put a sauce called marka. Marka is made out of beef or lamb, olive oil, vegetables such as carrots, turnips, zucchini and squash and spices such as ginger powder, black pepper and saffron. To make the couscous we use a special pot called a keskas or couscousier in French. We use tablespoons to eat the couscous. We usually make couscous in Morocco each Friday for lunch because on that day Muslims go to the mosque to pray at noon. When they finish praying they go home to eat couscous and they invite friends or family.

The meat and vegetables are placed in the bottom - couscous in the top.

For special occasions like weddings and baby showers we make pastilla. Pastilla is made with filo pastry, chicken, eggs, roasted almonds, sugar and cinnamon. All the ingredients are formed into a layer and wrapped in the filo pastry.

My Tremblay Ancestors

My project is about my Tremblay ancestors. Marie-Blanche Dutil, my great-grandma on my mother’s side, was married to Rodolphe Tremblay. I know this thanks to my mother. 

Then I went to the BMS2000 and I saw their marriage records.

Now I know that Marie-Blanche’s mother was Aimee Fournier and her father was Adonias Dutil. Marie-Blanche was married to Rodolphe on July 14th, 1920 in St.Michel church in Sherbrooke, Quebec. They were Catholics. 

Canada Census 1901 

Rodolphe was living in Chicoutimi. Chicoutimi is in Quebec in the Chicoutimi & Saguenay region. Rodolphe was born on December 11th, 1897. In 1901 Rodolphe turned 3 years old. Rodolphe’s father was Henry Tremblay and his mother was Clara Sweeney. Rodolphe was single (of course). Henry Tremblay was the head of the family. That means he was the boss of the house. Nowadays we don’t put that in family records because mothers have the same level of work to do. Rodolphe also had a little sister named Ceva. In that year Ceva turned 7. She was born on July 3rd, 1893. 

Canada Census 1911 

Now, ten years later when they did the census again, Henry (my great grandfather) would celebrate his 58th birthday.

Alphonse Perreault and Astro Taxi

I interviewed my grandfather about his work as a taxi driver. Here is what I learned.

Getting started

My grandfather told me that he wanted to be a taxi-driver because his father Alphonse had a taxicab when he was young, and my grandfather would help my grandfather to clean and repair the taxi. He told me that he began with just one taxi – number 121 – and everything worked well. You needed a taxi license and it cost ten dollars.

That was a lot of money at that time. Once he was holding two taxis (numbers 121 and 114) and also two licenses! The taxis had lights on the top. They were called domes. There was also lettering on the side of the taxis. My grandfather used three kinds of cars as his taxis – Ford, Dodge and Chrysler. The taxis were for work but they were also used for the family but usually for special events when there wasn’t enough place for everyone in the other cars.

Manuel Mendes and Selene Machado: a Portuguese Story

My Portuguese origins

My grandmother Selene (my paternal grandmother) left her parents behind to go and live with Manuel Mendes and after that her parents came to Canada. Selene grew up in a rural village and so did Manuel (my paternal grandfather). Manuel went from Portugal to France and after he came to Canada so he already talked French.

This is what I learned from my interview with my grandmother Selene Machado. My grandparents Manuel Mendes and Selene Machado came from Caldas da Rainha and they speak Portuguese. They came to Canada by airplane.

The materials of this tablecloth are cotton and wool. Usually the cotton comes from the north of Portugal. My mom bought it in Portugal in 1996.

As I said, Selene left Portugal and came to Canada because she married Manuel in Caldas da Rainha and he was already here in Canada. Manuel had come to Canada for a job and to start a new life in Canada. Manuel came in 1965 and when he got here a friend was waiting for him. Selene came in 1967. They arrived in Dorval and settled in Montreal North. Selene says she felt happy to come live in a country she didn’t know. She got here during winter and she had never seen so much snow!

Hello There!

We are a group of Quebec students and teachers blogging about the people, events and places that make up the history of Quebec. We study and report on topics covered by the Quebec School Curriculum but we also do original family history research and examine the lives we lead today.

What is history?

How do our family histories fit into the “bigger” histories?

How do historians make history?

Family History Portal

Inuit Portal