CANORA — Students in the Canora Composite School Grades 5 and 6 class taught by Jennifer Sleeva have completed an assignment where they discovered that many people around the world live in much different conditions than what they have in Canora.
They shared their projects with friends and family during the Social Studies Bazaar held at the Canora Composite School student centre on June 18.
Grade 6 students featured countries found on the Atlantic Ocean, while their Grade 5 classmates were challenged to create their own countries.
France
The French are known for culture and their food, which was more than enough to attract the attention of Hannah Dutchak, Isabelle Kondratoff and Cora Tomcala. As part of their display, they offered samples of French foods such as: brie cheese, macarons, baguettes and croissant.
“France is a country of over five million people, and at least 100,000 people visit the Eiffel Tower in Paris each year,” said Kondratoff.
France is also known for excellence in the arts, including painting and ballet.
Brazil
It didn’t take long for Skyler Brass decide on his country of choice. He picked Brazil, where it seems like everyone loves football (soccer), whether it’s being a player or a fan. Brass’s project includes a doll created for him by his grandmother depicting Brass’ favourite player, affectionately known as Vini Jr.
“Brazil is a beautiful country,” added Brass. “One of their most popular attractions is Christ the Redeemer, a statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro.”
Mexico
Like some of their other classmates, food was a major factor for Talia Collingridge and Quinn Crane.
“We like Mexican food such as quesadilla and nachos,” said Crane, which is what the duo made for visitors to enjoy.
Mexico has a population of 132 million, and sports are the favourite activity for many, including: football (soccer), baseball, boxing, bullfighting and wrestling.
The country is also known for its unique fashion, including: the sombrero, sarape (blanket-like shawl) and the huipil (loose-fitting tunic).
Portugal
Fans of football (soccer), the group of Drew Kitchen, Taylor Effa and Morgan Matychuk chose Portugal. For many, Portugal’s favourite son is world-famous Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been a member of the Portuguesa national team for five world cups, starting in 2006. Other popular sports in Portugal include: basketball, cycling, swimming and tennis.
“Portugal is a big country for fishing, especially cod,” said Matychuk.
Portugal is known for hot, dry summers and wet, cool winters where temperatures rarely drop below 8°C.
Everyland
“It’s a bit confusing.”
Parker Bryant and Lucas Nicholson said they enjoyed creating their own country, but also found it quite challenging. If they wanted to have certain animals in their country, they had to make sure they created the kind of climate that would support those animals.
The animals in their country of Everyland include monkeys, pigs, rats cows, and elephants. The climate is humid, wet and chilly, with temperatures rarely rising much over 15°C.
Their reason for the name Everyland is, “Life is great here because everyone feels good and as if they are at home.”
Coayors Land
The name Coayors Land sounds like it may have been taken straight out of Greek Mythology. But Connor Pozniak and Sawyer Thompson chose this for their country because it’s a combination of their names.
“We could do whatever we want, even bring back extinct animals or fictional animals.”
Among the animals found in Coayors Land are unicorns and ogres, and they even have an ogre museum.
Other attractions include Blue Jays Stadium and Red Jays Stadium, since Coayors Land is filled with baseball fans.
Swickwital
Cadence Dutchak and Skyler Sciliberto chose the name Swickwital for their country, after Dutchak recalled reading about the fictional location of Swickwit in the book, The School for Wicked Witches.
But not to worry, it sounds like there is very little wickedness going in in Swickwital.
“The animals we have include dogs, cats, turtles fish, sharks, butterflies and flamingos,” said Sciliberto.
The standard of living is high and yet the cost of living is cheap in Swickwital.
Merzilia
Riley Roberts and Olivia Owchar are fans of the country of Brazil, and chose to name their country Merzilia, which has a similar feel to it.
“It’s so much fun to create your own country, you can really use your imagination,” said Roberts.
“We decided our country would have eight provinces,” added Owchar. “It has eight waterfalls, which are big tourist attractions, and the provinces were mapped out so that each would have a waterfall.”
Baseball and badminton are the most popular sports in Merzilia, including teams named the Fernola Baseballers and the Balingo Badmontens.
Diamandia
Just about every girl is familiar with the saying, “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend,” and for Rayna Edison and Lilly Frost it served as inspiration in naming their country Diamandia.
“It has a harbour full of waterfalls with crystals coming out of it, which is one of the country’s main sources of income,” said Frost.
The climate is lukewarm with a gentle breeze most of the time, but there are also occasional tornadoes and tsunamis.
Most residents of Dimandia enjoy fast food.
