I was fortunate to take Language Acquisition as one of my classes for my Education Certification. This class focused on teaching Core French, and on the inclusion of English Language Learners in our teaching strategies. As our final project, my partner Anna and I created a Core French unit for grade 6 based on teaching Family and Feelings Vocabulary. Of course, we utilized Circus as our Hook, and Tech integration into our culminating event.

We used Circus not only as a 'hook' to our lessons, but as a broader cultural tie in for French Canadian Culture. The first lesson of the unit gives a historical perspective and talks about why circus is so popular in Quebec, along with the major cirque institutions of Cirque Du Soleil, Ecole Nationale du Cirque and Ecole Cirque du Quebec.

With this historical and cultural perspective, as well with my own personal stories and pictures from my experience of travelling to Quebec last July for the International Juggling Association Festival, it is easy to link relevance to the material.

Our second lesson uses a Cirque du Soleil video about family in the touring circus as it's hook, and then introduces the family words.  We progress through introduction of feelings and moving towards text integration and worksheets. Authentic texts are provided such as a large Cirque Costumes book that has text in both English and French. This is also inspiration for their culminating activity, the creation of a funny family circus using Puppetpals ipad program. This also allows for differentiation for learners that have trouble with written expression.

I quite enjoyed working with my partner Anna on this project. We both have a strong work ethic and believe in producing high quality work. We were able to collaborate and produce a product that I am happy with and am glad to include in my portfolio. I look forward to feedback on how to make this unit even stronger, as I plan to use this in my teaching career. Even if I am not teaching core french, I will still be able to support the french instruction of my class by the inclusion of the Circus aspects- I can offer this resource to the French teacher as a collaborative process.

My daughter had the opportunity last year to participate in a wonderful entrepreneurial training program at her school. Students in grade 6 were tasked with designing a product, writing a business plan (which entailed doing market research, pricing the product, etc),  making the product, and then selling the product at the school fair. They managed money and reflected on their learning afterwards. It was a wonderful learning experience for her.
I observed the process with keen interest, being an entrepreneur myself. One thing I noticed is that many products the children made were assembled from materials sourced at the dollar store, and were for all intents and purposes 'disposable' objects. There was no question on the business plan about environmental impact- in fact, there was no consideration of the environment at all.
With the new BC Curriculum, all grade 6 and 7 students will be participating in a minimum of three modules under the Applied Design, Skills and Technology curriculum. Entrepreneurship and Marketing is one of those modules. The curricular competencies state that students will:

• Evaluate tools and technologies that are present in their everyday lives
• Identify the impact, including unintended negative consequences, of the choices they make about technology use
• Identify how the land and natural resources influence First Peoples’ design and technologies
• Identify how technology use can differ depending on culture, economics, access to resources, and social expectations
• Identify personal, social, and environmental impacts of technology use

The lack of any Environmental Impact Studies or Cradle-to-Grave analysis within the current Entrepreneurial programs offered in schools is a problem. I did some research and created the following lesson plan to be included as a supplemental to these programs. It takes children through a basic cradle-to-grave analysis of a common product, and then asks them to apply their knowledge to their own products. Can they reduce the environmental impact of their product? Can they think of a product that will not be harmful to the environment, such as plant starts or using recycled materials? Can they answer the question "How does my product make the world a better place?"
Even if the student does not choose to lessen the environmental impact of their product, the fact that they have become meta-cognitively aware of the life cycle of their product is important. We as teachers can but ask the questions, and it is up to the students to decide on what is important to them.