Exploring Ballet Workshop

Last week there was an Exploring Ballet Workshop that Jennifer organized for some of us Toronto Homeschoolers. Lisa Robinson from the National Ballet of Canada's YOU dance program led the workshop. (I met her once before at a YOU Dance workshop.)

We stretched and we tried doing some of the different dance positions. We did things like first position, second position, pliés, and grand jetés. It was the first time for some, but there were a few of us who do ballet.

We talked about the music us how it made us feel and we talked about what choreographers do.
Lisa showed us a tutu and pointe shoes and we talked about costumes. We even got to see pictures of how the dancers put on make-up for a performance. The make up and the costumes help the dancers become the characters that they are playing.

We learnt a little piece of choreography from Sleeping Beauty and at the end of the workshop we danced together. It was really fun!

After the workshop I got to take a picture with Lisa.

Here is a link to more information about National Ballet of Canada's Exploring Ballet Workshops.
http://national.ballet.ca/education/programmes/for_teachers/Exploring_Ballet_Workshops/

Museum Month - What we did...

Today is the last day of "Museum Month".
We tried to visit as many museums as we could in the month of May.

We participated in Jane's Walk where I learnt about Conflict and Change in 19th Century Toronto. We went to Doors Open Toronto where I got to see The Roundhouse Museum and Enoch Turner Schoolhouse and a few of the City Museums. And, I got to visit most of the City of Toronto museums this month.

Here is a list of my blog posts about my visits to the City of Toronto Museums:

• Colborne Lodge
• Fort York National Historic Site
• Historic Zion Schoolhouse
• Mackenzie House
• Montgomery's Inn
• Scarborough Historical Museum
• Spadina Museum: Historic House and Gardens
• York Museum

We also went to Halton County Radial Railway Museum, and The Bata Shoe Museum.


In total we went to 12 museums and we did a walk all in one month.

Doors Open - Historic Fort York

We went to Fort York for Doors Open. 

It was really busy!

Here you can see a cannon and some spikes which were used to make it harder for any attackers to go over the wall. There would have been a wooden fence there as well, but the field was designed to block out cannon shots. 

This building was the Officers' Quarters and Mess.

Here is one of the Officer's rooms.

Here is one of the kitchens.

This is where the officers would eat their meals. It's a lot fancier than where the other soldiers would eat.

Here  is a close up of the serving area.

The alcohol was kept in a different room.

There was an archeological excavation under the old kitchen in the basement.

They had a vault where they would keep army and bank funds.

I got to taste chicken soup. They used a recipe from the Georgian era.

I liked the old pots and pans.

Here is another Officer's room.

They had a model of how Fort York looked after the war of 1812.

I was pretending to light the cannon.

I think it's funny that there's an old cannon so close to so many new buildings.

Doors Open - The Roundhouse Park

The Roundhouse Park is right by Union Station. They have trains on display and they show historic railway equipment. They also have a miniature train. 

A tower, like Cabin D would control about a quarter mile of track. Cabin D was built around 1893.

These levers control the different railway signals. It's how they would have controlled them in the 1890s.

This is a more modern signal board - from about the 1950s. It would control about 200 miles of rail. One person could control all of them.

Even though I don't usually post pictures with other people's faces, this is the best picture I have of their miniature railroad steam engine. It really uses steam!

Inside the Roundhouse they had a railroad simulator. I got to try driving a train. I didn't crash into anything!

Inside the Roundhouse they also had a Lego display.
They had so much track!

Doors Open - Enoch Turner Schoolhouse

Today we went to Enoch Turner Schoolhouse. It was built in 1848. Enoch Turner paid for the construction of the schoolhouse and gave money to run it for the first few years. It was the first free school in Toronto. 

I got to sit in one of the desks.

There was a stove in the room. It would have been used for heating.

There was information about the history of the school but there anybody there that could show us around or answer questions. 

This room looks like it would be nice for a piano recital.

Here's a link to more information about the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse.

Doors Open - Historic Zion Schoolhouse

We went to Zion Schoolhouse today. Normally, it's only open for group programs, so it was nice to be able to go inside.

The bell is original to the school.

The classroom was set up like it would have been on May 25, 1910.
At that time King Edward VII had just died and George V was the new king.
Wilfrid Laurier was the Prime Minister of Canada.

Younger kids would sit in the front of the classroom and as you get older you'd move towards the back. 

 The stove in the classroom was used for heating and sometime it would be used for water to wash hands.

There was an upright piano in the classroom.

The students would sing "God Save the King".

There was a picture of Queen Victoria up in the classroom because she was the Queen when the schoolhouse was built.

I got to try writing on a slate board. In the Edwardian days, they would have made me write with my right hand.

 Here is a map that shows the countries in the British Empire in the Edwardian era.

This little corner shows their library.

Doors Open - York Museum

This weekend is Doors Open in Toronto. We decided to go to a couple places today.
One of them was York Museum which is in Centennial Recreation Centre. It's only one room and it's usually open only by appointment.

It may be only one room but there are a lot of things in there. There were only a couple of things in there from the Victorian Era, but it was really cool to finally go in!

Here are the things that I found interesting:
This is what a telephone operator would use to connect calls.

Here is an old Singer sewing machine.

This was used to wring out clothes after you washed them.

This is a kerosene stove.

A box for skates.

An old shopping guide.
Look at the emergency telephone numbers.

A camera.

This shelf had a hot plate, meat grinder, bottle warmer and a toaster.

Pharmacists and doctors became more available to people as neighbourhoods developed.
Here's a sign from one of the pharmacists. On the shelf above it, you can see a pair of glasses from the Victorian era.

This soup taureen was from the Victorian era.

You could keep hot water or coffee in these containers.

Here's a dairy can. In the 1890s eight gallons of milk cost 60 to 85 cents!

These are paintings of Franklin Jackes and his wife. Franklin Jackes was the first Reeve of the Township of York in 1850, when the Township of York had its own local government.

This china doll with a leather body is from 1874.

This is a doll made out of corn husk.

I guess I need to figure out the difference between the "Township of York", the "Town of York" and the "County of York". It seems a little confusing to me. When I figure it out, I'll do another blog post about it.