St. Philomena School Celebrates Sir John A. Macdonald's 197th Birthday! (Part 1 of 2)

On Wednesday, January 11th our Grade 4/5 class at St. Philomena School in Fort Erie celebrated Canada's founding father by hosting a Sir John A Day birthday bash! This initiative was organized by the Historica-Dominion Institute, a non-profit group whose goal is increasing knowledge and understanding of Canadian history. Over 200 schools across Canada hosted parties to recognize the accomplishments of our first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. The Grade 4/5 students have been studying Aspects of Government and Canada's Provinces & Territories in Social Studies so this event tied in nicely with their studies.

Since the transcontinental railway is such a big part of his legacy, we celebrated Sir John A's 197th birthday at the Fort Erie Railroad Museum. At one point, Fort Erie had the third-largest rail yard in Canada! The railway played a big part in the early history of Canada and in the history of Fort Erie. Our bulldog school mascot even joined us!

The Grade 4/5 students are learning to play the harmonica this year as part of their music program. In honour of Sir John A. Macdonald's birthday, they played Happy Birthday on the harmonica with the steam engine artifact on site as a backdrop.

Following the harmonica performance, daytime fireworks filled the sky as parachutes with Canadian flags on them descended to the ground! * Look for video Part 2 of 2 for footage of the daytime fireworks.

The birthday bash continued at the school where the students enjoyed birthday cake with a Canadian flag on it. It even had a Sir John A. Macdonald cake topper!

The Historica-Dominion Institute will judge who threw the best party and this video is one part of our contest entry.

For more information on the Historica-Dominion Institute or Sir John A Day itself, visit www.sirjohnaday.ca or www.historica-dominion.ca.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• January 11
• 2012
• Sir John A. Macdonald
• 197
• birthday
• St. Philomena
• Grade 4/5
• harmonica
• Fort Erie Railroad Museum
• Bulldogs
• Mr. Lukacs
• Historica Dominion Institute
• sirjohnaday.ca

[soogal99]

Great Job!