It has been wonderful to watch Finley and Grace be inspired to learn more about Canadian history and this is leading them to understand global politics of the 20th century, particularly WW1 and WWII. As they listened to Colin Boudreau (A friend and fellow school head) at the harbor-front of Halifax tell them about the Halifax explosion of 1917 yesterday, and the Queen of Holland being moved to Ottawa during WWII to have her baby as Canada declared the hospital floor non Canadian territory, they were fascinated.
They took it upon themselves to find more info, ask more questions and inquire beyond. Finley found this video in 360 , a re-creation form the CBC. Grace wants to ask more questions and figure out why a queen had to leave her country. Finley wrote in his notebook, 
created a Google Doc for notes in inquiry and plans to make a video. When I asked him about why he wanted to make a video he responded, “because this story is amazing and I don’t think people know about it. I want people to learn from me like I did from Colin and then they can also be excited about our history.”
We look forward to publishing their videos and stories and ask that you please comment and engage with their learning as they move forward this year. It’s not traditional, it’s even a little scary, but we know we have made the right choice when we saw their faces light up as they explored these threads.
Finley and Grace loved finding out more interesting facts:
The Halifax harbor explosion was the largest human made explosion before the Atomic Bomb.
More Nova Scotians lost their lives that day than on the Western front in WW1
The maternity ward of the hospital where the dutch princess was born was declared a non territory of Canada in 1940 so she would not also be a Canadian citizen as the child would never be allowed to rule with dual citizenship.
Next off to enjoy connecting to the natural beauty of Cape Bretton.