Kim Chagnon and Mary Scott

St. Gabriel School, Regina (Saskatchewan)

“ We’ve Come a Long Way, Baby! ” is a Social Studies unit that reveals to the students that like a quilt, a community is composed of many small parts, all of which are valuable on their own, however, when sewn together with care, each piece works together to create something beautiful. Community components in this unit focused on our own RCMP along with several other important institutions. Each module begins with a field trip and discussion with the local officials and community members involved. Following our trips, the students embark on a variety of 'missions' to further investigate and draw comparisons between the past and present, and imagine the future.

The missions allow students to show representations of what they have learned. Missions include, the construction of a fictional town of “Gabrielville”, a scavenger hunt, thank you letters, sewing a representational quilt, articles for our class newspaper, researching future modules, and developing an historical wall of fame. A student generated electronic “Regina Jeopardy” game allowed members of the community to participate in the culmination and celebration of learning. After all of this, we can truly say that we love Regina!