Teaching students beyond the classroom
Parker,
Lawrence Joseph — 92 of Medford, Kings County passed away Feb. 25, 2018 peacefully at home surrounded by his cherished family. Lawrence was born at the Wood Maternity Hospital in Port Williams on Aug. 18, 1925 to farmer, Lorne Parker and his wife Alice (Wood) Parker (a nurse), and as a child lived at Paddy’s Island in Medford. He attended Medford school as a child and would travel on the “Blueberry Express” train from Kingsport to Kentville to attend Kings County Academy for Grades 10 through to 12. He completed his education at Agricultural College in Truro, specializing in tree grafting. He proposed to the love of his life, Virginia Pemberton, at Kingsport wharf and they were married on
July 8, 1949, whom he attributed as being the greatest influence in his life. They enjoyed many trips throughout the world together. The same year he was married, he took on the dealership of David Brown tractors and potato diggers and was a successful dealer for 50 years selling David Brown, Case, Universal and Ford tractors as well as New Holland equipment. For many years he also ran a farm, growing strawberries, apples as well as cattle, offering many men a makeshift home as farm labourers. He worked very hard to provide for his family. He was a lifelong member of Emmanuel United Church in Kingsport, serving as
Elder for many years. Lawrence was an avid bowler on the Tom Thumb league for many years and in recent years was a stiff competitor in Wii bowling with his family. The greatest joy in Lawrence’s life, were his children — David, James, Jack, Diane and Donald, and he adored the role of being “Grand-Dad” to Tanya, Candice, Logan and Jason. The great-grandchildren sent him over the moon with happiness. He spent many hours building motorized go-carts, farm equipment and tools, or designing and creating anything that came to mind to do a particular job. He is survived by his wife of over 68 years, Virginia (Jeanne) (Pemberton) Parker, sons Jack (Brenda) of Kingsport, Donald (Donna) of Medford, daughter Diane Stirling (Joel) of Moncton, daughter-in-law Terry Parker of Middle Sackville and grandchildren Tanya (Mark) Neary, Logan (Mary) Parker, Jason (Ashley) Stirling and eight great-grandchildren, several nieces and nephews. His biggest heartache was the loss of his sons David, Jim and granddaughter Candice. He was also predeceased by his parents, Lorne and Alice, brother, Kenneth and sister-inlaw Florence, sister Marion Gray and brother-in-law Sherman, sister Elizabeth in infancy and recently (Feb. 2) his brother Bernard. Lawrence was a very kind, caring and generous man to everyone he met. His home was his palace and his door was always open to family, friends, customers or anyone in need. Cremation has taken place and there will be no visitation by request. A graveside service will be held at a later date in the Habitant Cemetery, Habitant, Kings County. The family would like to thank Dr. Hergett and the VON for their support in caring for Lawrence and assisting us in allowing him to remain in his home for his final days. We celebrate the wonderful example that this man set for so many. Donations in memory may be made to Emmanuel United Church, VON or to the Candice Parker Bursary Fund at the Northeast Kings Education Centre. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the White Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Kentville. Online inquiries and condolences may be directed to www.whitefamilyfuneralhome.com.
A teacher that recently brought several students studying French to Quebec City says the trip has taught them things they’d never learn in a classroom.
Grade 8 students at Kings County Academy recently returned from a cultural exchange trip to Quebec, where they each stayed with a local family.
Soaking up both language and culture was inevitable as students visited museums, ate maple taffy, spoke French and went tobogganing, making new friends as they did so.
“My favourite part was making friends with the people we stayed with, even though we don’t necessarily speak the same language,” said student Thomas Gaskins.
The best year yet
Danielle LeBlanc teaches French at KCA and has organized the trip each year with students’ help.
A trip she calls “for the kids, and
Congratulations to our own Planter’s Ridge Winery for winning first place in the “Best White/ by the kids,” she gets them to help her plan where they will visit, how much it will cost, and why they should go there.
With equal emphasis placed on education and fun, the students chose things like visiting the Quebec Winter Carnival and the National Assembly of Quebec. LeBlanc feels this, the trip’s 10th year, was the best yet.
“The students really made this
Sparkling Wine” category at the Savour Food & Wine Festival in Halifax.
There was fun and laughter for participants at the Port Williams United Baptist Church’s Games Night. The event, open to the public, was the second of their 150 anniversary year celebrations. An evening of curling, that took place last weekend, was the third.
The event featured a good mix of all ages at the nine tables throughout the evening and a great mix of games — from the ever-popular card games like Skipbow, Uno and happen themselves. They are engaged, and really bought into what the trip is about. They blended well with the families they stayed with and learned things they would not have in a classroom,” she said.
Getting ready to host Quebec
The students each had their own favourite aspects of the trip. Zach Johnson said his favourite part was travelling within the
rummy, cribbage and old favourite board games like Sorry, Hedbanz, Monopoly, Clue, Scrabble and Blokus. Not as well-known but kidfriendly games were played, like Johnny Tractor and Friends Apple Adventure Game, Pass the Pigs, Scrabble Junior, Mario Monopoly, Connect 4.
You could tell that a few of the games — Funny Bones and Mad Magazine Revue — had been dug out of closets and the 1960s game Twister was still played. There were snacks to nibble on throughout the evening. same country but feeling like he’d arrived in a totally different place.
“Going to a different part of Canada that’s so culturally different — it’s like speaking a completely different language, but living in the same country,” he said.
Bridgette Hire felt the host families, “liked to share with us what they like to eat and the back stories behind that, and their family history.”
The students are now gearing up to host a group of French students in May and have organized the Easter Family Fun Night on March 28 at KCA to fundraise to help cover the hosting costs.
The students all expressed excitement to show the Québécois students around the province and share Nova Scotia’s culture with them.
“The students are learning so much. I think the biggest thing they’ve taken from this is that we’re different cultures and speak different languages, but we’re the same at the end of the day,” said LeBlanc.
On this night when the six people around a table were talking about “Hand and Foot” they were not talking about an animal disease but a card game, a form of Canasta.
The happy babble of people at the tables was punctuated with the ‘ohhhhs’ coming from the hits, misses and near misses at the crokinole table.
The announcement of refreshments being served caused only a momentary pause, as most players just filled their bowls with ice cream and toppings and went back to their games.