Fish Without A School - Chapter 7

Written by Carolyn Cole Illustrated by Austin Wohlgemuth Inspired by The Students, Staff and Fish of Jack Stuart School



“Paper Plane Day!” exclaimed Jules after hearing the day’s morning announcements. “Paper flying through the sky … around the globe even … hmn …” “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” asked Pud.



“Flat Stanley?” answered Jules. “You got it!” whooped Pud. He glanced over at the Google Classroom portal and sure enough, Flat Stanley was dancing around the Grade 2 portal.

Grade 2

The fish swam eagerly through the portal and found a globe spinning slowly in the air. Thousands of Flat Stanleys were pinned to specific places. “Wow! So many Flat Stanleys! There must be tons of Grade 2 kids participating in this project! How in the world, pardon the pun, are we going to figure out which ones belong to our grade 2s?”



“We look at the class lists, of course,” Mr. Green stated calmly. “Then we can match up the names on the back of the Flat Stanleys with the lists.” He got right to work pulling up the Google Doc that contained the names of the students in 2Hanson and 2Harty. “Let’s see. Ah! Here is one that went to Ottawa,” said Mr. Green. “Isn’t that the capital of Canada?” asked Zizi.



“Yep!” replied Mr. Green as he continued scrolling through the emails. “Flat Stanley went to so many places across Canada! I suggest we do a Canadian tour. Who’s with me?” “Of course!” The fish chorused in unison. Mr. Green typed the name of the first city into Google Earth’s search bar and off they went. As they jumped from city to city, they discovered interesting things about each place.

• Ottawa is the seventh coldest capital in the world. • The name Ottawa comes from the Algonquin word adawe – which means to trade. • Every Sunday morning – from 9 AM until 1 PM – in the summer only,  the Capital area parkways are closed to cars. You can run, walk, cycle or skate.

• Halifax rents Point Pleasant Park from the British government for 10 cents a year and has a 999 year lease. • Halifax is closer to Dublin, Ireland than it is to Victoria, British Columbia. • Halifax has an average of 171 wet days per year.

• Hamilton is home to more than one hundred waterfalls. • The first telephone call in the British Empire took place right in Downtown Hamilton. • Tim Hortons was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario. Fun fact: eight out of 10 cups of coffee sold across Canada are from Tim Hortons.

• The four climatic regions (alpine, boreal forest, parkland, and prairie) of Alberta are home to many different species of animals. • Alberta is named after • Of over 73,000 Princess Louise Caroline people who came Alberta (1848–1939), the to Alberta between fourth daughter of Queen 1926 and 1930, Victoria. over half came from eastern Europe.

• Whistler Blackcomb takes the environment seriously—as evidenced by the 18 awards won for its sustainability programs. • Spanning a distance of more than two kilometres between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, the Peak 2 Peak gondola rises a mind-boggling 436 meters above the valley floor. • Whistler Mountain was once known as London Mountain because of the fog at its base.

• Vancouver was originally known as Gastown. • It is ranked as the 10th cleanest city in the world. • Vancouver is sometimes referred to as Hollywood North. It is second to Los Angeles in television production and third behind New York and Los Angeles in film production.

• Selkirk is advertised as the Catfish Capital of the World, due to the large amounts of catfish in the nearby Red River. • A vertical lift bridge over the Red River connects Selkirk with the smaller town of East Selkirk. • Selkirk celebrates its Scottish heritage in July with the Manitoba Highland Gathering.

• Alberta is the only rat free zone in North America with millions spent every year for very sophisticated monitoring and trapping system to keep the rats out of the Province! • 1914 – The purest oil discovery in Canada, at Turner Valley where the oil was so pure it could be pumped straight out of the ground and into the car! • The world’s longest beaver dam is in Wood Buffalo National Park and measures 850 metres long.

• The Snowbirds were named by elementary school student Douglas Farmer in 1971 following a “Name the Team” contest held at the local Canadian Forces Base Moose Jaw school. • As a tribute to their home province, Saskatchewan, the Snowbird crest displays four “Speedbirds” in formation, resembling an ear of wheat. • The Snowbirds were photographed from the International Space Station in 2013 by Colonel (retired) Chris Hadfield, astronaut and former CF-18 fighter pilot.

“I’m so glad Flat Stanley got to ride with the Snowbirds,” remarked Mrs. Green. “They are such an important symbol to Canadians. Did you know they flew a special mission called ‘Operation Inspiration’ to pay tribute to all the people helping fight COVID-19? There are so many people in our country working to keep us safe and healthy.” Mrs. Green stared at the Danio family. “By the way, have you washed your hands since we got back from our tour?”