Revel Recap: Sept. 28 - Oct. 2, 2020
Spark Studio
The Sparks have been doing such a great job starting our day with our mindfulness activities. On Monday we did a series of stretches to help us ease into our morning and get ready for the day. Colouring on Tuesdays and Thursdays is always well-loved. For yoga on Wednesday, we started with our bear breaths. This is where we inhale for a count of five, hold the breath in our body for three seconds and then exhale for a count of five. We repeated this three times and observed that we felt calm and ready to start our yoga practice. This week we incorporated some new poses into our sequence, such as dancer and turtle pose. The Sparks enjoyed the challenge of the new poses and we tried to hold our poses for ten seconds. When we had some trouble keeping our balance, we tried to focus on a spot on our mat or the floor to help us. On Friday we made a mediation chain, using ten beads and a pipe cleaner. We then chose an “I Am” positive affirmation to repeat as a group. We chose “I am kind.” Sitting in our circle, we closed our eyes if it felt comfortable. We then focused on taking a breath in and after the exhale we repeated “I am kind” as we moved from one bead to the next.
After our mindfulness activities, the Sparks have been easily settling into our daily routine. After working on their writing books, they are becoming more comfortable selecting their activities for our morning work cycle. Each Spark is working on different Montessori materials, based on their interests and goals for the day. It is always amazing seeing the concentration building and the joy and interest the materials bring. This week during our group lesson, we reviewed the continent names and each coloured our own continent map. We also worked with the geometric solids, learning the names of our 3D shapes and playing the “What is Missing?” game. Each Spark had a chance to remove one of the shapes and we had to figure out which one was missing. They loved this game and we ended up playing for quite some time! During our circle time, we also listened to some movement and action songs and a real favourite was of course, “Freeze Dance”! The learners also took time this week to decorate the front page for their binders and organize the work inside. They are very excited to show what they have been working on next week at our Family Meetings!
Our focus for Quest was all about emotions. We start every morning circle, by going around and saying how we all feel. The Sparks always have a lot to share about their feelings and this helped us when later naming as many emotions as we could. We talked about feelings we like and do not like. What helps us to feel better when we are feeling sad and how our feelings affect the people around us. To further our discussion, we made a feelings book, where we cut out pictures of three things that make us happy, three things that make us sad, and three things that make us angry. We drew the faces of various emotions, such as happy, sad, mad, excited, tired, scared, embarrassed and surprised. We also decorated our own emotion wheels. We then looked at some emotional situation cards. Without any words to explain the pictures, the Sparks looked at the cards and determined what emotions the characters were feeling. They would then turn their wheel to what emotion they thought. It was interesting to hear them explain what they felt was happening as the wheels of the Sparks didn’t always match up. We also looked at some anger choice cards. We talked about when we are angry, what strategies we can use. For example, walking away, counting to ten, asking an adult for help, talking to a friend, remembering a happy time, or taking some deep breaths. Together we learned about and practiced a “Take Five” breathing exercise. We held our hands out like stars and using our opposite pointer finger, we traced our fingers taking breaths in and out as we traced up and down. We talked about times where we thought this might be a good strategy to use and how we felt after we practiced it. We then went around the circle and picked one strategy we are going to try the next time we feel upset or angry. We also enjoyed many great books and songs about emotions and had fun playing “Emotion Charades”!
In French this week, we began with the calendar and learning the days of the week. Afterward, we listen to a song to help us answer the question “Comment ça va?” We sang the song together and practiced the moves that go along with it. Once we had learned or reviewed some words to talk about the members of our family, each Rebel then drew a picture and shared it practicing the vocabulary, “maman,” “papa,” “soeur,” and “frère.” To keep with Mrs. Megan’s focus on emotions, we introduced four new words in French to describe how we feel, “content,” “triste,” “fâché,” and “excité.” We then read a picture book called Toujours Avec Moi by Patricia Storms and described the feelings we saw using the new words they had learned.
This week in the Spark Studio we also focused on designing our studio systems. We discussed the studio rules we thought we should implement and created our Studio Contract together, which we will sign next week. This process of creating the contract together, helps the Rebels to understand the rules, be responsible for their actions, and contribute to creating the culture in our studio. It also helps them to hold one another accountable.
The Sparks have made a promise to:
The Sparks have made a promise to: be kind to myself and others.
treat the materials with respect.
tidy up my activities when finished working.
walk.
not interrupt someone who is working or talking.
listen and help others.
always try my best.
make safe decisions.
keep a safe distance, use my own materials and wash my hands!
have fun!
We were also introduced to the Revel Bucks Kindness Bucket this week. This year in the studio, the Sparks will be receiving Revel Bucks to use at the Revel Buck Store. We will be collecting 25 pom poms in our bucket for our acts of kindness. We brainstormed some ways we might get a pom-pom. The Sparks came up with some concrete actions, such as holding the door for someone, helping a friend, using “please” and “thank you” and giving someone a compliment. On our first day, we got two pom poms, one for holding the door and one from Mrs. Erin for being so respectful and quiet for the other Rebels during the IOWA testing this week! Way to go, Sparks!
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
This week our mindfulness sessions were focused on helping to prepare the Rebels to be and calm ready for the IOWA Assessment each morning. Ms. Jenna led us in a mindful breath and yoga flow on Monday. Tuesday and Thursday we practiced mindfulness through colouring and zen doodles. Wednesday, Ms. Jenna led another yoga class focusing on posture and heart-opening positions. Friday’s yoga flow was a little more upbeat, celebrating their achievements with IOWA and bringing upbeat energy into the end of an incredibly productive week!
Launches
After gathering a list of test-taking materials on Monday, Rebels were introduced to the online platform used for the testing and reminded about the purpose of these assessments. Tuesday morning we explored and discussed the test acronym R-E-L-A-X (Read, Examine, Label, Always check your work, and “X-Out” the multiple-choice answers you know are incorrect) and discussed how we have applied or will try these strategies this week. On Wednesday, we honoured the Indigenous children who were sent to residential schools in Canada by taking part in Orange Shirt Day and discussing our part in the Truth and Reconciliation process. We then closed our launch with a reading of When I Was Eight. Thursday we had a great Current Events discussion about the top stories from this week: The US Presidential Debate, Tampa Bay winning the Stanley Cup, and an incredible story of an 11-year-old from Vancouver who advocated for Orange Shirt Day to be celebrated within her school board. She has since raised over $5,000 for Indigenous organizations! On Friday, we complete writing our discussion Rules of Engagement and will be signing the document as well as our Covenants next week! We also had our first Rebel-led launch where a Rebel spoke about Chadwick Boseman who recently passed away from cancer after playing some incredibly inspirational roles such as Black Panther and Jackie Robinson. We are so excited that the Rebels are beginning to take ownership of the Launches!
Rebel Readers & Warrior Writers Aim/Release
This week, Rebel Readers and Writers worked hard on their “Best Part of Me” projects to prepare them for the Exhibition. The written drafts are nearing completion and next week we will be focusing on the photography component while putting both pieces together for display. Friday’s Reading and Writing Mission #3 was a blast! Rebels were tasked with some more “Preposterous Paragraphs” to edit for grammar and spelling (mainly capitalization of proper nouns, end punctuation, and spelling to adhere to their Journey Tracker writing goals) alongside a spelling activity called “BoggleBOOP,” where the teams had a selection of Scrabble tiles from which they created a wacky word list. Their spelling tests were done as a team this week, where older rebels dictated for the Anchor/Draw group, and vice versa before submitting their Mission envelopes to Ms. Jenna. The Mission concluded with “The Secrets of a Snowy Owl,” a fabulous informative video and listening activity from NPR, and the team responded to a series of comprehension questions. Looking forward to a great last week of Session 1 and showing you all the “Best Parts” of our Rebels!
Rebel Readers and Warrior Writers Draw/Anchor
Draw/Anchor Rebels had busy but productive Readers and Writers periods this week - working towards finishing their Exhibition projects, the “All About Me” portraits. Canvases were created with a variety of different artistic mediums (watercolours, markers, crayons) and each Rebel typed out the 7 sentences that best represented them. Next week, we will be putting both pieces together and look forward to showing you their work at the Exhibition! Friday’s Reading and Writing Mission #3 was a blast! (See paragraph above!) Draw/Anchor Rebels absolutely adored learning about the species, especially the main owl in the video, Baltimore!
DEAR/Read Aloud
DEAR and Read Aloud periods were focused around Indigenous storytelling and several books written and illustrated by Indigenous authors. To honour Orange Shirt Day, the Rebels enjoyed the read-aloud of I Am Not A Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis. We reflected on elements of Canadian history that we are not proud of but came to a conclusion as a group that we need to learn about and have these conversations so that we learn from them, and do better as a society in the future. Rebels continued to read their Badge Books independently, with a few Rebels starting new ones!
French
This week we focused on reading and setting French SMART for the year. For reading, Rebels chose a French picture book and were asked to summarize the best they could in French on Journey Tracker. Also, to keep the communication going on Flipgrid, Rebels were asked to check out fellow Rebels Flipgrids and respond to them by asking questions to continue getting to know one another. Finally, to have some fun and test Rebels' knowledge of popular animals in French we played a game of “Heads Up”.
Quest
In order to compensate for the lack of core skills time in the morning due to the IOWA assessment, we shortened our Quest periods to help Rebels reach their core skill goals. Groups, therefore, had to use their time wisely to survey the Exploration and Spark Rebels about their Revel Wear/Swag ideas. Rebels were then asked to take a survey home to ask their parents for their input as well. Tuesday we had a lesson on various types of graphs such as bar graphs, line plots, circle graphs, etc.) and how to choose which one to use in order to display the information most effectively. We then took our survey data and learned how to create a data table and graph using Google Sheets making sure that we had a title and headers. Rebels really enjoyed customizing their graphs and looking at the same data in different formats in order to decide which one displayed the data best. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, groups also began painting our two chosen Journey Maps! Rebels voted on background colours for each map and then met with Ms. Jenna to plan out the rest of the colours, roles, and deadlines! Rebels also began brainstorming and drafting their ideas for the gym. While it might not be by the end of this session, we hope to make some improvements before indoor recesses are upon us!
PE and Terry Fox Run
On Monday, Mr. Deagan took charge of the soccer group while Ms. Jenna led a yoga and pilates series in the Gym. Combining a series of smaller, deep muscle Pilates-based movements with yoga positions and breath. We worked on being mindful of that present moment in a challenge zone, especially during squats or active cardio when our mind is telling us “This is hard, let’s stop!” and how that moment is only temporary - your body is capable and you can do this! Rebels were surprised just how active yoga can be! Mr. Deagan set up an awesome “Cross Canada” trail for us to run for our Terry Fox run on Wednesday. While the weather didn’t cooperate with us, we were so incredibly impressed with the positivity of the Rebels. We heard them make comments such as, “I bet Terry Fox had to run in the rain for longer and farther than this!” and “This was only 1 km, can you imagine running 42 km multiple days in a row?!” We closed with a video about Terry Fox’s life and the Rebels agreed that he is incredibly inspiring and definitely a real hero.
Elective
Electives are well underway! Thursday afternoon, Rebel’s self-selected activities continued to develop with some awesome progress. The Yearbook Team discussed elements of their research as they determined which company to work with. Dude Perfect collaborations continued in the Gym while Discovery Rebels helping out in the Sparks Studio led some fun icebreaker activities. Garden Tower seeds were selected for Rebels interested in working on their green thumb, and the 3D printer has been non-stop this week with a variety of creative objects being created in TinkerCad.
Exploration Experiments, Fun Friday, and Town Hall
After a week of assessments, the Rebels were ready to let loose on Friday afternoon! Once their Google Goal Trackers were filled in, their Journey Tracker Reflection was complete, and they had met with their Squad Leader, Rebels took part in the Exploration Rebels’ Behavioural Economics Experiments! It was then time for ice cream sundaes to celebrate the end of testing and time to either Catch-Up on core skills or enjoy some free time. In preparation for voting for our Session 2 Squad Leaders next week, at Town Hall we brainstormed what qualities we would like to see in a Squad Leader. Patient, empathetic, warm-hearted, tough-minded, hard-working, and positive were all listed as the traits they identified they will be looking for when voting. After our discussion, several sprint badges were celebrated and Character Callouts were given! Lastly, a Rebel showed us all a really cool card trick! This really is an awesome group of learners who are stepping up to the challenge while supporting one another!
Exploration Studio
Launch
Gifts: We pushed ourselves outside of our comfort zone this week to connect in an unlikely way: direct eye contact. Each learner was tasked with staring directly into another learner’s eye for 1 minute. The learners found this to be a quick and easy way to connect with the person they were locking eyes with.
Warm Fuzzies: Each Rebel and Guide chose a popsicle stick that had someone’s name written on it. We then took turns telling that person what we liked about them, what we think they are good at, ways we appreciate them, basically any positive affirmation that came to mind. We practiced expressing gratitude but also receiving compliments which can often feel awkward or uncomfortable.
Organization: Friday we took time to prepare the Rebels for the upcoming Exhibition. Learners created bookmarks and folders for all of their frequently used websites. Some even set up an auto-load feature for websites to automatically pull up after they open Chrome.
IOWA Assessment and Core Skills
This week the Rebels took part in the IOWA Assessment for one hour each morning. We were impressed with the learners' ability to focus and willingness to tackle the challenge each morning. While not “fun” the Exploration Rebels realized that this low-stakes testing would help to prepare them for potential future testing and help to identify areas to work on this year. Due to the IOWA, there wasn’t as much time for core skills this week. That being said, most learners were able to get a large percentage of their goals completed! With next week being a normal core skills week, we should see most Rebel’s on track to finish their goals for Session 1.
Big History
Big History this week was focused on writing and producing our newscast videos. On Tuesday, we created storyboards, a technique used in film making to organize and brainstorm thoughts and convey ideas. We then added text to our boards, finishing off the day with sharing our scripts with one another and receiving feedback. Thursday was Recording Day for many of the Rebels. With a whole wall dedicated to a green screen, the learners put their directors, actors, and SFX caps on to bring their script to life. Next week we will finish off our videos and showcase them!
Quest
This week Rebels focused on putting the final touches on their Behavioral Economics experiments in preparation for the Discovery Rebels visit on Friday. Exploration worked on their displays and brainstormed ways to entice an audience to take part in their experiment. Some Rebels made flashy posters to catch people's attention, while others chose to use prizes and treats to attract people. For some of our Rebels, the exercise of presenting to a group was really scary as they had to put themselves out there. However, Friday’s Experiment Exhibition was a hit! The Discovery Rebels really enjoyed the experiments and many of the Exploration Rebels expressed that their theories were proven to be correct!
French
In French this week, Rebels were split into teams to complete a scavenger hunt, finding different items in the studio, or taking photos or videos with their team. This proved to be quite challenging because they had to stay quiet in order to respect those in the Discovery Studio who were testing. Nonetheless, we saw that we have some pretty creative Rebels who found ways to find the objects and photograph them. Rebels also took the time to reflect on their individual goals in French this year and were asked to use the SMART goals model to share their goals on Journey Tracker.
Personal Finance Lab
On Monday, Alex Anderson (CFA Charterholder and Portfolio Manager with TD Wealth) joined us to answer our early investing questions. The topics discussed ranged from the differences between bonds and equity, mutual funds and stocks, as well as time horizon, risk tolerance, goals/objectives and investing with a social or environmental mindset (ESG). He was impressed with one of our Rebel’s desire to purchase a stock at a price lower than its current trading level which led to a discussion about market and limit orders.
Terry Fox Run and PE
We’re sure this is the most memorable Terry Fox run in recent years. The geography surrounding Revel perfectly represents the geography of Canada. We had a huge group of puddles which were our Great Lake, followed by a long grassy field that went right into our Rocky Mountains (The Hill). As soon as we started running, it began drizzling. Within 2 minutes it was raining. A minute after that there was a torrential downpour. We all finished our run and then made it inside. Right as we all made it inside, the rain suddenly stopped and the sun came back out. Sorry for all the soaked Rebels that were sent home. Each Rebel showed perseverance and positivity, laughing at the situation. During our PE session, Mr. Deagan took charge of the soccer group while Ms. Jenna led a yoga and pilates series in the Gym. Combining a series of smaller, deep muscle Pilates-based movements with yoga positions and breath. We worked on being mindful of that present moment in a challenge zone, especially during squats or active cardio when our mind is telling us “This is hard, let’s stop!” and how that moment is only temporary - your body is capable and you can do this!
Team Building
In our condensed team building this week the learners created an imaginary skit using the play structure as their set. We finished off the half-hour with a quick game of the classic “Grounders.”
Elective
Elective is proving to be some of our learner’s favourite part of the week, using the time to work on projects they are passionate about. We are still in the experimentation phases of many projects, with not many learners identifying clear goals. Ask your Rebel about their chosen elective!
Town Hall
We finished our Contract Game, deciding on our discussion Rules Of Engagement and Studio Covenants for the year by voting on items we wanted to keep or change to make our own. Afterward, we circled up for Town Hall and decided it would be a good idea to have someone take notes every week so we can keep those that are absent in the loop. One Rebel asked the community for some help choosing a business name and was asked some questions about what their brand was, what they would be selling, and to whom, in order to help them find a suitable name. We finished up with some Character Callouts and a fun game of Blanket Name Drop.
Potential Questions to Ask your Rebel:
Exploration: What is your favourite thing about yourself?
Exploration: Were your Behavioural Economics experiment results what you had predicted?
Discovery: What do you need to finish up before the end of Session 1?
Discovery: How is your elective progressing this session? What would you like to do next session? (Art, Yearbook, Garden Tower, Game Design, Knitting, etc.)
Spark: What makes you feel really happy?
Spark: What strategy are you going to try the next time you feel angry?
Spark: Can you tell me about some of the studio rules that you and the other Sparks came up with?
Spark: What are some ideas for ways to fill your kindness bucket? What would you like to purchase from the Revel Buck store?
Upcoming Special Dates and Events:
Session 1 Family Meetings and Exhibition: While we'd rather gather as a community, this session we have chosen to host individual Family Meetings to go over each Rebel's Badge Plans and goals for the year. We are happy to meet with you outside or via Zoom. On Friday you will also receive some fun videos, a slide show, reflections, as well as some of our Session 1 work to review with your Rebel during the break!
Sessional Break - October 13th - 16th: Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you have a wonderful sessional break and look forward to seeing the Rebels for Session 2 on Monday, October 19th!
