Revel Recap: Nov. 30 - Dec. 4, 2020
Spark Studio
The first week of Session 3 began with a listening game. The learners tried to guess the sound that was playing before the answer was revealed. It was interesting how we all heard the same sound, but had various responses for what we thought it was! On Tuesday and Thursday, we enjoyed listening to relaxing music while colouring some fairytale pictures. On Tuesday we also began our Kindness Advent Calendar. Each day one Spark will choose a heart from the envelope to help us count down to the holidays and spread some kindness during this season. This week our activities were to set the table for dinner, smile at every person we saw for the whole day, tell someone how much you love them and give someone a really big hug! Some of the Sparks remarked, “I do these things every day already,” which was so lovely to hear! On Wednesday, we began our yoga practice by working on our Bunny Breaths. We then went through our yoga sequence before ending with a fairytale mediation story of a princess leaving her castle to visit the beach. On Friday, we talked about setting intentions for the day. We wrote down what kind of day we wanted to have on a post-it note and put it on our desks. Some of the Sparks responded that they wanted to have fun, happy, exciting, or a hard-working day!
We had such a great start to our fairy tale Quest this week. We began by brainstorming and discussing the definition of a fairytale. We thought of some examples we have read, such as the Three Little Pigs, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, and Beauty and the Beast. We talked about what a setting is and identified castles, forests, and houses as settings we have seen in fairytales. We also discussed what the word character means and thought about some characters we have read about such as princesses, kings, and of course, talking animals! Common elements to fairy tales were also explored, such as how there is often magic, a good character versus a bad character, and often begin, “Once upon a time” and end with “and they all lived happily ever after!”
We then read an original version of The Three Little Pigs. We discussed the story and worked on a story sequencing sheet. This helped us to put in order what happened first, next, then, and last. After which, we began working on creating our own houses! Over the next couple of days, we used straws, popsicle sticks, and Lego or wooden blocks to each create a straw, wood, and brick house. The learners had such great ideas and worked really hard at designing and building their three houses. This was a challenging project and it was really nice to see that when someone needed help, for example holding their house while they used the tape, the learners offered to help each other. One Spark was overheard helping a friend who was feeling frustrated and told them, “It’s okay. Don’t give up, we can fix it!” Each of the Sparks’ houses were so unique and really well done! We will be sure to share pictures of their designs. They then worked on making finger puppets to retell the story. After practicing the story, the Sparks chose to narrate The Three Little Pigs alone or in a group of their choosing. We recorded our videos and they did such a wonderful job remembering the lines and having a beginning, a middle, and an end to their story! We also read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs which is told from the wolf’s point of view as well as The Three Ninja Pigs. We spoke about what was different in each story, which version we liked best, and how we would trick the wolf if we were in the pigs’ shoes!
Next, we read Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In the story, Goldilocks breaks the little bear's chair so we decided that we needed to fix it! Using our materials we designed a chair and tested it using all the characters from the story. The goal was that the chair would hold each character individually without breaking or falling over! The Sparks did a lot of planning and testing. When the chair didn’t initially work they stayed positive and worked on reinforcing the chair to make it stronger. During our DEAR time, we continued reading additional fairy tales, identifying the setting, characters, and familiar elements each time. In one of our stories, the princess was relaxing and had cucumbers on her eyes and the Sparks thought it would be an excellent thing to try in the studio one day! One of the favourite activities this week was creating stories with puppets! The Sparks had a lot of fun making up stories and putting on shows for one another. What a creative group!
In French this week, we learned a collection of new winter words with some fun interactive activities. As Mme. Talina pulled objects out from a bag, the Sparks would learn the word for the object and repeat it as a group. We then practiced our listening skills and memory by listening to the word and coming to the middle of the circle to show which object matched the word they heard. The following day, Sparks noticed there were photos of the winter words hidden around the studio. The words were written on the board so after practicing them they were free to roam around the studio in search of the ten photos. Once they had a photo, they did their best to place the photo with the correct word. To help Mme. Talina would sound out the words in French as they concentrated on matching the sounds to the words.
Our loose parts activity this week was to use a variety of materials to make snowflakes. The learners created some beautiful art but really wanted to keep their snowflakes, however as they are made with loose parts it wasn’t possible. This, therefore, prompted us to make paper snowflakes, cutting out the designs and using glitter to decorate them. We also spent a lot of time in the gym, playing hopscotch, and enjoying the new dodge balls that we used for catching and passing! We capped off a great week with a fun round of Zingo!
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
We opened our week in the Discovery Studio with a conversation about our Inner Critic vs. Inner Coach. We discussed these voices in our heads and how to work on reframing our negative self-talk. The Rebels could all describe some of the critiques they hear in their head and have committed to work on listening more to our positive Inner Coach who unfortunately tends to be a bit quieter. We also spoke about how we can be one another’s Outer Coach when we notice that someone is down on themselves. Tuesday and Thursday’s mindful colouring incorporated our usual Zen Doodles, but we have also incorporated some fun holiday and Canadian zen doodles too! The Rebels are doing so well in their yoga sessions on Wednesday and Friday, as they learn new and integrate known poses while developing their balance and breathing.
Launches
In mid-November, Lucille Bridges the mother of Ruby Bridges passed away. The Rebels watched a video about this incredible woman who is known as the “Mother of Anti-Segregation,” which spoke about the dangers and struggles the family faced when Lucille pursued schooling for her daughter. The Rebels were asked, “Imagine you are Lucille, would you have done what she did knowing how it would affect your family?” We followed up by asking, “Now imagine that you are Ruby, are you angry or proud that your parents put you in this position?” Tuesday’s launch was a fun role-play activity that further developed the “Inner Critic/Coach” activity we discussed in Monday’s mindfulness period. Rebels took turns acting out a variety of different coach and critic reactions to several scenarios. They did an incredible job and expressed so many relatable coach and critic quotes that we say to ourselves. We hope they are a bit more equipped to handle those negative voices when they creep in! On Wednesday, we watched a CBC clip about the controversial flag change in the ’60s initiated by Lester B. Pearson. We discussed how we would have felt hearing that a symbol we had identified with would be altered. On Thursday, the Rebels enjoyed their weekly Current Events discussion and on Friday we watched a sweet short about creativity, imagination, and kindness at this time of the year.
Rebel Readers & Warrior Writers
Reader and Writer Session 3 for Aim and Release Rebels is all about Persuasive Letters! Rebels discussed elements of a persuasive letter and we read through a few examples. We discussed the Exhibition activity and Rebels began to create their graphic organizer of ideas for their own persuasive letter to Mayor Jim Watson.
Meanwhile, Rebels in our Draw and Anchor team worked on our Session 3 Persuasive Advertising activity. We reviewed a variety of advertising techniques and then analyzed a few different advertisements and a holiday cereal box to see if we could identify any in real commercials and products. Rebels started to brainstorm ideas for their own Holiday Cereal boxes, and spent the last part of our class working on our new spelling list focusing on Long Ee sounds using “ee” and “e”.
Rebels began an activity that will span over two Fridays this session to help get everyone into the holiday spirit! Rebels will be creating a Google Slides presentation on holiday celebrations in another part of the world. Rebels partnered up, selected their countries to study, and began reading about some of the different traditions people celebrate around the world. We can’t wait to see these presentations come together as we approach our very own winter holidays!
French
This week, Rebels took part in a mini Réveillon to learn about some French Canadian traditions that are celebrated during the holidays. We played games to learn some new winter vocabulary and listened to some French Christmas songs while eating some tourtière and pets de soeur desserts. Rebels will be sharing their very own family traditions with the studio and creating activities to learn new vocabulary. Next week, Rebels will also begin spending one-on-one time with Mme. Talina to read aloud in French and receive direct feedback on their pronunciation.
Civilizations
This week in Civilization, we took a look back at what we’ve learned about Canada’s history so far; reading a portion of the “Discover Canada” study guide for newcomers. We then dove further into the effects of the American Revolution with the Quebec Act of 1774 and the Loyalists. We also learned about Joseph Brant and tried to imagine what it must be like to have your land taken from you and be required to settle somewhere else.
Quest
Welcome to Canada! As Canadians, we need to understand the rights as well as the responsibilities of living in this gorgeous and incredible country. We began our Quest by brainstorming what we thought it meant to be Canadian before breaking into smaller groups to discuss what we felt our shared values are or should be as members of this country. After our small discussions, we came together to identify our top-5 as a studio. The environment, education, cold-weather sports, and respecting one another were commonalities that the groups felt were important to us as Canadians. It was then time to dive into Canadian symbols! After creating quite a list, Rebels chose to explore heraldry, coins, stamps, or floral emblems more deeply, while then designing their own crest, coin, or stamp! We ended with an explanation of this session’s culminating project which is a game or study guide that will assist Mrs. Erin to study for her Citizenship Test!
On Tuesday, we began by discussing the different types of maps, such as economic, political, physical, climate, and more. We then zoned in on the changing boundaries throughout Canada’s history before diving into our current political boundaries with a map activity where Rebels were asked to label each province and territory as well as their capital cities. Each learner then signed up for a province or territory and on Wednesday they worked on a rough and final draft of their graphic organizer on their chosen area. We were so impressed with the engagement, honesty, and grit we witnessed during this activity!
Where, oh where should our capital be?! On Thursday we learned about the five towns/cities that were in contention for becoming Canada’s official capital. After reviewing maps from that time and discussing the criteria for a capital, we listed the pros and cons for each of the five options and read an article from the time attempting to identify bias. We ended our exploration with a discussion if there were criteria that may have been used in the early stages of Canada’s development that may not be as important now and vice versa. The Rebels then had time to finish up their political maps, province/territory graphic organizer, or work on their culminating project.
Math Lab
In this session of Math Lab, all three groups will be using their math knowledge to create a gingerbread house! This week, our Draw and Anchor Rebels reviewed finding the perimeter and the area of some given shapes before starting to design their ideal gingerbread creations. The Draw Rebels also worked on their +8 facts for their Math Facts That Stick badge while the Anchor Rebels practiced their x6 facts! Aim and Release learners also reviewed perimeter and area but with more complex, composite shapes. They too then set to work creating a blueprint for a gingerbread house to scale using a graham cracker template.
PE
Monday’s Circuit was all about isolated muscle movements! Rebels did a lot of one-legged or one-armed movements at every station. We discussed how those types of movements help to develop our balance, coordination, and stability. The Exploration Rebels meanwhile completed a yoga workout as well as a quick game of Hide and Seek due to the rain. Wednesday, we played a few different games to get our blood flowing and our hearts pumping in the gym. We started with Octopus, then played Noodle Tag, and ended with a game of What time is it Mr. Wolf? For the last 5 minutes of PE, we took time to stretch and lower our heart rate. The remaining Rebels went outside for a game of Gaelic football.
Closings and Town Hall
After learning about Canadian symbols in Quest, we closed our day by reading the results of a survey that was conducted across Canada in 2008 to determine the people, places, events, accomplishments, and symbols that Canadians prize most. Rebels made guesses as to who, where, and what would be on the list before each Top-10 was revealed. On Tuesday, we broke into teams in order to play a Canadian Trivia game that we will continue to play throughout the session, honing our geography, history, and general knowledge of Canada! Wednesday we discussed a few potential opportunities in order to gauge Rebel interest. Several learners were interested in competing in the CanGeo contest and were also hoping to take part in a Spelling Bee this year. They also decided that they would like to do a Secret Santa exchange in the studio on December 18th. There is a $15 limit and names were drawn on Friday. We closed Thursday with more Canadian Trivia with much better results for every team!
In Town Hall, we discussed changes to Studio Maintenance, gave out badges, drew Secret Santa names, and celebrated the end of the first week of our third session!
Exploration Studio
Launch
Launches this week were usually related to a philosophical concept put in practice. We introduced our Launch on Monday morning by reading Socrates and thinking about what the questions most central to his life were. One example of a philosophical concept we studied was the connection between contractarianism and the game, Split or Steal. In this game, two learners were pitted against each other. There was a prize available to them, if they both decided to split the prize, they would each get part of the prize, if one decided to steal while the other split, the thief got it all, and if both participants decided to steal, no one would receive anything. The learners had one minute to deliberate and write down their action which was then revealed at the same time. Both sets of learners who played the game decided to split the money. Why?! It was discovered that the Exploration Rebels felt that we are a community who believes we need to cooperate in order to get ahead and that stealing from a fellow learner would mean stealing from the group. More learners felt that they would feel more comfortable stealing from a stranger.
Starting next week, each learner is going to be leading a discussion in the style of Socrates. Each learner chose their topic and questions and are going to lead the studio through their prepared discussion. Ask your learner what they chose for their discussion topic!
Quest
For Quest this week, we dove headfirst into philosophy! Each day we grappled with a different branch of the philosophical tree. Monday was an hour where the learners answered close to 100 questions in a small group discussion about every question under the sun, narrowing the learner’s interest in a specific branch of philosophy: Epistemology, Ethics, Aesthetics, Meta-Physics, and Logic. For epistemology we had a mini-research task that questioned where we get our knowledge from, aesthetics was studied at the National Art Gallery, logic was explored with a riddle, and meta-physics and ethics will be tackled next week.
Field Trip
Thursday was the second field trip of the year, to the National Art Gallery! The gallery is newly renovated and magnificent. We spent the day meandering through the exhibits, seeing everything the gallery had to offer. The learners reflected on the questions “What is art?” and “What makes it beautiful?” with contemporary art muddling their perceptions. The classical pieces of nude-portraits seemed to match the learners’ definitions of art, however, the huge solid orange painting frustrated many.
Big History
There was only one Big History session this week due to our Field Trip. The learners created a new timeline that is proudly displayed on the wall of the school. This timeline takes the viewer through the history of the earth through the lenses of geology, biology, and meteorology. Next week we will begin making our brochure on a chosen part of the solar system.
PE
On Monday, the Exploration Rebels completed a yoga workout as well as a quick game of Hide and Seek due to the downpour of rain. Wednesday, we played a few different games to get our blood flowing and our hearts pumping in the gym. We started with Octopus, then played Noodle Tag, and ended with a game of What time is it, Mr. Wolf? For the last 5 minutes of PE, we took time to stretch and lower our heart rate. The remaining Rebels went outside for a game of Gaelic football.
French
This week Rebels took part in a mini Réveillon to learn about some French Canadian traditions that are celebrated during the holidays. They played games to learn some new winter vocabulary, listened to some French Christmas songs while eating some tourtière and pets de soeur desserts. Rebels will be sharing their very own family traditions with the studio and will be working on their French writing skills through letter writing. We also began our French Read Aloud this week by reading “Oscar et la dame rose” by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. For the first half, we read the book and during the second half, we discussed what we read, learned new vocabulary, and talked about what we now know about the various characters.
Math Lab
In this session, Exploration Rebels will be using graph paper or CAD software such as TinkerCAD or SketchUp to design scaled gingerbread houses that they will then be built with graham crackers during the last week of the session. It was an extremely frustrating task for some as they struggled with learning to use the software. While encouraged to use the given resources and tutorials, the Rebels often chose to test all of the different buttons in order to understand how the software worked. We’re excited to see the finished designs next week at the end of our second class!
Potential Discussion Ideas or Questions to Ask your Rebel:
Exploration: What are the different branches of philosophy? Which are you most interested in?
Exploration: What was your favourite piece at the National Art Gallery?
Discovery: What do you feel it means to be Canadian? Do you think that a shared value system is important?
Discovery: What is your “Big Rock” goal for Session 3?
Spark: Can you retell us the story of The Three Little Pigs?
Spark: Which pig’s house was the hardest for you to make? (Straw, Wood or Bricks)