Revel Recap: Sept. 14 - 18, 2020
Spark Studio
We started off our week in the Spark Studio reading the book, What Does it Mean to be Present? This book explores the idea of focusing on what is happening right now and not worrying about what will happen next. It encourages us to try and be present and enjoy the moment. We then found a comfortable spot to sit and observe our surroundings. We took two minutes to look around at what we could see, what noises, smells, or tastes we could observe and how we felt physically and emotionally. The Sparks did a great job during the exercise and sharing with everyone after. For yoga, we began our session by finding a comfortable spot on our mat and working on our snake breaths. We would take a big breath in and on the breath out, making a “hiss” sound. This grounded us and prepared us for our yoga practice where the Sparks tried eight poses, holding them for five seconds each. After our morning mindfulness sessions, we introduced our calendar. We began talking about the date, the month, the season and the weather. We also went around the circle and talked about how we were feeling every morning, and placed our emotion on the board.
Once we completed our morning meeting, it was time to dive into our work period. The studio was full of energy and excitement as we began really exploring the materials. We started working on our writing books, using materials to practice our letter sounds, reading, numbers, and being introduced to many new activities or revisiting old favourites. The Practical Life area was busy this week as the Sparks selected activities such as pouring practice, various scissor cutting activities, care of plants as well as fastening nuts and bolts. We also worked on our metal inset tracing and colouring, which helps prepare and practice for writing while creating beautiful designs. The Sparks are starting to get comfortable with independently selecting their materials, completing the work and then returning it to the shelf. This practice will guide our year, as we get used to making choices and concentrating on our activities. One morning, a Spark remarked, “It’s so quiet in the studio.” A sure sign that we are already building our concentration!
For Quest this week, our theme was all about family. We started by reading, Me and My Family Tree, which led to our discussion about our own families. Some learners shared their family photos while others shared the names of their family members. We then created an anchor chart together, talking about the various places families can live, the family members that make up all different types of families, and what activities families like to do together. We then drew our own family portraits. Throughout the week, we continued to read books about families and discuss topics such as how can we help our family at home, how our families make us feel, family traditions, food our families like to eat, what we love to do with our families, and what our homes look like. We had follow-up activities to complete, such as drawings, making our family members out of playdough, designing our current home and our dream homes out of building blocks (there were many castles being built!), creating a card for a family member and even making a family collage! It was so special to hear about each Spark’s wonderful family! You could see everybody's face light up as they shared their special stories!
This week we began our personal and studio maintenance at the end of the day. First, we discussed what would need to be done for personal maintenance, such as cleaning up our workspace and wiping down our tables. We then brainstormed areas we needed to focus on for our studio maintenance. We have decided on jobs such as watering the plants, vacuuming, emptying the garbage and recycling, dusting, cleaning our snack area, and wiping down our doorknobs and light switches. We talked about how important it is to take care of our environment and if we work together as a studio, we can complete our tasks much more efficiently. We were each given a job, which the Sparks will keep for the week and then rotate through. Taking care of our environment is such a great way to work together and be a part of the community. It also helps the learners to take pride and ownership over their own space and the studio.
During our closing circles, we explored some grace and courtesy lessons. For example, we all practiced rolling and unrolling our work mats and walking around the mats. We talked about what we feel the volume of our studio should be so that everyone could feel comfortable and the importance and reasoning behind walking inside. We also practiced coughing and sneezing into our arms. We then had some time to enjoy the gym and play games such as Bingo, Candy Land, Follow the Leader, “Would you Rather” scenarios and solve riddles together! It was a great Week 2 in the Spark studio!
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
To start off our week we watched a humorous “Soul Pancake” video about Gratitude and then took time to write things we are grateful for on slips of coloured paper. Using the slips we began to make a Gratitude Chain that we will continue to add on to throughout the year! Tuesday and Thursday both saw the Rebels quietly colouring, drawing, and finger knitting. Our yoga class Wednesday morning focused on the Warrior Series. Rebels worked on grounding in the powerful Warrior 1 and 2 poses while incorporating breath to flow with each movement. We closed our practice with a mindful minute, taking five of our biggest breaths before we went off to start the day. We finished off our week of mindful mornings with a Sunrise Flow focusing on legs and core. We began by setting an intention (choosing a word or sentence of self-gratitude and appreciation beginning with “I am…”) and then went into our flow. We introduced two new positions, side plank (option to leg-lift), and Warrior 3. We closed off our practice with a mindful minute, revisiting our “I Am” statement before heading out for the day.
Launches
Does Power Corrupt? Today we began discussing our Overarching Question of the year by asking ourselves; “What is power? How does someone get power? Does having power change your decision making?” We only just touched the tip of the iceberg with our discussion and we can tell it will be a great frame for many discussions throughout the year. On Tuesday, we discussed SMART Goals with more depth as we prepare for independent Core Skills starting next week. We began by reviewing the SMART acronym (Specific, Measurable, Achievable/Attainable, Relevant, Time Sensitive), watched a supporting animated sketch, and then used what we know and learned to respond to a real-world scenario where Rebels would need to make a SMART goal. One of the most important takeaways for Rebels was realizing that even if we do all the SMART strategies, sometimes we will still fail or not reach our goal - and that is just fine! We can always adjust and try again! “You have the chance to replace yourself with a perfect version of you. That means you will look the way you have always dreamed of and have the personality and talents you have always wished for. But in exchange, all your memories will be erased. Would you do it?” Every single one of our Discovery Rebels said an emphatic “NO!” Their reasonings were somewhat varied but basically, they all agreed that all in all they had great lives and wouldn’t even be willing to exchange their bad memories as they were instrumental in making them who they are. Using CBC Kids News on Thursday we reviewed and discussed the importance of thinking critically about the news and the stories happening around the world. Rebels expressed a lot of excellent insight regarding the need to question, not just accept, the headlines of news stories, and how crucial it is to think about the source, possible biases, and how to offer an opinion without judgment when discussing current events. We ended the discussion with one of the top stories out this week, the West Coast Wildfires in California and how natural disasters have effects that reach far beyond the environment they occur in. Current Events will be part of our weekly launches with the goal being to promote a greater sense of awareness and understanding of the events happening in our community and the world around us. We ended our week of launches by introducing the “Challenge Donut.” This visual helps us to remember that while nice, we don’t learn much when we stay in our Comfort Zone and we aren’t capable of learning when we are in our Panic Zone. Our Challenge Zone is that sweet spot where we find flow, engagement, and deep learning. While it’s not possible to always be in our Challenge Zone, we’re going to do our best to maximize our time there while also learning ways to bring ourselves out of the Panic Zone.
Core Skills
This week we slowly introduced one core skill program at a time until all of the Rebels became comfortable with the different platforms. Monday we focused on Khan Academy and had all new Rebels choose the level before their current grade in order to complete the Course Challenge. We really want to ensure that all of our learners have a strong mathematical foundation and have found going back at least one year is time well spent to fill in any holes. Lexia or Reading Plus was our core skill program focus on Tuesday. Each new Rebel took an initial placement assessment and within the week we should have a pretty good idea if the placement was accurate. On Wednesday, we used Typing Plus and reiterated that proper format when learning to type is paramount, not speed. On Thursday we showed the different coding options. For our younger Rebels, we suggested using our Challenge Cards for the Dash and Dot robots or the online Scratch program to learn Blockly coding. Our older learners are using Skill Struck and beginning their study with HTML. Once completed they can choose CSS, JavaScript, Python or an independent coding course of their choice with approval. French was the focus for Friday as all of the Rebels learned how to turn on their French keyboard and log into Duolingo with Mme. Talina.
Baby Shower
After painting onesies and writing special messages on diapers, we were able to have Ms. Aindrea for an Outdoor Baby Shower this week! We played a few games and celebrated the upcoming birth of her twins during lunch and recess. (Both twins and mom are healthy and at home settling into life as a family of four!)
Rebel Readers & Warrior Writers 4/5
The Writing Warriors and Rebel Readers had a wonderful introductory class this week! We started off exploring what the class will look like over the course of this session. We examined three main elements we will be learning in each session: Genre Study, Word Work (spelling and grammar), and Journal Journey. We had a great discussion about Writing Warrior and Rebel Reader expectations, and what we need as a team to achieve success and reach our goals. Rebels took on part of their first Genre Study Project. The Best Part of Me project highlights our first Genre Study of the session, Narratives while exploring the power of diversity and positive self-esteem by highlighting what Rebels think is the best part of them. The Best Part of Me will be part of our first Exhibition at the end of Session One. Friday, we teamed up with the younger Discovery Rebels to complete our first Reading and Writing Mission that involved editing Ms. Jenna’s Preposterous Paragraph and working in small groups to prepare for our Narratives Book Club at the end of the month. Moving into next week, we will be incorporating our Grammar Focus of the week, Nouns and Adjectives, as Rebels brainstorm a variety of sentences and phrases that describe why they chose that part of their body to write about as they create their first draft for Best Part of Me. Next week we will be starting our weekly Spelling package, exploring adjectives in greater depth, and working on the rough drafts for our Best Part of Me Exhibition projects.
Rebel Readers and Warrior Writers 2/3
The Rebel Readers and Writing Warriors also had a great first introductory class this week! We began with a similar framework, voting on things like how the class would flow each week, ensuring we make time to work on our Journal Journey, Genre Study (Narratives) and Word Work each week. We had a great discussion about Narratives and listened to an audio/video storybook on Vooks.com called Little Sock, as well as a read-aloud for The Red Crayon, which introduced elements of a good narrative. For their writing project this session, Rebels will be creating 8-10 “About Me” sentences on a canvas that incorporate our Grammar Focus for this session (capitals and end punctuation, nouns and adjectives). Friday was dedicated to their first Reading and Writing Mission, involving a small group challenge that required Rebels to edit Ms. Jenna’s Preposterous Paragraph and reading various narrative mentor texts together in order to prepare for our Book Club at the end of the month. Next week we will be continuing to work on our About Me booklets, introduce our Spelling Package for the week, and practice making juicy sentences using adjectives.
Math Lab
This week in Math Lab, each group started by watching a video on Mathematical Mindsets which emphasized how there is no such thing as a “Math Person.” We will work really hard this year on dispelling many of the misconceptions about math in order to help alter some of the negative associations some of our learners currently hold. We then brainstormed our norms for Math Lab before completing our first group math activity, Building Shapes. Rebels were given a 7 ft. piece of string tied in a loop and were asked to make a variety of 2D and 3D shapes with the string as a team and convince Mrs. Erin, the skeptic. For our first Math Lab, we were impressed with the communication and patience that was shown! Our older group was able to also begin the “Four 4’s” task where they worked to find the numbers 1-20 using only four 4’s and any operations which immediately frustrated some and excited others. We’ll continue to come up with solutions to this challenge next week.
DEAR/Read Aloud
After having a brief discussion about our DEAR/Read Aloud expectations, Rebels created a great contract and agreed on what DEAR and Read Aloud should look like moving forward. Rebels have the option each day to partake in DEAR independently, listening to music quietly with headphones while they read or listen to an audiobook, or grab their blankets/yoga mats and head over to the Gym to listen to several stories read aloud by Ms. Jenna. Each day, Rebels can submit their favourite books they would like Ms. Jenna to read aloud at DEAR. Rebels rate the stories together, discuss their favourite parts and respond to several comprehension questions about characters, plot, setting and other literary elements.
French
This week Rebels played a few communicative games to practice their spontaneous communication skills. We started off with a quick speed dating game where Rebels had to answer questions about themselves to the Rebel standing in front of them. Afterward, we played a game where Rebels described the words Mme. Talina held up on a sheet of paper to the other Rebel standing in front of them (this Rebel could not see the words). When the team finished guessing the four words they ran to the fence and waited for the next round to start. On Thursday, we had a session of show and tell, where Rebels did their best at explaining the object they brought and telling us why it was special to them. We saw some original art pieces, sentimental jewellery and even dinosaur coprolite. This was the first time Mme. Talina got to spend some time with the Discovery Studio and she loved meeting them all and seeing all the different levels of French.
Quest
We kicked off our afternoon with a discussion on what the expectations are for after we finish our lunch. The Rebels came up with great suggestions and we will continue to iron out the expectations and options together throughout the week. During Quest, Rebels focussed on learning how to use Journey Tracker! This is probably the most important tool at Revel, so comfortability with the program is really important! Learners found out how to change their picture, give Rebel Bucks, and make a weekly goal. On Tuesday, Online Safety was the focus as groups were tasked with reading Revel’s Tech Safety Guidelines and one of three Garfield comics on information privacy, online posting, and cyber-bullying. We also learned the proper format for an email which we will practice throughout the year, the importance of a subject line and what the difference is between CC and BCC when emailing. Teams learned about Google Drive, how to create folders to stay organized, and how to create a document, title it, change the font, line spacing, colours, and more. Rebels were also introduced to their weekly Goal Tracker which will be a sheet they will use every week to stay on track with their core skill goals. Great teamwork!
Civilizations
We began this year’s Civilizations with a review of Canada’s indigenous cultures. After reading some stories we shared our knowledge and came up with a list of questions we’d like to answer. Each Rebel was then given a pre-written research question about the Inuit and asked to locate the answer to their question spread around the room. Next week we will continue our research with a different group.
PE
This year we are giving two options for every PE class. On Monday, Mrs. Erin took some of the Rebels out to the field for soccer. After a warm-up, Rebels were split into two different scrimmages to play for the rest of the session. The other Rebels met with Ms. Jenna for a full-length active yoga class. Rebels explored some new positions to put together a 14 position yoga flow, focusing on liberating any tensions in the back, spine or shoulders. After a long day of working hard at our desks with so many of us who tend to slouch forward when sitting, it was a great way to stretch out and re-activate those muscles. We played Round Robin Flow, where each participant added on one new position around the circle, and we put everything together at the end with an upbeat musical track to help us time each movement with our breath and beat. On Wednesday with new soccer balls in hand, the soccer group completed a warm-up, as well as dribbling and passing drills before playing a few rounds of “Octopus.” With 20 minutes left, we played one big game of soccer but with two balls in order to encourage more touches by every player. Meanwhile, the other group went on a hike on the hill and in the woods with Mr. Deagan.
Elective
We’ve set aside time every Thursday for Rebels to work on an Elective, Club, or Passion Project. This week we brainstormed ideas and had Rebels pick one to commit to for the next couple of sessions. Yearbook, Dungeons & Dragons, TinkerCAD, Dude Perfect, and helping with the Spark Rebels were the most popular choices.
Closings and Town Hall
On Monday we finished our day playing “Get on the Boat” which is a game to find out the Rebels’ preferences. It was a light-hearted game and really showed how we have so many things in common with different members in our studio. We closed with more discussion about our Rules of Engagement as well as the Revel Rebel Dance before going in a circle and saying something that we appreciated about the person to our left. On Tuesday we continued our Contract Game while on Wednesday we reviewed what we learned about internet/email safety before celebrating a Rebel’s birthday complete with a rousing rendition of “The Birthday Song” and Flying Wish paper since blowing out candles are a “no go” this year. Thursday we each received a question to answer from “Our Moments: Kids” conversation starter deck. Some of the cards were quite deep and we are learning more and more about one another. At Town Hall, we reviewed the requests in the Town Hall jar, gave Character Callouts, and played a game of Octopus to cap off Week 2.
Exploration Studio
Mindfulness
Many of our Rebels seem to be enjoying colouring and any artistic exercise during our morning mindfulness sessions. Some choose to colour, others choose to draw and some have even been painting during this time. Several also join Mrs. Jenna in the gym for yoga.
Launches
Launches were largely focused on developing our Rules of Engagement for the studio. Kindness, responsibility, and purpose were the three main traits we talked about, creating rules around interrupting and cleaning the studio. We played the Contract Game, deciding on what we wanted to try and focus on during the week. Thursday the energy was low in the studio so Mme. Talina played some light-hearted puppy videos to connect Rebels in laughter and joy, followed by an inspirational video to help launch them into a productive core skills period. On Friday, we talked about our Comfort, Challenge, and Panic Zone, and where we should be spending our time at Revel. We warmed up with an activity where Mr. Deagan read out different activities (skydiving, brushing your teeth, wearing a dress to school) to identify whether it was in the learner’s Comfort, Challenge, or Panic Zone.
Core Skills
This week Rebels got familiar with our core skills programs and practiced entering their daily goals into Journey Tracker. They are now all equipped to find their login information for each program so that they can get right into their core skills next week. All Rebels completed assessment tests in Reading Plus, Duolingo and Typing Club so we can properly set their goals next week during their individual mentor meetings. Rebels also began their coding course in Skill Struck, beginning with HTML. Walking around the studio we would see Rebels helping one another and engaged in their core skills, it was so calm and quiet.
French
This week Rebels played a few communicative games to practice their spontaneous communication skills. We started off with a quick speed dating game where Rebels had to answer questions about themselves to the Rebel standing in front of them. Afterward, we played a game where Rebels described the words Mme. Talina held up on a sheet of paper to the other Rebel standing in front of them (this Rebel could not see the words). When the team finished guessing the four words they ran to the fence and waited for the next round to start. On Thursday, we had a session of show and tell, where Rebels did their best at explaining the object they brought and told us why it was special to them. We had some guitar playing, some jokes read from tiny books and overall got to know one another a little more.
Baby Shower
After painting onesies and writing special messages on diapers, we were able to have Ms. Aindrea in for an Outdoor Baby Shower this week! We played a few games and celebrated the upcoming birth of her twins during lunch and recess. (Both twins and mom are healthy and at home settling into life as a family of four!)
Personal Finance Lab
This year our Exploration Studio will be taking part in an investing simulation using Personal Finance Lab! This week we had them log in and watch a site overview video to become more familiar with the platform. Throughout the year, Alex Anderson, a Portfolio Manager, will be coming in to discuss risk tolerance, asset allocation, and answer any other questions that the Rebels may have while investing. We’re looking forward to seeing which stocks, bonds, and mutual funds the Exploration Rebels choose with their $100,000!
Big History
We also started with Big History this week. While most people think of history as memorizing small details of old dead white guys, Big History focuses all of its time on big concepts and the thresholds that we have crossed to get to where we are now. This week we took a walking tour through the entire history of the universe ending with a peek into the future to appreciate how long the universe has been around and how quickly and slowly different thresholds take to cross. On Thursday, we practiced our reading comprehension by creating a mind map for the article that we read. We’re sure your Rebel could teach you a thing or two about the universe, so ask them about it!
Math Lab
The Exploration Rebels are also taking part in Math Lab! Each group started by watching a video on Mathematical Mindsets which emphasized how there is no such thing as a “Math Person.” We will work really hard this year on dispelling many of the misconceptions about math in order to help alter some of the negative associations some of our learners currently hold. We then brainstormed our norms for Math Lab before completing our first group math activity, Building Shapes. Rebels were given a 7 ft. piece of string tied in a loop and were asked to make a variety of 2D and 3D shapes with the string as a team and convince Mrs. Erin, the skeptic. Exploration was able to also begin the “Four 4’s” task where they worked to find the numbers 1-20 using only four 4’s and any operations which immediately frustrated some and excited others. We’ll continue to come up with solutions to this challenge next week.
Elective
Every Thursday afternoon, the school will be doing a genius hour of either developing an individual passion project or working on a group project. This week we brainstormed possible projects and clubs for everyone and many people narrowed down what they want to be doing at least for the next few weeks during that time. Some people are helping out in the Sparks Studio, some doing a Dungeons and Dragon’s Club, and some learning instruments! Ask your learner what they want to be doing during their elective time.
Field Trip: Dominion Arboretum
Our trip to the arboretum was filled with lots of play and exploring. A few learners read through a book Mr. Deagan brought about the Arboretum and the trees in the area. We also read aloud a few chapters of “The Hidden Life of Trees” where we learned how connected and interdependent trees are with one another through their roots and giant fungal connections. We played one of the largest games of capture the flag ever and were introduced to a new game called Owl! We hope we will be able to return to the Arboretum when the fall colours come out.
Quest
This week during Quest, Rebels continued their adventures in Classcraft, completing tasks to get them set up to cast their work on TVs, print, and make copies of documents. They then dove into discussions about what we need to ensure that our studio functions well and is a safe and fun space. We continued the Contract Game choosing what Rules of Engagement we wanted to try out as well as promises we will make to create our studio covenant for this year. Rebels also took time to read over the Rebel Bucks and Strike System at Revel to discuss as a team if there were any changes that needed to be made or questions they had about how these systems work. Their last challenge of Quest this week was to do some research on posters we can buy to decorate our studio in a way that will inspire, equip or motivate Rebels. They were given a $50-75 budget to spend as a team so they had to decide on some of their favourite posters, explain why they chose them, and then present to fellow Rebels for a vote.
Closings and Town Hall
Closings were a continuation of what was presented that morning in Launch. Mr. Deagan focused on launching ourselves at the beginning of the day so that we could land at the end of the day to reflect on what happened. We also had a mini-show and tell session as an example and reminder to Rebels to bring their objects for French the following day. Discussions that we had about the Contract Game showed a lot of respect and willingness to create an atmosphere where everyone felt happy and able to learn. We talked about how we are trying hard not to interrupt, but that it is a challenge because we cannot see each other's mouths while wearing masks.
Potential Questions to Ask your Rebel:
Exploration: Have you faced any challenges working with your team this week?
Exploration: What was your favourite part of the field trip? Anything we can do better next time?
Discovery: Can you name a time during your week where you found yourself in your Comfort, Challenge, or Panic Zone?
Discovery: Why do you think people seek power?
Spark: Can you show us the snake breaths that you practiced during yoga this week?
Spark: What is one way you would like to help at home?
Spark: What is your favourite thing to do together as a family?
Upcoming Special Dates and Events:
IOWA Testing: Our fall testing will begin on Monday, September 28th, concluding on Friday, October 2nd. Each day Rebels will spend ~ 30-45 minutes completing a section of the test. As you know, we use the results as one way to benchmark progress and identify trends. Again we believe these tests show only a fraction of what a learner knows or is capable of and should not be used to form a full picture. There will also be a celebration on Friday once the testing is complete! (Testing is not mandatory, please let Erin know if you prefer to opt-out.)
Session 1 Exhibition: We will keep an eye on the current situation and make a call about our Session 1 Exhibition in a couple of weeks. Right now we are leaning towards individual family meetings that are scheduled throughout the last week.