Revel Recap: Sept. 21 - 25, 2020
Spark Studio
The Sparks were very excited this week to change the season on our calendar to autumn! During our morning meetings, we read some fall-themed stories, our studio favourite was There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Leaf. We discussed what kind of weather is typical for this season, what happens to the leaves, what clothes we might need to wear, how the animals and farmers prepare, and the holidays we celebrate. We also used our story writing books to draw a picture and write down our favourite fall activity. We enjoyed using pastels to do some leaf rubbings and created beautiful autumn trees using finger paints. We also liked it when one of the Discovery Rebels joined us and helped us create some fall leaves using marbles and paint.
We had our first group Geography lesson this week, looking at the land and water on our globe. We then imagined cutting that globe in half and laying it out, which gives us our Continent puzzle map. We matched the puzzle pieces to the continents on the globe and counted how many there were. We learned our continent song, which introduced us to the continent names. The Rebels were invited to explore with any of the puzzle maps this week and they were a popular choice of material.
Our Quest focus this week was centred around friendships. We read books such as Be Kind, Llama Llama Time to Share, How Do Dinosaurs Stay Friends, All are Welcome, and My New Friend is So Fun!, which helped guide our discussions. We made some anchor charts to help us organize all of our ideas and spoke about what a good friend does or does not do, kind words we can use, and how to resolve conflicts using our problem-solving tools. We also talked about what a compliment is and how to give one to a friend. We went around the circle and the Sparks were really thoughtful in thinking of a compliment they could give a friend or a family member. We then worked on making a compliment card and they were so excited to give them out after they completed their card. We looked at pictures and read stories of specific friendship scenarios and discussed how we could respond in these situations. The Sparks had a lot of ideas to share and worked hard on their follow-up activities.
We have been having so much fun during our outdoor time. At the playground they have fun on the swings, racing down the slides, and climbing the structures. They have also created a game of pirates and like to search for buried treasure. While digging some deep holes in the sand on Thursday they discovered what they think is a water pipe at the bottom of the play structure. They are excited to keep digging to find out more! The Sparks have also been using their imagination and creating a “bonfire” in the field. They gather sticks and leaves and enjoy roasting marshmallows. Using some of our gathered materials we made leaf kabobs, which they also cooked. It’s always so amazing to watch their creativity with dramatic play. Games such as Simon Says, Animal Movements and Octopus with the pool noodles were also big hits. This week we took the time to observe the trees around us, noticing any changes now that fall is here. We noticed that on one tree, all the leaves have turned red, while several of the other trees are still green! We also saw an ‘X’ spray-painted on one of the trees. Some Sparks thought that maybe there was buried treasure there, while others guessed that the tree was going to be cut down. We plan to keep observing to see how everything changes as the weeks progress. One learner noticed Canada geese flying and wondered if they are beginning their migration. We also observed some of the trees’ bark, noticing some holes and discussing what we thought might have made them. Some of our guesses included a beetle, an ant, and a woodpecker. We have a very curious group and we look forward to many more adventures and investigations outside together!
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
For those new to affirmations, it can be really hard to choose or write one for yourself in the beginning. So after discussing the power of affirmations and mantras, we took the guesswork out of it for now and gave each Rebel a Power Card to read and use as their affirmation throughout the day. Most felt their card was very appropriate and were excited to use it throughout the day, while we did have one Rebel ask to switch as it didn’t feel authentic which is critical for an affirmation to work. On Tuesday and Thursday, the Rebels mindfully coloured and many are starting to enjoy the quiet start to the morning. Wednesday and Friday yoga was focused on a mindful quote: “Who you were yesterday, an hour ago, or 10 seconds ago is a different person from who you are at this exact moment. Bring the best version of yourself into the present moment.” What we do in the first moments of our day sets the tone for the rest of it, so we set our intentions and focused our flow on balancing out more up-tempo movements and music, with longer rests and deeper breaths in-between positions.
Launches
Mrs. Erin read the book, I Dissent in honour of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing. We discussed the incredible things that she accomplished through her unwillingness to let the past mould her future. On Tuesday, Ms. Jenna showed the video “Alike”, which examined the relationship between a father and son who struggle with societal pressures to perform at work and school and discussed the power of creativity and work-life balance with the Rebels. On Wednesday, we made a lot of progress on the Contract Game and hope to have our final covenants chosen by the end of the session. Thursday, Rebels kicked off their weekly Current Events launch discussing news stories they had heard this week, including sports updates and local COVID news. We then took a closer look at some top stories happening in the world today. We discussed the Climate Clock in NYC and whether or not these kinds of initiatives have long term effects in terms of the change they hope to invoke in others. We followed up on Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s celebration of life happening in Washington and how she continues to break barriers - becoming the first woman to lie in state and receive that honour. We also took a closer look at Maya Gabeira, a female surfer who rode record-breaking waves in Portugal at Nazare, paving the way for future surfers in the sport. On Friday, a list of character traits was written on the board such as courage, honesty, sense of humour, grit, passion, introspection, and service to others. Rebels then debated whether or not a Revel Rebel needs to have many, most, or all of the listed traits and whether there were more important traits we should add to the list. We also discussed whether these traits were inherent or if they could be developed. For the most part, the Rebels felt that most could be developed and that creativity and the ability to be open-minded were also required traits of a Rebel.
Core Skills
Learners were let loose to design their morning as they checked their daily goals on the board and got right to work! We are still working on remembering to enter our daily goals on Journey Tracker and will pose a fun challenge this next week to help trigger the practice and create a routine. We also used our Core Skills time to hold our Mentor Meetings! Most Rebels were able to sit down one-on-one with their mentor to talk over their long-term, year-long, and short-term goals. Their Badge Plans on Journey Tracker were confirmed and their Google Goal Tracker sheet was updated to reflect the plans made. We hope to meet with each family in the next couple of weeks to go over both to make any necessary alterations.
Rebel Readers & Warrior Writers Aim/Release
Rebels started their first full class working through their grammar, spelling, Journal Journey and started to work on their paragraphs for their Best Part of Me project. Rebels demonstrated a solid understanding of adjectives, and focused on short “u” sounds in two-syllable words, as well as the “gh” ending translating to a phonetic “f” with certain words. Rebels planned their photography image for The Best Part of Me, sketching the plan for the picture they will take the next class and added to their sentences ensuring to apply various adjectives when describing themselves. Those who wish to practice their spelling over the weekend can opt to partake in the Spelling Test at the beginning of the Readers/Writers class on Monday. Friday’s second Reading and Writing Mission consisted of Preposterous Paragraphs editing, a special Spelling Word Coding activity, and a mini-book club discussing a Current Events article in their Mission Envelope.
Rebel Readers and Warrior Writers Draw/Anchor:
On Wednesday the Rebels had an excellent period working through their spelling and grammar focus for the session, short vowel CVC words and capitalizing pronouns and first-person “I” statements in sentences. Using a word wall and alphabet chart to assist with upper and lowercase letters, Rebels completed a variety of editing and writing activities. Working through towards the end of the period, Rebels brainstormed a word wall and various sentences that they wanted to use for their About Me Portrait. They can use this word/sentence web as a visual aid when drafting their sentences to go with their photo/portrait. Next week we will decorate the canvases and draft their sentences for the project. Friday’s second Reading and Writing Mission was a blast! Draw and Anchor Rebels teamed up with the Aim and Release Rebels in small groups to complete three special activities incorporating the grammar focus, spelling vocabulary and discussed a special Current Events article in a mini-book club. Way to go, Rebels!
Math Lab
This week in Math Lab, our Draw Rebels worked on their addition facts and played a game of “Cloud Hoppers” to practice their addition with larger numbers. They also created a Foot Parade using five different animals to create various combinations of 12. Creative thinking was apparent as was their number flexibility! Meanwhile, the Anchor Rebels worked on their multiplication facts with a practice page and a game of Multiplication Bump before then playing “Say Cheese” a multiplication board game.
On Wednesday, our Aim and Release Rebels met and learned about Brain Crossing and Visualization before diving back into our Four 4’s activity from last week. After introducing square roots and factorials, Rebels got back to work trying to find the last few numbers on our list from 1 to 20! (A few Rebels mentioned they had even continued working on this at home with their parents, that is so cool!) We then changed pace and illustrated the creativity and visual nature of math as well as the many different ways that people see math through a Dot and Number Talk. First, we quickly flashed a page with a collection of dots. We then asked the learners to tell us how many dots there were and describe how they saw it (or how they solved it). It was really interesting to see all of the different ways that the Rebels could represent the picture and that all of the different ways should be respected. We then took the Dot Talk one step further and used a few problems such as 9x7, 18x5, and 12x15, to illustrate the same point. Our learners figured out quite a few different ways to come up with the answer, discovering that there isn’t just one way to solve a problem.
DEAR/Read Aloud
Dedicated DEAR and Read Aloud days were voted on by the Rebels this week to ensure they were allotting time to their individual DEAR periods so that they could work on reading their Badge Books. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays were voted for Badge Books and Tuesdays and Thursdays they will have the option to join in on a group Read Aloud in the gym. Ms. Jenna focused the Read Alouds on Narratives, and we explored a variety of stories ranging from Terry Fox told from the perspective of his best friend, as well as Your Name is a Song, which highlights the experience of a girl whose cultural name can be difficult to pronounce in her new school and the challenges some people might have when adjusting to a new language or culture.
French
This week in French, we made sure all Rebels were set up to use Duolingo and make goals that were specific to their language learning journey. We would start our sessions listening to a French song then we would build on our conversation starters by sharing different ways we could ask someone how they are doing/feeling. Rebels also practiced using the French keyboard on their Chromebooks by typing out a variety of French words that have different accents. We also continued our Show and Tell sharing and now that Mme. Talina has a better understanding of each Rebel’s French level; we will be splitting up into 2 groups as of next Tuesday so we can better focus on specific goals.
Quest
On Monday Rebels had a day to finish up their tasks from last week and submit their designs for this year’s Journey Map utilizing our new Arrow Level system; Prepare, Draw, Anchor, Aim, Release, and Flight! There were so many great ideas and this week we were able to narrow our choices down to two designs. Unfortunately or fortunately, we couldn’t decide between the two even when we worked to combine the two designs. We decided to paint both and use one as art once they’re finished! This will also give everyone a chance to work on one of the murals this next week. The Rebels were also asked to set up their binder with dividers and create a cover page for easy identification and to clean out their two storage bins. While all of these steps take time, they are so important for kick-starting routines that will help keep us organized throughout the year. We also spent time brainstorming, designing, and pricing out Revel Swag! It was a difficult task as Rebels had to choose an item, find an online store, upload a logo or create their own, and figure out the pricing including tax and shipping. We hope to survey our fellow Rebels and families this next week to choose some new items to have made for our Rebel Buck Store and for family purchases.
Civilizations
This week in Civ we read Go Show the World: A Celebration of Indigenous Heroes and then used Innovation Nation: How Canadian Inventors Made the World Smarter, Smaller, Kinder, Safer, Healthier, Wealthier, Happier to discover several different indigenous inventions such as canoes, lifejackets, longhouses, igloos, duck decoys, and lacrosse! Each Rebel then picked one of the inventions to recreate using our Maker Space materials.
PE
On Monday, the Rebels who opted for yoga enjoyed a new series of positions focusing on the neck, upper back and arms. We played Round Robin Flow again, where each member in class added on a new pose to a series. We put it all together at the end with music and went through the flow twice. Closing our practice we completed a mindful minute and discussing upcoming positions for our next classes, we look forward to playing around with more balancing poses and exploring inversions. The other Rebels meanwhile, completed defensive and offensive drills before breaking into two intensity option soccer games. On Wednesday, Mr. Deagan’s group went for another hike up the hill and through the woods, discovering new paths and enjoying nature in our “backyard.” The other Rebels worked on their fitness, passing, and then put it all together in a fun soccer scrimmage.
Elective
This week during Elective, Rebels sat down with their groups or individually to work on their projects. The Yearbook group met with Mr. Deagan while one of our Rebels joined the Sparks and helped with their art project. Two Rebels have requested to try building their own online game and several others started a TinkerCAD tutorial. Music was heard throughout the studios as a few Rebels practiced their instruments and character sheets were developed for the new Dungeons and Dragons group!
Town Hall
After a Fun Friday where we saw Rebels working with robots, creating a book, walking Jack our dwarf bearded dragon, and playing games, we went outside for Town Hall. This week we voted on our recess options and after listening to all of the different ideas for how to divide our time between the park and the hill, the Rebels voted and chose to alternate days each week! This next week we will go to the park on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and the hill on Tuesday and Thursday. The week after we’ll switch! Great solution, Rebels! We also brainstormed how we would like to celebrate the completion of the IOWA exam next Friday and some of the ideas were popcorn and a movie or a treat of some kind with an extended Fun Friday if we reach our core skill goals as well. Lastly, a few sprint badges were awarded and Character Callouts were given!
Exploration Studio
We, unfortunately, had many absences this week, but we would like to thank all of the responsible families for keeping your symptomatic learners at home. We also greatly appreciate all of the learners who kept checking Journey Tacker, completing the missions, joining us for Launch, and kept working on their core skills while at home. There will likely be a lot of absences this year, so having a work schedule at home is very important for not falling behind on personal goals.
Launches
Two big topics during Launch this week were Ruth Bader Ginsberg and mindfulness. Most learners did not know who RBG was, so we read a picture book telling the story of her life, and reflected what lessons we could learn from her. RBG saw so much societal change in her life; how much change is each Rebel going to see during their lifetime? How can they be like RBG and be a force of change? For Friday’s launch, we read the following article Why Ontario once tried to ban French in schools in hopes of understanding the importance of the Franco-Ontarien flag and why we celebrate it on September 25th. The article explained how in 1912 the government banned primary schools from using French as a language of instruction beyond Grade 2. Rebels shared if they had any francophone connections in their own families and if they felt any connection to the language.
In Mindfulness, we discussed the mindful cycle: focusing, losing focus, noticing you lost focus, and returning to focus. Mindfulness is something we set time aside for every day, but many learners reflected that it isn’t as mindful of a time as they thought it could be. We will be doing a lot of mindfulness this year, so hopefully, we see a lot of progress in this area.
Core Skills
During core skills this week Rebels individually met with their mentor guides to talk about their Badge Plans and goals at Revel this year. This one-on-one time was needed to get to know Rebels better and find out what their strengths and struggles are so we can work as a team to set them up for success.
Big History
In Big History this week we started work on our News Broadcast that we will be writing and recording over the next two weeks. Each learner is choosing a topic that they want to research from the past 13.8 Billion years of history. We will be using a green screen as a recording tool and if any learner wants to bring in a costume or props, that is encouraged! Check out Mr. Deagan’s example here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq4YrmQ_e5I
French
This week in French we began our sessions listening to a French song and then we would build on our conversation starters by sharing different ways we could ask someone how they are doing, what they did on the weekend etc. Rebels shared some sentences and questions that could be helpful to post on the walls to help them with their spontaneous French production. We also played some games where Rebels wrote down a description of something they saw around the studio, they then read them out loud one by one while Rebels would have to try and guess what the object was, oddly enough the whiteboard was the object most Rebels chose. To finish off our session we played a game similar to Heads-Up where Rebels had a card on their forehead and the rest of us had to try and get them to guess what was written on the card. Each Rebel had 1 minute to play and see how many cards they could guess right. Now that Mme. Talina has a better understanding of each Rebel’s French level; she will be splitting them into 2 groups as of next week to better focus on specific goals.
Math Lab
On Friday, our Exploration Rebels met and learned about Brain Crossing and Visualization before diving back into our Four 4’s activity from last week. After reviewing square roots and factorials, Rebels got back to work trying to find the last few numbers on our list from 1 to 20. There was significant progress and a few “A-Ha” moments when a couple of learners realized that the fraction 4/4 is the same as 4 divided by 4. We then changed pace and illustrated the creativity and visual nature of math as well as the many different ways that people see math through a Dot and Number Talk. First, we quickly flashed a page with a collection of dots. We then asked the learners to tell us how many dots there were and describe how they saw it (or how they solved it). It was really interesting to see all of the different ways that the Rebels could represent the picture and that all of the different ways should be respected. We then took the Dot Talk one step further and used a couple of multiplication problems such as 18x5, and 12x15, to illustrate the same point. Just like our Discovery Rebels, our learners figured out quite a few different ways to come up with the answer, discovering that there isn’t just one way to solve a problem.
Personal Finance Lab
Rebels are starting to get excited to invest their $100,000! We began our session by discussing risk tolerance and going over an investment questionnaire. After watching a few videos breaking down what stocks, mutual funds, and bonds are, some Rebels began to pick a stock or two to invest in based on either interest or trends they felt were important.
Quest
This week Rebels started the Behavioral Economics Quest, learning about how people make rational and irrational decisions. We identified two characters who demonstrate logical and irrational decision-making; Spock from Star Trek and Homer Simpson and talked about who we identify with more in life when it comes to making decisions. Throughout the week Rebels completed a variety of experiments to study human behaviour when it comes to decision making. We would then discuss the Rebels' answers and reflect on why they made the decisions they made, was it instinct or thought out? Finally, learners started researching experiments they would like to set-up for our end-of-session Exhibition.
Team Building
On Tuesday afternoons, we will be participating in some team building activities to connect and develop communication skills among the Rebels. This week’s theme was Blindfold games, where the learners had to trust and communicate efficiently and effectively to complete the challenge. The air was full of laughter throughout the whole process! Next week’s theme will be Play Structure games!
PE/Health
On Monday, the Rebels who opted for yoga enjoyed a new series of positions focusing on the neck, upper back and arms. We played Round Robin Flow again, where each member in class added on a new pose to a series. We put it all together at the end with music and went through the flow twice. Closing our practice we practiced a mindful minute and discussing upcoming positions for our next classes, we look forward to playing around with more balancing poses and exploring inversions. The other Rebels meanwhile, completed defensive and offensive drills before breaking into two intensity option soccer games. On Wednesday, Mr. Deagan’s group went for another hike up Carlington Hill and through the woods, discovering new paths and enjoying nature in our “backyard.” The other Rebels worked on their fitness, passing, and then put it all together in a fun soccer scrimmage. Four of our Exploration Rebels also designed and ran the Spark PE in the field complete with Pool Noodle Tag, Duck, Duck, Goose, and Octopus!
Elective
Each learner spent part of Thursday afternoon on either a group project or individual project. The Yearbook group met with Mr. Deagan, music was played throughout the studios as a few Rebels practiced their instruments, and character sheets were developed for the new Dungeons and Dragons group! What elective did your Rebel choose?
Town Hall
At Town Hall this week, Rebels discussed what a Squad Leader’s roles are, how to choose them, and also what to do when their Squad Leader is absent. Within minutes they collaborated and found solutions and systems to put in place as of next week. We finished off Town Hall with a fun game led by Mr. Deagan.
Potential Questions to Ask your Rebel:
Exploration: What topic have you chosen for your Big History newscast?
Exploration: What was your favourite experiment in quest this week?
Discovery: What type of Revel Swag did you design and why did you make the choices you made?
Discovery: How do you feel after your Mentor Meeting? Do you think your goals are challenging but achievable? What is going to be the most challenging goal?
Spark: What is your favourite activity during autumn?
Spark: What is one way you could solve a conflict with a friend?
Spark: What was your favourite book you read in the Studio this week?
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.