Revel Recap: March 1 - 5, 2021
Spark Studio
Mindfulness & Launch
We started our week with a morning meditation story where we imagined what the sun looks like, all its colours, and how it feels shining down on us. Throughout the meditation, we worked on taking big belly breaths and letting go of any negative feelings we might be having. We also talked about making a wish for the day. When the meditation was over the Sparks each shared their wish, hope, or goal for Monday. We then read a Who Would Win book - Jaguar vs. Skunk. We took a vote on who we thought would win and then read the book. Many were surprised to learn that the skunk scared the jaguar away with its smell! This was our introduction to March Mammal Madness. We began learning about some of the animals in the tournament and started selecting our picks which we completed throughout the week! While listening to some beautiful guitar music on Tuesday, we completed zoo colouring pages to spark our ideas for the zoo design we are working on in Quest. On Wednesday, we started with a whole-body stretch and then each learner showed us their favourite yoga pose and we each tried it. We started Thursday by completing a directed drawing of an excavator. Check out our studio window to see their impressive pictures! Friday began with a candle meditation. We placed a candle in the middle of the circle and focused our attention on it for almost three minutes! During this time, if we felt ourselves becoming distracted we brought our sight back to the candle. The learners loved watching the flame flickering and when it was over they asked if we could use the candle more often for our meditations. During launch, we discussed some inventions that we use every day, such as phones, light bulbs, cars, televisions, fridges, computers, and bicycles. We then illustrated and wrote what our favourite inventions were. We met back at the circle to share. The Spark’s favourite inventions are stuffed animals, houses, robots, marble runs, television, trains, and telescopes!
Quest
This week we started Quest with a reading of Rosie Revere, Engineer. This book is so inspiring, encouraging all readers to be creative and never give up. In Rosie’s words, “You can only truly fail if you quit!” We talked about how inventing and designing things can be tough and if something doesn’t work you just have to keep trying! This book also led us into our inquiry into what is an engineer? We learned that all engineers are problem solvers and want to know how and why things work. They design and build things to solve problems. We learned that there are different types of engineers but our focus for this Quest will be civil engineers who build roads, buildings and bridges. We began to learn about the Engineering Design Process. We used the example of the Golden Gate Bridge to go through the steps.
Step 1: Identify the Problem or Need. We decided that the bridge would be needed so that people could get from one place to another, over the water.
Step 2: Brainstorm, imagine and plan some solutions to the problem. What materials did they need to construct the bridge with? Who would be using it? What design should it be? What materials do you need? Draw blueprints of the design.
Step 3: Create and build your design. They began to build the bridge based on their plans.
Step 4: Test and improve. Test the bridge to ensure it is safe and make any improvements necessary.
Step 5: Share your design! Everyone could start using the bridge!
We talked about how engineers use these steps to help them solve problems, design, create, and organize their ideas. On Tuesday, we noticed a big problem. Overnight, some animals had shown up and were hiding in our studio! We needed to work together and work through the Engineering Design Process to build new homes for these animals. We identified the problem as the animals needing a new home. We then brainstormed what materials to use, what each of the animals would need and created a blueprint on the whiteboard of our plans. We then worked together as a team to build our design. As we were creating our entrance, the Sparks decided we needed to alter our blueprint to include a parking lot for visitors and a separate entrance and exit. We used various materials such as wooden blocks, magnetic tiles, Duplo, felt, leaves, corks, rocks, and pinecones. The Sparks exhibited great teamwork and creativity as we followed our plans to create a nice habitat for all the animals. We tied in some writing to this activity by adding signs. When it was completed we checked our blueprint and compared it to what we built. We added a few finishing touches and then shared them with our Duplo friends who were coming to see the animals. The learners were so proud of what they built and a lot of fantastic stories and dramatic play stemmed from this project.
This week we also continued learning about creating and using blueprints. The learners split into two groups and created a blueprint together with the challenge of building the tallest house. After drawing, they put their plans into action. They worked together to create two interesting houses. In the end, they were excited to use our tape measure to see who’s building was the tallest! We also continued to review our knowledge of vehicles and tools through playing construction Bingo and reading more in-depth about vehicles found on the road or at the construction site and seeing pictures of them in action! We ended our week by reading What Do you Do with an Idea? the perfect inspiration to move us into next week where we will be exploring some amazing architectural landmarks!
French
In French class this week we practiced counting up to thirty and we sang the alphabet song. We also danced to “Tête, épaules, genoux et pieds,” it’s very fun! We like to start very slow and then try it faster and faster. Last but not least, we started learning the colours!
Additional Highlights
We really enjoyed our time in the gym this week! We played many bean bag games, such as throwing and catching the bean bags with a partner and challenging ourselves to see how far we could throw the bean bag or trying to get it into a bucket or net. We played the snake game, holding a rope on both ends and trying to jump over it as it got higher off the ground. We also had fun challenging ourselves to see how many laps of the gym we could run! The Sparks joined some of the other Rebels on Wednesday to learn some hip hop and tap moves and create some dance routines. Some other highlights in the studio this week include, exploring and building with gears, sounding out words to determine if they were real or silly words, tracing stencils and painting pictures, and as always, finishing our days with dance parties. Ask your learner to show you one of our new moves, slow-motion crawling like a sloth as this was extremely entertaining for us this week!
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
Monday, Wednesday and Friday yoga classes were all about our centres and intentions. We visualized breath sequences and used our bellies as “balloons” to help us see the way our breath impacts our body. Tuesday and Thursday colouring periods had Rebels working on various mandalas, shoe and clothing designs.
Launches
In preparation for March Mammal Madness, Rebels learned about half of the animals in the tournament during Monday’s launch. The excitement is palpable as we began filling in our brackets in anticipation for next Monday’s Wild Card Round! During Tuesday’s Launch, Rebels explored and discussed the Power of Yet and listened to an awesome song to help us remember just how impactful that little three-letter word can be. We reviewed Growth and Fixed mindset and how adding “yet” to the end of a statement can adjust our whole perspective. During Wednesday’s Launch, we shared everything we know about France! Mme Marie is going to tell us all about France during the Wednesday Launches to come. Thursday’s Current Events focused on this week’s top stories including The History of Women’s History, Chadwick Boseman’s wife’s empowering and touching acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, the meteor over Alberta and Saskatchewan earlier this week, and another round of hilarious quotes from Live From Snack Time. A favourite: “I was born to wake up at noon,” - Emory, aged 7.
Rebel Readers & Warrior Writers
Aim and Release Rebels had a busy week filled with spelling tests (r-controlled vowel sounds), starting introductory paragraphs for their informative essays and a fun reading circle for the next section of our Holes novel study. Next week, we have our first “self-selected spelling list” and Rebels will be working independently to curate and practice a list of 10 vocabulary words from the novel, which will be dictated by a fellow Rebel for Monday’s spelling test. Friday’s Reader Writer period offered Rebels more time to research and work on their introductory paragraphs, work on their self-selected spelling lists, and complete a fun reading/writing activity about a female of their choice in honour of March being Women’s History Month.
Draw and Anchor Rebels continued to read their novel study, Pugs of the Frozen North, and explored elements of a good summary. We also played a game that helped us to sequence events chronologically in the story. Learners then worked on a special journal entry about the ultimate treehouse and completed their spelling test. On Friday, Draw and Anchor participated in a mini book club as they read through Chapter 6. We made predictions about upcoming events in future chapters and continued working on a sequencing activity.
Math Lab
After working on the next section of Math Facts That Stick, the Draw and Anchor Rebels had their chance to build the tallest termite mounds possible using only 10 pieces of newsprint and 1 meter of masking tape. They split into two groups and came up with two different, but very tall towers, earning both teams fries from Kim’s!
Topology was the topic of this week’s Aim and Release Math Lab. Rebels were introduced to this fascinating branch of mathematics by comparing it to Euclidean geometry. Rebels were then given pipe cleaners and Play-doh to visualize, create, and explore topologically equivalent shapes. In their first exercise learners created a triangle with a pipe cleaner and were asked to manipulate it into a pentagon, an equivalent shape in topology. We then moved on to the Play-doh where they were tasked with making a sphere, a torus, and a double torus and then through continuous transformation (bending and stretching but not tearing or breaking), turn it into something new!
Quest
This week we moved from the Motivation to the Investigation stage of our design cycle process. Now that we understand much more about biomimicry, we revisited the UN Sustainable Development Goals and confirmed which one of the seventeen goals we were most interested in to research further. Using various resources, Rebels took notes in their lab notebooks regarding climate change problems related to their goal before finishing up their turtle armour project from last week. Tuesday we spent the majority of the period watching, Our Climate Our Future. As we viewed the film, each Rebel listened carefully in order to answer the question they were given at the beginning of the movie. It was evident based on our discussion after the film, that Rebels have a much deeper understanding of the science behind climate change and the greenhouse effect as well as some mitigation solutions. During our third Quest period of the week, Rebels worked on their proposals for their biomimicry projects. After identifying the primary problem they wanted to work on, they brainstormed several potential solutions. Each Rebel then spent the remainder of the period giving one another feedback including, what they liked about the solutions, potential nature connections, as well as questions they had or potential issues with the solution. On Thursday, we took part in a Micro:Bit workshop! After learning the basics about Micro:Bits, Rebels chose between researching the bycatch problem, changes in animal behaviour due to climate change, or the danger sea turtle hatchlings face due to light pollution. Once the research was completed, Rebels followed online tutorials to program their Micro:Bits! Learners even had some time afterward to experiment with the devices before heading to elective.
French
In French class this week we learned the parts of the body in order to add information to our superhero description. On Tuesday, we played a game where each of us had a Guess Who card and we went around the classroom to describe our character and find out who had a matching card. We also watched two episodes of Les Minijusticiers: Supermini and Superlunettes. We had fun trying to guess the superpowers of the characters! On Thursday, we worked individually and in small groups on the verbs of the week, parler and écouter, as well as our superhero descriptions.
Civilizations
This week we discussed the Rebellion of 1837-1838 including the Family Compact, Chateau Clique, Parti Patriote, and the 92 Resolutions. We then spent the rest of the class reading about and discussing the Residential Schools system that ran from 1857 until 1996. While these are incredibly hard conversations to have, we feel it is important to acknowledge the cultural genocide that took place in Canada.
PE
In Phys Ed on Monday, two of our Exploration Rebels led a challenging and endorphin-boosting workout focusing on cardio and core strength! Thank you! Meanwhile, the other group had a great time on their hike sliding down hills and playing in the forest. On Wednesday in Dance, we incorporated some hip hop and tap moves into our warm-up, and Rebels had a blast creating two more TikTok dance routines. Ask your Rebel if you would like to see the routines and Ms. Jenna can email the recordings directly to them! Due to the state of the ice, Rebels voted to go sledding during Wednesday's outdoor PE class. They definitely got a workout as they hustled up the hill in order to get in as many runs as possible!
Exploration Studio
Launches and Closings
Monday’s Launch, we learned about Jimmy Sweeney, one of Elvis Presley’s major inspirations for his music and singing. We learned that rock and roll originated from black artists such as Jimmy Sweeney, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Fats Domino. We also watched a video of the band Alabama Shakes singing Gimme All Your Love. Their music is inspired by the genres that shaped rock and roll, gospel, and rhythm & blues. Tuesday we attempted to solve the Secret Werewolf riddle that involved splitting a shape into equal fifths using predetermined points. While challenging, the Rebels stuck with it! On Wednesday, Rebels went over to the new suite armed with post-it notes. They had 15 minutes to explore the new studio and post their ideas for what should go where once we move in. We can’t wait to see the new studios take shape over the next few months! On Thursday, we discussed a way to display the Deep Books we've read in order to improve our pitching process and also requested that Rebels take over our Friday launch series. This week we also completed our bracket research for March Mammal Madness. It was fun to learn about all of the competitors and we’re looking forward to the battles beginning Monday! Who have you picked to win?!
Quest
In Quest this week, each learner represented a branch of the government (Federal, Provincial, Municipal) and made plans for mitigating climate change. Deagan curated a document which each learner used as a reference for their action. Each document included the roles and responsibilities of their branch of government, how their government is currently impacting the government including charts and graphs, steps their government has currently set to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions, and finally ideas from around the world that their government could adopt. After digesting the lengthy document, the learners began generating ideas of their own and developed their presentations. On Thursday, we presented our ideas and received feedback from the other Rebels.
On Monday, we also created a graph that broke down the carbon dioxide emissions of food to analyze what diet decisions we can make to positively impact the environment. The learners were given a large table of food products broken down into different parts of the food process (farming practice, transportation, land-use change, and packaging) and had to translate that information into a graph. It took the learners a significant amount of time to get the graph set-up, however, they demonstrated great problem-solving and creativity!
Next week the learners will be choosing a climate change project in Quest for a deep dive. We will be reviewing what we’ve learned so far, what we need to do as a species, and what the learners are interested in studying.
Big History
Last week the learners blitz wrote a story, creating a myth using their imagination. This week, the learners finished a rough draft of their story and created an illustration to accompany their myth. On Thursday, the learners edited each other’s work in a large writers table format. Each learner printed their story and passed it around the circle, providing feedback on every learner’s piece. The Rebels learned a lot by being exposed to other writing styles, hopefully inspiring them to continue to improve their own stories.
Math Lab
Topology was the topic of this week’s Math Lab. Rebels were introduced to this fascinating branch of mathematics by comparing it to Euclidean geometry. Rebels were then given pipe cleaners and Play-doh to visualize, create, and explore topologically equivalent shapes. In their first exercise learners created a triangle with a pipe cleaner and were asked to manipulate it into a pentagon, an equivalent shape in topology. We then moved on to the Play-doh where they were tasked with making a sphere, a torus, and a double torus and then through continuous transformation (bending and stretching but not tearing or breaking), turn it into something new! With the remaining 15 minutes, Rebels chose to play a competitive game of Q-Bitz Extreme and a laughter-filled math card game.
French
This week’s French class theme was La Curiosité. We started on Monday by watching a video and planning a small research activity on a theme linked to the francophone world. On Wednesday we conducted our research and wrote a short paragraph about it, which earned us our orange stripe! Then, we practiced the verbs of the week (parler and écouter) as well as some vocabulary at our own pace.
PE
In Phys Ed on Monday, two of our Exploration Rebels led a challenging and endorphin-boosting workout focusing on cardio and core strength! Thank you! Meanwhile, the other group had a great time on their hike sliding down hills and playing in the forest. On Wednesday in Dance, we incorporated some hip hop and tap moves into our warm-up, and Rebels had a blast creating two more TikTok dance routines. Ask your Rebel if you would like to see the routines and Ms. Jenna can email the recordings directly to them! Due to the state of the ice, Rebels voted to go sledding during Wednesday's outdoor PE class. They definitely got a workout as they hustled up the hill in order to get in as many runs as possible!
Potential Discussion Ideas or Questions to Ask your Rebel:
All Rebels: Who did you choose as the winner of March Mammal Madness?
Exploration: What steps did your government take to reduce carbon dioxide emissions?
Exploration: What project are you interested in doing a deep dive in for the Climate Change Quest?
Discovery: Aim/Release: What’s been your favourite part of Holes so far? Draw/Anchor: Do you think Shen and Sika will win the race at the end of Pugs of the Frozen North?
Discovery: Imagine you were asked to speak to the survivors of a residential school. What would you say?
Discovery: Which Micro:Bit project did you choose to work on?
Spark: Can you tell us about the homes for the animals that you built? What materials did you use? What ideas did you share with the group? How did you work together as a group to build it?
Spark: What is your favourite thing to do in the gym? Is there anything you would like to see added to the gym materials for you to use?
Spark: Can you share with us your favourite invention? If you could make that invention even better, what would you add to it?
Upcoming Events & Special Dates:
Session 5 Discovery Exhibition: Wednesday, March 31st at 1:30 pm
Session 5 Exploration Exhibition: Tuesday, March 30th at 1:30 pm
Exploration Field Trip: Thursday, April 1st
Last Day of Session 5: Thursday, April 1st
Session 6 Begins: Monday, April 12th