Revel Recap: November 14 - 18, 2022
Spark Studio
Mindfulness
We started our week with a mindful morning check-in. Together we took five deep breaths and then noticed four things we could see around us, thought about three things we were grateful for, told ourselves two positive self-talk statements, and named one thing we were looking forward to today. The Sparks did an excellent job participating in this activity and were courageous enough to share some of their answers with the group. On Tuesday, we coloured a mandala while listening to positive affirmations playing in the background. Wednesday started with a high-energy Tabata animal-themed workout! We then listened to a meditation story to bring our heart rate back down and feel calm and ready to start our day. Thursday, we created more mandalas, but we used our loose part materials this time. The Sparks worked with partners to develop their images and were very creative. Friday ended by reading Grow Grateful and writing an entry in our journal about something we are thankful to have at home.
Quest
We started our Quest this week by discussing a favourite subject of the Sparks, pets! We began with a game where the learners had to guess the pet based on a silhouette image. There were different exercises to do, based on their guesses. It was a fun way to get our bodies moving while starting to think of the various types of pets. We then brainstormed together the types of pets that people have. Using tally marks, we counted how many pets we came up with, totalling 15 different kinds! We then thought about how we care for pets and the importance of giving them food, water, shelter, exercise and lots of love! The Sparks agreed having a pet is a big responsibility before we drew a pet we wished we could have. Lastly, we went around the studio asking what pets our peers currently have and recorded the answers using tally marks.
On Tuesday, we read the book I Want to Be a Veterinarian. This book talked about all the different types of vet jobs there are. Some career examples were small/pet, large animal, wildlife, aquatic, laboratory veterinarians, and professors. The Sparks discussed which type of vet they would want to be and why. It was then time to use our imaginations and set up our own vet office! The Sparks split into two groups and decided who would role-play the vet, the receptionist, and the customers. They set up their offices with cash registers and money to pay for vet services before taking turns playing the different roles and bringing various animals with all kinds of ailments to be seen by the veterinarian!
Brrrrr, Wednesday, we woke up to snow, making it the perfect time to discuss our next topic, hibernation! We talked about what we already knew about hibernation and then read the book Over and Under. This led us to talk about the animals in North America that hibernate, adapt, or migrate. Once we had a good idea of the types of animals that hibernate, we headed off to create a den filled with some of the animals we had learned about that day.
We dedicated some of our Quest time to completing previous weeks' projects in preparation for Exhibition. The learners are excited to show you what they have been working on in Session 2!
French
On Monday, we listened to two videos and practiced the song "Le roi, la reine et le petit prince" (The king, the queen and the little prince) to learn the days of the week in French. Tuesday we played "Quel jour est-il monsieur le loup? "(What Day is Mister Wolf?) in the gym to review our days of the week. On Wednesday, the snow fell just in time for our French theme, weather! While discussing the various terms, we completed a colouring of the different meteorological elements. We made a snow globe craft on Thursday and started learning the song "Si tu aimes le soleil." For DEAR in French, we read "Angèle et l'ours polaire" (Angel and the polar bear) to learn the words chaud (hot) and froid (cold) and continue to talk about snow.
Math
This week, Groups 1 and 2 worked together for our math workshop. We continued to expand on our understanding of tally marks. We read the book Tally O'Malley, a story about a family playing a tally mark game on their road trip. We then listened to a tally mark song, reminding us that we group them by fives when using tally marks. Next, it was off to record some tally marks in our math books. We used tally marks to show our age and count how many shelves, positive affirmations and leaves were in the Spark studio!
Art
Our art workshop this week was a big project! We created the backdrop for our Friday photo shoot using large white paper. In the style of Jackson Pollock, the Sparks enjoyed dripping, flinging and throwing paint all over the canvas! Stay tuned for the photos!
Additional Highlights
We had another great week in the Spark Studio! We have enjoyed ending our days with races and the game Octopus in the gym. We also had a visit from our Exploration friends who are writing books for us, and the Sparks provided their ideas and input.
We reviewed the layers of the ocean and then set off to experiment after making our hypothesis. We made the top three ocean layers using water and food colouring and placed our ocean animals into the correct layer.
Lights, Camera, Action! On Friday, we had a fantastic opportunity to experience a photo shoot workshop with one of our Spark moms! Using the background we created on Wednesday, the Sparks enjoyed dressing up in costumes and making fun poses under the lights! (More will be shared on BAND!)
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
Our Monday Mantra this week was “I am magic.” We considered the quote, “Deep within each of us is a magical jewel that cannot be scratched. It is the source of healing, joy and wisdom.” We connected ideas about rocks and minerals that can be scratched versus the question of what might scratch or harm our spirits or souls. It was a lovely conversation, reinforcing that each Rebel is special and has a unique perspective to bring to the studio! The Rebels shared the Our Moments conversation cards for Talk-It-Out Tuesday with Ms. Jenna. They had fun chats about dream vacation destinations and a heated debate about hamburgers vs. hot dogs! We focused on quieting our monkey minds on Wonder Wednesday by listening to music and continuing our team puzzle. For Thankful Thursday, we took our gratitude practice to the next level, considering the psychology of gratitude and how the Reticular Activation System (RAS) in the brain can be trained to “see” more great things by taking time to write down what we are looking forward to each morning. Feel Good Friday, we went a little deeper with Boomwhackers and explored the relationship between the notes, did a warm-up called “thirds ascending,” and then tried to play the theme from “Pirates of the Caribbean” and the songs, “Hakuna Matata” and “Paris.”
Launches
We had a special launch on Monday morning to connect with our returning guide, Ms. Jenna! We learned about her favourite things, her current monsters and goals, and what she looks forward to doing at Revel this year. We discussed the Guide Covenants on Tuesday and invited Ms. Jenna to sign her contract! Given that the number one promise a guide makes is NOT to answer questions, we listed the strategies Rebels can use to get their queries answered by peers or other sources. Wednesday’s launch focused on Adam Grant’s statements on Leadership and Success. Rebels discussed whether or not “listening” was the most critical characteristic of a good leader and examined a “Success Staircase” that makes us think about our mindset as we attempt to accomplish our goals. Thursday’s launch included a video about Procrastination before Rebels shared how they procrastinate and methods to overcome it (especially as the end of a Session comes into sight!) Friday’s Current Events report featured a discussion of “MAPA” - the most affected people and areas in terms of climate change, as well as the fourth and successful launch of Artemis I!
French
We finished our house model this week and played Talk to Me, a dice and conversation game. We also chose a title and illustrated our French recipe book. Who knew that our compilation would become a bit of a detective story?!
Reader/Writer
Rebel Readers: This week, we continued our conversation about voracious readers - but with a switch in focus. Last week, we explored how the F in CAFE (Fluency) is developed by reading good-fit books as often as possible, but our E - expand vocabulary will also develop! We then read a non-fiction text about rocks and tuned in to essential vocabulary words that would help edit our catalogue writing - the Rebels made a great list of key terms!
Warrior Writers: Next, the Rebels completed an editing challenge where they had to find errors in Ms. Mel’s catalogue entry. Using the CUPS acronym, they found mistakes in Capitalization, Usage of nouns and verbs, Punctuation and Spelling. When they came together to share their edits, they found and corrected all the errors and suggested interesting revisions to improve the overall breadth and depth of the writing. Well done, Rebels! During Friday’s Wrap-Up, they worked to finalize their drafts and get ready for publishing by having a peer approve their piece based on excellence.
Math Lab
This week our measurement focus shifted to arrays and area - in other words, square units! The Rebels considered several visual prompts of everyday items arranged into groupings, such as bags of leaves ready for pick-up or “snowballs” from last week’s PE Space Race. We talked about all the different ways to tally up the value of an array, such as one-by-one counting, skip-counting, or multiplication. Their problem-solving challenges included real-world situations like comparing the area of inground pools, sodding your backyard, or determining various patio designs given a limited number of cement patio stones.
Quest
On Monday, the Rebel Geologist Teams met to debrief Ms. Jenna on planning the upcoming Geoscience Conference. Each team gave a short talk overviewing their action plan, presentation topics, and auction item development. On Tuesday, the Rebels met quickly to review their team’s budget and materials. Then, they worked with a lot of grit and determination to power through on their designated deliverables. Great progress was made on each team’s lapbook presentation, and many Rebels were busy in the Makerspace or digital design platforms like Tinkercad to develop their auction items. Wednesday and Thursday, the Geologist Teams continued to check in with each other to ensure that daily milestones were met from their action plan. The Rebels filled in presentation content, creating their templates, reports, and graphs, and completed amazing diagrams, models and replicas for the auction.
Physical Development
Rebels focused on collaborative play and leadership as they worked through the setup and organization of two variations of dodgeball. Rebels divided participants into fair teams and developed studio rules based on player feedback to ensure fun gameplay for all!
Civilizations
This week we read about the end of the Roman Empire! Rebels heard how the Eastern Empire became the Byzantine Empire and how the controversy of a six-year-old emperor, Romulus Augustus, led to the demise of the Western Roman Empire as well. The Rebels made great connections to his name, tracing back to the legend of Romulus, the first king or founder of Rome, and the great Roman emperor Augustus Caesar.
Additional Highlights
Welcome back, Ms. Jenna! It has been such a wonderful week having you observe our studios and offer feedback on our systems and contracts from Session 1. Your tough-minded, fresh eyes have already pushed us to greater heights. We are so excited to work with you more closely in Session 3 and beyond - the sky is the limit!
Exploration Studio
Mindfulness and Launches
Monday morning, Rebels continued to work on their Remembrance Day art piece before our Gym Committee met with the Exploration and Discovery Rebels to go over their proposed gym rules. With the first snow day upon us, we reviewed our snow rules, which are pretty different from other schools. Where does authority come from in government? We watched a Ted-Ed video regarding how we move and operate within systems of power that other people have constructed. We learned more about the six sources of power and how understanding them is key to being an effective citizen. We learned about the week's animal, the Bearded Reedling, a newly discovered Seagrass Forest, and the World Cup during our Rebel-Led Current Events on Friday.
Reader/Writer
This week's short story analysis focused on Frank R. Stockton's "The Lady, or the Tiger," Anton Chekhov's "The Bet," and the folktale Finn MacCool. While reading each story, learners identified literary devices, including the narration style, figurative language, and themes. On Friday, multiple groups presented their in-depth analysis and asked questions of the remaining learners to think critically about each story.
Math Lab
We cannot believe this week's lab was the last of Session 2! As such, the Rebels met to discuss the approval process for their badge, offer feedback about the roles and activities presented so far, and play a live KnowledgeHook GameShow about decimals and integers. Building on our conversation from the last lab about error analysis, we took time to review how multiple-choice-based platforms like KnowledgeHook and Khan are designed to offer "distractors." These options deliberately play into common computational or conceptual errors that Rebels might make! Additionally, this game also utilizes cool digital manipulatives and representations like number lines to help make our thinking more concrete and deepen understanding. Great game, Rebels!
Civilizations
This week we began studying kingdoms. Once again, to learn how the hierarchy worked, Rebels split into small groups to complete a simulation. Learners took on the roles of kings, queens, lords, ladies, knights, and peasants. After choosing their kingdom's location, they took part in a coronation ceremony complete with oaths and pledges of allegiance. The kingdom then headed into battle, made decisions regarding castle upgrades, dealt with an outbreak of the black plague, experienced tax season, and contemplated marriage. Where does most authority come from in monarchy; power, collaboration, wealth, divine sovereignty, or birthright? Rebels watched a video regarding control before discussing and debating a series of questions on the relationship between power and authority.
Investment Quest
As this was the last full week of Quest, Rebels used Monday through Wednesday to update our Watchlists and complete their remaining challenges before next week's Exhibition. Monday, they did a deep dive into two of their favourite stocks they've been trading on Investopedia. After answering what makes the stock a good option and any predictions they could make about this stock from the company's sales history and customer reception. We learned more about compound interest on Tuesday and practised using a pizza example. Rebels then had the opportunity to use a compound interest calculator, imagining it was ten years from now and it was time for them to start saving. They had to decide how much money they wanted to invest, how much they would contribute each month to that original investment, how many years they planned to save, and what the annual interest rate (we used 5%) will be. For the Exhibition, learners will have the chance to present their investment strategies to the attendees. On Wednesday, they answered a series of questions to begin defining their strategy. Is my goal for investing; short-term gains, long-term security, having fun, or a follow a calling as an investment professional? How much of my paycheck will I save? Will I hire an advisor? Using what they've learned over the past five weeks, they began preparing their presentation on Thursday for Monday's Exhibition. On Friday, a portfolio manager came in to answer any lingering questions and give feedback on their strategies!
French
On Monday, we played Heads-Up in French. In this game, Rebels had to guess the word they were holding on their forehead by asking those who could see the word questions. We then listened to a video on what not to do during an interview. We also played several games and songs to practice the different sounds in French. For our French Story Workshop, Exploration Rebels met with the Sparks and read them their stories so far.
Service Project
Wow! Thank you, Revel families, for your incredible support of Bronson and Cormac's Warm Clothing Drive! They were able to gather several boxes of items!
Additional Highlights
On Thursday, we were honoured to welcome Natacha Belair, author of A Stellar Purpose! Natacha told us about what inspired her to write this book, her process, and the various routes to getting published.
Launchpad
Quest
Next week, our Launchpad Rebels will have the chance to pitch their current and future investment strategies. In preparation, they answered a series of questions to define their investment strategy further. In the future, will they save a little of their paycheck (less than 5%); some (5-10%) or a lot (more than 10%)? Will they be passive (investing my money in the same securities in the same proportion, no matter what and leaving it alone) or active (making investment decisions based on how I judge value)? Are they optimists who will invest mainly in stocks, pessimists who will keep quite a bit in bonds or gold, or realists who will balance between stocks, bonds and even safer securities? After answering the questions above, they updated their Number following a series of projections. Given their expected income and expenses, what was the fastest they could reach their Number? How much of their income are they saving? Do they have any net income left over? After understanding the variables, does their plan change at all? Will they try to reduce their Number, or will they aim for a higher income?
It was then time for the Rebels to write their pitch, a short but detailed explanation of their financial short and long-term investment strategy, current trades, evidence to back up their plan, financial terminology learned, and future projections. They then prepared their presentation visuals to accompany their pitch, including graphs and charts that back up their investment plan.
Communication and Literature
This week's short story analysis focused on Frank R. Stockton's "The Lady, or the Tiger," Anton Chekhov's "The Bet," and the folktale Finn MacCool. While reading each story, learners identified literary devices, including the narration style, figurative language, and themes. On Friday, our learners presented their in-depth analysis and asked questions of the remaining learners to think critically about each story. They also began writing their argumentative essay, choosing one of the eight stories to write about.
On Thursday, we were honoured to welcome Natacha Belair, author of A Stellar Purpose! Natacha told us what inspired her to write this book, her process, and the various routes to getting published.
Civilizations
This week we began studying kingdoms. Once again, to learn how the hierarchy worked, Rebels split into small groups to complete a simulation. Learners took on the roles of kings, queens, lords, ladies, knights, and peasants. After choosing their kingdom's location, they took part in a coronation ceremony complete with oaths and pledges of allegiance. The kingdom then headed into battle, made decisions regarding castle upgrades, dealt with an outbreak of the black plague, experienced tax season, and contemplated marriage. Where does most authority come from in monarchy; power, collaboration, wealth, divine sovereignty, or birthright? Rebels watched a video regarding control before discussing and debating a series of questions on the relationship between power and authority.
Spanish and French
This week in Spanish, we developed our food vocabulary before working on the verb "gustar." We also dove into the culture of Nicaragua.
This week our Launchpad continued reading their French novel, completed their workbook pages, and read the news in preparation for discussion.
Potential Discussion Ideas or Questions to Ask your Rebel
Spark
If you could have any pet in the world, what would it be?
Let's use tally marks to count how many stuffed animals you have at home.
Did you dress up for the photoshoot? What costume did you choose?
French: How do you say snow in French?
Discovery
Why do you think people procrastinate? Can procrastination look different for each person?
What are you most excited about presenting at Exhibition next week?
What is one thing you want to focus your energy on next week to ensure you're ready for next week?
French: Are you pleased with your house model?
Exploration
List two different authority figures in your life. Why do you follow their rules? When do you stop following their rules, and why do you stop respecting their authority?
Are you ready to present your investment strategy?
French: what not to do during an interview?
Launchpad
How is your pitch developing for Exhibition? What was the most valuable lesson you learned during this Quest?
Monarchs had absolute authority, which some say is a form of corruption. But there is data that shows that countries are wealthier when a monarch is in charge. Does more wealth come from monarch rule (absolute authority), or is a strong GDP & economy purely a coincidence in monarchies? Explain and back up using the texts.
French: What happened in the French news this week?
Dates of Interest
Session 2 Exhibitions
Exploration and Launchpad: Monday, November 21st
Discovery: Tuesday, November 22nd
Spark: Wednesday, November 23rd
Sessional Break and Camp: Thursday, November 24th and Friday, November 25th
SESSION 3 EXHIBITION CHANGE - Sparks and Discovery would like to combine for the Session 3 Exhibition on Wednesday, December 21st, for a family celebration with food and games before the holidays!