Revel Recap: January 31 - February 4, 2022
Spark Studio
Mindfulness
We started our Monday morning with a powerful affirmation; “I am peace. I am still. I am centred. I quiet my mind, breathe in deeply, and trust that all is well. I am peace.” It was a beautiful moment hearing the learners repeat back these statements. We then asked, can you remember a time when you were calm and peaceful? One of the learners said the moment we shared was peaceful for them, while others reflected and shared about fishing, being with family, having lullabies sung to them, being in nature, and sleeping. We then discussed how we could incorporate more peaceful moments in our day in the studio. Some of the ideas were to do more breathing exercises, listen to relaxing music, and read together. We learned a little about Lunar New Year on Tuesday before working on some colouring pages celebrating this holiday. Wednesday, we completed an alphabet yoga sequence with a pose for every letter! Thursday and Friday were spent completing mindful colouring and our gratitude journals.
Quest
Quest was all about our five senses this week! After our introductory discussion about the five senses, we came up with times that we use each one. Monday, our focus was on our sense of hearing. We read Shhhh…A Book About Hearing helped that explained sound waves, the parts of the ear, and the importance of the nerves sending messages to our brain to tell us what we are hearing and helping us to remember sounds that we hear. The Sparks were curious to learn that their earwax found in the ear canal has the important job of catching the dust and dirt in order to not damage our eardrum! We then closed our eyes while the guides made various noises. Each learner drew what they thought they were hearing. They were very good at this game! They then worked with a partner to make more noises and see if their partner could guess what it was.
Tuesday, we began by reading Soft and Smooth, Rough and Bumpy A Book About Touch. This book taught us that our skin is the only organ outside of our body and protects us from germs that could make us sick. We learned about tiny sensors inside our skin that help us take in information about what we touch and carry messages to and from our brain. We then talked about the different textures that items can have. Next, we put objects into a bag and tried to guess what they were using only our sense of touch before searching the studio and drawing items with different textures.
Wednesday, we learned all about our sense of sight. The book Look: A Book About Sight was very informative. We discussed our eye colours and the function of our eyes before learning about eye anatomy, including the iris, pupil, cornea, lens, retina, and nerves. We again noticed the connection between this sense and our nerves, which send our eyes to our brains. We also discussed how our eyelids, eyelashes, eyebrows and tears help to protect and keep our eyes safe. After learning that people blink every 2-10 seconds, we had some fun staring contests with our friends. Then we looked at ten items on a tray for 15 seconds and tried to draw as many objects as we could remember.
While reading Sniff, Sniff, A Book About Smell, we learned about nostrils, cilia hairs, and mucus that keep dust and dirt from getting into our lungs. Not surprisingly, we heard about the connection between nerve cells and the brain. Our nerve cells send messages to our brain when we smell an odour. We discussed smells we like and don’t like and then guessed the four scents in a bag; banana, vinegar, coffee and cinnamon.
Friday was all about our sense of taste! We learned how our tongue is a muscle covered with tiny bumps and spikes and is in charge of tasting. We talked about different flavours such as sweet, salty, sour and bitter and shared food we like to taste and the food we do not enjoy. We also learned that when flavour reaches a taste bud, it sends a message to our brain. What a busy week in Quest. We learned SO much fascinating information on our five senses!
French
In French class, the letter of the week was T. On Monday, after reading the date and writing the letter T on the board, we guessed the vocabulary words tasse, tortue, triangle, table and tomate. On Tuesday, Didou showed us how to draw a turtle. Some of us drew it on a whiteboard, and others chose to draw it on paper. This week, we also learned a new song, “La famille tortue!” We had fun replacing the word tortue with claps and tongue clicking. We noticed that the song also has the words “maman,” “papa,” and “rats” in it! Finally, we found and circled the word tortue in the song’s lyrics.
Additional Highlights
We had a lot of fun in the gym this week. We completed many running exercises to get our heart rate up. We also enjoyed playing with the parachute and practicing our throwing and aim, trying to get bean bags into hula hoops! We were also so happy to revisit the park at recess time and build a very cool fort made out of snow blocks!
On Tuesday, the Sparks were interested to learn more about Lunar New Year. We read a story and listened to a video that shared a little about this celebration. We explored the importance of the colour red that represents good luck and happiness. We then learned how to prepare for this holiday by sweeping away any bad luck, getting haircuts, and wearing new outfits to start the new year all fresh and new. We learned about the special food that is often eaten during the New Year’s Eve banquet, the gift of money in a red envelope, and of course, the special parades! The Sparks loved seeing a video of the fantastic Lion Dancers and the exciting appearance of the dragon at the end of the parade! Happy Lunar New Year!
Another important topic we began to learn about is the celebration of Black History Month. Elmo and his friends at Sesame Street introduced us to this important month and some of the history and heroes we honour. We also enjoyed an author reading by Grace Byers and her book I Am Enough. We are excited to continue our learning this month. We also discussed the tradition of Groundhog Day and the prediction of whether we would have an early spring or six more weeks of winter. The studio was divided between which option we wanted to happen! We then completed some excellent directed drawings of very cute groundhogs. Next up was some inquiry into the Winter Olympics. What are they? What sports are played? After looking into some of our questions, we then created our own flags. It was a very busy, exciting week in our studio!
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
Just as we finally experienced some weather above -25, the Rebels joined in a guided snow-themed meditation, asking them to imagine each snowflake as individual people and moments that help them experience joy. Similarly, any negative moments can be thought of as temporary, like the snow, and will melt away and overcome. Some shared what they were grateful for and what they looked forward to this week, even if they knew it would be challenging. Tuesday morning’s yoga was “hands-free” with no holding poses or wrist work. The Rebels focused on grounding, stretching, and explored more opportunities for spinal flex with some gentle twists, rock n’ roll, and a half-bridge. Wednesday morning, the Rebels worked on more mindful colouring. Their mural cube wall is taking over the studio! Thursday morning’s yoga weaved in new resting poses such as hero and yin poses like frog. Friday morning, we had a bonus yoga practice led by our resident Rebel Mindfulness Coach!
Launches
We opened our week with a launch on collaboration using two pieces from Blanton Museum’s Ancestral Modern Aboriginal collection. We spoke about the power of true collaboration to create meaningful work and the problems that occur when coordinating multiple individuals. Tuesday’s launch was prepared by a trio of our Rebels, who taught the studio all about the history and customs of Lunar New Year. Wednesday morning, the Rebels debriefed how Tuesday went, as we had had a guest Guide working with us that day: Mr. Deagan! The Rebels reported that they felt confident showing him the Discovery routines and that he gave lots of helpful advice on conserving energy during Quest. Thursday morning, one of our Rebels led a launch about The Giving Pledge. We had a great discussion about whether or not the Rebels felt that using billionaires’ money towards pressing problems here on Earth was more or less important than using the money for space exploration and advancement. Last but not least, Friday’s Rebel-led Current Events report included: the trucker convoy, our PM testing positive for COVID-19, Would you Rather: Swim Edition, and a 9-year-old natural hair influencer.
French
Rebels continued their exploration into visual arts focusing on sculptures and materials. We reflected on which materials can be used to make sculptures and looked up their translation in French. Then, we looked at sculptures by Giacometti, Rodin, Shonibare, Calder, César, and De St Phalle. We tried to guess what materials were used to compose each sculpture. Most of them were made out of metal but used different techniques. Rebels logged into Nearpod to play games and review vocabulary. We identified the different parts of the face on a portrait by Pablo Picasso, matched materials with their names, and challenged each other to a game of “Time to Climb!” The theme of the challenge was cartoon characters, and it allowed us to review the colours, shapes, and parts of the face we have learned this session. Finally, on Thursday, each Rebel got to make their own sculpture or concept for a sculpture using two or more materials. We can’t wait to show you our work!
Reader/Writer
Aim and Release Rebels learned about haikus, limericks, and season poems this week. After reviewing the requirements for each form, we read a few examples of each before learners picked one of the poem types to try. Rebels could be heard helping one another check syllable counts, coming up with rhyming words, and giving feedback on first drafts.
As a group, The Draw and Anchor Rebels wrote the critical moments in the plot of The Wizard of Oz. Learners then broke off to work on their scripts from their chosen character’s point of view. Rebels who finished their scripts had time to begin designing their puppets for our Wizard of Oz Perspectives performance!
Math Lab
This week, the Draw and Anchor Rebels participated in a “clock talk” congress, checking in on critical analog time-telling skills and expanding their problem-solving for elapsed time contexts. These concepts are an essential aspect in the Be A Farmer project, as they work to schedule chores and make appointments for the livestock in their care. Some Rebels are also making great use of the Base Ten Blocks to solve Area Model Task Cards. They build a model with the concrete blocks based on the prompt and then transfer their ideas to a visual sketch in their journals once they find an arrangement that works. This process of gradual concreteness fading is a helpful approach for the Rebels to develop an enduring understanding of multiplying, especially their understanding of factors and products as parts of the multiplication sentence.
Aim and Release learners worked on problem-solving based on situations that could arise the day of their conference, including; ensuring vendors understand booth options and set-up, last-minute chair shortages, and late food deliveries. They also had to consider cancellations due to weather, expediting check-in during a rush, and changes to improve the flow of a future conference.
Civilizations
Our story of the ancient world continues! Nebuchadnezzar became a ruler of Babylon after Ashurbanipal died and the Assyrian empire fell apart. However, the new king was worried about the army’s strength to the east (in Persia). Nebuchadnezzar strategized that if he married Amytis, the daughter of the Persian king, then there would be peace between the two civilizations. She reluctantly agreed as she did not want to abandon her mountain home for the flat, hot Babylon. To make his new wife happier, Nebuchadnezzar ordered enslaved people to take chunks of rock to build an artificial mountain with a garden to make her feel more at home. Today the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Quest
This week the Rebels reviewed their Quest Map, marking the fifth and final milestone in our Health and Wellness Quest (before they direct all focus to their culminating project the next two weeks!). So far, we have explored mental health and the mind, fitness, nutrition and body health, safety, prosocial skills and conflict resolution. In Week 5, the Rebels became environmental leaders and stewards through a series of challenges from Canadian Geographic’s Classroom Energy Diet Challenge. The Rebels created their teams in keeping with the developing ideas of collaborative norms from Monday’s launch. They chose to pursue either an hour with no power, the concept of phantom power around the school, developing a PSA on energy consumption, calculating a carbon footprint, and smart mobility and transportation options. During Wednesday’s Writer’s Workshop, the Rebels proofread a letter using the ARMS and CUPS checklists for the revising and editing we have been practicing over the past few weeks. In their final Quest task, proofing their Health and Wellness content will be an essential step as they will need to ensure that what they publish is not plagiarized, makes sense to their audience, and is error-free.
Physical Development
On Monday, the Rebels could either skate on the Raven Park rink or play dodgeball in the gym. After sledding at recess on Wednesday, learners requested to skate once again or go for a winter hike. Those who chose the indoor option played extreme team Tic-Tac-Toe and Connect 4 in the gym. The Rebels who stayed indoors had to earn their chance to play by sprinting, bear-crawling, crab-walking and even crab-dancing!
Additional Highlights
On Tuesday, Ms. Mel and Mr. Deagan did a Guide Swap experiment. It was fun for the Guides to get a sense of the energy and rhythm of a different studio, and it was fantastic to be able to watch the Rebels drive their community forward and keep each other on track.
KHANtest update: racking up a staggering 55% this week, the Rebels are ahead of their weekly pace for a total of 145 percentages in Maths Core Skills. The target next week is to reach 180!
Our most recent Body Talks focused on the BRAIN. Both groups voted to watch a TED-Ed video about concussions and learned about what happens to your neurons and axons when a person’s brain hits their skull with enough force. From there, Draw and Anchor Rebels wanted to explore the idea of left-brain vs. right-brain traits or abilities and learned that this way of thinking about the brain simplifies the complex cross-over in the brain for everything from vision to movement. Aim and Release Rebels chose to explore OCD and made connections to their novel study, Goldfish Boy. They also discussed distinguishing between some stereotypical traits that society has come to associate with this disorder from behaviours that consistently cause stress or anxiety.
Exploration Studio
Mindfulness
This week, in mindfulness, we engaged our bodies and mind by introducing Yin yoga. Present-day yoga is filled with flow and relatively quick transitions between poses. However, yoga used to be full of extremely long-held poses designed to engage the body to focus on the breath. We reviewed seven common Yin yoga poses and then had the learners choose one and hold the pose for six minutes. We talked about the mindfulness cycle of setting an intention, losing focus, noticing when focus has been lost and returning to focus. Many learners said that engaging their bodies helped focus on their minds.
Launches
During Mme Marie's launch on Monday, the Rebels shared the different things they did last weekend using the model "Le weekend dernier, j'ai/ je suis allé…" The rest of the week, the learners planned excellent launches on cities. One learner split the studio into two groups and assigned each group a city. Each group's task was to research their city and create arguments for why someone should go and visit that city. It was a lively debate with evidence of research and marketing skills! Another learner ran a launch where he showed images of famous monuments, and the learners guessed what their names were and their location. This launch prompted an excellent discussion of what makes a monument a monument.
French
Rebels continued their exploration into visual arts focusing on sculptures and materials. We reflected on which materials can be used to make sculptures and looked up their translation in French. Then, we looked at sculptures by Giacometti, Rodin, Shonibare, Calder, César, and De St Phalle. We tried to guess what materials were used to compose each sculpture. Most of them were made out of metal but used different techniques. Rebels logged into Nearpod to play games and review vocabulary. We identified the different parts of the face on a portrait by Pablo Picasso, matched materials with their names, and challenged each other to a game of "Time to Climb!" The theme of the challenge was cartoon characters, and it allowed us to review the colours, shapes, and parts of the face we have learned this session. Finally, on Thursday, each Rebel got to make their own sculpture or concept for a sculpture using two or more materials. We can't wait to show you our work!
Quest
We finished up our model cities this week! On Thursday, every group showcased what they had worked on for the previous weeks. The learners expressed that they had a lot of ideas after visiting the other learners' cities which they will take with them for the rest of the Quest. On Monday, we will start a new project, a study into the different neighbourhoods of Ottawa.
Physical Development
On Monday, the Rebels could either skate on the Raven Park rink or play dodgeball in the gym. After sledding at recess on Wednesday, learners requested to skate once again or go for a winter hike. Those who chose the indoor option played extreme team Tic-Tac-Toe and Connect 4 in the gym. The Rebels who stayed indoors had to earn their chance to play by sprinting, bear-crawling, crab-walking and even crab-dancing!
Additional Highlights
Our trip to the canal on Friday was a smashing success! Many learners took their first trip on a city bus, and some even had their first trip on the canal. One group skated the whole length of the canal, taking around two hours to do so, while others enjoyed a more leisurely pace. Naturally, Beavertails and hot chocolate were a highlight!
Launchpad
We began with a very special birthday celebration for one of our incredible Rebels this week! On Tuesday, we took time to watch and discuss Adam Grant's TedTalk on Givers vs. Takers and the dynamics each creates within a community. How do self-driving vehicles minimize harm? Launchpad Rebels worked through a scenario where they had to decide to prioritize their own safety, minimizing danger to others, or taking the middle ground. We also learned about the Petticoat Rebellion of 1916, where a group of women in a poorly administered Oregon town hacked an election to repair the town's problems.
Chemistry: Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science
This week our study focused on phase transitions. We learned about latent heat, intermolecular interactions, thermal and interaction energies, the geometry of intermolecular interactions, the effect of pressure on phase transitions, and how to read phase diagrams. In our lab this week, we determined the melting temperatures of various fats before using them to make tasty dips and spreads. Learners were also asked to write up the materials and methods section making sure to justify each step of the experimental procedure while also highlighting the controls, variables, and constants in the experiment. Lastly, Rebels worked on a series of practice problems on intermolecular interactions and the chemistry behind cooking tools, including pressure cookers, Rotovaps, and Sous Vides.
Canadian History
Our class focused on Canada in the post-war years this week, mainly looking at how Canada adjusted to political, social, and economic changes. Rebels also had the opportunity to choose a few events that occurred between 1919-1929 to research further. They highlighted the Winnipeg General Strike, the introduction of the Old-Age pension, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929. On Wednesday, learners looked closer at the Winnipeg General Strike and debated whether it was based on labour unrest or was a Communist Conspiracy. We ended our week learning more about the Roaring Twenties, regionalism, exclusionary policies, and Canada's growing independence.
Accounting
This week was all about ratios. Rebels learned that it is important to remember that their numbers will vary from period to period as they will sell more or less depending on the market trends. After reading the associated pages in their text, they were asked how comparisons and ratios help better understand business performance. They then had to work through a scenario to calculate the following ratios: Cost of goods / Sales, Expenses / Sales, and Net Profit / Sales.
Additional Highlights
Launchpad joined the Exploration Rebels on Friday for a trip to the Rideau Canal! After taking public transit to Dow's Lake, learners were set loose on the ice to skate, drink hot chocolate, eat Beavertails, and enjoy some free time and fresh air with friends. While a bit chilly, it was a fabulous afternoon!
Potential Discussion Ideas or Questions to Ask your Rebel:
Spark:
What does the colour red represent for Lunar New Year?
How do you think we could incorporate more peaceful moments in our days at home?
What are the five senses? Can you share some information about them? Which five senses game did you like to play the most this week? (Guess the Sound, Guess the Item in the Bag, Can You Remember What's on the Tray? and Guess the Smell)
French: Which animal did you talk about in French class this week? What letter does its name begin with?
Discovery:
What is the most important element needed for a good collaborative experience; good teammates, a meaningful project, clear expectations for individual roles, or something else?
Math Lab: What is an area model task card, and how is it helping you understand multiplication and/or division?
Civilizations: Which is worse for a ruler to have, too much anger or too much ego? Why?
French: What materials did you use for your sculpture? What was your favourite activity on Nearpod this week?
Exploration:
How do you feel about your weekly and sessional goal progress?
What was your favourite part of our field trip to the Rideau Canal?
French: What materials did you use for your sculpture? What was your favourite activity on Nearpod this week?
Launchpad:
Are you a Giver, Matcher, or Taker? Are you Agreeable or Disagreeable? Did your results surprise you?
Are you enjoying your current Deep Book? What are you reading and why do you feel it was a strong choice?
Dates of Interest
Monday, February 14th: Valentine's Day Celebration
Wednesday, February 16th: Pink Shirt Day (We'll celebrate one week early as we're on our break on the official day.)
Week of February 21st - 25th - Sessional Break