Revel Recap: March 28 - April 1, 2022
Spark Studio
Mindfulness
Monday’s mindfulness began with a breathing exercise with the help of our breathing buddy stuffed animals. We found a comfortable spot to lay down while listening to relaxing music. We put our breathing buddy on our stomachs and began to take deep breaths in and out, observing how our stuffed animal moved on our stomachs as we took each breath. We did seven rounds of belly-breathing before resting with our stuffed animals and listening to the music for one minute. We completed two beautiful directed drawings of a tulip and a sunflower on Tuesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, we went through a series of yoga poses and challenged ourselves to hold each position for 15 seconds! It wasn’t easy, but the Sparks persevered! At the end of our session, we found a comfortable spot on our mat and closed our eyes. We imagined a place where we felt peaceful and happy. We enjoyed a minute of calm, thinking of our favourite site and sharing with the group if we felt comfortable. On Friday, we read the book Happy Dreamer by Peter H. Reynolds. We thought about all our dreams and wrote about them in our journals.
Quest
We began our week reviewing some of the ideas from earlier weeks, such as goods and services and wants vs. needs. We then talked about spending versus saving our money. The Sparks shared if they are currently saving their money for something special. This week we read a book series from MoneyBunny. The books, Earn It, Save It, Spend It, Give It helped start the conversation about what we should do with the money our business makes at Exhibition. Should we save it? Should we spend it? What should we buy? Should we donate it to a charity to help others? Many ideas were discussed, but one central theme emerged. The Sparks suggested we put our earnings toward a class pet! There is much more to think through, and we will keep you posted on what we decide!
This week with the help of the StoryBots, we also explored some possible professions that we might like when we are older. The Sparks all illustrated their ideas, and we will showcase them next week so you can see their plans! For much of the week, learners worked hard to finish up their products, make posters, create a schedule, and select roles for Exhibition. We planned what we wanted to say and continued practising counting money and making change by being cashiers and customers. They are so excited to open their shop next week!
French
This week, the Sparks continued learning about French numbers. On Monday, we read Comme toi! by Geneviève Côté, in which two best friends love each other so much that they try to look like each other. On Tuesday, we practiced singing “1, 2, 3, nous irons aux bois.” Finally, on Thursday, we counted all the way up to 30! We also watched an episode of Didou and learned how to draw a pirate.
Additional Highlights
Wow, the Sparks have really found their groove during our work periods. The Guides are trying to spend more time stepping back and encouraging the Sparks to select their activities and plan their time. We also suggest that they ask two friends for help before requesting a guide’s assistance. It’s amazing to see the responsibility, hard work, and teamwork! This week during the group circles, we focused on the “Ch” digraph. Challenge your learner to find something in the house that begins or ends with this sound. We also reviewed the teen numbers and, as a group, talked about how to write these numbers and then how to make them with our coloured bead material. We continued to work on naming 3D shapes and played a studio favourite game, trying to guess which shape was removed. During DEAR (drop everything and read), we have enjoyed chapter book read alouds. This week is the adventures of Flat Stanley! We continue to enjoy learning new dance moves during music and movement this week, and we learned some new hand-clapping games. Stay tuned for our surprise performance next week! As always, we love ending our week with our Reading Buddies and Show and Tell. The Sparks ask one another great questions about the items they bring in and are having fun playing with their unique treasures during Fun Friday. The Sparks also had a good laugh when their guides tricked them on April Fools. Would anyone like a Brown E?! Ha, Ha!
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
The Rebels continued their weekly gratitude practise on Monday with a new theme emerging. We shared joy for significant opportunities, whether it be upcoming hockey championship games or future Irish-dancing Oireachtas competitions! The yogi Rebels meditated for a full fifteen minutes on Tuesday morning while listening to positive energy music with hand and water drums. Wednesday morning, our Rebel Mindfulness Coach led us through another lovely yoga practice with a Power Down Flow at the end. Thursday morning, we focused on moving energy around the body and easing back into Asana practice with gentle stretches. Friday’s yoga flow included a new shoulder opener known as the Heart-to-Earth pose. The Rebels have decided that in Session 6, they would like to do two Asana flows and one full meditation practice each week.
Launches
Monday, we read the story “A Bug and a Wish.” The main character was the object of his peers’ teasing, so he turned to his friend Dinae to get some advice. Through the story, he found his voice and was able to tell the boys that were bugging him with their teasing, and he wished they would stop. We had a great discussion about conflict resolution and one way to be a problem solver and a warm-hearted, tough-minded friend. On Tuesday, the Rebels played “Tu préfères ça…ou ça?”. We discussed which would be best: to find a pirate’s treasure or to win the lottery. On Wednesday, we had a Rebel lead us through her favourite TEDEd riddle, how to survive the creation of the universe using patterns in pairings of matter and antimatter. Thursday turned out to be a geography-themed day, with a Rebel-led launch AND closing featuring Kahoot! challenges testing our knowledge of global and national geography trivia. There were silhouettes of countries to identify, facts about the world’s oceans and seas, flags to match with their country and even wacky animal trivia! Did you know otters carry items in their armpit skin? Friday’s Rebel-led Current Events report included an anecdote about two farm animals from Nelson, B.C., Who is Cuter: Family Pet Edition, and the largest potato in the world from New Zealand (weighing in at 17 pounds!). April Fools! It turns out it was a gourd tuber, not a potato.
Reader/Writer
Sometimes you have to roll with the punches! We played an improv game called Fortunately/Unfortunately to warm up this week. From being bitten by a vampire or werewolf to not being able to afford lunch at Kim’s, the stories were hilarious and showed great creativity and quick thinking! Rebels then spent the rest of their Reader/Writer period finishing their elevator pitches or practising in front of a peer. Aim and Release Rebels were also presented to the whole group and received feedback based on the provided rubric. Draw and Anchor Rebels finished their session with a Night Zookeeper challenge based on grammar or spelling!
Math Lab
The Draw and Anchor grocery store owners had to cover for an absent employee in the bakery department this week, assisting with preparing a variety of fresh-baked goods. They had to manage time for gathering the ingredients, combining them and getting the right equipment, and elapsed time in the oven. Since they don’t usually work in this department, problem-solving skills were needed to make sure they followed the baking schedule and kept track of baking times if they worked behind or ahead. For example, if cookies take 12 minutes to bake and you put them in the oven at 11:30 am, what time will they be ready? To make matters more challenging, the baker insists that we only use analog clocks in the kitchen!
Aim and Release have one more week to complete their duties as an owner of their very own fast food restaurant. This Wednesday, they estimated daily revenue for the drive-thru and dine-in services their restaurant offers by rounding to the nearest ten the morning, afternoon and evening sales in dollars. At the end of the simulation, they calculated the actual revenue and compared it to their forecasts. The Rebels have also continued to explore interest calculations, noticing that compound interest becomes very complex when the rate is compounded more than once per year.
Next week, Rebels from both groups will reflect on their learning from the session, curating evidence for their Growth Portfolio that made them feel confident as mathematicians, moments that challenged them, and moments in their Panic Zone.
Civilizations
This week and next, the Rebels will use their time to create either a timeline of events or a map of key locations based on the stories from the Rise of Rome read-alouds. The criteria for this project (i.e. the conventions and content) are set up the same as last session so that the Rebels can focus on our standards of excellence. For example, if a learner chooses a format they have never done before and gives it their all, it will be excellent work. If they choose the same format as last time, they will need to show that their timeline or map has improved since Session 4.
French
This week, Rebels worked on finalizing their clothing stores. We talked about how we tell the time in French using a 24h clock, and we set up our store schedules. Rebels who completed their work early could do extra activities to receive Rebel Bucks! We also played “J’ai…Qui a?” and beat our record by 43 seconds! Bon travail, Rebelles!
Quest
To kick off this week, the Rebels reviewed their journey so far as entrepreneurs in Revel City. They have formed supportive communities with their peers in the various Business Improvement Areas and developed decision-making skills and accountability for their combined efforts and budget management. Each individual has also explored the concepts of brand and image. With the help of their teams, they considered how competition, markets, and customer buying trends impact their choices as business owners even further. Last week, they tackled the critical challenge of balancing costs and risks needed to start their business and ensure cash flow. This week we spiral back to one: their opportunity as entrepreneurs. Are they the right person, and is this the right time? Who will buy their product? Can they develop it cheaply enough? How will they defend against the competitors?
On Tuesday, we got into prototypes. Rebels worked on detailed sketches of their product and/or booth, considering all the materials they will need for our Exhibition. They started to ask for feedback on what doesn’t work, as prototypes should be tested to fail so that they can iterate the best version of their idea. On Wednesday and Thursday, we turned our attention to Exhibition planning. Most Rebels feel that the fundamental purpose of this event is to celebrate and showcase their hard work. Many aim to demonstrate to attendees precisely what it took them to build their business. Individually, they each aspire to gain something different whether it be practice in selling their product, better organisational skills, understanding their costs and risks more deeply before the Ottawa Children’s Business Fair, or being brave during the live presentation of their elevator pitch!
Physical Development
On Monday, the Rebels went outside to play kickball or dodgeball indoors. Wednesday, the Rebels had a choice to go for a hike or preview the April-Mayhem Bootcamp. Rebels who joined the camp identified fitness goals such as developing strength, cardio or core, or a combination. They completed three high-intensity circuits like champs, practising some key moves like push-ups, squats and crunches. Thank you to our Exploration coach, who helped us focus on form and safety!
Additional Highlights
Rebel Reminders volunteered to try and keep us on top of mid-day personal maintenance this week, keep up with transitions, and be on time for the different parts of our schedule. Keep working on it, Rebels!
This Friday, the Draw and Anchor Rebels had another Body Talk and created a new shortlist of topics to discover more about over the next several weeks. They voted to focus on digestion this week and want to talk more about childbirth at our next meeting. We started by making a map of the body and listing all the things we could think of that would help with digestion from the mouth and throat, including saliva and teeth, esophagus, stomach, intestines and urethra.
The last item from the Health and Wellness prize also arrived this week: the Elementeo game designed by a young entrepreneur we learned about in this session. Anshul Samar was passionate about making chemistry and the elements more exciting and engaging for young people to learn about, so we had to add it to Revel’s collection!
Exploration Studio
Launches
Inspired by Daniel Pink’sPink’s newest book, we talked about the Yerkes-Dodson Curve, which shows the relationship between “arousal” and work production. We discussed the concept and gave examples for each topic on the X-axis of a graph. The lowest level would be falling asleep or a state of boredom, followed by a level of engagement from stimulus-like purpose and topping off at being overstimulated and unable to focus. The learners predicted what the graph would show about the relationship between arousal and work productivity. Some thought there was a positive linear relationship, meaning the more stimulated you are, the more work you can get done, while others thought it was completely random. The Yerkes-Dodson Curve follows a bell curve distribution, showing that some stimulation is required for us to be productive. After learners shared stimuli that helped them focus, we got right into Core Skills. We also introduced a game called Empire, which was a definite hit. In the game, each learner wrote a word or phrase on a piece of paper which they passed to Deagan. He then read out the expression to the studio and instructed them to try and guess who wrote which phrase. We proceeded in a circle, and whenever someone correctly guessed someone’s word, they would join their team. Teams form naturally, which in the game are called Empires. One of our learners taught us “Poisson d’avril,” a French April Fools game where learners attempted to stick a paper fish onto each other’s backs without noticing. Lastly, we spent time with all of the studios on three mornings this week as March Mammal Madness is still raging on! We are now down to the Final Four: Orca, Swordfish, Pride of Lionesses and Grizzly Bear. Who will the Champion be?
Mindfulness
During mindfulness this week, we practised self-love, tying in our exploration of neuro-plasticity from last week. We started this practice with a short meditation, focusing on our breath for the day and checking in with how we were feeling. We transitioned that practice into receiving words of affirmation, words that the learners read through when they are showing a closed mindset or saying negative self-talk. With the learners in a mindful space, Deagan read a dozen affirmations to them, words like “I can do hard things” and “Mistakes are okay; it’s how I learn.” He asked the learners to reflect on how they were receiving the affirmations on this day before getting them to write down which declarations they felt best described themselves. Afterwards, they wrote down which affirmations they felt did not represent them or that they believed the opposite about themself. We then brought in our neuroplasticity knowledge, which shows we can learn to accept things about ourselves that we previously didn’t believe. Each learner wrote down examples of times they showed they embodied that statement; for instance, if a Rebel chose “I am kind,” they were to write down examples of when they were kind. Deagan then challenged the learners to find examples of this affirmation for the rest of the week and invited them to engage in this practice every morning.
Math Lab
During this week’s Math Lab session, we tackled Income Statements! Exploration Rebels were given financials for three different companies and, using the formulas, were asked to calculate Gross Profit, Total Operating Expenses and Net Profit for each company. They also quickly discovered that it mattered if they were creating annual, quarterly or monthly statements as they may have to multiply monthly expenses such as rent and salaries.
Our Problem of the Week focused on compound interest. With the initial principal balance, interest rate, number of times interest is applied per time period, and the number of time periods elapsed, learners calculated the compound interest based on four different scenarios.
French
This week, Rebels worked on finalizing their clothing stores. We talked about how we tell the time in French using a 24h clock, and we set up our store schedules. Rebels who completed their work early could do extra activities to receive Rebel Bucks!
Quest
On Monday, we discussed the Exhibition and our plan to demonstrate what we’ve learned in this session. We talked about run-throughs and what needs to be done in the next few days to be best prepared. Deagan read through an example that he created for the “What I Learned” portion of the Exhibition, sharing his learnings from his time as a guide. We also explored the topic of customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction surveys were created for the learners to fill out, and each learner weighed how important feedback would be at this point for their business. Learners who have already had other people test their projects viewed it as more important than those who did not yet have a viable product. The learners prioritized which tasks were of the highest importance to them at this point, with many learners creating price lists and starting to envision what their stand would look like. Other Rebels began to think about marketing, with some creating posters to place around the school to advertise.
Health
After covering most human body systems in the prior two weeks, focusing on identifying the placement and function of each body part in its more extensive system, we were able to cover the reproductive systems. To start, we discussed the topic of sex versus gender and how that would apply to our learning that day. Genitalia does not define gender, and there are certain situations when it does not determine sex.
Additional Highlights
Exploration Rebels went next door to GAPC to tour their studios! They were able to ask questions about production and editing and were very jealous of the soundproof booth as background noise has been an issue in their documentary creation!
This week we finished our DEAR read-aloud, Amari and the Night Brothers, and we cannot wait for the sequel’s release in August! What book should we choose next?!
Launchpad
Resumes, final projects, hydroponic garden preparation, and Core Skills, oh my! It has been a busy week as we head into the final stretch of Session 5.
Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science
After another round of feedback, Rebels submitted their final project lab reports. Both received high marks for their Harvard edX course and learned much about chemistry, thermodynamics, balancing chemical equations, and the scientific method! Congratulations, Launchpad!
Shakespeare Study
Since we completed the choral reading of Much Ado About Nothing last week, we watched Kenneth Branagh's 1993 film adaptation of the play this week. Rebels enjoyed hearing the lines that had struck them while reading and furthered their love and distaste for the characters we gave voice to over the past four weeks. Next week, Launchpad will complete their final project where one Rebels has chosen to write an epilogue, and another is rewriting a scene using modern English and a modern setting.
WorkspaceSky Pilot
This week our Socratic Discussion was led by a teen in Venice Beach, California. She did a great job asking questions to get us to think more deeply about the causes, problems, and solutions we face as a society regarding homelessness.
We all have personal obstacles that distract and derail us from achieving our goals, including anxieties, constant notifications on our devices, and lack of organization. This week in the Attention workshop, our learner identified their three biggest obstacles and made a plan for how to overcome them. This week in Scheduling, they focused on Timeboxing! They learned how to plan out what they are going to do and when they will do it, measuring success by how closely they stuck to the plan. Using Mindvalley, they created a weekly calendar template, planned out the activities they wanted to do, and booked a 15 minute time to reflect and refine their calendar for the next week. In Voice Acting, our Rebel learned more about the benefits of identifying her vocal niches and strengths to form a Vocal Identity. She then had time to work on a voice project to showcase at the online Expo in May.
Our other Launchpad Rebel learned more about rainforests this week in their Forest workshop and was excited to share their knowledge on a parasitic fungus. They also learned about the history of Earth Day and how they may like to celebrate on April 22nd. In their Critical Thinking class, they spoke about the "why" and the "how" behind developing critical thinking skills in our everyday life.
Canadian History
This week we continued our study of World War II, reading about Juno Beach, Battle of the Scheldt, Battle of the Rhineland, the liberation of the Netherlands, and Germany's surrender on May 7th, 1945. Are the use of weapons of mass destruction ever justifiable? After learning more about the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb, we discussed the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Launchpad Rebels passionately discussed their views on the justifiability of using weapons of mass destruction, attempting to understand the various viewpoints while admitting their bias. We then focused on the events and climate once the war ended. We read about and discussed the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials, the economy, demand for social change, racism, the changing roles of women, and the conscription crisis.
Additional Highlights
Time for another restaurant review! On Tuesday morning, we drove to Art-Is-In for brunch, and it was another delicious meal out on the town. We enjoyed our meal, the company, and time away from the studios.
In World Building, we finished the first quest in one of their campaigns with William on Friday. Luckily, all players made it to the end alive and will begin their second quest in a few weeks.
A big CONGRATULATIONS to our Level 1 and Level 2 Canadian Geographic Challenge Champions!!!
Potential Discussion Ideas or Questions to Ask your Rebel:
Spark
What do you think the studio should do with the money you make?
What is your dream job?
What sound does Ch make? Can you find an object or tell us a word that begins or ends with "Ch"?
French: How far can you count in French?
Discovery
As we head into the last week of the session, which monster will you likely battle, and how will you defeat them? Distraction, victimhood or resistance?
Which badges do you hope to earn this session: Math Lab, Reader/Writer, CIV, Quest, and/or French?
What is one thing you can do next week to achieve your session goals?
French: What are your French goals for the last week of Session 5?
Exploration
Do you feel prepared for Exhibition? How can we support you in this final push?
French: What are your French goals for the last week of Session 5?
Launchpad
What unintended consequences do you think resulted from women being a significant part of the war effort?
With two sessions left in the school year, what are your biggest priorities?
Dates of Interest
Revel Photo Days: April 4th and 5th
Session 5 Exhibitions
Exploration Studio: Tuesday, April 5th at 4:30 pm
Spark Studio: Wednesday, April 6th at 4:15 pm
Discovery Studio: Thursday, April 7th at 4:30 pm