Revel Recap: May 9 - 13, 2022
Spark Studio
Mindfulness
Monday mornings are always an exciting time in the studio. The Sparks love to share what they did on the weekend, and they are so happy to be reunited with their friends! We continue to practise our essential affirmations. This week we focused on growth mindset statements. "Mistakes help me learn and grow, I can do hard things, I never give up, I can ask for help, My brain is always growing, I speak to myself with kindness, It takes time to learn new skills, I can't do it yet, but I can keep trying!" We repeated these statements a couple of times and talked about moments we might use these powerful words to inspire and motivate us. We were then intrigued by the new liquid motion bubblers in the studio. We used them to help us have a calm moment before starting our day. We tried to take deep breaths and focus our brains, watching the bubbles moving down the bottle. If we noticed our thoughts drifting, we attempted to bring them back to the bubbles. This is a tool we can use in the studio when we need to take a moment to relax or focus.
On Tuesday, we challenged our brain by playing a spot the difference game and then enjoyed some mindful colouring with the affirmations from the day before. We went through a yoga sequence of some of our favourite poses on Wednesday. We ended our practice with a five senses mindful activity. We focused on five things we could see, four things we could feel, three things we could hear, two things we could smell and one thing we could taste. Thursday, our artists impressed us with directed drawings of butterflies! We ended our week with a muscle relaxation exercise and then wrote about something we have trained our brains to do and are grateful for.
Quest
This week's Quest was all about our amazing brain! We started our week off learning that our brain controls everything! It's a vital and powerful organ. We learned some fun facts about the size of adult and children's brains, what it looks like, how it delivers messages to our body and the various parts of our brain and their jobs. After understanding just how important our brain is, we thought about how we could take care of it. We can wear a helmet, eat healthy food, exercise, and get enough sleep. We then spent time learning about how we can stretch and grow our brains. We read Your Fantastic Elastic Brain, which talks about how the best way to strengthen our brain is to try new and challenging things. We discussed how making mistakes is one of the best ways our brain learns and grows. This book told us that our brain develops very fast in the first ten years of our life, so it's very important to try many different things. We then worked together to make a poster where we wrote down things we have already trained our brains to do and something we have taught or want to train our brains to do.
After reading The Magical Yet book, we learned the importance of using this word to help our growth mindset. "Yet" tells our brain maybe we can't do it yet, but we will keep trying, and anything is possible! We practised adding this word into "I can't" statements. "I can't ride a bike..yet!" Using this word encourages us to keep trying and not give up. We then each illustrated three things we can't do yet but will keep working on. It has been amazing to hear the Sparks using these statements during work periods and challenging activities this week. They have been encouraging each other, and when they heard someone saying "I can't," they added yet into their statement or reminded each other that they could do hard things!
Next, we talked about all the different emotions we feel and how it is okay not always to feel okay. We read My Magic Breath and I Am Peace, which discusses times when we can use the power of breath to help us. It also talked about other tools such as focusing on happy thoughts to push out sad thoughts, being out in nature, focusing on the present moment, telling ourselves positive statements, and sharing our feelings. We then shared one thing that can help us feel better if we are upset. Many learners said getting a hug or snuggling a stuffed animal. They also said taking a nap, going outside, and meditating. Check out our bulletin board at the Exhibition to see all of their beautiful answers! It's important to know the tools that work for us to utilize them in challenging moments. We tried some mindful activities this week, such as guided meditations, a five senses activity, and painting while listening to different types of music. Many Sparks talked about feeling calm and happy after completing them.
French
On Monday, the Sparks read On ne mange pas ses camarades de classe and played a round of Bingo. The Sparks enjoyed the sunny weather on Tuesday and Wednesday while playing French games outside! We played two different kinds of hopscotch, "Quelle heure est-il Monsieur le loup?" and counted as we passed a ball around in a circle. The focus of all of our outdoor games was to consolidate our counting skills. Finally, on Thursday, we read La souris qui cherche un ami and we followed Didou's instructions to draw a hippo.
Additional Highlights
Wow, we sure enjoyed this sunny and beautiful week! We spent a lot of time outside enjoying the weather and having fun! The Sparks have been doing a great job protecting their skin by reapplying their sunscreen, wearing their hats, and taking breaks in the shade when needed. One of our outdoor activities this week was completing our tie-dye shirts. They turned out great, and we can't wait to show them off next week! All this sun has been helping our sunflowers, and we have enjoyed checking each morning to see their growth. The ones in the Ziploc bags have been so interesting to observe as the roots began to grow. We are hoping to plant them in our canoe outside. Inside, we were busy working on the new sound "er," working on coding and adventures with Cubetto the robot, and voting on what to do with the money from our Nature Shop business. We each voted with one of our shoes and made a bar graph with our footwear. The winner was Disco and food party with ten votes. Next was a field trip with four votes and outdoor toys with one vote. We will be planning our party for a Fun Friday next session! Woo hoo! We are SO excited to welcome our families to the Exhibition next week. Dress comfortably and bring your water families; the Sparks will be running a workout routine for you!
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
After reviewing our Mindful Passport data from last week, there is a clear trend: the Rebels love to colour to set the tone for their day and get ready to learn! On Monday, we tried a mystery colouring by numbers activity where the Rebels had to follow a pattern to reveal different letters and symbols. Tuesday and Thursday morning's yoga option was back on this week, and we focused on stretching sore legs through crescent pose and wide-legged forward fold. Wednesday's Rebel-led workshop featured a short guided meditation with more time to colour, and Friday's yoga session was pure relaxation.
Launches
We have built a strong community here in the Discovery Studio, but, according to David Logan, understanding our "tribal culture" will help us to nudge each other further forward, becoming heroes who will change the world. Therefore, Monday morning, we took some time to rate our culture on a scale from 1 to 5 and then debriefed the results closing. While most Rebels feel we are at Level 4 (We're great!), some individuals think that our ROEs are not being upheld and that distraction, resistance or victimhood are getting the best of us, leaving us stuck at Level 1, 2 or 3. We agreed to recommit to our ROEs, encourage each other, and rate the culture again soon to monitor progress. On Tuesday, Rebels played “Tu préfères ça…ou ça?”. We discussed whether we would rather have a strawberry as a nose or kiwis as ears! Wednesday, we introduced a Peace Table and conflict resolution script, role-playing how Rebels can use this system to talk through peer conflict and problem-solve. The first step is making sure both parties have had time to cool off. If not, they agree on a time to try later. Once at the table, each Rebel takes turns sharing their feelings, while the other Rebel has to listen and be ready to restate. If the listener misses something, the speaker can let them know. Then they switch roles, making sure each is fully heard before moving on. The rest of the Peace Recipe included examples of taking responsibility, making a plan for the future, and affirming. Thursday's Rebel-led launch featured another engaging, All-About-Me Kahoot! It is so fun to realize how well we have gotten to know each other this year. The Rebels reported on Current Events, featuring Andy Warhol's record-breaking art sale, Who's Cuter: Teacup Puppy vs. Mini Kitty edition, a 450 million-year-old fossil, and a rare walrus sighting, chilling out in Newfoundland!
Civilizations
The Rebels examined the timeline on the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada more closely this week, focusing on notable people. They took time to walk the perimeter of the Giant Floor Map and pay attention to the features of each annotation: the image, the year, the caption, and the symbols which represent a connection to First Nations, Métis and/or Inuit peoples. Each Rebel found at least one person they wanted to learn more about and took time to sketch them and make notes about their story. We also started to explore the map's logo, which consists of many symbols meant to connect to all nations: eagle, fish, water, sky, beadwork, inukshuk, tools, dreamcatcher, mother and daughter, wolf, four directions and compass.
Reader/Writer
With the introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs completed, it was time to create our title, improve transition words, and cite our sources. Once that was done, Rebels had a peer review their essay and fix any edits. We then ran the piece through Grammarly to identify any other problem areas.
Math Lab
The Draw and Anchor Rebels worked so well together this week to check each other's problem-solving for accuracy, flexible thinking, and to have conversations about efficiency. Some continued to use models to help demonstrate their strategy, and others coached peers on algorithms. We used three key questions to help frame our discussions: 1) how do you know you are correct? 2) is there another way to get the correct answer? and 3) which way took less time and less work?
Aim and Release used this same line of questioning to help them as they finished up their problem-solving and started to think about peer approvals for their sessional badge. In one problem, as they investigated two subscription models to find the better deal, the Rebels chose to use t-charts to organize their thinking and tried to graph the results as another way to model their reasoning. When two Rebels had different results, checking and comparing their charts line by line helped them determine who was accurate. Excellent teamwork!
Quest
On Monday, the Rebel Physicists had a lot of research and reflection to catch up on and peer work to approve. We reviewed key resources from weeks two and three and ensured that our team portfolios included annotated diagrams for buoyancy and displacement, the difference between kinetic and potential energy, and an explanation of mechanical advantage. On Tuesday, the teams then began their last instant challenges: building a bridge that would support the most weight without using any glue and the tallest tower with the least amount of materials. They voted to use some time on Wednesday to continue these challenges, but this time merged again with their Running Teams. By the end of the week, the Rebels turned their attention to the final exhibition contest task and decided they would like to work as one large team to build the Ultimate Rube Goldberg Machine. Working closely together, physicist pairs started to develop smaller modules within their machine, bringing together the understanding of physics, teamwork, and communication skills they had collected.
French
After a series of Nearpod activities, the Discovery Rebels resumed their reading comprehension of Ommi Sissi's story. In the first part, we learned how a poor lady named Ommi Sissi was sweeping around her house when she found a coin. She used the money to buy fish and prepare a delicious fish couscous for her daughter Fatima. In the second part of the story, Ommi Sissi's neighbour's cat comes into the kitchen and eats the couscous that was meant for Fatima. Ommi Sissi punishes the cat by chopping off its tail! What a dark turn this story took! Thanks to our Rebels wonderful acting skills, the third part of the story came to life! Each Rebel portrayed a character in the story as the cat goes on a quest to bring Ommi Sissi some butter and get its tail back.
Physical Development
On Monday, Coach Alex helped the baseball group warm-up and work on catching fly balls before splitting up for a scrimmage. The other group went for a hike in the woods with Mme. Marie. Wednesday's hot temperatures had us feeling it in Bootcamp this week, even from inside the gym! The Rebels completed two circuits with strength, cardio and core moves, and this week they were able to cue up each move focusing on form and safety. Meanwhile, the other learners worked on their track skills in the field with Ms. Kaitlin!
Additional Highlights
100 Green Light Challenge update: the Rebels earned another 18 green lights this week, with one Rebel earning six by working overtime on the weekend! We are proud of your dedication to improving your fact fluency, Rebels. We're at 73 out of 100 green lights with one more week to go!
Additionally, Aim and Release met for their final Body Talk of Session 6 on Friday to continue their discussion of processes that prepare our bodies for reproduction. They can describe essential aspects of the menstrual cycle and spermatogenesis generally. When they couldn't remember a proper term, they took it to themselves to look up the right words. This led to mature and thoughtful questions about conception, contraception, and pregnancy. We encourage the Rebels to continue these conversations at home, but the Body Talk question box and Google Form are always open!
Exploration Studio
Mindfulness and Launches
This week in Mindfulness this week, Rebels completed a calming colouring activity while listening to ocean sounds. Throughout the activity, we took time to reflect on what we were thinking about, how our bodies felt, and whether we liked being told which colours to use or preferred more creative license.
What is your philosophy on happiness? Rebels rated nine different options regarding their importance to their personal satisfaction. They also debated whether things that made them happy were always fun or whether doing something challenging or productive improved their mood. Since we are learning about pH in Quest this week, during the Launch on Tuesday, we watched a video about acid rain, how science is used to solve environmental problems, and the role governments and businesses play in decision-making. On Wednesday, learners listened to a French read-aloud and started a Rocket Science-themed Jeopardy game on Thursday. Friday, a Rebel took the lead and led our launch with a team-building game.
French
This week, Exploration Rebels practiced describing animals while playing "Ni Oui Ni Non." The game's objective is to ask questions to find out about a mystery animal. The catch is that the person thinking of the animal isn't allowed to answer with "yes" or "no," or else they will be eliminated! The Rebels got creative with the different ways to avoid using yes or no in their answers! Finally, we worked on finding out the names of animals on the African continent through riddles.
Quest
To start our week, we focused on environmental protection, as it will be necessary for our rocket launch to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Rebels began by learning about pH and the science behind acids and bases to determine if their rocket is expelling dangerous chemicals (classified as acidic for our purposes). They then tested the pH of their team's current top-performing rocket fuel designs and tried to use their knowledge of acid-base reactions, chemical formulas, and stoichiometry to calculate and prepare enough reactants to neutralize their fuel. Teams worked to create drawings or clay models illustrating their balanced chemical equation if they had time. On Wednesday, Rebels reviewed the Rocket Competition Scorecard before working together to create their rubric. The rest of the week was spent scaling up their rocket from test tubes to an entire 2-litre bottle of explosive power. Do the ratios remain the same? Are there logistical or structural things that will need to change on a larger scale rocket? While some team members worked on the fuel puzzle, others got to work on the rocket design and the final presentation. We went outside for a demonstration and test launch using a bike pump and water rockets on Thursday! It was exciting and showed the Rebels what they hoped to achieve next week with their chemical reaction rockets. Friday was spent completing research, reviewing their fuel design, thinking about a fuel delivery system, and drawing a draft of their plan. A couple of groups also thought about creating a name and insignia for their launch!
Health
On Monday, Coach Alex helped the baseball group warm-up and work on catching fly balls before splitting up for a scrimmage. The other group went for a hike in the woods with Mme. Marie. Wednesday's hot temperatures had us feeling it in Bootcamp this week, even from inside the gym! The Rebels completed two circuits with strength, cardio and core moves, and this week they were able to cue up each move focusing on form and safety. Meanwhile, the other learners worked on their track skills in the field with Ms. Kaitlin! (Our middle school track team have been practicing for next week's meet at recess and lunch! It will be a fun day with schools from across Ottawa!
This week we worked toward making informed choices concerning screening tests for sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections and understanding the risks of having sex. We also learned about inappropriate sexual behaviours and how to stop them.
Genre - 5 Paragraph Essay
With our completed introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs, we created our title, improved our transition words, and cited our sources. Once finished, Rebels had a peer review their essay and fix any edits. We then ran the piece through Grammarly to identify any other problem areas. Many Rebels were able to finalize and submit their papers!
Additional Highlights
Our closings this week have been great for improving the vibes in our studio! Our Triads are working hard to ensure quality and meaningful reflection while also taking time for Character Callouts. Plans are also being made for the last session of this year, next fall, and beyond! Thank you for sharing your wisdom, Rebels!
Launchpad
Pottery Class
In our first class, we learned to throw, tower, center, and create a cylinder with clay. While it was challenging, we had a great time! We're looking forward to improving our technique and making lots of pots!
Canadian History
How did Canada's political, social, and economic policies reflect new independence from the 1960s to 1982? We read about the "Youthquake," Women's Movement, Environmental Movement, and the groups fighting for civil liberties such as gay rights and the introduction of the Canadian Bill of Rights. We then learned more about immigration, multiculturalism, and the disenfranchised in Canada in the 60s. We also reviewed what we learned in our Indigenous Canada course about the White Paper and the educational reforms and environmental actions that Aboriginal peoples worked to improve in the 60s and 70s. We ended our week with Diefenbaker and Pearson's differing visions for Canada and the Great Flag Debate and the eventual choice of the Maple Leaf flag.
Rocket Science
To start our week, we focused on environmental protection, as it will be necessary for our rocket launch to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Rebels began by learning about pH and the science behind acids and bases to determine if their rocket is expelling dangerous chemicals (classified as acidic for our purposes). They then tested the pH of their team's current top-performing rocket fuel designs used their knowledge of acid-base reactions, chemical formulas, and stoichiometry to calculate and prepare enough reactants to neutralize their fuel. On Wednesday, Rebels reviewed the Rocket Competition Scorecard before working together to create their rubric.
The rest of the week was spent scaling up their rocket from test tubes to an entire 2-litre bottle of explosive power. Do the ratios remain the same? Are there logistical or structural things that will need to change on a larger scale rocket? While some team members worked on the fuel puzzle, others got to work on the rocket design and the final presentation. We went outside for a demonstration and test launch using a bike pump and water rockets on Thursday! It was exciting and showed the Rebels what they hoped to achieve next week with their chemical reaction rockets.
Friday was spent completing research, reviewing their fuel design, thinking about a fuel delivery system, and drawing a draft of their plan.
Additional Highlights
With the Ottawa Children's Business Fair taking place this weekend, our learner coordinating the event worked hard to keep up with emails, speak with the media, create and print certificates and create mentor packages. Way to go! You should be proud of what you put together.
Potential Discussion Ideas or Questions to Ask your Rebel:
Spark:
Can you share something that you can't do YET?
Can you show us one of the brain exercises you learned?
What are some ways we can take care of our brains?
What is something you can do if you are feeling upset?
French: Which was your favourite game to play this week?
Discovery:
Which badges are you most excited about this session? Least excited about? Why?
How is the 100 Green Light Challenge in Reflex going? Is getting a green light in your comfort, challenge or panic zone?
As we head into the last week of the session, what are three things from your Hero's Journey that you are proud of so far?
French: Which character from Ommi Sissi's story did you play? How did your team overcome challenges?
Exploration:
What do you think will be most difficult when launching your final rocket? Scaling up your fuel, managing your budget, designing the rocket body, or something else?
What DEEP book are you currently reading? Are you enjoying the style of writing?
French: What steps do you need to complete to get your French badge this session?
Launchpad:
What measures did Canada take to promote a distinct Canadian identity in the 1960s and 1970s?
What surprised you about your first pottery class? Is it easier or harder than you thought?
How is your rocket design progressing? What is going to be the most challenging aspect of launching at Exhibition?