Revel Recap: November 6 - 10, 2023
Spark Studio
Mindfulness
The Sparks became superheroes first thing Monday morning! As a studio, we stood in a circle and began wiggling our toes, rotating our knees, and reaching toward the sky to ease our minds and bodies. Then, the Guide led the superheroes through a guided meditation entitled Superheroes Take Flight. The superheroes had to get ready to fly, climb onto buildings like Spider-Man, and be grateful for help from the superheroes surrounding them. Following this, they worked on their Spider-Man breathing.
Two Sparks become our yoga instructors on Tuesday. They worked together to provide a peaceful session with calm voices, encouragement, and helping one another with single as well as partner poses. The Sparks did an excellent job! The following day, we gathered for a morning catch-up chat. We carried on with wonderful conversations, sharing what we had for breakfast, our feelings about the weather, play dates, and much more. The Sparks then coloured mindfully with Disney music playing in the background! To end the week, we read the story, Be You, by Peter Reynolds. This story helped to start our discussion about the beauty of embracing one's unique self. With the powerful message in mind, each Spark used Duplo blocks to design and build their own Gratitude Tower and write down everything they love about themselves or things they are grateful for.
Quest
From our previous weeks studying the basic concepts of weather, severe weather, and the use of weather tools, the Sparks are on track to becoming young meteorologists! The learners watched a quick clip from CBC Kids titled "Gary wants to be a Meteorologist." The clip explored the daily adventures of a young aspiring meteorologist, sparking curiosity and laying the foundation for our week. Each day of the week, they dove into their journals, charting the temperature, the date, what they predict tomorrow will look like, and viewing the sky to detect more information. The term "predictions" took center stage as we explored more knowledge to forecast weather patterns and provide valuable information. The following day, the learners created a word bubble with relevant terminology, such as patterns, thermometer, rainy, and minus. After watching a learner their age demonstrate how to present the weather on television, the Sparks got into pairs and had time to practice their own skit. Each group presented in front of the class and did an excellent job! Many learners started by introducing themselves, saying the temperature and giving tips on preparing for the weather they predicted for the day.
On Thursday, we focused on the thermometer and how to read it properly and learned that Canada uses degrees Celsius for their temperature unit. This information helped the Sparks as they had to create a weather report for a location of their choice. Once they chose where they were (Ottawa, Las Vegas, Costa Rica, and more!), they also wrote the date, temperature, and current weather type. Once they finished, they branched off to tables where they looked for pictures of clothing they would wear based on their weather report. To end the week, we continued to work on our Meteorologist booklets and practice our TV presentation skills!
Math
We gathered in a circle as a studio for this week's math adventure, focussing on addition. We introduced how you can use various manipulatives as powerful tools when finding your answers. Beginning with five equations, the learners worked with a partner sitting beside them. The Guide placed an equation in the circle, and the learners took their time to find the answer. Some used wooden cubes, and others decided to use mental math. When each pair had found their answer, the studio would shout the solution as an entire team!
Geography
We utilized our knowledge of weather during our Geography lesson this week. With the snow slowly approaching and the colder weather here, we discussed the four seasons in Ontario. Everyone shared their thoughts on which season they enjoyed most as well as their least favourite. Questions asked during the class were, "Does it snow in Alberta?" and "What other provinces get all four seasons?" The Sparks then practiced the Province Song, which led to doing the province puzzle together and sharing stories about other provinces their families have visited!
French
We played Vingo "Clothing Edition" on Monday to learn French clothing vocabulary, and on Tuesday, we reviewed what we had learned with a fun drawing game! We started learning the song "Quel temps fait-il aujourd’hui?" (What's the weather like today?) on Wednesday to discover how to tell what the weather is like outside. We had fun moving our bodies in the gym while reviewing our clothing and weather-related vocabulary on Thursday!
Art
On Wednesday, the Sparks made a wreath for Remembrance Day. Each learner made a poppy using a template, decorating it with tissue paper and adding it to the wreath made out of their hand prints. We spoke about why we take time to focus on this specific day. The learners shared their thoughts and asked many questions. There was also a loose parts station this week where Sparks could create wreaths, veterans, doves, crosses, or a peace symbol to further connect with Remembrance Day. Once they made their design, they drew and labelled the picture.
Additional Highlights
The Sparks have had a week filled with laughter, exploring, and memorable moments. Learning through play is essential in our studio, and the Sparks engage in various hands-on activities each week. Using different stations, the Guides provide invitations with loose parts, play dough, and colouring. Each learner can explore all stations throughout the week if they are interested.
With the arrival of snow, the Sparks were delighted during recess. Many snowballs were made, and there was an attempt to make a giant snowman. Let's hope even more snow comes so that we can add onto the snowballs they made this week.
One of our learners will be celebrating their birthday this week, so we wanted to make it extra special by singing Happy Birthday, as well as our studio birthday song. During the tune, the learners ask questions such as, "What did you learn when you were 2?" "What was your favourite toy when you were 4?"
Before ending the week, we took the time to learn about Remembrance Day. We read a book called A Poppy is to Remember. The Sparks then attended a presentation from our special guest speaker, Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen Buckley.
Lastly, Show and Tell transformed into the Sparks, becoming meteorologists, showcasing their creativity and wonderful outfits. Outfits ranged from dresses to button-ups and even raincoats and umbrellas!
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
For Mantra Monday, the Rebels listened to a musical set of affirmations all related to the mantra "I am responsible." We had a great discussion about what responsibility means and how it relates to our well-being. Tuesday's Choose Your Own Mindful Adventure saw Rebels Zen doodling, reading, writing in journals, completing mindful mazes, and building floor puzzles. For Wonder Wednesday, the Rebels used tissue paper and pipe cleaners to make craft poppies for their Remembrance Day wreaths. On Thankful Thursday, the Rebels took time to write messages of appreciation to the members of the Canadian Armed Forces. On Feel-Good Friday, we completed the Boomwhacker warm-ups, and then the Rebels tried a Burger King jingle!
Launches
Monday's launch was inspired by a Dr. Hubermann quote on why we should deliberately do hard things: "The reason to deliberately do hard things is so that when non-self-selected challenges arise (and they will), you can tell yourself "I don't know how this is all going to turn out, but I am certain that I can do hard things," Don't self injure. But doing hard things is always worthwhile." Discovery Rebels discussed what they thought this quote meant and then answered: Is it more important to succeed and get Fun Friday every week of the session, or is it more important to fail and not get Fun Friday every week? "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free," - Frederick Douglas. Tuesday's launch had Rebels wondering about the freedoms they have because of their ability to read. Throughout history, those with absolute power have often sought to keep control by not allowing the people they rule to be educated. Reading leads to freedom of thought, which leads to seeking freedom in life. Relating it to Revel experiences, Rebels made a list of reasons why DEAR was so important and ways that they could improve so they are maximizing their 30 minutes of silent reading. At Wednesday's squad check-in, Rebels updated their goal sheets and then discussed an "Imagine this" scenario related to their Candy Quest. If a competitor copied your recipe, what would you do? Thursday's launch was about the poppy's history: why people wear one, how it connects to the Royal Canadian Legion, and how the campaign has evolved since 1921. Friday's Current Events report featured a fabulous viral artist who uses clothing to make scenic installations and a debate about Mr. Beast's impact in Kenya with access to well water.
Reader/Writer
This week in Reader/Writer, Rebels focused on Conflict and Resolution in literature and how this would be incorporated into their own stories. Rebels examined the different types of conflicts that a character can experience (External Conflicts such as character vs character, character vs nature, character vs society or Internal conflicts such as character vs self). Rebels listened to a short story fairytale called "The Silly King" and identified which kind of conflicts certain characters endured. Could more than one conflict occur in a story to more than one character? Could a group of characters experience the same conflict? Rebels took their new information and continued building their fictional stories, focusing on the type of conflict(s) their characters would experience.
Math Lab
To kick off lab this week, we chose one of the Problems of the Week (POTW) to practice the CUBES strategy, and Rebels used it to try filtering distractor numbers from significant numbers, underlining the question and tuning into words that give clues about which operation to use. This was the perfect opportunity to re-launch the idea that there are formal and informal words that mathematicians can use when sharing their thinking or trying to convince someone else of their solution. From there, Rebels continued working on their POTW pack and Operations Workouts from previous labs. As they worked, they also had a chance to complete the final candy nutrition investigation, completing a nutrition fact table for Smart Sweets candies. At the end of the lab, we discussed some commonalities between all the nutrition labels and which parts will be important as they develop their own edible slime packaging in Quest.
French
This week in French, we learned Remembrance Day vocabulary, such as peace, poppy, soldiers, military, and more, through an interactive activity. We then finished our artifacts for the museum, reviewed our texts on the objects, and started working on how we would present.
Civilizations
This week's story took the Rebels through the Diaspora of the Jewish people. Rebels mapped many lines coming out of Jerusalem to surrounding regions like Egypt, France, England and beyond and listened to examples of how Jews were forced to leave. At one point before the Roman Empire crumbled, the Romans had come to force the Jewish people to leave and burned their Temple. The Romans didn't want to deal with the ongoing Jewish rebellions anymore, so they attacked Jerusalem. As a result, many Jewish people had to find ways to keep their faith alive by reading the Torah and finding rabbis and synagogues to continue learning about the teachings. In particular, Rebels heard the story of one clever rabbi in Cordova, who outwitted the Emir and passed three "tests" so that the Jewish people could stay in Spain.
Quest
This week in Quest, Rebels are learning about building their own brand. After taking what they've learned over the past three weeks and applying these concepts to their Edible Slime Brand, Rebels were faced with a series of challenges involving logos, labels, slogans, packaging, and recipe design to prepare for their test batches in the kitchen next week.
What is considered a good logo? After taking a deep dive into some of the biggest brands in the world, such as Nike, Google and McDonalds and the strategies they've used to achieve success, Rebels considered how they would incorporate some of these strategies into their brands. What do we want our logo to represent? What are your slime's essential features or ingredients going to be? How can our packaging help make our slime stand out? How will our slime be different from our competitors? What will your brand colours be? Will your slime brand represent a personal connection of the team creating it, or will it be inspired by an external concept or theme? Rebels worked to answer these questions each afternoon as their logos, slogans, labels, and packaging for their slime began to come to life. Rebels will aim to complete the marketing and branding components by early next week before recipe testing.
Physical Development
On Tuesday, learners who chose the gym option started with some warm-up exercises. We then had fun playing Octopus (trying out a new version of this classic game), Red Light, Green Light and ended with a couple of rounds of Dodgeball. The second option was outside playing soccer! On Thursday, Alex Mateas led his second workshop as a follow-up to the strength and conditioning techniques he worked with Rebels on back in Week 2. Rebels worked on their form as they completed a series of drills and ended the workshop with a teambuilding talk with Alex about failure, growth, and personal success.
Additional Highlights
On Friday, Rebels were able to commemorate Remembrance Day with a special guest speaker: Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen Buckley. Rebels worked on poppy art and messages of gratitude throughout the week, and some brought photos of family members to create a memorial display for the ceremony. Thank you, LtCol Buckley, for your service and joining us on Friday!
Exploration
Mindfulness and Launch
We began our week with a 15-minute morning Peloton meditation to ease into our week slowly. We then used our launch time to review internet safety and the Revel Technology agreement, ensuring we agreed on which sites were safe to use and which programs were appropriate for school use. On Tuesday morning, the Rebels tried wall-supported pilates movements to target whole-body conditioning during their yoga session in the gym. Afterward, we watched a fantastic ad filmed by the Yearbook Club Rebels and voted on whether we wanted to participate in a MangaHigh Math competition this next week. We ended our Launch with a conundrum regarding AI and the responsibilities of companies developing the technology. Wednesday, we worked on Remembrance Day art in preparation for our ceremony on Friday. Rebels worked on "Dancer's Pose" variations as they added to a sequence engaging both the left and right sides of their body during Thursday's yoga class. Time to rank the studio! Now that we are two months into the year, how are we doing on our independence and accountability? How learner-driven is the studio? How can we add to the fun factor while ensuring that we also hold high standards? The Rebels had a very mature and honest conversation that allowed us to reflect on their feelings and make suggestions for improving our studio culture. After Free Choice Friday mindfulness, the Exploration Rebels competed in a Rebel-run Remembrance Day Kahoot before heading into their last core skills period of the week.
Quest - The Science of Where
Rebels viewed a series published by MacLean's called Mapped to launch this week's Science of Where theme. They looked at Canadian stereotypes and other data sets that call attention to strange Canadian patterns in human settlement, crime, causes of death, political following, extreme weather, etc. These maps sparked tremendous curiosity and led to a great discussion about inquiry questions. Rebels wondered why Prince Edward Island is disproportionately affected by the flu and why more affluent families settle further from Toronto's downtown area. As they viewed these maps, Rebels tried to link them to parts of our SEEP acronym, noting if the data was more social, economic, environmental or political. On Tuesday, we completed a mini workshop on developing good-quality inquiry questions. Rebels used a question chart to help them brainstorm level 2 or level 3 inquiry questions, questions that can not be answered in only a few words and require multiple sources and perspectives. We also reviewed three StoryMaps made by learners around the province and created a list of warm and cool feedback to help us focus on excellence criteria for the StoryMaps we will create. Wednesday's time was dedicated to logging into the ArcGIS platform and navigating the menus for creating a StoryMap and making interactive or "working" maps. Some Rebels also learned about sharing the file with collaborators. On Thursday, we discussed some of the excellence criteria from earlier in the week and how we want the peer approval process to work for this session's badge. As a result, we even started thinking about Exhibition and how we will best showcase the science of WHERE!
Math Lab
The detour of a lifetime is officially underway! Armed with knowledge of their credit card contract, annual fees and commitment to pay at least the minimum monthly balance, Rebels continued to make purchases to get home to Ottawa safely and within the limits of the law. They are making interesting choices and noticing the difference in cost for things like renting a car, booking an Uber driver, or coordinating flights, and many are having to calculate currency exchanges and foreign transaction fees. For each purchase they plan to make, they must keep track of this on their credit card statement, noting the transaction number, the company/good/service purchased, the cost, and any cash back, Scene, or PC Points earned. Some have even made it "home" and are now tabulating their statement balance and reflecting on the best way to pay back their debt. Next week, we will use a Google Sheets version of their statement to check their work and report their final balance more efficiently. Will they be over or under the $5000?
Reader/Writer
This week in Reader/Writer, Rebels launched our fourth workshop of the session with a writing challenge. Using their knowledge of persuasive techniques, they chose to edit and rewrite one of two provincial tourism captions with great information but no voice. Rebels had ten minutes to recreate the paragraphs using "Bandwagon," "Ideal Life," "Celebrity/Endorsement," or "Testimonial" and presented the newly vamped up section in an attempt to sell the experience and need to visit, while also maintaining the factual information about their chosen location. Rebels will attempt to apply this challenge to their travel guides as they create persuasive twists on the research and facts they're collecting on their provinces. Learners used the remainder of the workshop to continue working on their provincial travel guides.
Civilizations
In the 9th century AD, a Chinese alchemist combined sulphur, charcoal, and saltpetre to accidentally form one of history's most significant inventions, gunpowder. On Tuesday, we watched Understanding the Inventions that Changed the World: Gunpowder, Cannons, and Guns before discussing and contemplating how innovations in weaponry shaped the world.
On Thursday, we turned our attention to the beginnings of Islam. After Mohammed founded the Muslim religion in 622 CE, Islam spread from the Arabian peninsula across the Middle East and North Africa into Spain, Hungary, and the Balkans. As a result, Muslim Empires competed with and contributed to the Christian nations of Europe. These historical interactions laid the foundation for many alliances and conflicts in the Western world. After a video and a couple of articles, Rebels led a Socratic discussion that had them pondering whether they believed that resources, religion, or something else would be the reason for the next global war.
French
We played another Murder Mystery game this week entitled, «Qui a tué monsieur Green?» (Who killed Mr. Green?) The Rebels had to know their character and be able to answer the questions: How do you know this person? What's your family connection to him? etc. For the grammar component, we studied the hyphen and how it changes the meaning of words such as rendez-vous, arc-en-ciel, rond-point, and more!
Additional Highlights
On Thursday, Alex Mateas led his second PE workshop of the session as a follow-up to the strength and conditioning techniques he worked with Rebels on back in Week 2. Rebels worked on their form as they completed a series of drills and ended the workshop with a teambuilding talk led by Alex about failure, growth and personal success!
We had a powerful Remembrance Day ceremony led by Lt. Col. Stephen Buckley on Friday morning. We greatly appreciate his time, impactful message, personal stories, and for answering our questions.
Our first Fun Friday draw winners were treated to a lunch at Cora’s! Who will win the Session 2 draw?!
Launchpad
World History
Sadly, the Middle East, and particularly Israel, remains a major flashpoint for the world and a place where World War III could start. Learners conducted their own research on conflicts in the Middle East and proposed solutions on Tuesday. While this lesson was planned in the summer, it became even more poignant and emotionally heightened due to current events. On Wednesday, we focused on Civic Culture - Architecture and Drama. After viewing a video on the Parthenon, we debated the pros and cons of public funds for sports stadiums and the importance of funding public broadcasting.
classical Physics
Over the first three weeks of the session, learners have had a taste of the fun and frustration of real-world physics. We've studied matter and energy, including motion and how far and how fast energy and forces will make an object move. Rebels took their time this week to slow down and predict, experiment, observe, record, and calculate the forces on objects and what happens to direction and speed when forces are applied. Using what they learned, they competed to see if they could predict where a ball would land when dropped down a ramp, across a horizontal surface, and off a cliff, with the height of the ramp, the surface, and the cliff being uncertain until right before the competition. Over the course of the week, Launchpad Rebels were asked to record up to 20 experiments at different heights of the table and the ramp, as well as with varying sizes of balls and masses. Learners were also tasked with backing their predictions with the help of known equations and utilizing their knowledge of Newton's Laws, kinematic formulas, conservation of energy, velocity, acceleration, friction, and potential vs. rotational kinetic energy. On Friday, they held their exciting competition 45 minutes after the final h1 and h2 measurements were released! Incredible persistence, Rebels!
French
We played another Murder Mystery game this week entitled, «Qui a tué monsieur Green?» (Who killed Mr. Green?) The Rebels had to know their character and be able to answer the questions: How do you know this person? What's your family connection to him? etc. For the grammar component, we studied the hyphen and how it changes the meaning of words such as rendez-vous, arc-en-ciel, rond-point, and more!
Creative Writing
This week, we began our study of writing for theatre. On Monday, learners read short excerpts of various plays out loud together as a group. The excerpts represented many different styles and movements over the history of theatre, and after each example, we discussed our thoughts and opinions. We discussed the purpose of theatre and what makes writing for the stage different from spoken word, performance art, or a Ted Talk. Our guest instructor then provided some general guidelines for theatrical writing, and learners began to outline their pieces. On Wednesday, alone or in groups of two or three, Rebels brainstormed themes and ideas for their micro-play. They drafted one or more characters, their point of view or narrative voice, the setting, conflict and outcome of their plot. They also brainstormed preliminary ideas about the performance space, costumes, lighting, set, and props to help bring their story to life. Lastly, on Thursday, learners created a first draft of their 2-page micro-play using their notes from their research lab.
Potential Discussion Ideas or Questions to Ask Your Rebel:
Spark
Can you and your family predict the weather for the weekend?
Could you practice being a meteorologist and giving a weather report?
Can you sing the province song?
French: How do you say storm in French? (Orage)
Discovery
Reader Writer: What type of conflict will your character go through/overcome in the story you're writing?
Quest: Tell me about your Edible Slime Brand. What is the inspiration behind your logo? What will the packaging look like? Do you have a slogan? What's going to make your slime special?
Math Lab: What is the difference between formal and informal words that a mathematician uses?
French: How do you say peace and poppy in French? (paix, coquelicot)
Exploration
Like gunpowder, penicillin was also an accidental discovery. Which of the two has impacted civilization more?
Quest: did you choose to work solo or with other Rebels for your final StoryMap project? What critical issue in Canadian geography are you hoping to learn more about? What is your inquiry question?
Math Lab: How far from Dungeness, Washington, have you been able to travel, and how much of your $5000 limit have you charged to your credit card?
French: Which word changes meaning in French when you forget the hyphen?
Launchpad
What has been the greatest lesson you've learned from you NGA lessons?
Were you able to predict where to put the cup based on your ball and ramp equations? If not, what do you think may have gone wrong?
What was your theatre script about? Do you feel it is complete, or what would you add given more time?
Should our Government spend large amounts of money on public buildings, including subsidizing sports stadiums?
Do you believe this region is so volatile because of:
the presence of large amounts of oil that the modern world needs;
ancient conflicts between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam; or
the drawing of country borders by Western powers long ago?
Dates of Interest
Session 2 Exhibitions
Spark - Wednesday, November 22nd, 4:15 - 5:30 p.m.
Discovery - Tuesday, November 21st, 4:15 - 5:30 p.m.
Exploration - Wednesday, November 22nd, 4:15 - 5:30 p.m.
Launchpad - Tuesday, November 21st, 4:15 - 5:30 p.m.
Yearbook Cover Contest deadline to submit Rebel artwork - Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023
Sessional Break - Thursday, November 23rd and Friday, November 24th