Revel Recap: February 27 - March 3, 2023
Spark Studio
Mindfulness
Our minds and bodies were recharged and ready to connect in the studio on Monday. We shared our memories from our session break, where many Sparks spent time in the sun, at indoor waterparks, camp, and at home, having fun! To prepare for our day, the Sparks traced their hands to use their fingers as guidelines for 5 deep breaths. Together we breathed and coloured in our hands. The learners can use this calming activity to recharge throughout the day if needed. On Tuesday, we used
Alphabet Affirmations. Each letter is associated with an adjective, and depending on which letter the Spark's name started with, we used that word. For example, Ms. Kaitlin's affirmation was, "I am kind." Wednesday, the Sparks completed a Tabata workout and a mini-training to the song "Dance Monkey." As we welcomed a few new Sparks into our studio this week, we thought re-reading the book Our Classroom is a Family by Shannon Olsen would be a good idea. This book explains how family can include more people than those who live in your home. Your family can also be the people who make you feel good about yourself, care about you, and respect you. We then focused on our 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding technique. To end the week, we read the story, The Gratitude Jar, by Katrina Liu, followed by filling our own jar with three things they are each grateful for and associated pictures.
Quest
It is the first week of our new session about Games, and our focus was on games we can play in the gym this week. Before we started our journey into the gym, as a community, we spoke about promises we had made for our games to be fun and for our bodies to be safe. The Sparks agreed that everyone needs to stay hydrated, follow directions, wear shoes, and have fun! We played team building, collaboration and strategy games. Each day the Sparks would do a warm-up, including Fox and chicken, Hi, My Name Is, relay races, Traffic Lights and the Letter Game. For our main games, we played Sink the Ship, Shark, Plant vs Animal, and the games the Sparks created. The Sparks broke up into three groups, and let me tell you, their games were so fun! What great imaginations they have!
French
On Tuesday, we watched a video of "French class with Martin" to learn our fruits in French. We read "La licorne qui n'aimait pas les paillettes" together, a story about Vivianne, the unicorn who learns to manage her emotions, allowing us to review our feeling terminology in French. On Thursday, we did some colouring to learn about our vegetables while requesting the crayon colours they needed and working on their manners with s'il-vous-plaît and merci in French. Lastly, on Friday, we read the book "Tu peux" by Élise Gravel to review our vocabulary related to qualities (like generous, brave, kind, silly, etc.).
Art
Wednesday's art session began with a conversation about what an artist is to the Sparks. Everyone agreed that everyone is an artist in their own way and that art is not only drawing, painting, and colouring; art can also be music and literature. We read the story I am an Artist, by Marta Altes, followed by painting with cups as our tool. The Sparks used a variety of cup sizes to create a unique picture of their own. Many Sparks enjoyed it so much that they wanted to make more!
Geography
The Sparks stamped their passports once again! This time they boarded their flight to Australia. With the snowy weather here, the learners decided it would be a good idea to return to the sunshine! They enjoyed a virtual trip to the Great Barrier Reef, which stretches 2,300 kilometres down the eastern coast of Australia. Everyone then drew the flag of Australia, wrote something interesting they learned, and drew a picture of what they saw.
Additional Highlights
It's wonderful to have everyone back inside the Revel community. This week was full of laughter, games, quality time with one another, and spreading kindness. The Sparks took this week to explore working with other learners in pairs, in groups, and individually. Everyone played sight word bingo as a group, and the guides loved observing the Sparks helping one another read. The guides also paired up the Sparks and had them read a story to each other during Reading Buddies. As we spent lots of time moving our bodies, we spent Friday morning making our famous energy balls in the kitchen. This week's show and tell was one for the memory bank, or should we say it brought the guides back to their youth. Aqua and The Backstreet Boys CDs appeared, and everyone had so much fun dancing with the disco lights, adding to the ambience.
During this week's closings, we have been working on the March Mammal bracket. We shall see if our top pick makes it to the final!
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
Welcome back, Rebels! On Mantra Monday, the Rebels mapped out a "string of pearls." Each pearl in their flow diagram represented one action they would take this week. Some of the actions they shared were finishing a novel, practicing a skill like Irish dancing, or prioritizing sleep and getting back into their routine. After sharing their planned actions, we discussed the mantra, "There is a speck in every pearl." Not every action taken will work out perfectly, but it can still be beautiful. For Talk-It-Out Tuesday, we took a mindful trip through the Argentinian Wetlands to observe and listen to animals and how they interact with their environment. We discussed some of the peaceful sounds of the wetlands and which creatures we saw. On Wonder Wednesday, we played a name game to help our newest studio mates feel more familiar with all of the friendly faces around them. On Thursday, we journaled about things in our life that we are thankful for and things that we are hoping to manifest. For Feel Good Friday, the Rebels played their most excellent round of the Boomwhackers chords warm-up and then had fun playing a stomping version of Wellerman.
Launches
On Monday, Rebels jumped into Session 5 with some housekeeping items such as creating a new "Flow of Fantastic Fun Friday" Pyramid, checking in on their new updated goals for this session, and reviewing leadership roles within the studio. Tuesday, Rebels kicked off the introduction to March Mammal Madness! Wednesday morning, the Rebels bravely and openly shared their thoughts and experiences about anxiety. Many noted how it could manifest in their minds and bodies, and we are so proud of how well these young heroes are able to not only discuss but also share coping strategies. Thursday's Launch, we welcomed a visiting learner for their Exploration Day, and the Rebels took time to share what they thought was the #1 piece of advice they had or something about Revel they wish they knew sooner. Friday's Current Events featured a discussion on the recent ruling by the Supreme Court on the use of the Emergencies Act last year. Rebels practiced stating their opinions on this issue and then got to watch a preview of a Rebel-made Disney Short!
Math Lab
As the Rebels learn about musical theatre, they are also preparing to manage their own theatre production in Session 6. Session 5 Math Lab is, therefore, all about time and money! Rebels tried a new station rotation this week, with each small group switching between independent work, team time, and a mini-guided workshop. The two key tasks were telling analog time (to the nearest half-hour, quarter-hour and minute increments) and solving elapsed time word problems. While the Rebels were at the guided workshop, they practiced using an open number line to model and check their solutions to problems with missing end times, missing start times, and determining the elapsed time between two points.
Reader/Writer
Session 5 Reader Writer started with a great discussion about adapting stories to screenplays. We examined the formatting of a screenplay and how dialogue, setting, plot, and scenes evolve throughout the script. Rebels participated in their first Table Reading of a scene from "Toy Story," selecting roles, and many even used different voices to play different characters! For our writing component this week, we introduced Word Clines - a tool to rank various synonyms and antonyms of adjectives to help us elevate our descriptive writing skills. Rebels examined a variety of words that described a character's speed and ranked them from "generic" or "baseline" terms to "most interesting" or "best descriptor." Word Clines will be a tool Rebels can utilize as they create their own screenplays and begin the descriptive writing process for their storylines and settings in upcoming weeks.
Civilizations
Welcome to the "bottom of the world," Rebels! This week's story was about Australia and New Zealand in the Middle Ages. Rebels heard about the fishing traditions and diet of a young Australian boy living with his family in a clan. Additionally, they learned about the Maori and how they likely discovered New Zealand on a long journey from the Polynesian islands.
French
This week we utilized a series of Kahoots to review what we have learned in French this year, including numbers, months, days of the week, and weather. We also introduced a new French participation badge. In each French class, Rebels receive a flag, and to keep their flag, they must participate in all activities without distracting others or doing other activities. Once they accumulate 15 flags, they get a participation badge!
Quest
Our Musical Theatre Quest was warmly received by the Rebels this week! After an introduction to the various avenues one can take through musical theatre in our Quest Map for this session, Rebels explored Musical Theatre Bingo! Musical Theatre Bingo will be a resource used throughout the next six weeks where each week, Rebels can select an activity of their choice from the BINGO chart that allows them to dive into an element of theatre. This week we had Rebels recreating scenes from their favourite Disney movies, writing screenplays, designing cloaks for a new Hogwarts House, creating a cast of characters for a new Star Wars movie, doing voice-overs on videos, and designing a movie set using Lego! Wow! As part of our introductory week, Rebels joined forces in small groups to tackle Musical Theatre History from 5 different eras: Ancient Greek Theatre, Medieval Times Theatre, Renaissance Theatre, Opera, and Broadway/Cabaret in the 1900s. Each group researched and collected images, costumes, videos, sounds, posters, and examples of architecture (what theatres looked like from that period) as they put together a presentation for the rest of the studio. Next week we will do our Musical Theatre History presentations and critique "Shrek: The Musical" as our Mentor Musical for week 2.
Physical Development
The Rebels are engaging in HPE - HEALTH and physical education this session! Rebels can earn a Learn-To-Be badge at the end of the session if they demonstrate healthy, active participation every Monday through object exploration and each Wednesday by learning about and developing an activity to target their chosen body part/system for the other Rebels. Rebels used juggling scarves this Monday and worked in small teams to create movement sequences to music. Wednesday, they gathered with their squads and explored five body parts/systems before choosing one they will investigate more deeply in the coming weeks.
Additional Highlights
Disney's Aladdin has been adapted for the stage at the NAC while we are studying Musical Theatre this Session! Unfortunately, there aren't any matinee times available during the week for us to go as a field trip, so I wanted to share the site in case any families wanted to take their Rebels to check it out while it's in town!
Rebels requested a list of family-friendly musicals they could watch at home during this session to help deepen their knowledge of theatre! Some examples we referenced this week include:
The Greatest Showman (available on Disney+)
Into the Woods (Disney+)
Sing (Netflix)
Trolls (Netflix)
Many Disney movies would fall under the Musical genre; Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Frozen, Encanto, etc.
On Thursday, Discovery presented their federal government debate from the last session to the Exploration Studio to help kick off their study of the Canadian Government. Discovery re-enacted their Revel House of Commons setup, parliamentary roles and procedures and then debated Bill C-39: An act to limit the use of motor vehicles in Canada. A great media scrum at the end of the debate questioned the Discovery Rebel MPs on some of their arguments, like the suggestion to use carbon capture. Thank you for hosting us, Exploration!
Exploration Studio
Mindfulness
We began Session 5 with a round of Gratitude Conversation cards. Each learner chose a card and shared their answers with the group regarding their favourite memories and special people in their life. Tuesday's yoga flow focused on neck and spine health, moving through gentle twists, shoulder rotations, bridge pose and rock n' roll. Rebels took part in their first Watercolour Wednesday this week as we learned different painting techniques including wash, value, and using rubbing alcohol for a cool effect! Thursday, learners participated in a yoga session with Jenna and on Friday, Rebels had the choice to work on their cursive or create more watercolour art!
Launches
As we entered a new session, we spoke about our Big Rock goals, added our session badges to Journey Tracker, voted for council, and discussed our upcoming Mentor Meeting expectations. On Tuesday, we reviewed the purpose of 360s in our community and how to write thoughtful, helpful feedback that would help our studio to improve. Being part of a community comes with different responsibilities or things you are expected to do, like respecting others and following the rules. It also gives you rights or things you are allowed to do. After defining rights and responsibilities and brainstorming examples of both, Rebels played a Parliamentary game where they divided the rights and responsibilities of Canadian citizens. On Friday, our Current Events team presented on the coati, the Greek train crash, MLB Spring Training, the NHL Trade Deadline, and of course, ended with some hilarious "Live from Snacktime" quotes.
Math Lab
This week, the Rebels completed a Three Act Math Task entitled "Salting the Driveway"! In Act 1, they watched a short clip of a Canadian using salt to de-ice a portion of their driveway. The Rebels then shared things that they noticed or wondered about the video, such as where it was, how big their houses were, if the salt was pet-safe and how the person was scooping the salt. Eventually, and with everyone engaged, we arrived at the challenge question: what fraction of salt would be needed to salt the entire driveway? We also thought about what information was missing that they would need to solve the problem precisely, like how many and what units the salt bag is. In Act 2, Rebels met with small teams to develop a solution and use a combination of tools, drawings and abstract expressions to represent their thinking (aka a brain crossing). For the third and final act, we met as a congress to watch the reveal video, compare our solutions to the real-life solution, and consolidate on the concept of partitive division and the procedure for dividing fractions.
Reader/Writer
Session 5 Reader/Writer is all about Lab Reports! Exploration Rebels began their first lab on ocean acidification and its potential effects on marine life with the help of shells. Rebels explored and discussed elements of the Scientific Method, such as creating a hypothesis (how to incorporate "if"... "when" statements when writing them) and began executing their first lab experiment. Rebels set three shells in three different types of water (freshwater, saltwater, and saltwater with vinegar). This session, Exploration Reader/Writer workshops, will be split into two parts. On Mondays, Rebels will begin a new experiment and lab report every week. After giving the experiment time to process for a few days, Rebels will meet for Part 2 on Friday mornings. Rebels follow up with their experiments and finalize their lab reports' Procedure, Observations, Conclusions and Reflection portions before submitting for feedback. Next week, we'll take a "deep dive" into the Abyssopelagic Ocean Zone!
Civilizations - Canadian Government
As we learn about our nation's form of government, we called on the Discovery Studio to help us out! Our younger learners presented their Exhibition piece on how a bill gets passed in the federal government. They did a fantastic job, and the Exploration Studio learned so much from their explanations of roles and procedures! Thank you, Discovery!
French
This week we played «Loup-Garou» (Werewolf), a game the Rebels love to play while also working on their French conversation and debate skills.
We also finalized our cooking videos and started working on and practicing vocabulary for our new workshop, "The Restaurant!" As the name suggests, Rebels will create a restaurant, including the menu, run the kitchen, and practice the conversational elements of ordering food.
The Rebels also voted to have a French reading badge. Learners will have a choice of reading material based on their French level and will answer reading comprehension and vocabulary questions each week based on their chosen novel.
Quest
Welcome to the World of Water! We began our session brainstorming what we already know about water and what we want to spend our time on during the next six weeks! We also reviewed the badge requirements and the Science Fair Exhibition plan for the session to ensure that all learners understand the expectations and where we are headed. It was then time to dive into the properties of water. We reviewed and learned about states of matter, cohesion, adhesion, surface tension, and polarity with the help of guided notes.
On Tuesday, we reviewed the properties of water with a highly competitive Kahoot! We then went over lab safety and how to correctly measure using graduated cylinders and beakers before completing an electrolysis experiment! The Rebels loved observing the water molecules split into hydrogen and oxygen with the help of an electrolyte solution and a 9V battery.
The Rebels worked their way through a series of stations on Wednesday. They made visual water cycles, used the Montessori land and water forms to identify the features on the map, read an article on water tables and created their own watersheds.
We ended our week with a social justice water filtration activity! Groups were appointed a country and given varying amounts of money based on the country's GDP and a percentage of understandable instructions to represent literacy rates. The goal was to have the most drinkable water by the end of the session. Naturally, the countries with the most money had the most straightforward task, which frustrated the developing nations. Our debrief was powerful as we discussed the fairness of the task, how those with more resources had time for core skills (education) and art (hobbies/downtime) than those who needed the full time to get even a fraction of cleaner water and how important collaboration and cooperation were to be more successful with this challenge. Way to go, Rebels!
Additional Highlights
March Mammal Madness has begun! After an introduction, we took time to learn about the contenders as we filled in our brackets. We can't wait for the competition to get started on March 13th!
This week we finished our third read-aloud of the year, It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers)! We learned much about apartheid, South Africa, and how humour can help heal from trauma. We're looking forward to picking our next read-aloud next week.
Launchpad
Core Skills
Deep Books, Math, writing and more, this week the Rebels dove back into their independent core skills after reviewing their long and short-term goals.
Elective
Each learner has been given time during the week to work on Passion Projects. One learner has chosen to complete the powerful Embracing Life and Facing Death communication badge, while the other is exploring wood carving and carpentry! We also took time to explore watercolour painting. We are excited to see the progression over the next six weeks!
Tale of Two Cities
We began our study of Dicken's novel, Tale of Two Cities, this week. We read the first six chapters and met to discuss the plot and characters while analyzing the symbols and themes. Rebels were also introduced to the essay format and potential topics they will use to write a piece by the end of the session. While Dicken's writing style differs from what our learners are used to, they find it easier to comprehend every chapter!
Civilizations - Canadian Government
As we learn about our nation's form of government, we called on the Discovery Studio to help us out! Our younger learners presented their Exhibition piece on how a bill gets passed in the federal government. They did a fantastic job, and we learned so much from their explanations of roles and procedures! Thank you, Discovery!
Quest
Welcome to the World of Water! We began our session brainstorming what we already know about water and what we want to spend our time on during the next six weeks! We also reviewed the badge requirements and the Science Fair Exhibition plan for the session to ensure that all learners understand the expectations and where we are headed. It was then time to dive into the properties of water. We reviewed and learned about states of matter, cohesion, adhesion, surface tension, and polarity with the help of guided notes.
On Tuesday, we reviewed the properties of water with a highly competitive Kahoot! We then went over lab safety and how to correctly measure using graduated cylinders and beakers before completing an electrolysis experiment! The Rebels loved observing the water molecules split into hydrogen and oxygen with the help of an electrolyte solution and a 9V battery.
The Rebels worked their way through a series of stations on Wednesday. They made visual water cycles, used the Montessori land and water forms to identify the features on the map, read an article on water tables and created their own watersheds.
We ended our week with a social justice water filtration activity! Groups were appointed a country and given varying amounts of money based on the country's GDP and a percentage of understandable instructions to represent literacy rates. The goal was to have the most drinkable water by the end of the session. Naturally, the countries with the most money had the most straightforward task, which frustrated the developing nations. Our debrief was powerful as we discussed the fairness of the task, how those with more resources had time for core skills (education) and art (hobbies/downtime) than those who needed the full time to get even a fraction of cleaner water and how important collaboration and cooperation were to be more successful with this challenge. Way to go, Rebels!
Spanish and French
This week, in Spanish, our learners worked on feelings vocabulary, grammar phrases with tener, poner and a review of ser. vs. estar. We also focused on learning more about the culture of Chile.
In French, we finished our news article "Reinventing Gender" and completed a series of diction exercises!
Additional Highlights
On Friday, Launchpad Rebels had a delicious brunch at Mazarine Restaurant before heading a couple of doors down to Highjinx. We gifted a bag full of Giving Gerties for distribution and asked about volunteer opportunities moving forward. It was an awesome afternoon!
Potential Discussion Ideas or Questions to Ask your Rebel:
Spark
Which game in the gym was your favourite?
What is the hardest part about playing a new game?
French: What is your favourite fruit? What is your favourite vegetable? Do you know how to say it in French?
Discovery
Can you tell me something you learned from the period of Musical Theatre history you focused on this week?
What element(s) of theatre are you most interested in?
What happens to a story when it gets adapted (changed) to a screenplay?
Whenever there is an analog clock, practice telling the time!
If there is an activity on the weekend, even a drive from place to place, practice determining the elapsed time!
French: What is today's date in French? Can you tell me your birthday in French?
Exploration
Reader/Writer: Was your hypothesis correct for the Ocean Acidification lab?
Math Lab: does division with fractions put you into your comfort, challenge, or panic zone?
Quest: Which activity during Quest do you feel you learned from the most; directed presentation with guided notes, experimentation, stations, or the simulation?
French: Are you going to do the reading badge in French?
Launchpad
Ideally, how would you use your time at Highjinx?
Tell me about the Passion Project you chose for this session!
French: What did you learn from reading «Réinventer le genre» (The Reinvention of Gender)? What vocabulary words did you learn in this article?
Dates of Interest
Monday, March 13th - March Mammal Madness brackets are due in the morning!
Tuesday, March 14th - Pi Day!
Thursday, March 16th - Exploration and Launchpad Field Trip to Senate and the House of Commons
Friday, March 17th - Leprechaun Traps - Please continue to share your recyclables!
Monday, March 20th - Reefs Alive workshop with the Smithsonian for Exploration and Launchpad
Friday, March 24th - Exploration and Launchpad Field Trip to the Canadian Museum of Nature
Thursday, March 30th - Proulx Farm MapleFest Field Trip for Spark & Discovery Studios
Session 5 Exhibitions
Tuesday, April 4th - Discovery Exhibition
Wednesday, April 5th - Spark Exhibition
Thursday, April 6th - Exploration and Launchpad Exhibition