Revel Recap: June 26 - June 30, 2023
Spark Studio
Mindfulness
After recapping our weekend, we explored a mindful activity to help us develop our habit of thankfulness. We spoke with the Sparks about times when they were disappointed and how it made them feel. We then asked them to share three good things in their lives. The point of this game is to help us remember that we can feel two things at once. We can be sad, hurt or disappointed by challenges while still being grateful for the good things. This gratitude game can be played together as a family at dinner or before bedtime.
On Tuesday, we prepared for our field trip by talking about bus safety and on Wednesday, we got our heart rates up and our bodies moving with an upbeat workout. As we dream of summer days on the beach, we completed a directed drawing of a sandcastle on Thursday. Friday ended with another Spark-led mindfulness activity. The learners led a yoga workout, using the yoga spinner game as a reference. It was great to see their leadership skills and confidence leading the group!
Quest
Together with our Discovery Studio groups, we played a fun and informative round of Jeopardy. The Rebels were challenged to answer water, food, shelter, safety and survival tips questions. Each team demonstrated how much survival knowledge they had learned in this session. Bravo, Rebels!
On Tuesday, we set off for an outdoor adventure at Baxter Conservation Area. We arrived at the Interpretive Centre, where the Sparks were amazed by all the local wildlife showcased and the informative displays. We began with an activity where they had to pack a survival kit, debating their top three picks with their groups. Next, we headed outside to start making shelters. They were given sticks, ropes, tarps, and any other natural materials they could gather. The groups all showed incredible teamwork and made some really amazing shelters. Many of them even passed the water test! We then learned all about making a fire using natural materials. It was such an incredible experience!
On Wednesday, the Sparks were given a natural disaster scenario and had to use material from the studio to create a shelter to protect themselves and their teams. They were given ten minutes to design their masterpiece before physically building it. The guides then went around to each shelter and pretended a big gust of wind came by and demolished their shelter. The Sparks had to figure out how such a thing could occur, communicate, and craft a new solution. At the end of Quest, the Sparks made forts and played many dramatic games together.
We ended our week with the Ultimate Survivor Challenge. Each team had to complete the water cycle puzzle and label a diagram to show their understanding. Next, they raced outside to the trees, where they needed to use their knot-tying skills to put a bear bag in a tree. Their final activity was to run through a first aid scenario and tell a guide how they would help in the situation they were given. We celebrated the last Quest session of the year together with a freezie. There has been so much learning and growth, and we are incredibly proud of the Rebels' hard work!
Art
With the warmer weather, most of us agreed that we would love a scoop of ice cream! The Sparks shared their favourite ice cream flavours and discussed how many scoops they would give themselves if they had all the ice cream in the world. We then created ice cream cones using sponges and paint. Some of the learners even added cherries on top. Everyone's artwork looked delicious!
French
This week we've been revisiting animals in French. On Wednesday, in addition to our usual number and colour games, we played the Animal Charade game in the gym. On Thursday, we drew animals and enjoyed our time practicing our French vocabulary.
Storytelling Workshop
This week's storytelling workshop was full of costumes, smiles, and pictures. The learners were incredibly excited when a big bin of dress-up clothing was brought out for our workshop. Before they started their dramatic stories about how they would want to celebrate Canada Day, we sang, "O Canada!"
Geography
For geography this week, the Sparks made their own globes with the continents using clay. They used their fingers to trace the continents to help design their clay. Some learners even used the puzzle pieces as "cookie cutters" to create the shape. After the summer holidays, we will continue to practise our continents and learn about the animals from each region and their climates!
Additional Highlights
This week the Sparks took part in a fun writing workshop. They were asked to write about what they think their guides should do over the summer holidays. They illustrated a picture, wrote down their answers and presented it to the group. We heard some really interesting ideas that we hope to incorporate into our summer plans!
We did lots of water colouring and sponge painting to build stronger fine motor skills. The learners also enjoyed many Perler bead activities, designing bears, hearts, and wheelbarrows!
With summer approaching, we shared the story The Worrysaurus by Rachel Bright. As many learners will be venturing off to camps, many new opportunities will exist. This story explains that we might feel like we have a butterfly in our bellies. There are ways to soothe our anxious butterflies, chase our fears away, and find peace and happiness in the moment. The guides are excited to hear about the Sparks' summer adventures in September!
To end the week, we planted the rest of our wildflowers in our garden and shared show-and-tell toys.
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
Mantra Monday was all about GRIT. The Rebels discussed the acronym representing guts, resilience, initiative, and tenacity, exploring these new words and thinking of examples of what this looks like in the last two weeks of school. Rebels related this to completing long-term goals and taking responsibility for themselves as much as possible. Tuesday, the Rebels listened to music and chose their favourite mindful activity. They have come to make wonderful choices at this time of day based on how they feel in the morning! For Wonder Wednesday, we watched a learn to draw landscapes video and Rebels could either follow along or draw their own imagined landscape. Thursday, Rebels journaled about their gratitude for special items that belong to them, which led us into a Launch linking to one of our school Guardrails, "Keeping Revel Sacred." Friday's Boomwhackers Session was the best yet - Rebels are gaining a sense of rhythm together as a team!
Launches
To kick off the penultimate week of the school year, Rebels met to reflect on last week's headphones experiment, where the guides were "offline" each day except for launches and workshops. We discussed what went well and identified strategies to help the Rebels step further into leadership roles and run the studio as the experiment continues. Tuesday's Launch was a "Lost at Sea" simulation where Rebels ranked fifteen items from a shipwreck based on importance for their survival. From things like a shaving mirror to rope to a floating sea cushion, Rebels earned a score in relation to the expert ranking of the US Coast Guard. Wednesday's squad check-ins had the Rebels thinking about how to boost their Rebel Buck balance as much as possible, namely, through cashing in JT points for hard work in Core Skills and demonstrating civility in the studios. Thursday's Launch had Rebels focusing on one of our Guardrails, "Keeping Revel Sacred," as they reflected on questions about their favourite belongings and how to protect and keep our things safe when we bring things in from home that mean a lot to us. Friday's Current Events focused on a CBC Kids News Canada Day quiz!
French
This week, we played a game of Loup-Garou, a popular mystery game that encourages French discussion. For our French workshop, we finished building our flower boxes and began decorating them!
Math Lab
Rebels had the opportunity this week to work through any unfinished lab questions from the session. Though each week had a different three-act task narrative, all the lab questions related to developing multiplicative reasoning. Rebels continued their practice of modelling groups of numbers visually in arrays with concrete tools or hand-drawn representations and worked towards using numbers and symbols to more abstractly capture the scenarios as equations. They submitted their badge and then worked on multiplication task cards when complete!
Reader/Writer
Rebels opted for a full Reader/Writer workshop dedicated to working on and completing their Survival Handbooks. Focusing on elevating their good copies using their best writing skills, Rebels broke off into their groups to work on their final writing project of the school year. Early finishers were able to put their creative writing skills to the test with several "survival writing prompts" from our "Rebel Buck Writing" binder. Full of writing prompts geared towards various writing genres, all focusing on survival tactics. Using their creativity and knowledge from Quest, we had several remarkable stories written over the week and look forward to sharing them with you at our year-end celebration next week.
Civilizations
As the grand opening of our Middle Ages Museum approaches next week, the Rebels were in crunch mode to ensure their displays had all of the requirements set out from the start: a timeline of important events related to their civilization, maps, Socratic style questions for their audience, as well as their preferred art, artifacts, and additional relevant facts.
Quest
As we entered the final week of our last Quest of the school year, the theme was SURVIVAL. This brings together learning from all previous challenges: the importance of potable water, nutritious food, secure shelter, and safety. On Monday, our five teams met to compete in a Jeopardy-style game to showcase their knowledge across all themes and possibly gain one final advantage before Thursday's last Survivor game. On Tuesday, we went off-site to Baxter Conservation Area to engage in an Outdoor Survival Skills course. Rebels truly got to put their skills to the test! They warmed up with a short task prioritizing gear for a survival scenario and sharing their reasoning for three items. Next, they built shelters in situ with tarps, rope, logs, sticks, branches and anything else they could gather and - our field guide tested it by pouring water on top of the tarp! She also taught us the acronym SWISS - to consider size, weather, insulation, safety, and the site when making shelter in the wild. Lastly, we also got to build (but not ignite) fires, focusing on fuel, oxygen and heat. Wednesday, the Rebels had time to complete any outstanding challenges to earn their Quest badge and many elected to work ahead on their safety choice board tasks from last week. Lastly, on Thursday, Spark and Discovery Rebel teams met one final time for the Ultimate Survivor Challenge! They had to complete the water cycle puzzles from week one and successfully label a water cycle diagram. After this, they moved outside to the trees, where they had to rig an effective bear bag using their knot-tying skills. For the last leg of the game, they role-played one last first-aid scenario, and when done, they celebrated finishing their Quest with a freezie!
Physical Development
On Monday, Rebels stayed indoors due to air quality, but they played various games in the gym with Ms. Kaitlin! On Wednesday, Discovery and Exploration Rebels had an incredible workshop led by Ottawa's very own Alex Mateas, former CFL Champion and youth coach! Alex runs a series of youth workshops in Ottawa and has started a school and weekend program for children of all ages (check out his website for more information if your Rebel is interested in learning more with Alex!). It was so much fun having him back to work with the Rebels on activities that combine mental and physical health with a focus on leadership skills.
We look forward to having him back for more exciting PE enrichment in the 2023-2024 school year! Thank you, Alex!
Additional Highlights
We were so lucky to be able to proceed with our field trip to Baxter Conservation Area with the Sparks. As the air quality was back to safe levels and the rain held off just long enough, we met our field guide Amy who led fantastic discussions and activities in an authentic wilderness setting. Baxter is a beautiful location - the indoor interpretive centre is full of engaging displays of local wildlife, and the outdoor grounds showcase a variety of environments in relatively close proximity from pond to forest to open meadow!
Exploration Studio
Mindfulness and Launch
We began our week with a series of Rebus puzzles to help activate our brains for the last Monday of the school year. We then watched this intriguing Quirkology video, shared in 2012 by psychologist, author, and magician Richard Wiseman. He says he can predict the image you are on after a series of moves. Check it out! Rebels then discussed how the trick works and how it comes down to counting, especially utilizing even and odd numbers. Tuesday's yoga flow featured a breathing warm-up, side body stretches, reclined twists and short relaxation meditation. Since so many of our learners are interested in sports and engineering, we watched a Mark Rober video on creating a wiffle ball that is impossible to hit! On Wednesday, we used our Mindfulness and Launch sessions to continue our novel, They Both Die at the End, to finish it before summer vacation. Thursday's "Stillness Challenge" was the most successful one to date, with the Rebels meditating for a full 15 minutes focusing on relaxation and restoration. Learners then returned to the studio to create a list of what they needed to accomplish in the remaining six days of school and prioritize accordingly. Were they working toward a specific core skill badge, or was the Civilization slideshow at the top of their list? We ended our week with Free Choice Friday in Mindfulness and our last Rebel-led Current Events presentation of the year.
Math Lab
Rebels worked hard during lab this week, with many putting the finishing touches on their Final Act project. Several Rebels did a dry run of slideshow products, asking for feedback about providing more detailed examples and ensuring their work answers their essential questions outlined at the onset of the session. Toward the end of the lab, we had one team ready to present! They taught us the critical parts of three different patterns and how they develop standard equations. One Rebel explained linear growth, another focused on exponential growth, and the third team member presented parabolas. Next week, some Rebels will be filling in skills needed to graph these equations, like operations with integers or algebraically expressing everyday scenarios. We look forward to seeing the rest of the products next week!
Reader/Writer
This week in Reader Writer, our Escape Room focused on elements of Reading Comprehension. The Rebels dissected four new stations this week from text structures in fictional excerpts, summarising with key information, analyzing vocabulary in poetry, and critically thinking about cited sources for non-fiction pieces! There was even a bonus non-fiction "Master Key" challenge focusing on true or false statements in retelling a National Geographic article on the Animal Kingdom. The Rebels worked incredibly hard to unlock their rooms, and many of our learners succeeded under tight time constraints! Next week in our sixth and final Literacy Escape Room for the year, we will work with transition words in various sentence structures, such as compound sentences and phrases.
Quest
Quest Takeovers were a blast this week! Special thank you to all of the Rebels who ran workshops this week - they were engaging, dynamic and received a lot of positive feedback from the team. On Monday, we had two options, with facilitators for sticker making in our Maker Space and ball hockey in the gym. Tuesday's workshops allowed Rebels to participate in a soccer tutorial in the field or jewellery making to get our creative juices flowing. Wednesday was a workshop focused on gaming concepts as the Rebels tested out a video game selected by the facilitators and offered feedback about the game. In our final week of Quest Takeovers, we have an advertising and marketing workshop, followed by a special geography workshop!
Apprenticeship
One of the most valuable parts of any apprenticeship is keeping track of the people you meet and what you learn from each person. Rebels viewed an example of a log and made a copy to use when they begin their apprenticeships. We then reviewed the conditions for a successful apprenticeship badge, such as thank you cards, requesting an evaluation and recommendation, and their final reflection. We can't wait to hear from those who secured a position this fall!
Civilizations - Rules without Rulers
We are so close to finishing out Rules without Rulers for this year! It has been a profound journey, and it's fantastic to see how their pitches for their countries and government system are shaping up! This week Rebels took time to fine-tune their presentations to attract the most "future citizens" next week.
French
This week, we listened to videos about Tintin and Hergé and answered comprehension questions. The Rebels have really improved throughout the year! We also discussed what we'd like to learn in French next school year, the types of activities we enjoyed and those we didn't.
Additional Highlights
Our learners participated in a special enriched PE session with CFL Champion and youth coach Alex Mateas! The Exploration Rebels took on leadership roles as they worked with Discovery Rebels through a series of mindful movements and team relay races. It was great to work with Alex again, and we're excited to spend more time with him in the 2023-24 school year!
Launchpad
As the year winds down, Launchpad Rebels took time to catalogue their accomplishments, submit their work for credits, and reflect on their goals for next year.
Othello
This week Launchpad learners completed their final projects for their study of Shakespeare's Othello. One learner wrote an essay entitled "Emilia: Foil or Feminist Force?" while another rewrote one scene using modern language and situations. Bravo, Rebels!
Rules without Rulers
We are so close to finishing out Rules without Rulers for this year! It has been a profound journey, and it's fantastic to see how their pitches for their countries and government system are shaping up! This week Rebels took time to fine-tune their presentations to attract the most "future citizens" next week. The Launchpad Rebels created a persuasive pitch and wrote an in-depth explanation of how their government functions and a Constitution for their country!
Modern Art History
Suppose you want to show off your technical skills in the most competitive and precise modern art movements. In that case, you should try your hand at hyperrealism, a style of art characterized by extremely naturalistic images. By creating images that are so mind-boggling realistic, it makes the subject essentially impossible to ignore, and some hyperrealists have used this style to create strong images of abuse, poverty, or violence with a political message by forcing people to look at things they often ignore. On Monday, learners completed some research on various artists and their points of view. Rebels took part in a Socratic discussion regarding the style, then discussed hyperrealism's value and their thoughts on Close, Bernardi, and Pedro Campos.
When you think of "modern art," what comes to mind? Geometric shapes or splatter paintings? Abstract sculptures or futuristic scenes? While modern art forms include many of these things, they do not capture nor describe the profound works of artist Chuck Close - famous for his unique spin on photography and portraiture and one of the biggest names in the hyperrealism movement. Rebels read about Close's background, grid technique, and artwork and then looked at another world-renowned hyperrealist artist in Guatemala named Chrispapita (Christian Escobar). After reviewing an interview, Rebels browsed Chrispapita's collections and found a piece that speaks to them, writing about what they feel it means and how it makes them feel.
The rest of the week was spent preparing a final art piece for display at next week's celebration. Learners will need to present their work and write a cedula complete with the art style the piece represents, the importance of the art movement, its impact on history, famous artists, and what meaning it has for you on their journey. We can't wait to see what our learners come up with!
Additional Highlights
To celebrate an incredible year and spend one last meal together before a learner left for art camp, Launchpad ventured to Sansotei for ramen. It was a delicious meal, full of laughter, sharing of stories and gratitude. These remarkable teens are already changing the world for the better, and we can't wait to see what they accomplish next year as they welcome a new crew of Launchpad learners!
Potential Discussion Ideas or Questions to Ask Your Rebel:
Spark
Can you share three good things in your life?
What do you think your guides should do over the summer holidays?
What was your favourite part of the field trip to Baxter Conservation Area?
French: What animals can you name in French?
Discovery
Which survival story has been the most interesting one you've listened to in Reader Writer this Session? Why?
If you were lost in the woods, what is the first thing you would do and why? Has your answer changed since week one of your quest?
French: Have you had time to finish your board game in French? What could you do to modify or improve it?
Exploration
What Quest workshop have you enjoyed the most so far this year? Why?
What are your top three priorities for the final week of school?
French: Who is Tintin?
Launchpad
Is hyperrealism the ultimate form of excellence in art, or is it lacking in originality? Why?
Can we, as humans, ever really put vanity aside? Should we? Why or why not?
What pieces are you most proud of from this year?
Dates of Interest
Monday, July 3rd - No School
July 4th - 7th - Spirit Week
Tuesday, July 4th - Rebel Olympics
Wednesday, July 5th (3:00 pm - 5:00 pm) - Full School End of Year Celebration
Thursday, July 6th - Exploration Graduation Ceremony
Friday, July 7th - Summer Birthday Celebration