Revel Recap: September 5 - 8, 2023
Spark Studio
Mindfulness
We had a fantastic first week in the Spark Studio! To start, on Tuesday morning, we went around the circle, introduced ourselves and shared our answers to the question, If we could only have one thing for dinner every night, what would it be? We then worked in teams of two to go around the studio and play a "Find Someone Who" game. Each pair had a sheet to fill in, and they would ask each other questions to find out their interests. For example, if they liked dinosaurs, they would write their name under that box on the paper. It was a great way to start getting to know each other. We got out the yoga mats on Wednesday, and some learners shared their favourite poses with us. We then completed a yoga story sequence led by Coco the Butterfly. Thursday, we enjoyed listening to peaceful music as we coloured pictures, and on Friday, we introduced the idea of gratitude. We read The Grateful Book and talked about things we are thankful for in our own lives. We then continued our reflections by completing a page in our gratitude journals, a practice we will continue every Friday morning.
Quest
The year's first Quest theme is about creating a strong and supportive culture. We enjoyed getting to know one another and sharing about ourselves this week. On Tuesday afternoon, we started with the game "That's Me!" One person would stand in the middle of the circle and share a fact about themselves, and if the other learners also shared that same fact, they would jump into the middle and yell, "That's me!" During this activity, we noticed how many similarities we shared! Next, we read the excellent book Be Who You Are by Todd Parr. This book encourages the readers to be proud of who they are and embrace everything that makes them unique. We started the first entry for our Identity Booklet by drawing a self-portrait.
Wednesday's Quest started with a fun animal sound game. Each Spark was given the name of a farm animal, and they moved around the room, making that animal sound. They would join up together when they found another person making the same animal sound. We also played "1, 2, 3 Look." Next, we read My Heart Fills with Happiness. In the circle, we shared things that make our hearts happy and then filled in a paper heart with everything we love.
Musical chairs was a fun way to start Quest on Thursday! The Sparks have a lot of great dance moves! We then split into two teams, and each group was given three pieces of paper, one pair of scissors and a roll of tape. Working together, they needed to make a paper chain. Both teams tackled the challenge differently, but the chains were very close in length in the end! Great teamwork and communication, Sparks! We then read the book Be Kind, which got us thinking: What does it really mean to be kind? This book explains and gives examples of kindness and how it can change the world. After the story and discussion, we began the next booklet page about all the things we love the most. Using magazines, we found pictures of what we like and created collages. We played a round of "Would You Rather" to get to know each other even more on Friday. The Sparks came up with their own questions to ask each other, too! Our book for Quest on Friday was called The Day You Begin. We then held our annual Spark Fashion Show! The learners enjoyed walking the red carpet and showing us their favourite outfits. It was such a lovely week getting to know each other, and we can't wait for week two!
French
Seeing all the returning Sparks and meeting our new learners was so nice! On Tuesday, we worked on a colouring book to introduce ourselves, and on Wednesday, we read the book The First Day of School by Esther Van Den Berg. We listened to a video on Thursday to review how to sing and pronounce our French alphabet.
Additional Highlights
Our Art Workshop this week was a free exploration. Learners worked with various mediums such as painting, beading, colouring and making puppets! We are so excited to create together this year! We also spent some time in the math area of the studio and learning about some of the materials we will be exploring soon. We counted together and then teamed up to play Bingo. We looked at the globe for our Geography Workshop and located all the continents. We then looked at our continent puzzle map, reviewing the names of each one. After singing our favourite continent song, we began colouring our own map and labelling the continent we live on!
Each day this week, the Sparks also enjoyed Free Exploration time. We saw so many friendships building, cooperation, sharing, and fun! Together, we are also creating systems with the Sparks for the studio. This week, we focused on making our Studio Maintenance chart; next week, we will work on making our Studio Promises. We ended our week with Fun Friday and Character Callouts. It was heartwarming to hear all of the kind messages they had for each other.
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is such an essential start to the day. Over the next several weeks, Rebels will try various mindful activities to learn what makes them feel best at the beginning of the day. On Talk-it-out Tuesday, we reflected on our "3 Stars" from summer in our journals. Rebels who felt like sharing their favourite moments participated in a discussion while others listened or continued journaling. On Wonder Wednesday, the Rebels explored symmetry puzzles with pattern blocks. For Thankful Thursday, the Rebels used bamboo skewers to create scratch designs on rainbow paper while they shared things they were grateful for and manifestations for the day. On Feel-good Friday, the Rebels jammed with Boomwhackers and selected some new tunes to try next week!
Launches
The first launch of the year was designed to CONNECT. The Rebels watched an extraordinary musical marble run created by an Instagram artist named David Scott. The reel we watched uses marbles and carefully positioned xylophone keys to make recognizable tunes like the Minecraft theme. Rebels discussed what would be most important to them if they were making their own musical marble run, with many voting "having fun," others voting "making a recognizable tune," and a couple voting for "make impressive marble movements." Rebels immediately practiced taking a firm stance and supporting their choice with evidence. Wednesday morning, Rebels met with each other for an interview activity to connect one-on-one. Thursday's Rebel-led launch was a fun game where Rebels teamed up as wires, buttons and symbols to work together to diffuse a bomb! Friday's Current Events report featured a So-Cute-I-Cant baby panda and an in-depth discussion on the nationwide heat wave. We also discussed the job opening for a news reporter with the goal of having Rebels take over this weekly role in our studio moving forward.
French
For this first week in French, we discussed expectations and the tools we will use for our core skills and French workshops this year. We also defined our goals for French and learned about the themes of each session. The remaining time was spent playing games to get to know one another.
Math Lab
Welcome to Math Lab, Rebels! In this session we are going deep into the question, "How Many?" Starting with a visual prompt, Rebels worked in small groups to create as many "how many" questions as possible. When we gathered to share their ideas, we also discussed organizing these questions into a string from entry-level to most challenging. For example, how many yellow blocks are there? How many squares are there in total? What is the numerical value of all the red blocks? Over the next few weeks, they will get to make their own "How Many" visual for display at the Exhibition, accompanied by a question string that will reach various audience members. Essentially, the goal of this session is to explore the big idea of quantity. Quantity or the concept of "how muchness" is a precursor to understanding place value, operations, and fractions, and so these amazing Rebel-made visuals will become a foundation for future Math Labs! After sharing their ideas, Rebels used the rest of their lab time to play with all the awesome materials in the studios, and some even started to figure out how they might design their project!
Reader/Writer
Our first Reader/Writer workshop started with a discussion about gratitude, as the first piece of the year we will be working on is writing a Gratitude Letter to someone who inspires us. As a team, we watched "Be a Mr. Jenkins" together and discussed some of the words and phrases Clint used to show praise and gratitude towards a special person in his life who made him feel seen and heard. Draw and Anchor Rebels then began filling out a Gratitude Letter template using vocabulary and phrases to fill in blanks. At the same time, Aim and Release Rebels brainstormed who they would write their letter to and began their first drafts. Next week, we'll explore components of an "excellent" letter, take a deeper look at adjectives of character traits and continue developing our pieces.
Quest
Discovery's Create the Culture Quest saw Rebels dive into the systems that make Revel unique - such as Covenants, Rules of Engagement and Revel's Choice Words. Each Quest block began with a Socratic discussion and "Imagine this…" scenario to practise making hard choices, asking questions, explaining our choices concisely, and listening to/responding to others meaningfully. Rebels agreed their favourite discussion of the week was inspired by the story of world-famous cardiac surgeon Dr. Valluvan Jeevanandam, known for leading teams to complete the most successful multi-organ transplants - some of the most complex operations ever to be performed. In their "Imagine This…" scenario, Rebels had to decide what they would do if they were a world-renowned surgeon just 24 hours away from performing one of these operations themselves. Would they take the hours left to go over articles/resources to prepare further? Would they prefer to jump on a call with Dr. Jeevanandam for mentorship and advice? Would they spend the final hours leading up to surgery reflecting on what they already know to sharpen their skills? Rebels reviewed Covenants and Rules of Engagement from past years, submitted new suggestions for this year and participated in a variety of team-building activities all week to build relationships and strengthen our Discovery Team!
Physical Development
On Tuesday, we all gathered in the gym for team-building games. We started off reviewing gym expectations and talking about the P.E. badge. We then played a Rock, Paper, Scissors warm-up game to start. We followed this with several fun games such as 1,2,3, Look, Hoop Island, Line Up Game, Name Tag, and a friendly round of dodgeball. It was nice getting to know each other and playing some games together!
On Thursday, we boosted our heart rates by playing VIP tag. The studio was split into two groups, and each team had to pick one VIP. The VIP's role was to untag their team members, but the game was over if the VIP got caught. The learners then participated in air volleyball. For this game, we used balloons and had to focus on hitting the balloon three times before hitting the balloon to the other team. The opposite team earned a point if the balloon touched the other team's mat. Excellent teamwork and communication, Rebels!
Additional Highlights
Elective is back this year! Rebels discussed special guardrails for this block on our schedule and started to develop passion project pitches for approval!
Exploration and Launchpad Studios
Welcome to another great year at Revel! Session 1 is about creating the culture we want to have in our studios for the year. This process takes time to get right as learners have to get to know one another, design or alter the current Revel accountability systems, and work together to solve problems that arise. Exploration and Launchpad learners are working together to ensure a strong foundation for this session.
Mindfulness and Launch
After reviewing the studio guardrails and the role of a Guide, we took time to ponder the meaning of this year's Overarching Question. It was then time to get to know one another! After going around the circle and saying our names, pronouns, and a summer memory, we played "Get on the Boat," which is a preferences activity, and "Line Up," a game where we had to line up according to height, initial of middle name, and birthday in complete silence. While challenging, the Rebels stuck with it and had great results.
On Wednesday, we used our Mindfulness time to create Word Art that represents us using an online program. Once completed, their pieces were printed so we could add them to our Hero Board posters.
Learners met in the gym Thursday morning for their first yoga practice of the year. Expectations were outlined, and learners were excited to take on the Stillness Challenge. We then went for a neighbourhood walk to get outside before it became too hot. We showed the new learners Raven Park, Carlington Hill, and introduced them to our favourite community eateries.
Rebels were introduced to "Free Choice Mindfulness Fridays," where they could colour, build with Lego, complete puzzles, work on Diamond Dot paintings, or something else that the studio agreed was mindful.
Creating the Culture
The first two weeks of school are all about creating a strong studio culture. This requires getting to know one another and working on our communication and problem-solving skills. Tuesday, we completed individual "Guess Who" cards before breaking into five groups and rotating through the following stations: completing a school tour, building KEVA plank towers, creating creative Lego landscapes, Rebel Name Scrabble, and "If You Were Stranded on a Desert Island..." While groups were randomly assigned, all five worked well together, ensuring voices were heard, and multiple ideas were tried!
After reading a series of Egyptian and South American mythology stories during read-aloud, we reviewed the stages of the Hero's Journey. Then, we practiced labelling each step using popular stories we had all heard of. We then watched a Disney short called Piper to identify the stages and recognize that we all get scared and need help, and if we are willing to work hard and face our fears, we are often rewarded. Lastly, Rebels took a survey to decide which accountability system they would like to work on this and next week: our discussion Rules of Engagement, Studio Covenants, Rebel Buck System, Gym Rules, or Studio Maintenance system.
It was then time to go over our safety procedures, including fire drills, lockdowns, and the location of first aid supplies. As it was scorching, we only walked to where we would meet in the field during a fire drill before returning to the air-conditioned studio!
We ended our first day by reading out the "Guess Who" cards we had filled in earlier and did our best to determine which learner was which! It was a fantastic First Day of School!
Wednesday morning, we filled out a 40-question handout with special things about ourselves, including sketches of our family, three words a friend would use to describe us, several of our favourites, and our goals. We then started our Team Canvas exercise, brainstorming and discussing our roles, strengths and assets, common goals, personal goals, values, needs and expectations, rules, weaknesses and risks and most importantly, our purpose.
After lunch and recess, we discussed DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) expectations and Deep Books' purpose before Rebels visited the bookshelves and libraries to find something to read. Later in the week, Rebels listened to pitches for five different books and chose Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy for their first read-aloud of the year.
Once we completed Civ (below), we went to the gym to play Empire, the Blanket Name Game, and Octopus. Returning to the studio, we introduced Studio Maintenance, our system for cleaning up at the end of the day, with each learner responsible for a rotating job in the studio.
On Thursday, we introduced one of our most essential tools, Journey Tracker. We walked through where learners can find the weekly schedule, how to add their goals and points, the importance of checking the Bulletin Board, and where they can check their Badge Plan progress and Rebel Buck balance. We also discussed the importance of Revel's system of "3 Before G." Before coming to a Guide for help, learners are asked to really think about their question and whether they could answer it themselves, find the answer written somewhere (book, online, Journey Tracker), or ask a peer for help. We also reviewed the Socratic method before taking our first Culture Map survey and working on our Hero Boards.
To work on our accountability systems, Rebels split up into groups to review current examples and make adjustments where they saw fit to our Rules of Engagement, Studio Covenants, Gym Covenants, Studio Maintenance, and Rebel Buck systems. Next week, we will discuss the proposed documents and changes, a crucial step in our studio building. We ended with a hilarious game of Pictionary before heading home for the day.
On Friday morning, we played "Roll the Die," Squirt, and another game of Empire before being introduced to our sessional planners. Rebels filled in a page on their "Why" as we prepare to start our goal-setting and core skills work next week. The afternoon was spent playing board and card games, crafting in the Maker Space, and playing soccer and catch outside.
Civilizations
What should we believe? These days, we receive information from countless sources. Claim testing empowers us to assess the trustworthiness of a concept, assertion, or story. To prepare the learners for our Civilizations classes, we learned about the four Claim Testers we will use throughout the year: logic, intuition, evidence, and authority.
French
For this first week in French, we discussed expectations and the tools we will use for our core skills and French workshops this year. We also defined our goals for French and learned about the themes of each session. The remaining time was spent playing games to get to know one another.
Math Lab
Welcome to Math Lab, Rebels! In connection with the astronomy component of this session's Create the Culture Quest, Exploration and Launchpad Rebels are coming together as a studio to take on the design and construction of a giant geodesic dome for their studio! This week, they researched what shapes and how many they would need and carefully surveyed the available materials. Next week, they will explore how to scale up model design plans to their desired size and train themselves to create equilateral and isosceles triangle templates. Their goal is to present their dome at Exhibition, and next week, we will itemize some excellence criteria to target before deciding they are ready to unveil their work. However, The Rebels agreed that for each of them to earn their badge, they must show up, do their best, and do something related to the project. If they need clarification - ask the team for a task and/or share ideas or assist with the project.
Reader/Writer - Exploration Rebels
We kicked off our first Reader Writer workshop with a deep dive into Myths! This session's workshops will focus on generating a written sample from Rebels to display at Exhibition as they brainstorm and create their own myths. This week, we introduced a Mentor Myth called Big Turtle, which we read together and followed up with a discussion on essential questions such as "What makes an effective myth/story?" "Why do cultures have myths that explain the unexplainable?" Rebels agreed that myths generally attempt to answer big questions that invoke elements of wonder, such as "How did this come to be?" "Why is this the way that it is?" In the coming weeks, Rebels will start creating their own mythical stories that include characters, origins of the world and nature, and determine what relevance myths have in today's world.
Next Great Adventure - Launchpad Rebels
While the Exploration Rebels explored myths, the Launchpad learners logged into the Next Great Adventure app and began their first Quest; Wake Up to Find Your Calling. This next week, we will go more in-depth into what an NGA is and view some past examples.
Elective
Each Rebel has the opportunity on Thursday afternoons to work on a personal passion project. This week, we introduced the criteria and the importance of timelines and deliverables for Exhibition. Learners then received a proposal form to complete to prepare for peer approval. Some have chosen to make Zines with an artist, others have challenged themselves to learn how to solve Rubik's Cubes, a few are starting a business, and a couple have chosen to learn coding or computer-animated design programs in the hopes of 3D printing their creations.
Additional Highlights
In this week's Town Hall, Rebels discussed next week's Show and Tell, the potential organization of pizza or Subway lunch options, and the addition of a Town Hall reporter to ensure we are all on the same page regarding decisions made or problems we need to work on solutions for. We ended with a great round of Character Callouts for bravery, kindness, inclusivity, and accountability! We are going to have a great year, Rebels!
Next week, we will begin our core skills programs and create our year-long and short-term goals. Goal Trackers will be shared with families, and Learner-led meetings will be scheduled once the drafts have been developed.
Potential Discussion Ideas or Questions to Ask Your Rebel:
Spark
What is one thing you love about yourself?
What fills your heart with happiness?
Who did you play with this week?
Which job would you like for Studio Maintenance next week?
French: Can you sing the alphabet in French?
Discovery
What does "3 and then G" mean?
What side of the Pet Palace debate were you on for Quest this week?
Reader/Writer: Who are you writing your Gratitude Letter for?
Math Lab: What materials would you like to work with for your "How Many" project?
French: Which French theme are you most excited about?
Exploration and Launchpad
Math Lab: How will you scale up plans for a giant geodesic dome for your studio? Does this put you in your comfort, challenge, or panic zone?
Exploration Reader Writer: What was the Myth "Big Turtle" about? What origins did it attempt to explain?
French: Which French theme are you most excited about? What are your goals for French this year?
Elective: What would you like to work on or learn about during Elective this session?
Dates of Interest
Alex Mateas' Mindful Movement workshops are taking place at Revel Academy this Fall. They are open for registration and will run from October 1st to December 3rd. Email alex@alexmateas.com for more information!
Rebel Guardian Onboarding - The Why Thursday, September 14th at 6:00 pm (Revel 101, 2023-24 Plans, & Creating the Parent Contract)
Rebel Guardian Onboarding - Accountability Systems Wednesday, September 27th at 6:00 pm (for guardians of learners in Discovery, Exploration, and Launchpad)
Exploration and Launchpad Overnight Camping Trip Monday, October 2nd to Wednesday, October 4th (more information to come!)
Session 1 Exhibitions
Discovery Studio - Tuesday, October 3rd, 4:15 pm - 5:30 pm
Spark Studio - Thursday, October 5th, 4:15 pm - 5:30 pm
Exploration and Launchpad Studios - Thursday, October 5th, 4:15 pm - 5:30 pm
Rebel Guardian Onboarding - Self-Driven Child Book Club Thursday, October 26th at 7:00 pm - The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives Book Club (Read the book in advance and come ready to discuss.)