Revel Recap: January 15 - 19, 2024
Spark Studio
Mindfulness
Monday mindfulness started with a discussion about what a mandala is, the patterns used, the different art forms and how they are an excellent tool for mindful colouring. Each Spark then coloured in their own mandala while listening to relaxing music. The Sparks chose instrumental piano music to some of their most liked songs on Tuesday. They listened to the music and built puzzles together. On Wednesday, the Sparks travelled to Germany, Mexico, and India to explore different foods using yoga poses. On Thursday, learners chose piano instrumental music to listen to while they worked on new colouring material sheets. To end the week, everyone wrote two things in the gratitude journal they are grateful for! We love this time purposefully set aside each day to improve our mental state and mental health!
Quest
From Antarctica to Asia, the Sparks are on the move! With a flight full of turbulence, the learners landed in India. They got their passports ready and went through security to get stamped while answering a few questions. Using our blow-up globe ball, the Sparks had to catch the globe and find the Asian continent. We then read a book called Living in India to learn more about the culture. Following this reading, we used our Montessori Flags of the World cards to represent the flags of various countries throughout the continent visually. The Sparks then designed their own flag to represent themselves, or they chose an Asian flag to emulate.
On Tuesday, we jetted off to China and landed in a zoo. The Sparks explored many different animals which come from Asia. We spotted the lynx, hare, wolf, and panda. Each learner chose their favourite animal from Asia and then built it using clay. With the flight delay on Wednesday, the Sparks ventured off to explore various foods found in Asia, mainly from Japan and China. We read the book Asian Adventures: Delicious Asian Foods from A to Z by Yobe Qiu. The Sparks shared which foods they tried before and which ones they would like to try. Many learners want to try mooncakes and bibimbap. Followed by this, we read about the Chinese Opera Hat. Chinese performers are trained not just in song but in dance and acrobatics, too. Wearing elaborate costumes and colourful makeup, the performers put on quite a show. The learners used origami paper to make their own Chinese opera hat, which may fit one of their stuffies.
The Sparks packed their luggage and were split into groups to venture to different countries. The learners who missed their flight stayed to learn about the Great Wall of China and then designed it using wooden blocks and planks. Other learners went to India to build the Taj Mahal using Lego, while another group went to the Philippines to explore the Chocolate Hills and then used clay and paint to make their models.
Math
"I've played hopscotch before, but not with addition and subtraction!" The Sparks split into three groups to make math even more engaging this week. They spent 5 minutes at each hopscotch station, designed with tape on the floor. The Guides wrote equations in each square, and wherever their block landed, that was the equation they would answer. Learners utilized several mental math strategies to find the solutions and help one another. The learners also had goals throughout the week connected to math, such as the Hundred Board, Addition Board, Singapore math books and Counting Chains.
Writing Workshop
This week, the Sparks were excited to read our mentor text, Sneezy the Snowman! Throughout the book, they were thrilled to discover that some of their predictions from last week came true! None of the learners had read this book before, so it was fun to all experience a new story together. After reading, we brainstormed a list of character traits to describe Sneezy's personality, writing our answers in our booklet. We re-read the story on Thursday and used our booklets to write down our beginning, middle, and conclusion descriptions. We will continue to work on the story elements this next week!
French
Monday and Tuesday, we continue working on our train art to help us learn about the days of the week. On Wednesday, we learned the song «Le Roi, la reine et le petit prince » (The King, the Queen and the Little Prince), and on Thursday, we went to the gym to review our new vocabulary by playing active games.
Art
Connecting our group art project to the continent of Asia, the Sparks were introduced to cherry blossom trees. We discussed where they can be found in Ottawa (Dominion Arboretum), when they blossom, and where they originated. To build our knowledge of this particular tree species, we read the story Sakura Cherry Blossoms. The story is about a little girl's experience immigrating to a new country and missing her home and her grandmother, who still lives far away.
As a group, we created our own "Paint Afternoon." The Sparks followed a video of a young child and an adult drawing branches of a blossom tree with a bird on it. The learner participation, dedication, and interest were high, so the Guides will frequently plan more activities like this. The paintings turned out beautifully and will be on display at the Exhibition.
Additional HIghlights
It was another eventful week for the Sparks! Our Mystery Readers have arrived, and their clues have been quite challenging. "I am from a Caribbean island," "I have brown hair," and "My favourite things are french fries and coffee.," were a few of the clues. There were many smiles and wonderful books read to the learners this week, and we're looking forward to the next!
This week was also our first week on the snow hill for sledding! The Sparks discussed the safety rules before heading out and had a great time!
Learners brought in souvenirs for this week's Show and Tell. There were stuffies from Disney World, pictures from a trip to Denmark, and a globe from Taiwan!
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness
"I belong to a kind and respectful tribe." For Mantra Monday this week, the Rebels worked on designing their own puzzles and discussed how the pieces could represent them and our studio. Tuesday, we dove back into our ocean-themed mindfulness activities with a few additional "under the sea" floor puzzles and an "I Spy the Species" silent scavenger hunt. We tackled the New York Times Connections puzzle and the Wordle game for Wonder Wednesday, and for Thankful Thursday, Rebels continued their puzzles from earlier in the week. On Feel-Good Friday, we took time for a special Show and Tell and had so much fun sharing their favourite things and connecting.
Launches
Monday morning, the Rebels started their week by discussing random acts of kindness to check out an opportunity to connect with another local organization in the Glebe. Rebels will create Valentine's Day cards and letters to a special group of elders in the memory care ward at the Amica Glebe location. We discussed how letters and cards could benefit others and the criteria for the cards and drafted material lists. Over the next few weeks, we'll set aside some time in launches and closings to work on our cards and get them in the mail before February 14th. Tuesday's Rebel-led Launch focused on equipping our team to better label and respect the garbage and recycling system. Wednesday's Launch equipped the Rebels with a studio culture rating tool called ICEE. How do the Rebels think we're doing regarding Intentionality, Civility, Energy, and Excellence? And based on that, which system can we focus on to move forward? In connection with this week's Quest theme, we watched part of a Mark Rober video on Thursday morning about his pet octopus, Sashimi! Seeing this ocean creature use its adaptations to work through a CrunchLabs obstacle course was awesome! Friday's Rebel-run Current Events report featured 46,000-year-old worms, eight-hour commutes in British Columbia, alarming ocean temperatures, and Nunavut's government gaining control of its land and resources.
Math Lab
This week was all about shapes and their attributes! Rebels gathered for a whole group congress on the power of the Venn diagram, practicing how we can use our geometric reasoning to sort and classify shapes in many ways! Then, Rebels broke into smaller teams to complete various tasks like naming polygons, recording vital information about them like the number of sides and vertices, identifying different types of angles, finding and tracing lines of symmetry and matching congruent shapes. Aim and Release Rebels focused specifically on quadrilaterals and triangles, investigating how their various attributes (such as matching side lengths, types of angles, or pairs of parallel sides) help to classify polygons further using formal mathematical terms like trapezoid or scalene.
Reader/Writer
Rebels continued working on their Marine Animal Journals this week as they researched more information about their chosen animals. Each Rebel was given an offline resource (article, book, audio recording) containing information about the selected animal. Rebels had to add to the information using their new source and cite their newest source properly. Each Rebel also began working on creating or colouring an image of the animal they will eventually label for their scientific drawing, which will also be added to their report.
Civilizations
In this week's story, we met Henry V and VI, Charles VI and VII, Joan of Arc, and Maid of Orleans! Rebels were excited to learn about Henry V's connection to Shakespeare and how Henry VI was a king when he was one year old! Rebels discussed the ethics of the various kings' actions at the time, with many arguing it was not okay to make demands for the marriage of someone you don't know! The Rebels were also excited to be able to link back to a project from last year all about Joan and the Frankish Empire. We learned about the Hundred Years' War and the ongoing conflict between England and France around the time of the plague, connecting this to our timeline of the common era. This week's mapping activity related to the civil war in France, showing areas of supporters of the French prince (Dauphin) and the Burgundians.
French
This week, we continue to read The Little Prince together and answer comprehension questions. We read chapters 1 to 4 this week and learned that the Little Prince comes from another planet!
Quest
This week in Quest, Rebels swam out to explore the geographical features of our oceans and answer four major questions for this week's Octopus Level: 1) How are the five oceans connected? 2) Why might some ocean areas be more polluted than others? 3) What could happen to ocean currents if water temperatures keep rising? 4) How is marine life affected by ocean currents, pollution and rising temperatures? Rebels started the week by working on two main challenges, focusing on facts and features of the five oceans (Draw and Anchor) and ocean currents (Aim and Release). Draw and Anchor Rebels teamed up with each other to complete their second FlipBook resource, which is all about the five oceans. What is the deepest ocean? Which ocean is the world's largest mountain range located in? If oceans are all connected, why do the temperatures of the water change so drastically? Can pollution affect every ocean? Which ocean is home to the world's most popular oil transportation routes?
Aim and Release Rebels aimed to learn more about questions such as: How do currents affect the climate? How does the temperature of the water affect the way water moves? In a water lab on Tuesday, Rebels learned that cold water sinks and moves toward the Equator, while warm water tends to stay near the surface. Why does the Indian Ocean contain the warmest temperatures of all the oceans? What is the Coriolis Effect? On Wednesday, Rebels read a story called "Ducks in the Flow," which is based on the true story about plastic ducks and toys that fell into the ocean, accidentally helping oceanographers map out the world's currents. Rebels answered a series of questions about the story and came together Thursday afternoon in the gym to explore our BIG World Oceans Map. Debriefing about the key takeaways from this week, Rebels showed what they've learned about the world's oceans, currents and landmarks within them, the way they move and how we are all connected to them - no matter where we are located in the world. As we prepare for the Our Oceans Conference at the end of the session, Rebels will apply what they've learned this week to their "Call to Action" for their presentations. Next week, we look forward to going below the surface and into the world's biggest mystery: The Deep Sea.
Physical Development
This week marked the start of Rebel-led physical development sessions! On Tuesday, the two gym options were dancing and gymnastics and each group led the learners through a warm-up, activity and cool-down. Rebels chose between freeze tag outside and Sink the Ship in the gym on Thursday.
Additional Highlights
Rebels will be utilizing the Giant Ocean Floor Map on and off over the next few weeks while we have the floor map rental. Did you know you can also explore the Ocean Map activities at home? Check out Blue Learning Lab from your devices at home to explore more videos and activities Rebels can do better to understand the relationship between us and our oceans.
Exploration
Mindfulness and Launch
We began our day on Monday morning with a thirty-minute read-aloud of Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow. While a difficult read, we are learning so much about why the youth of Germany joined the Hitler Youth organization and the methods Hitler used to indoctrinate others and amass power. Ms. Mel joined us again this Tuesday for a watercolour tutorial. We reviewed some of the basic techniques from last week and then had fun experimenting with other effects like masking, glazing, dragging and charging. The Rebels made stunning designs; some started incorporating text by adding their Word of the Year with a marker! Wonder Wednesday had Rebels attempting to exercise their minds with the Wordle and Mindful Connections word problems this week. Thursday's yoga challenged Rebels' balance as they worked toward building stamina, holding poses in various positions for more extended periods. How can we use our breath to help us maintain stillness and balance? Rebels will try the same sequence again next week to see if they can improve their balance in those positions. After yoga, Rebels used the ICEE (Intentionality, Civility, Energy, and Excellence) framework to assess the health of our studio. During their ranking, they were proud of how well they did across the board. However, they chose intentionality as the area they want to work on over the next few weeks and will work on setting daily SMART goals to help keep them focused. On Friday morning, Rebels selected a variety of mindful activities, including their watercolour paintings from earlier in the week, Mindful Connections Word Puzzles from the New York Times, and Zen Doodles.
Quest
Imagine you have just launched a food truck specializing in pizzas with exotic toppings and a spectacular crust that you can't get in many other places. The early success is promising, but you would like another boost to your business. You have a great promotional idea for a buy-one-pizza, get-one-free, but you also need to ensure you are in regular contact with visitors since your truck moves all around your city and opens at varying times. Which type of landing page greets your potential consumers: a click-through to ensure they see your promotion, a lead capture to know who is intrigued by your truck and how to contact them, or a squeeze page to gain more profound information and allow greater access to your website? After learning about different landing pages, it was time to put a stake in the ground and choose the product and service they will sell. Since every sales pitch requires a story about why the product or service being showcased is of 1) higher quality, 2) faster and/or 3) cheaper, Rebels kept in mind the "Rule of Three" and identified the two that applied to their product. Once they felt they had a good handle on increasing desire for their product or service, learners began brainstorming names and logos for their website.
With the best product or service, you cannot have any sales if there is no way for customers to find and purchase your product or service; that is where a Sales Funnel comes in. On Tuesday, we read an Acton Business School piece to help us understand how to build an internet sales funnel that attracts, educates, qualifies, and closes customers on our mock website. Once learners had a foundational understanding that they would need a logical process for finding the customers who are most interested in what they have to offer and shepherding them through the buying process, they were ready to play an Acton sim game called Cha-Ching! With Cha-Ching!, they were able to look inside the heads of their customers, called Meeples, to see if they genuinely needed the product and how much education it would take to convince them to buy. By combining advertising and direct sales, learners attempted to select, educate, and close Meeples as cheaply as possible. Rebels noticed that you can increase "need" - how much a customer is aware of a need your product might satisfy. They also could increase the "benefit" - how well your customer understands the value of your product. Need AND Benefit must be greater than the "price" for the "Meeple" to buy.
On Wednesday, we learned about many of the hidden ways social media collects data for sales. While Rebels understood how data mining helps target a market audience, they also felt it was an invasion of privacy. Now that the learners have all selected a product or service to sell on their mock website, they spent the class period looking for examples of real websites that sell similar products or services. While they won't be creating an actual website just yet, they will be showcasing a sales pitch to design one! With that in mind, they'll need to understand strong website design. Taking time to look at the headlines, images, and stories carefully, Rebels identified the order of the messages, which messages tried to weed out the customers who wouldn't buy and which messages tried to "close the deal."
On Thursday, we read through a lemonade stand scenario to help put ourselves in the customers' shoes. We learned the importance of observation, asking good questions, and experimenting to find the best conditions for the sale. Rebels then wrote down at least five questions to ask or tests that would help them learn more about their potential customers. They could take their Cha-Ching skills to the next level with any time remaining by playing Cha-Ching Pro! While many preferred the Pro version more, they did find it more difficult since they could no longer see inside the heads of the Meeples. Next week, we'll begin storyboarding!
Math Lab
Building upon the mathematical prompts from last week, Rebels worked on a geometric reasoning task list with their teams explicitly related to the plane figures that make up the logos in their various sets. For example, they had to use protractors and rulers to measure angles and side lengths. Additionally, they had to properly label their findings using conventional symbols like arrows to show pairs of parallel lines. They investigated congruency and similarity by measuring both figures to prove their thinking. All Rebels have to calculate area in some way, from basic shapes like rectangles to increasingly complex figures like trapezoids, composite polygons and circles. Some logo sets elicited opportunities for more advanced tasks like labelling instances of angle properties involving transversals, using Pythagorean relationships to find side lengths of triangles, or applying trigonometric ratios to solve angles in right triangles.
Exploration Reader/Writer
This week in Reader/Writer, Rebels continued their Novel Study, Witches! Thinking about our "formula": Fear + Trigger = Scapegoat, Rebels were shocked to learn just how fast the accusations and witch hunt spread across the town of Salem. More shocking were the reasons and "evidence," or lack thereof, the accusers were using to convince the masses they were indeed being haunted or attacked by witches. Rebels began making connections between the accused and the afflicted accusers, such as social status in the town, the history between families, whether or not the individuals were connected to Reverend Parris' church and whether race or gender could be a reason for one to accuse you of being a witch as well. Once Rebels finished the weekly read-aloud and character map, they completed their vocabulary and discussion questions in preparation for the upcoming Book Club.
French
In this session, our central theme in French is Journalism. This week, we read four articles as a team and answered reading comprehension questions. We learned the vocabulary needed to understand the different parts of a newspaper (front page, classified ads, news, etc.) and worked on our strategies for reading a text when we have yet to master the language.
Exploration Civilization
Decades after the fall of the Third Reich, it feels incomprehensible how Adolf Hitler, a tyrant who orchestrated one of the largest genocides in human history, could ever have risen to power in a democratic country. On Tuesday, Rebels learned how it happened and debated whether it could ever happen again. Learners discussed whether they believed the most significant reason the German people supported Hitler's rise was due to long-term bitterness over The Great War and the Treaty of Versailles, a weak German Constitution, financial support from wealthy business people, persuasive propaganda, political promises, attacks on others, personal talents, or economic depression. We also talked about the Great Man Theory as well as who deserves more blame, the Treaty of Versailles or the German people, for Hitler's rise.
On Thursday, we continued to look at Hitler through the lens of nature vs. nurture. We began by watching a short documentary about Adolf Hiler's childhood and the events that affected who he eventually became, his rise to power from a soldier to the most influential man in Germany, and the tactics and strategy he used to persuade the Germans to follow his immoral plans. The learners then debated why they believed Hitler committed such evil acts, whether assassination is ever moral, and if so, at what point.
Launchpad - Canterbury Tales
On Monday and Tuesday, Launchpad Rebels learned about the Middle Ages, researching the Dark Ages, Feudalism, Medieval job titles and rankings, castles, and Illuminated manuscripts. Those who finished early also had time to learn the role of astrology in Medieval times. With this knowledge of the Middle Ages, we studied the transformation from Old English to Middle English to Modern English! After listening to the first 18 lines of the Canterbury Tales in Middle English, we viewed the same passage in Old, Middle, and Modern English. It was then time for a fun Feudal System word sort activity before discussing code-switching, the process of shifting from one linguistic code (a language or dialect) to another, depending on the social context or conversational setting and why Chaucer, a bilingual and highly educated man, chose to write in Middle English rather than the language of power at the time, French. Rebels could also watch A Knight's Tale as an optional assignment before we begin reading the prologue the following Monday.
Launchpad World History
Lord Acton wrote: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." After reading about Thomas Becket (also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury and later Thomas à Becket), Launchpad Rebels came together to discuss whether Becket's murder was an inevitable conflict, an example that power corrupts, or a tragic mistake. Learners researched the role of the church in daily life and debated why they believed common people reacted so angrily to the death of Thomas Becket.
On Thursday, Rebels learned more about Islam, Muhammad, and the similarities and differences between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. They also discussed the likelihood of another prophet like Jesus or Mohammed arising today, and if so, how would they decide if they were preaching the truth?
Additional Highlights
Three Launchpad Rebels worked hard on completing more of the Next Great Adventure challenges this week, earning them a shoutout in the Acton Academy network! Way to go, Rebels!
Potential Discussion Ideas or Questions to Ask Your Rebel:
Spark
Where did you travel this week? Do you have a favourite animal you've learned about? Did you build the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, or the Chocolate Hills?
French: What's the Little Prince doing in the song «Le roi, la reine et le petit prince »? ( He comes to visit every day but nobody is home)
Discovery
Quest: What are the five oceans? What is a surface current, and what causes them? Can surface currents also affect deep water? Why are some oceans warmer than others? Why might pollution be worse in some areas of the oceans? How do rising ocean temperatures affect marine life?
R/W: What new information did you discover about your animal for your Marine Animal journal this week? Can you tell me three new adaptations or features you learned?
French: What planet does the Little Prince come from? (B612) and why is the Little Prince so relatable?
M/L: How could you label and describe the seven tans in your tangram puzzle and the six different polygons from the pattern blocks?
Exploration
M/L: Choose one of the logos in your set - tell me about the plane figures it is made up of and their attributes. How would you measure and/or label this or prove your classification to someone else? Are there any unique relationships it has?
R/W: If you were being accused of witchcraft in Salem in the late 1600s, would you: A) confess to the magistrates to receive a smaller/less intense sentence? OR B) Would you try to shift the attention to one of your neighbours, accusing them of witchcraft to take the attention off of you?
French: What are the strategies for reading a text for which the language is not completely mastered?
Quest: How will you create the desire for your product or service? Do you have a story that will help you to sell?
Launchpad
What did you discover when you were completing the feudal word sort? (French vs. Anglo-Saxon words)
Will the Middle East always be a center of world conflict? Does the rest of the world have a moral obligation to help resolve conflict in the Middle East, or should Middle Eastern countries be left to solve their problems?
Dates of Interest
Exploration and Launchpad field trip to the Canada War Museum: February 2nd (travelling by bus)
Spark and Discovery field trip to the Canadian Museum of Nature: February 8th (travelling by bus)
Session 4 Exhibitions
Spark and Discovery Studio Exhibitions: Tuesday, February 13th at 4:15 pm
Exploration and Launchpad Studio Exhibitions: Thursday, February 15th at 4:15 pm