Revel Recap: February 5 - 9, 2024
Spark Studio
Mindfulness
We started our week with creativity and fine motor practice using Perler beads. The learners selected the pegboard design they wanted to use and created their works of art using the tiny, colourful beads. On Tuesday, we followed along with a directed drawing of a Valentine's cupcake. Many Sparks added their own artistic details to the pictures to make each unique! On Wednesday, the learners completed a fast-paced HIIT workout. The learners showed great endurance as they got their heart rate pumping! On Thursday, we used another Zendoodle colouring book, this time colouring in intricate mandala designs. We also used some of our time to discuss the field trip and bus safety rules for our trip to the Canadian Museum of Nature! We ended the week listening to the song Thankful by the Juicebox Jukebox to help us start thinking about everything we are grateful for. The Sparks then used Play-Doh to create a model of one of the items from their list. Among the art pieces were models of the Earth, friends and family, Pokemon, snakes, rainbows and more!
Quest
This week, the Sparks hopped aboard our Spark Air to fly to our final continent, Africa! With a new pilot in the driver's seat, our first stop was Tanzania to prepare for our adventure the next day. First, we imagined what we would need to pack if we were going on a safari tour. The Sparks included items such as water, sunscreen, bug spray, stuffed animals, hats, and first aid kits. Some brave learners said they would pack a tent to spend the night there! We then went on a virtual field trip to the African savanna, a warm, grassland habitat. We admired all the animals that call this beautiful place home, such as giraffes, zebras, gazelles, meerkats, cheetahs, lions, rhinoceros, elephants, hyenas, and more! We also learned about how animals and plants survive long periods without water. Each Spark selected an animal they would like to see someday and wrote about it in their passport. Next, we read an informative text about Banda Masks, a type of tribal art. We learned what they can represent, what they are made of, and how they are decorated. We noted how these masks may have human or animal faces or a combination. They are usually symmetrical and decorated with symbols and patterns, including zig-zags, dots, stars, swirls, and stripes. With this information in mind, the Sparks created their own Banda Masks.
The next day, we flew to Egypt to see the pyramids! Two children, Oliver and Lucas, took us on a video tour of their experience visiting the Great Pyramid of Giza. We learned why the pyramids were built, how long it took to build them, and how tall they are. Many learners remarked how they would like to travel and see them in person someday! After this inspiring video, we worked in groups to create pyramids out of Keva planks! There were many different ideas and iterations!
On Thursday, we had some very special visitors! One of the families who recently moved to Canada from Madagascar came to share more about Madagascan culture with us! We learned about the fantastic animals, transportation, the people, and the amazing Baobab trees! We also saw pictures of the beautiful beaches and learned about some traditional food dishes! The learners were intrigued to try koba, a sweet treat made from peanuts and rice flour! They also enjoyed learning some words in Malagasy! A big thank you for sharing your time and stories with us!
Math
To continue building on our skip counting skills from last week, we used our Math Workshop for more practice with skip counting by 5s. The learners broke into groups and used loose parts to showcase how they could count to 30 by 5s. They set out the correct number of loose parts for each number, and then we played an interactive game called Adventure Man. We completed a Valentine's-themed missing number worksheet for our final activity.
French
We continued practicing our days of the week and months of the year songs in French on Monday. Then, on Tuesday, Group 1 worked on a St-Valentin colouring book to learn how to say "je t'aime" (I love you) and «coeur» (heart) in French. Meanwhile, Group 2 began learning to write the days of the week in the correct order. Since the learners were going to be at the museum on Thursday, we took Wednesday's lesson to the gym to mime, play bulldog and, of course, the classic "What time is it, Mr. Wolf?" to brush up on colours, numbers, animals, and days of the week.
Art
Our Art Workshop also had a Valentine's theme! We read the book The Day It Rained Hearts to start our lesson. Together, we folded our papers into four sections. In each section, we wrote a letter to spell the word love. The learners then used pastels to trace around the letter and fill in each section. The results were so colourful and fun!
Writing Workshop
As a group, we practiced phonemic awareness on Monday by exploring syllables. Of course, we had to start with a fun song by Scratch Garden, one of our favourite YouTube channels! This music video introduced us to syllables and explained how words can be split into parts and how a syllable is like a beat. In the video, we practiced clapping along to words that had a different amount of syllables. We then looked at words in Sneezy the Snowman and identified how many syllables were in each word. To end our lesson, we played Alphabats on ABCYA! This game taught us another tool for counting syllables. We practiced putting our hands under our chin and saying a word. We counted the number of times our jaw dropped while we said the word, which is how we know how many syllables there are!
On Friday, we reached the last page of our booklet! We read through various statements and decided if they were true or false. The learners enjoyed our mentor text this session and have worked hard to complete their activities. They are excited to share it with their families next week!
Additional Highlights
We had so much fun on our field trip to the Canadian Museum of Nature this week! While we had time to explore and take in all of the exhibits, the Sparks particularly loved the Dinosaurs and the Arctic Ice areas.
We also had our last two Mystery Readers for this session. Your visits have inspired the learners, and we had Sparks volunteer to do read-aloud during every DEAR time this week! Thank you to our families who have visited so far and shared their time and stories with us. We will post more dates for Session Five soon!
This week, we also discussed how every February is Black History Month. We discussed how this is a time to honour and celebrate all of the amazing contributions the Black community has made and continues to make today! First, we listened to a song by Sesame Street called, Let's Celebrate Black History. Over the month of February, we will be reading a variety of books. We started with the fantastic book Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry. We are looking forward to reading, listening, and learning more!
Discovery Studio
Mindfulness and Launches
The learners engaged in two double-connect launches on Monday and Tuesday to kick off the week. Monday, the learners continued to work on their letters to the residents at Amica Seniors Lifestyle. The learners completed many wonderfully written cards and also made beautiful bracelets. On Tuesday, the studio wrote a letter to Ms. Kaitlin. Last week, Ms. Kaitlin gave them a presentation about herself, so it was the Rebels' turn to help her get to know them! To start their letters, they were provided prompts such as, What are your expectations from me? How can we work on our goals together? As a Discovery learner, what do you find challenging? Wonder Wednesday, the learners discussed building a stronger community. After listening to a scenario, they were asked, " Do you remember what it was like the first time you were asked to sit in a discussion group? Was it easy to uphold the ROEs or challenging? Thankful Thursday was a time for the learners to gather and be in the moment. With hot chocolate and relaxing music playing, everyone came up with something they were thankful for from A to Z. To end the week, the learners warmed up and played a new song on the Boomwhackers: Happier by Marshmello. The Rebel-led Current Events report featured an update on the Super Bowl, the Grammys, wild weather in Cape Breton and time to listen to part of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
Math Lab
Rebels continued to work on their ocean-themed geometric designs in Math Lab this week. It is really fun to watch their creativity and connections to Quest unfold! Many used the time to work on adding elements to their design with the goal of completing their art to be able to display at Exhibition.
Reader/Writer
This week in Reader/Writer, learners continued working on their essays. Draw and Anchor Rebels continued working on their templates, filling in keywords from their Marine Animal Journals and previous research. Some Anchor Rebels took the next step and retyped their essay templates in full on a Google Doc to practice the correct formatting of an essay. Aim and Release Rebels had a quick touch-base at the beginning of the work period to visualize how many work periods they had left to complete body paragraphs and their conclusion. Would they meet their goal of printing a good copy before Exhibition next week? How should they plan their week to ensure time to finish their essay? Next week, Rebels will review their essay and challenge each other to use transition sentences and/or vocabulary words to try and elevate their work before putting them on display at Our Oceans Exhibition!
Civilizations
This week, special guest Ms. Kaitlin hosted the CIV workshop! Rebels learned about the history of African kingdoms, journeying through Ghana. Ghana, known as the "Land of Gold," captivated our attention, yet we later discovered that the amount of gold discovered was not as much as the name led us to believe. The Rebels learned about the trade dynamics, where Arab traders began to trade salt for gold as people needed to eat salt to stay healthy due to the heat. We then transitioned into the story of Mansa Musa and his pilgrimage to Mecca. This week's buzzwords were Allah, pilgrim, alms and mosque. Next week, we will explore the Moghul Dynasty!
Quest
Rebels have graduated through four ocean levels, from Krill to Octopus, to Tuna and then Shark, and this week, they tackled their fifth and final level: the Whale challenges! On Monday, Rebels explored the beautiful and biodiverse ecosystems known as coral reefs. With their teams, they had to research the types of animals that inhabit reef environments as well as the types of corals that populate them. They also investigated the various relationships between reef organisms and the different threats to these ecosystems. On Tuesday, they started to turn their research into 2D coloured-paper diagrams. On Wednesday, we had a "Deep Dive" Day where teams had time to connect and plan their displays for their Our Oceans Conference booths. They used a task list that itemized all challenges from the last several weeks to divide and conquer any unfinished projects. We were lucky to visit the Canadian Museum of Nature on Thursday and attend a Pacific Discovery Tank workshop! During their free time, Rebels explored everything from bugs to bears, with some highlights being the endothermy installation where you can see your own body heat, the gorgeous mineral displays, and the interactive volcanic eruption stations. At the workshop, Rebels tried three activities: using a microscope to see dry tidal pool specimens up close, matching up animals to the correct zone of a tidal pool, and reaching into the tank and touching living sea stars, sea cucumbers, urchins, and anemones!!
French
This week in French, we used a Kahoot to learn the names of the planets in our Solar System. The Rebels quickly observed that the names were very similar to the days of the week in French! We then completed writing the descriptions of our planets in French and began painting our models on Thursday to match our descriptions!
Physical Development
On Tuesday, the learners had the choice between balloon volleyball and dance in the gym or free time and outdoor skating! Some learners played mini-stick hockey during outdoor activities, while others played dramatic games on the structure and snow mountains.
Additional Highlights
Last week and this week, Ms. Kaitlin has been running Mindfulness, Launches, and some of the special afternoon workshops such as Civilizations and Elective. We are so lucky to have her guiding us, and she is here to stay! Over the next five weeks, Kaitlin will be taking the reins of the Discovery Studio more and more as a part of her Master’s degree through SUNY Potsdam in New York. Welcome to Discovery, Ms. Kaitlin!
Exploration
Mindfulness and Launch
We opened our week with a read-aloud from Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow. With only a chapter left, we are still learning more about the motivations behind the actions of those involved in Nazi Germany and how dangerous it is when rights are revoked, and we look the other way.
On Tuesday, the Rebels added a few more watercolour techniques to their repertoire, experimenting with dropping salt or clear water into their wet paint or pressing paper towel or plastic wrap. The Rebels played the New York Times Wordle and Connections puzzles for Wonder Wednesday before our Rebel-led Current Events Launch. We finished reading Hitler Youth on Thursday morning and then learned about Chinese New Year, which begins on Saturday, February 10th this year! Once we had a good foundation, we played a racing Blooket to test our knowledge! Friday morning, those interested took the Canadian Geographic Challenge, while the other learners used their time for mindfulness or got a headstart on Core Skills. Winners will be announced soon!
French
This week, we did a Kahoot on capitalization in French since fewer words are capitalized in French than English. We spent the rest of our time editing our articles, finding photos and visuals to support our content, and formatting for newspaper printing!
Quest
On Monday, learners had a work period to improve their presentation slides and business pitches using a series of criteria, including an attention-grabbing hook, a team introduction, a story that addresses three key needs, their pricing plan, and a call-to-action. On Tuesday, each group presented to three other groups. Did the visuals add to the understanding of the pitch? Were there any grammatical errors? Was the presentation engaging? After each pitch, groups gave a rank and feedback to help them improve. Afterward, they were asked to post their average rating and the three best suggestions they received during their critique. The rest of the week was spent repeating the cycle of presenting, editing, and practicing in order to strengthen their pitch for Exhibition next Thursday. Any Rebels who finished early were provided with an Ivey School of Business Case Study to work on.
Math Lab
This week, the Rebels had an opportunity to work through the logo design process and, if interested, go deeper into graphic design theory. They had access to a quick "crash course" with Ms. Mel about the elements and principles of design, as well as colour theory. This also linked to other more in-depth videos about how we use the elements and how graphic designers apply the principles in the real world.
Exploration Reader/Writer
For our final read-aloud of the session, Rebels learned and discussed the aftermath of the Witch Trials. We looked over final testimonies from victims and townspeople who had advocated for the trials and executions to end. Rebels examined the next steps for the town of Salem and key players in local government. How does a small town recover from events such as the Witch Trials? Is it possible to ever make things truly "right" again? What would that look like in your eyes? What steps must be taken for a community to recover fully from mass tragedy? Once we concluded the novel, Rebels got a head start on their ten final Book Club questions, which they will complete before we meet next week to celebrate and discuss at our Book Club Cafe.
Exploration Civilization
On Tuesday, we had challenging discussions regarding the Holocaust. We began by watching an engaging Ted Talk by Anna Blech on "Downplaying the Holocaust." The talk gave evidence that people outside of Nazi Germany did have access to information about the concentration camps. However, the New York Times editor hid the articles inside the paper instead of making it front-page news. We then put ourselves in the shoes of a non-Jewish Polish citizen, a young Nazi Lieutenant, President Roosevelt, and camp prisoners to contemplate various moral dilemmas. We also learned more about the Manhattan Project and the science behind the atomic bomb before reading an article that outlined why Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen for the sites.
On Thursday, we brainstormed what propaganda is and isn't before learning about the various devices used in propaganda, such as allusion, slippery slope, bandwagon, and false dilemma. Learners then played a matching game with the terms before analyzing a series of WWII posters from around the world. After studying each piece, they identified the targeted audience, desired outcome, motivation to create and two to three propaganda devices.
Launchpad - Canterbury Tales
In order to prepare for our reading of "The Wife of Bath's Tale," learners completed a brief search on women's lives during the Middle Ages. Original sin, women and power, nuns, wives, pregnancy and childbirth were some of the topics the learners read about before we came together to paint a picture of women's lives at the time. We then viewed a painting that depicts the Wife of Bath and made predictions about her character and tale. Since we read the "Pardoner's Tale" aloud together last week, this week, learners read the prologue and story independently, coming together on Friday to discuss the moral of the tale, the characterization of the Wife of Bath, their favourite quotes, debate the feminist and anti-feminist components, and satirical devices used.
Launchpad World History
Rebel Barons were so dissatisfied with King John's rule in 1215 that they drafted a set of rules called the Magna Carta and forced King John to sign it. Many consider the Magna Carta the root of our legal system today, but some argue it was counterproductive and borne of self-interest. Launchpad learners completed their research with a set of given sources and then took on the role of King John, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Pope Innocent III or the rebel Barons to see which provisions they could be convinced to include.
On Thursday, learners turned their attention to the Mongols, who rose out of the grasslands of Northern China around 1200 CE. Once Genghis Khan united the Mongol tribes, they swept across Asia, Eastern Europe, and much of the Middle East. Masters of warfare, at one point, the Mongol Empire was the largest empire the world has seen and was also one of the most deadly, having killed 40 million people or 10% of the world's population. Rebels could utilize a chosen set or their own resources for their research before coming together to discuss. One of the questions posed for debate was that although the Mongols were ruthless, they also promoted religious tolerance, abolition of class structures, and relative equality for women. They established the Pax Mongolica (Mongolian Peace), which allowed the Silk Road and other trade routes to prosper and diplomats to travel freely. Did the Mongols advance world civilization by enforcing laws and creating order over much of the world, or did they cause such death and destruction that they set back world progress for hundreds of years?
Next Great Adventure
What a week! Invitations to our Declaration Talks have been sent, and we have already received some confirmations from leaders in the learners' chosen fields! As their talks come together, the Launchpad Rebels are learning so much about themselves and pushing past discomfort. Way to go!!!
Additional Highlights
On Friday, a group of Rebels cooked and delivered a Mac and Cheese meal for Highjinx. While the sauce didn't turn out quite how they hoped, it was incredibly delicious!
A group of Rebels also experimented and made fruit snacks for their studio mates during lunch and recess a couple of times throughout the week! Thank you!
Between gymnastics in the gym, yoga, skating and hockey on the rink, nature walks, and Just Dance parties, the Rebels had a great time in their Physical Development sessions this week!
Lastly, a huge thank you to one of our Rebels for setting up an awesome Fun Friday Smash Brothers tournament! We can’t wait to take part in more down the road!
Potential Discussion Ideas or Questions to Ask Your Rebel:
Spark Studio
Let's practice counting syllables! You can read your learner some words, and they can clap or put their hand under their chin to count the number of syllables!
What was your favourite exhibit to see at the museum? Who was your partner for the day?
What did you learn about Madagascar?
Which is your favourite African animal?
French: Can you tell me the days of the week in French order? (lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeu, vendredi, samedi, dimanche)
Discovery Studio
Quest: Tell me about Nemo and the sea anemone. What is symbiosis? What are the different types and some examples of them?
RW: How's your essay coming along? Will you have it on display at Exhibition next week?
What was your favourite moment from the Nature Museum?
When giving tough feedback, are you more of a controller, pushover, or snark? How can you shift to be more of a recoverer?
French: What colour is your planet? Who lives on your planet?
Exploration Studio
ML: Which elements of design did you incorporate into your logo? Did you try to achieve any principles of design? Why or why not?
RW: Do you think a community or small town can ever truly move forward after an event like the Witch Trials? Why or why not?
It is August 6th, 1945. You are President Harry S. Truman and have just been informed about the Manhattan Project. Will you:
Continue bombing the Japanese with conventional bombs;
Order a ground invasion of Japan, which will result in high Allied casualties;
Drop an atomic bomb on a deserted island to demonstrate the weapon, hoping to cause a surrender but wasting one of your two atomic weapons or
Drop an atomic bomb on a major Japanese city, killing up to 200,000 men, women, and children.
French: What visual did you find for your article?
Launchpad Studio
What do you think women want most? (Canterbury Tales)
As a leading Rebel Baron drafting the Magna Carta. Do you:
Replace "right to land" with "right to the pursuit of happiness" – giving up guaranteed land but having lower taxes, increased freedom of religion, and a representative council, or
Keep "right to land" – ensuring every citizen was a landowner while accepting higher taxes, no freedom of religion, and no representative leadership.
To whom did you send your NGA Declaration Talk invites? Do you need help sourcing any potential mentors?
Dates of Interest
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
Spark Skating Party - February 14th, 2024- 12:15 pm-1:30 pm (See Band for more details)
Master Chef Session Camp with Mme. Marianne- February 19th to 22nd (Please register before February 12th!)