Welcome to Session 5! — Revel Academy

Spark Studio

We are looking forward to Session Five! In the Spark Studio, our Quest theme is Entrepreneurship! To start our inquiry, we will explore and answer questions such as, What is the difference between goods and services? Would you rather spend or save? Can you define a want versus a need? We will also explore different job types and learn about community workers. The heart of this Quest will have us designing our very own Spark business. The learners will create a name, logo and products to sell at Exhibition. We will also be covering an introduction to money as they explore operating a business!

Our mentor text for this session is the Caldecott Honor-winning picture book Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds. We are excited to introduce this book to the Sparks; they will love it! We will look at the story elements, make predictions, complete vocabulary and comprehension activities, and more!

During math workshops, we will continue exploring skip counting, this session focusing on counting by 10s. We will also be introduced to the concept of estimation and build on this math skill through some fun activities.

We are starting a new game for Show and Tell in this session. Each Friday, a small group of learners will be asked to bring in two items from home that rhyme. It would be great if the items were hidden in a bag. They will share one object with the group, and we will use our rhyming skills to guess the other item. We anticipate this will be a fun game, but rhyming is also an essential phonological awareness skill! (The dates and names of learners will be posted on BAND.) We will also be hosting more dates for Mystery Reader on BAND. Stay tuned if you want to sign up and read stories to the Sparks!

In this session in French, our central theme will be trades and the verbs associated with them. Of course, we'll continue to revise our numbers, days of the week and months, animals, fruits and vegetables.

Finally, in this session, we will celebrate St. Patrick's Day by building our annual leprechaun traps. We are also looking forward to March Mammal Madness, Pi Day, the arrival of spring and Easter!

Discovery Studio

The Rebels will venture into an exciting journey of discovery and creativity with Ms. Kaitlin as they explore mythology! Together, the learners will immerse themselves in tales of gods and goddesses, heroes, monsters, and mythical creatures. The Quest challenge will be crafting their own stories and breathing life into new gods and goddesses of their creation. Using their imagination, writing skills, and previous knowledge, they will weave a narrative that follows a Hero's Journey. The journey does not end there. In the spirit of excellence, the learners will vote on their final stories, selecting at least two to be presented at Exhibition. They will design a grand Book Club Exhibition, a sanctuary of myth and magic.

In Reader/Writer, the Rebels will go through an exciting journey to explore the world of Greek mythology by creating a comprehensive Greek God Biography. This project will allow the Rebels to build on their research and interpreting skills, utilizing non-fiction sources to craft an informative and engaging resource. Rebels will select a Greek God of their choice and thoroughly investigate various aspects of their existence, including their origins, powers, personality traits, symbols, myths, and influence on ancient Greek culture and society.

Our essential question in Math Lab this session is: what's the story? Rebels will engage with survey questions, tally charts, data sets, and the different forms we can use to graph and present information. Each week, we will discover how mathematicians can analyze data to look for trends and how data can be used to tell a story or even be misleading!

In this session in French, we will learn vocabulary associated with the human body. We'll learn about the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and more using an assortment of games and songs. We'll then make a poster of all the new vocabulary we've learned.

From 1492 to 1556 CE, the Rebels dive into the age of exploration ignited by Columbus's voyage to the Americas. We will then explore the Global Empires of the Mughals, explaining their interactions with other civilizations. In future weeks, we will reach the point of the American Kingdoms of the Mayan, Aztec and Incan Empires. Our last journey will trace the path of the slave trade to the Americas.

Exploration and Launchpad Studios

This session's Quest focuses on the infamous McCarthy Trials as Rebels take a deep dive into the forces driving the Cold War. For Exhibition, Rebels will recreate some of the trials by standing in the shoes of key historical decision makers from this time period as they navigate how to differentiate between truth and propaganda. Rebels will attempt to determine their stand on questions (Are enemies created or discovered? Was Joseph McCarthy a patriotic truth-teller or a liar?) and explore the framework behind creating and discovering "truth."

For Reader/Writer, Rebels will focus on a written piece around their McCarthy Trial debate as they create persuasive paragraphs to defend the character they're portraying in Quest. How can Rebels channel some of the Six Traits writing techniques, such as voice, presentation, word choice and organization, to enrich their speech and win over audiences at the debate? Rebels will hone their research skills as they learn all they can about their character, apply critical thinking as they analyze the information and organize their speech in a clear, concise and logical manner.

This session's Math Lab will develop the Rebels' algebraic thinking ability. Each week, they will engage with different puzzles, rich tasks or a game based on Algebraic Reasoning! Through visual puzzles like if/then or Splat!, curious situations presented in three acts, or Digit Disguise, a game of deduction, Rebels will deepen their understanding of patterns and relationships and how to represent them using variables, expressions, equations, and inequalities. Between all the fun and excitement, they will also have time allotted to each lab to embark on a personalized journey through KnowledgeHook, an online platform allowing Rebels to flex their algebraic muscles using digital manipulatives.

In French, Rebels will learn vocabulary, how to give directions, and how to make bilingual displays. And as a group, the Rebels will create their own Revel museum!

Having finished our study of World War II last session, we will move on to the effects of WWII and the Cold War. The topics we cover will include Mises and Hayek on Irrational Socialism, Schumpeter and Creative Destruction, Nuclear Power, the United Nations, Gandhi and the Birth of the Republic of India, The Rosenberg and Hiss Trials, the Korean War and the Domino Theory, Investing in Space Exploration, Satellites and Cell Phones, and lastly, the Rise of the East Asian Tigers!

On Thursday, March 21st, three Launchpad learners will give their Next Great Adventure Declaration Talks! In preparation, learners will be writing their drafts over the next few weeks, utilizing feedback, and practising their public speaking skills.

Additional Highlights will include our annual March Mammal Madness celebration, Pi Day, leprechaun traps, and a field trip to the Diefenbunker! Three Launchpad learners will also participate in a three-day Model UN simulation run through the University of Ottawa. It is sure to be an exciting session!