Welcome to Session 6!
We hope that all of our learners enjoyed their well-deserved break and are ready to work hard and have fun in Session 6!
Here is a preview of what we will be exploring in each of our studios over the next six weeks.
Spark Studio
Sparks, are you ready to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy?! Hop on the Magic School Bus for this Quest full of adventure as Rebels investigate various scientific themes, including the human body, space adventures, kitchen chemistry, and gardening!
This session's mentor text is Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin. The Sparks will explore the story elements, giving opinions and text-to-self connections. They will work on vocabulary development, such as syllable and word sorting. Lastly, the learners will work on comprehension activities to explain the author's purpose, the problems, and the solutions.
In Math Lab, the Sparks will focus on geometric and spatial reasoning over the next six weeks. They will sort three-dimensional objects and two-dimensional shapes according to one attribute at a time and identify the sorting rule being used. The Sparks will also learn to describe and construct the objects. Following this, they will develop the skills to describe the relative locations of objects or people using positional language. They will work towards giving and following directions for moving from one location to another. Together, we will use a combination of words and numbers to describe a path to move from one location to another.
With summer fast approaching, this session's central theme in French will be nature! All of the Rebels have made phenomenal progress in French, so we'll also begin learning sentence construction and French syntax.
We are excited about two special events during this session! First up, our Nature's Ninjas Workshop presented by Little Ray's Nature Centre! We look forward to seeing live animals such as a ferret, tarantula, scorpion, small crocodilian, lizard and a boa. We will also visit the Ottawa Children's Festival at LeBreton Flats in May to watch a performance called "Learning and Forgetting." It is sure to be a great session!
Discovery Studio
"Even though our time on this planet amounts to the last word on the last page of the story of life, we are the authors of the next chapter." - Blake de Pastino, PBS Eons.
Welcome Discovery Rebels to Prehistory Alive! This session's Quest asks some BIG questions: How have life, landscapes, and climate changed over time? How did living things respond to those changes? How have organisms changed the physical world? To answer these queries, Rebels will explore the history of Earth with a focus on the Phanerozoic eon. By first learning how geologists measure time in eons, eras, periods, and epochs, we will start to make connections to the special events and extinctions throughout the last 4.6 billion years. From week to week, Rebels will move upwards through the strata, or layers, of the Earth and closer to the present day. From the Cambrian explosion to the Great Dying to the dinosaurs, giant asteroids, and finally, the modern configuration of the continents and the arrival of hominids, Rebels will be truly equipped to make history come alive at their immersive Exhibition. Moreover, Rebels will be given ample opportunity to ponder how the past informs the present and how this knowledge can be applied to solve today's problems.
In Reader/Writer, in this session, we'll consider the following: What skills do the strongest writers have? Do they have a unique way of giving characters their voice? Are their plot lines organized and flow smoothly from one to the next? Is it their word choice? The Six Traits of Writing framework allows Rebels to explore Voice, Ideas, Presentation, Conventions, Organization, Word Choice, and Sentence Fluency. Each week, we will challenge Rebels to focus on one of the six traits, with the goal of taking their writing to the next level as we approach the end of the year.
Rebel Mathematicians, we've answered many essential questions so far this year:
How many?
What do we have now?
What's wrong?
What do you see?
What's the story?
This session's Math Lab is no different. Over the next several weeks, we'll explore this new question: How big and how small?
Whether it's eons or seconds, the distance from Ottawa to Vancouver or the length of your pencil, to the amount of sand on the beach or salt for a recipe, you will learn to measure things and their parts, big and small.
In this session for French, we'll be learning about weather and climate phenomena. The Rebels will be learning enough weather vocabulary to make a live weather report and learn how to read a weather radar map. We'll also learn/revise verb tenses (e.g., It rained yesterday, It is raining today, It will rain tomorrow.).
Exploration Studio
Ready to explore the science behind your favourite sports?! Well then, Batter Up! This session is all about healthy living and the Science of Sports! In Quest, we will explore biology, chemistry, and physics concepts through hands-on activities and experimentation. We will review the scientific method before diving into the field of physiology, including the study of the mechanisms and requirements of organ systems that have changed the world of sports. Learners will also explore different forms of energy and learn how and why energy is transformed from one form to another. Rebels will then turn to the study of structures, including the human body, as it is made up of several parts arranged in a particular way to support the force of its own weight and various loads. Learners will review the classification of structures, define the centre of gravity, observe different forces acting on structures, and experiment with the force of friction by using the human body — or structures regularly found in sports— as the basis for their study. This is a very hands-on Quest, and learners will conduct several experiments before designing and performing their own on a sport topic of their choice. They will complete the process by writing a lab report and creating a presentation board in order to help communicate their results at our Session 6 Science of Sports Symposium!
Fitness and wellness are more important than ever in today's society, so let's flip the script and focus on developing a value for personal fitness in our PD classes this session. Rebels will learn why fitness is essential to a balanced, active lifestyle, and how anyone can have a successful personal fitness journey as they try various exercises and create their own fitness plan.
This session is all about sports stats in Math Lab. We will review and determine various statistics, including mean, median, mode, range, Interquartile range (IQR), Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD), and Z-Stop by hand and then with the help of tech. Learners will then design their own statistical project to complete a thorough infographic at our end-of-session Exhibition! Learners also have the opportunity to earn an honours badge by completing each Problem of the Week this session!
In Reader Writer, Rebels will embark on their largest Reader/Writer project to date. Focusing on comparing and contrasting two significant events in history that we've examined in depth this year, Rebels will write an essay using a comparative essay format, citing examples from the works they've used in past sessions and creating a bibliography to accompany their essay. Rebels will seek to answer the following question: "How were the McCarthy Trials in the 1950s similar to the Salem Witch Trials in the 1690s? Think about how people were treated, why they were accused, and what happened as a result." Newer team members who have not participated in this year's past Quests/Workshops on the McCarthy Trials or Salem Witch Trials will have the option to create a comparative essay using a topic of their choosing.
In this French session, learners will be invited to watch, listen, and read interviews with activist artists while learning about Francophone culture. The learners will then work to create their own personally engaged artwork!
In Civilizations, we will pick up this session from where we left off with the Cold War. We will look more closely at the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Space Race, Mao's China, the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam, Korea, and Watergate.
Exploration Rebels will be able to participate in a weekly Book Club focused on the Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. While not all Rebels are required to join in, those who do will get credit for a Deep Book badge as they analyze the text with their peers and Erin each week.
Lastly, Our newer Exploration Rebels will have the opportunity to take our Apprenticeship Prep course to identify, research, and secure a meaningful apprenticeship in an industry of interest! We look forward to helping them learn how to write professional emails, create concise phone scripts, and practice their interview skills!
Launchpad Studio
As our Launchpad learners complete their foundational courses and discover areas of extreme interest, they are able to advocate for the coursework in which they would like to participate in each session.
Based on learner interest and university requirements, Launchpad learners have the option of taking two different physics courses during this session. One option is to complete the traditional High School Physics course, while the other will be taking an edX course entitled "Astrophysics: The Violent Universe." In the astrophysics course, they will explore all the most deadly places in space, ranging from white dwarf stars, supernovae, novae, pulsars, and neutron stars all the way up to giant black holes. There is also a bonus, which, week by week, learners will build up the story of a mysterious and different universe, and their job is to try and find out what's going on here. No matter which course the learner chooses, they will be responsible for designing an experiment to display at Exhibition.
This World History session will cover the Napoleonic Empire, the Socialist Response, the Congress of Vienna and Nationalism, World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, and the Great Depression. It is sure to be a session full of excellent research and discussion!
Young Drivers of Canada will also come into the studio to teach two of our learners this session! Their defensive driving school will prepare them for everything they need to know, such as parallel parking, 3-point turns, hill parking, traffic, congestion, roundabouts, highway and freeway driving. They will also teach them how to drive with safe driving practices to give them the confidence to drive defensively and pass their road test!
Due to their interest in computers, two other learners will have time each week to build a PC! They will be given a budget and must research the required components, source them at the best value, and then build the PC. They will also be required to load the necessary software and learn about security measures and maintenance.
We are also working hard to set up self-defence workshop(s) for all of our Launchpad learners in this session to go along with their Personal Fitness classes.
Dates of Interest
Spark and Discovery Nature Ninja Workshop with Little Ray’s Nature Centre - Monday, April 8th
Solar Eclipse - Monday, April 8th (See BAND for details)
Family Book Club - Wednesday, April 10th from 6:30 - 8:30 pm in the Exploration Studio
Exploration Meeting with Canadian Olympian Dr. Sandra Kirby - Thursday, April 11th
Exploration and Launchpad Field Trip to 4Wheelies - Friday, May 10th
Spark and Discovery Field Trip to the Ottawa Children’s Festival - Monday, May 13th
Session 6 Exhibitions
Discovery Exhibition - Tuesday, May 14th at 4:15 pm
Spark Exhibition - Wednesday, May 15th at 4:15 pm
Exploration and Launchpad Science Symposium - Thursday, May at 4:15 pm