Monthly Archives: April 2012

10 new things to talk about

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As we approach the end of April, the MACC classes are as busy as ever.

1. Last week all students wrote the Caribou math contest from Brock University and the Euler / Lagrange / Pythagoras contests.  Students can access their results from the Caribou contest online and the other results will be scored and sent to us by the end of the year.  The next Caribou contest includes an interactive question, students can practice the mastermind type of question here.

2. Students have started a dance unit in PE.  Ms. Moody has been instructing all the class on Monday and Tuesday.  This week students learned circle dances, next week’s focus will be on line dances.  The school will have an afternoon dance on May 9th when students can practice their moves with the whole school.

3. Eminent People Afternoon is coming soon!  An opportunity for students to showcase their work and dress up as their eminent person will happen on the afternoon of May 11th.

4. Earth Week continued in Mundy Park this week as all 3 classes heading to the park to plant trees and shrubs.  Ask your son or daughter what they named their tree.

5. The grade 6 HCE class had reminders about facebook and online security and privacy this week.  If your son or daughter has facebook, please review their security settings with them.

6. All 3 MACC classes are attending a presentation of “A Mid Summer Nights Dream” at Charles Best next Friday.  Watch for permission forms next Monday.

7. MACC 6/7 are continuing to work on their novel studies.  Students are continuing to read and complete assigned responses.  Ms. Abbot’s class has embraced the story of “Half Brother” and are learning sign language.

8. In French, students are working on their Family Trees.  Both Beginners and Intermediates have homework this weekend to complete their family trees.

9. Ms. Abbot and Ms. Moody attended an oral research inquiry at Monty Middle last Friday.  With other teachers and administrators, we explored research related to multi-age classes and the grade 6,7,8 team model at Monty.  Much of the research focused on the social-emotional benefits of multi-aged classes and we look forward to sharing more about this topic soon.

10. Parent Information Night for Incoming Parents happened this week.  6 MACC students shared their experiences about MACC, answered questions and showed some of their work from this year.  Another 3 MACC students participated in the schools’ information night.  All demonstrated great leadership and hospitality as they welcomed new students and parents to Hillcrest.

Inspiration Garden: Day 1

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One day we went to Inspiration Garden. It was lots of fun! First, we were paired up with grade 2/3 kids (we were grade 6/7.) I bet it was a little scary for the younger kids. Anyways, after we were paired up, we were assigned to different stations. In the station that I was at, we were planting radishes! It was kinda cool because we learned how and when to plant radishes! After the first station, we went to the second (keep in mind that others had started at different stations). At this station, we made little plant pots ot of newspaper, filled them with dirt, and put seeds of sunflowers and watermelon into them (seeds that can’t grow in the winter.) After that, we went to a station where we tested the amount of sand in the soil. We were given glass jars to fill with dirt, (from the station that they had given us) washing powder, (the soap) and water, we then did so! We still haven’t gotten the results. After that, the class was over and we were allowed to tour around the garden while we waited for our rides. And that’s pretty much the first day at Inspiration Garden!

Tree Planting in Mundy Park

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Our Earth Day celebrations continued today, as student from grade 6, 7 and 8 planted trees and shrubs in Mundy Park.

10 great things to talk about

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Another shorter week but four full days of adventure…

1. MACC 6/7 found about about the culmination of the Eminent People Project.  Each student will participate in a ‘catered’ lunch as a person of their choice.  Students are expected to present as their eminent person.  Ms. Moody will be loading the criteria and expectations in a separate post.

2. We also started a novel study this week.  All books are around the theme of sustainability.  Ms. Moody’s class is working on a novel assignment and Mrs. Simcox is working with Ms. Abbot’s class on literature circle discussions and character studies.  The novels we are reading are: Operation Redwood, Scat, Chomp, Half Brother and Flush.

3. Eminent People Projects are now overdue.  Several students are working on extensions right now and we would encourage them to focus on completing and submitting as soon as possible.  Please remind students that every detail of every project does not need to exceed our expectations.

4. Independent Math Check In – with approximately 8 weeks remaining in the school year, student should have no more than 2 units of their grade level math remaining.  If students have set a faster pace, they will be ahead at the end of June.  We expect every student to complete their grade level work by June.

5. Inspiration Garden workshops have continued and students are getting ready for their first visit to the garden next week.  Ms. Moody still needs some additional drivers, if you are able to help please email her.

6. Kellie Hart, from the City of Coquitlam, came in to work with the students not participating in the Inspiration Garden.  This week, student completed a waste audit on the trash & recycle containers in the hallways.  Students are hoping to impact the amount of waste and continue to reduce it.

7. Activities coming up to celebrate Earth Day:

Monday  – Informational Announcements encouraging students to use reusable drink containers.

Tuesday – Random Acts of Green-ness, get caught doing something good for the planet and receive a prize!

Wednesday – Recycle your used batteries or cellphones!  Blue Team has challenged others teams at Hillcrest to see how many we can collect this week.  Bring them into the school office before Wednesday at lunch to be included in the contest.

Thursday – Litterless Lunch, the group will be trying to have a litterless lunch… no wrappers, no disposable products, no food waste.  Students will be encouraging the school to try in the near future.

Ongoing – We are continuing to work of ways to save energy, recycle more paper products and make the drink container recycling more efficient.

8. On Friday, students participated in a production by the Dufflebag Theatre of Romeo and Juliet.  MACC`s own Christine M participated in the role as Juliet.  Looking forward to a student review of the performance.

9.Ms. Moody presented at the Board of Education Meeting, on behalf of all MACC teachers, about the successes over the past two years and some of our dreams for the future.  MACC teachers, from all 3 sites, will be meeting with Sharon Jeroski (Educational Consultant) to continue to work on refining and developing the MACC program.

10.Reminder that next Friday April 20th is a District Professional Development Day.

10 Things to Talk About…

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Welcome back from Spring Break!

  1. Mrs. Simcox is back and teaching in MACC for her final UBC Practicum.  She will be teaching HCE 6, 7, 8 and Ms. Abbot’s core class.  All students in MACC will have the opportunity to work with her as she learns and becomes a professional teacher.
  2. Eminent People Project continues and students are working on finishing their biographies and conversation topics for their hypothetical dinner party.
  3. Students participating in the Inspiration Garden project met for the first time on Friday and learned the details for the coming months. 
  4. Students not participating in the Garden project, started exploring zero-waste and the impact of waste.  Next week, students will be working with the City of Coquitlam to conduct a waste audit.
  5. Students are beginning a new unit in HCE on drug literacy.  The program is called iMind.  The parents tip sheet can be found here.
  6. A parent resource (recommended by iMinds) The Road Ahead: Guidebook for Parents of Young Teens
  7. Blue team started Team PE, after a break for Term 2.  Students were able to try out the new fitness circuit Ms Moody designed.
  8. Students are continuing to work on Passion Projects.  Ms. Moody shared her progress on her project with Div 7,
  9. Our poetry unit is winding up and students completing published copies of poems.  A gallery of samples will be posted next week.
  10. en francais – a new unit has begun and students are working on their families.

Inspiration Garden

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What it basically is: An activity in which students grades 6-7 are paired with grades 2-3 and learn about sustainability and how it relates to the environment and agriculture, as well as learning leadership with the younger children. Students will have the chance to interact at the Inspiration Garden and write down their experiences in a small journal.

Each week, there are some challenges that students can volunteer to do, and make a 2-5 minute presentation about the topic of the challenge they received and about what they learned.  This is a great opportunity for the children and students to learn about the environment around them, all while having fun in the garden!