This year did not end in a typical way and we appreciated the support of parents and the community during the month of June.

This year we also are saying goodbye to two of the program teachers.  Mr. Utting will be recalled to a position in the district over the summer and will not be returning to MACC in the Fall.  We have appreciated the expertise and experience that Mr. Utting brought to MACC this year.  The students appreciated his deep understanding of science and his ability to push and challenge them in Math.  He was able to bring experts into the classroom and take the classroom out into the community.  Ms. Moody & Ms. Abbot enjoy the opportunity to be able to work with and collaborate with Mr. Utting.  Thank you for what you contributed to the program and best wishes for the Fall.

Ms. Moody was offered that chance to fulfill a professional dream of opening a new middle school.  After four years, she is also leaving Hillcrest and MACC this year.  She has been a key person in laying the foundation for what the MACC program is today.  She leaves a legacy for future students and teachers.  Thank you for this solid foundation and best wishes at Eagle Mountain Middle.

Here are some of the highlights from the last weeks of this school year:

The grade 6’s had been working with Ms. Lenarczyk (a teacher with CAST) on understanding self-regulation through sensory input.  The students learned about their sensory needs and ways to meet them within different settings.  Students then worked in teams to design an ideal classroom to meet the sensory needs and learning preferences of the class.  We experimented with different ideas including lowering a table closer to the floor so students can choose to sit on the floor at a table.  We will continue to work on the design of our classroom and share pictures and our ideas in the Fall.  One activity Ms. Lenarczyk did with the class was making our own stress balls.

The students all participated in a Water Wise Safety presentation with the BC Lifesaving Society at the end of May.  Students learned about safety equipment required when boating and ways to help protect the marine environments.

We learned about amusement park science at Playland with Yellow Team!  Speed…. Forces…. Gravity….

This year we also say goodbye to a dynamic group of grade 8’s that have shaped the program, have learned from and taught each other.  Middle school is a place where students come into a school community in grade 6 and then 3 years later they leave to become part of new school communities.  Coming and going is a part of what we are…. as your teachers we have been honored to be a part of your journey. Please keep in touch and have a safe and enjoyable summer!

 

We were very excited to welcome all the new incoming MACC students to Hillcrest this week for a orientation visit.  Students arrived in the morning and got to know our current grade 6’s.  These will be the students they are in class with next year.  When our current grade 6/7’s left for explorations class, the grade 5’s wrote a math assessment.  This assessment helps us plan the math program for next year by identify areas to focus our instruction on and students who can be clustered together.  Between recess and lunch, we went through a questioning activity in groups with a grade 5, 6, and 7.  Students generated questions and wonders they have personally, about the region and about the world.  The teachers will use the input from the students to help design themes, assignments, projects and the lens that we will look at the curriculum through next year.  Students left just before lunch and received a MACC Survival Kit and letter from a current grade 6 student.  We are very excited for the coming year and were very happy to have had the opportunity to meet you and work with you this week.

Congratulations to Liam, Sam, Wonjun and James  for achieving a perfect score on the Gauss Math Contest this year.

For more information about the Gauss Contest, please see http://www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/contests/gauss.html

 

We started with blogs, but then we didn’t have the time or interest.  So we start making batch games.  Batch is a coding program, which is like a CMD.  –Tiernan & Evan

I did a scale model of the Parthenon which has columns and a removable roof.  I built it with a scale on 5mm : 1 m. – Olivia

I tried baking with bacon.  I made cookies, brownies, and different ways to cook bacon like candied bacon. – Dakota

Our passion project was we made a fake news cast with commercials, the weather forecast, fashion segment, breaking news and bloopers.  – Chiara & Maddie

My passion project was to create Sketch Up models of different buildings and my own designs. – Roger

I did programming and I made a variety of games.  I programmed in Batch and Lua.  I’m learning C^# now. –Mark

I made a Lego robot made out of Lego Mindstorm that plays Rock, Paper, Scissor.  It is programmed to do random selection and I made it without instructions. – Jackson

I built and paint a model of a Lamborghini Countach LP1. –Evan

I maintained a blog of my writing and current events.  I am writing two novels right now – one is about Theban Tormentor and the other is on the Great Cataclysm. See more on my blog here. – Rex

We made a blog on Minecraft for Beginners. Check out our blog. – Josh & Liam

I did a blog on supernatural creatures, places and events. – Ted

I did a hockey pool.  There were 3 different hockey pools with more than 30 teams.  –Connor

We made movie trailers for random short movies we made. – Lucy & Sarah

I made a visual presentation of the story of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. – Dayna

I did Sketch Up Dream Room for my project.  I had bunk beds, dressers and bean bag chairs. – Giuliano

We made a website that was linked to a series of servers that we hosted.  –Mason, Evan, Alex, Liam

We did dessert recipes.  My favourite was Oreo cookie balls. It basically was cheesecake only in the shape of balls and it had crushed oreo cookies crushed into it with a chocolate coating. – Sarah & Jennifer

I created a quiz using Batch.  The quiz was on math concepts. – Christopher

I silk screened a bunch of t-shirts and fabric.  My favourite was a maple leaf design. –Dahlia

I wrote two stories. One is a remix of Repunzel  and the other was about a museum field trip. – Bridget

I did game play of a World of Tanks game.  – Ethan

We made music videos and our favourite was “Dreams Come True” – Maggie, Jaxsyn, Vanessa, Leah

 

I did mixed media crafting.  I like working non-traditional jewelry making. – Chandra

I read books and wrote reviews. My favourite books were the Percy Jackson series. – Kevin

I made a bow and made a presentation about how I carved the wood. –Kate

We did a website on nail design and step by step instructions.  – Mia & Brianna

We did opposites in painting.  We focused on different painting techniques and made jewelry.  –Olivia & Elisa

I did abstract art work.  – Kylee

I did abstract art too. – Christine

We made different designs of friendship bracelets. – Tara & Eunice

I made an apple raspberry pie using raspberries grown in my own garden.  – Max