10 Great Things to Talk About this Week

It’s been a very busy week!  There is much excitement as projects wind up and new ones begin.

1) Our Odyssey of the Mind teams competed last Saturday and did very well in competition.  Our two grade 6/7 teams both received silver medals.  And our grade 8 team won gold and is eligible for World Finals at Michigan State University. The Tumble-wood team won the OMER award and were nominated by the problem judges for overcoming set-backs and challenges and persevering through their performance.  The team demonstrated lots of team work and positive attitude to continue after their balsa wood structure did not hold the crusher plate.  (We will be uploading pictures and videos of the competitions soon).

2) We had two presentations for Student Vote.  Students will have the opportunity to vote in a parallel election on May 13th.  The BC NDP and BC Liberal candidates in our schools riding came to speak with us and we asked them some tough questions.  See our blog post about their presentations.

3)  We also got outside and enjoyed the sunshine.  In PE this week, we challenges each other (Div 17 vs Div 18 and Grade 6s vs Grade 7s) in exciting games of California Kick-Ball.  I anticipate a re-match on the next sunny day.

4) This week we had the opportunity to speak with incoming grade 5 parents and students at the Grade 5 Parent Night.  Many MACC students offered tours of the school and several of our grade 7’s presented some of their projects from the past year.  The students also shared what was helpful to know as an incoming student and answered questions about the transition for elementary to middle and to MACC.  Thank you to Chiara, Emma, Corra, Maddie, Connor, Liam, Christine, Makenna, Natalie, Jennifer, Eunice and Tara.

5) This week Explorations Report Cards went home.  In our current classes we are in Home Ec and Art.  In Home Ec, we did food labs for apple muffins and cookies.  In Art, we start the class with daily doodles and are working on textured landscapes.

6) At the Evergreen Cultural Centre this week we painted and created poems.  The exhibit was on Pierre Coupey.  He was a writer that followed his dreams to become a painter.  He now incorporates poetry into his paintings.  This was a fun and amazing experience! http://bit.ly/186HGJG

7) Over the past month, students have been desiging a country that has a government, flag, anthem, economic system and their place in the global community.  The countries had their own identity, allies and enemies in the global community and had to be self-sustaining.  The country was required to be located in an extreme environment: deep water, desert, polar, volcanoes, outer space or caves.

8) Ms. Abbot’s class had a government quiz on the three levels of government in Canada.  We have had several lessons about government structures in Canada and before our quiz we played a Canadian Government Jeopardy game.

9) Today we watched a video made by two students in Hillcrest.  The video showed about how people can cyber-bully and how they can hide behind the internet.  We did a Facebook questionnaire about our usage.  “I thought the video was a good idea and they are trying to raise awareness about cyber-bullying,” said Mark.

10) Strong Kids continued this week and students had the opportunity to continue to develop awareness about their feelings and discussed and did role plays about ways to handle anger.

 

Evergreen Cultural Centre: Pierre Coupey “cut out the tongue”

Celebrated BC artist Pierre Coupey, founding editor of The Capilano Review and co-founder of The Georgia Straight, brings his latest groundbreaking exhibition Cutting Out the Tongue – Selected Work 1976 – 2012 to the Art Gallery at Evergreen, from March 16 to April 27, 2013.

Coupey, raised in Montreal, studied at McGill University, Paris’ Atelier 17, UBC and the Art Institute at Capilano University. He has been a practicing writer, printmaker and painter since the early 1960s. In the mid-1970s, he made a pivotal decision to focus his energies primarily on visual art, that is, on the “wordless” and “mute” activity of painting.

Although the influence and importance of literature in Coupey’s life and work cannot be denied, this exhibition looks at Coupey’s trajectory as a painter over the last four decades, on the contradictions and tensions deeply embedded in his abstract canvases, and his decision to metaphorically obey Matisse’s impossible admonition to “cut out the tongue” and paint.  From Evergreen Cultural Centre website

Students had the opportunity to work in the studio and explore the exhibit in the gallery.  We started in the studio with a canvas and two primary colours.  We covered the canvas usually different textures and brush strokes.  As the canvas dried to ventured upstairs to explore the colour, texture, and text in Pierre Coupey’s works.  We explored the influence poetry and lyrics had on painting.  We also wrote poems after looking at one of Pierre Coupey’s paintings.   We returned back to the studio to tape off the canvas and to layer more paint.

Student Vote – Presentations from BC Liberal and BC NDP Candidates

On Tuesday April 23rd, Selina Robinson, NDP candidate for MLA of the Coquitlam – Malliard riding, came to Hillcrest to talk with us about local politics and what experiences have helped prepare her for public office. She told us how she ended up becoming a politician, and gave us a bit about her past. She was also telling us some reasons why we should vote for her, and also her plans for if she wins the election. She talked about many things such as her plans increasing funding for hospitals and the health care system, removing the food-banks (because people would have jobs and enough money that they wouldn’t require them) and more taxes for the people who make over $150,000 and on the banks. She also talked about the need to have more grant money available for students to be able to afford post-secondary education.  Selina also talked with us about the Evergreen Line and the need to work with other levels of government to ensure that public transit is safe and pedestrian friendly.  She also discussed the need to work on the congestion in the corridor between Coquitlam and New Westminster.  Selina explained that she was opposed the to the Enbridge pipeline. 

Steve Kim, candidate  for the B.C. Liberals spoke with us on April 24th, he explained how his parents were actually among the first Korean immigrants to come to Vancouver. They had opened the first Korean food shop. He said how great his childhood was growing up in Coquitlam, and said that he quite enjoyed it here. After he graduated from university in Canada and completed a graduate degree in Korea. Steve went on to work for a television show doing marketing which featured 2 farmers sitting on a fence, and they talked about modern-day technology, and how it was, with all of the new-fangled gadgets and Smartphones. Steve was very involved in community non-profit and just 5 weeks ago he was asked to run for the BC Liberals.  After thinking about it seriously, he decided to take a break from his small business and his non-profit work and let his name stand as candidate for the Liberals. Then, the students started asking him questions about what he was going to do about the issues of today, such as the environment, the Kinder Morgan pipeline, and the healthcare of B.C.  He answered most of our questions with personal experiences or stories.

We really appreciated the time that Steve and Selina spent with us – we had a rich conversation after their presentations and the students have even more hard questions about provincial debts and balancing social needs with revenue generation.  The reflections written above are by Evan and Alex.

Greater Vancouver Regional Science Fair (Part #1)

Ms. Abbot and 8 MACC students have been at UBC for the past 2 days.  The students arrived in the Student Union Building (SUB) and set up their projects just after lunch.  We went for a short walk in the sunshine to the Library to release some of the nerves and then headed back for the first round of judging.  We started in the theatre with an orientation and introduction from the GVRSF Chair and a welcome from the Dean of Sciences.  He said that the students are already members of the scientific community and that science is messy – so to relax and enjoy the experience, the conversation and the learning.  The students went in and Ms. Abbot and the parents stayed out.  While the projects are judged only students and judges are permitted in the fair.  At 5pm, hungery faces emerged and we were able to chat for about an hour as everyone ate their dinner and told us about the types of questions the judges asked.  Still excited and awaiting the more judging, the students returned to their projects until 9-9:30pm (ish).

Early morning Friday, we returned to UBC and were ready for a day of excitement (with less pressure than yesterday).  Today was lab tour day – each student signed up to visit a lab on campus.  Students will be posting about their lab experiences next week.  Ms. Abbout was an adult chaperon for the Biodiversity Brainiacs tour of Beaty Biodiversity Museum.  The tour was amazing – not only did we get to check out the collect and hear about how the museum came to be, but we also got to go into the labs behind the scenes.  We saw the process of preservation of specimens.  Imagine beetles helping remove organic matter from dolphin bones… and then imagine a drier to preserve birds and the steps taken to maintain the integrity of the birds physiology.  We also lucked out because they were getting ready to do necropsies on snowy white owls that had died in Mud Bay and they hoped to figure out why they were dying.  One of the most interesting observations of the lab was how collaborative it was – the labs were set up in an open way so colleagues in different fields could collaborate or in the case of the snowy white owls colleagues from different agencies or organizations.  There was also an incredible things we learned about that some birds wings have patterns that glow under black light (but that will be in the next blog). 

We then went upstairs to a lab that was studying jumping spiders and two researchers shared the work they are doing for their Masters.  One was looking at correlations between body shape and environment and another was looking at the chromosomes to learn more about their evoluntionary development.  We also learned how to feed fruit flies to spiders.

We returned to the SUB and the students explained their projects to visiting school groups.  And we were able to catch up with a MACC alum who know is now enrolled in Vancouver.

After a quick lunch, we all eagerly headed to the Science Show.  So eager we were nearly in the front row, but second row was great for us.  Imagine taking a pledge “I promise… I will NOT try this at home.”  And then the fun began… launched a bottle rocket… canoned a ball (very very soft)… sent electrons through a chain of people… some firey ignitions and some hair standing on its ends.

Tomorrow the fair is open to the public 9-12noon and there are more than 25 students from SD43 participating from more than 6 different schools.  http://www.gvrsf.ca/

Apres Spring Break – 10 Great Things to Talk About from our 1st Week Back

Our students and teachers came back to class well rested and full of stories of adventures and revitalization.

1. On Tuesday, both classes started the Strong Kids program with facilitator Karen. All grade 6/7 students at Hillcrest are participating in the program this spring.  The Strong Kids program is designed for teaching social and emotional skills, promoting resilience, strengthening assets, and increasing coping skills of children and adolescents.

2. In preparation for Model UN and our provincial election, we are going to look at the basics of running a country.  Students were assigned a new project this week – “Build Your Own Country in an Extreme Environment.”  Students  will create some of the basic components for a sustainable society in an extreme environment (space, desert, ocean, caves, volcano or polar region).  This week students have been staking out their identities and should now have a country name; determined the country population; country flag, motto and anthem; map of where in the world the country is located.  We expect that these tasks will be finished in draft form.  All students have a green project outline and timeline.  Please ask them to share it with you, so you can see the scope and timeline for this assignment.

3. Fitness Fun!  We started the next PE term with a 12 minute run and a circuit.  Students ran a marked course of the grass field for 12 minutes.  They were encouraged to set a run – walk pace that was comfortable, either running the sides and walking the ends of the field or running half and walking half.  Ms. Moody reviewed the purpose of the walking as a rest time to help improve their fitness and endurance.  Students will have the opportunity to improve the number of times they ran around the field and we will have them run it again later in the term.  The fitness circuit was a new circuit for the students and switched up some of the cardio, leg, arm and core stations.  Sarah,  Christopher, Leah and Makenna loved the sprinting station.  Natalie liked doing the aligator.

4. We are participating in the Student Vote this year.  We are encouraging students to listen to news and find out who is running in their riding.  Students will have the opportunity to examine each parties platform.

5. A Math Contest is coming up on April 17th.  Students was had the chance to work through a practice test this week.  If students are interested in looking at some more practice questions to prepare, grade 7’s should look at the Euler contests and grade 6’s should look at the Pythagoras contests.

6. In Language Arts, we are reviewing some reading comprehension strategies and working on creative writing.  Students will have the opportunity to submit writing to the Middle School Journal of Writing (deadline is April 19th).  We will have limited access to computers prior to the deadline, so revisions and editing will likely need to be completed at home.

7. Rugby practice started … Ms. Abbot and Ms. Moody watched the many smiling faces squeak down the hallway wet and muddy.  About 50 students were out for the first practice and we have a parent volunteer coaching the girls (approx 20 girls have signed up so far!)  Mr. Geddes and Mr. Meagher (Mr. Holbrook’s Aussie exchange teacher) are coaching this year.  Students are still able to come out if they would like to participate in this awesome sporting opportunity.

8. In Explorations, students is Art are painting their clay projects and learning water colour painting techniques and students in Dramus are starting their hiphop songs on Mixcraft.  There is one more week in this explorations term and on April 15th students will begin the final explorations term.

9.  Upcoming learning opportunities – Both MACC 6/7 classes have been registered to participate in the Physics Day – Amusement Park Science at Playland.  Students received a permission form on Thursday and we will be needing parent drivers and parent volunteers.  We have two upcoming Art Workshops at Evergreen.  The first is a morning session looking at the works of Pierre Coupey, an important figure in the Vancouver Art Scene, has been a practicing writer, printmaker and painter since the early 1960s. In the exhibition, we focus on his large scale abstract paintings from the last three decades as well as the influence that his poetry has had on his visual work.  Students will create a short poem inspired by the works of Pierre Coupey which will then be layered onto the surface of their own acrylic abstract painting. They will use techniques found in Coupey’s paintings such as distressing and scratching into the thick surface of the paint. The second session – Members of the Fraser Valley Potters Guild (FVPG) will display their diverse ceramics in this annual juried exhibition including burnished pit-fired earthenware, raku, electric, gas and wood-fired stoneware and electric-fired crystalline porcelains. Students will design and build an incredible vase or pot inspired by natural forms. The pieces will be created using various techniques such as coil and slab work.  Both Evergreen sessions are limited to 30 students.  We will require parent drivers for both of these sessions.

10. Year End Learning and Team Celebrations – Our final year end project this year will be our Model UN and the students will be working with members of the Model UN Club from Charles Best to prepare and they will receive more information at the end of April.  The Yellow Team in planning a swim at Spani Pool and a team BBQ during the last weeks of school and all grade 6/7’s at Hillcrest will be participating in a school based activity day.  Ms. Abbot and Ms. Moody had tentatively planned a picnic and kayaking day at Rocky Point Park as a MACC year end wrap up but as other activities have been scheduled throughout the year, we are seeking feedback from families to assess the interest of the kids and the affordability for families. 

We are looking forward to a busy and engaging term 3.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact either of us.