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.