For our junior high and high school students, online learning is the perfect chance for them to practice self management and time management. It can also be seen as a valuable learning opportunity for our older students who will likely be required to submit assignments and work online at university.

ELA

From Mr. Lee

The students were asked to create a product to promote awareness for people around the world about the corona virus. Some students decided to write a poem, or create a poster. In Howard’s case, he decided to create an engaging video for this assignment. Students first had to research and fact check their sources. Second their data and writings were proof read by Mr. Lee. Third, they created their project. Howard’s video is not actually his first draft. Howard was asked to recreate and edit his video after some feedback. Overall, Howard’s final product was engaging and taught the viewer about the corona virus.

Math

From Mr. Marshall

Although this time at home has been difficult for students, it has also been an opportunity to slow down and focus on a few important tasks. In middle school math, we have had the opportunity to create individualized review plans, so that students are focusing on areas they struggled with earlier in the year; it has also given them a chance to apply these concepts to real life circumstances. Each of the grades have been working on projects, but in Grade 9 students were tasked with the job of developing a diet and fitness plan. First, they had to assess their client’s goals to either gain or lose weight, then to set up a fitness routine and diet with nutritional information charts. This helps students see the complexity of using math in daily life. Attached is an example of student work (Gr 9 – Jisu).

Social Studies

From Mr. Volk

In Social Studies, the Grade 8 class has been studying a unit about the Aztec people of Mexico and their cultural contact with the Spanish. We explored many topics within the Aztec culture such as economy, religion, food, social structure, and warfare. The students created projects about Aztec religious beliefs, as well as study guides based on traditional Aztec Codexes. Currently, we are studyng the arrival of Hernan Cortes and his conquistador army as they marched on the famous Aztec City of Tenochtitlan, and will be writing source analysis essays soon.

Science

From Ms. Bush

During this time of online learning, myself and the students have been communicating primarily through our class Wechat groups. Students have been working hard to complete digital note packages in which they work through vocabulary words and key concepts. In addition to this, students are required to watch short videos through a variety of different platforms. As well, students have had to watch screen-casts and PowerPoint presentations to help supplement their understanding of the material. The students have shown their dedication to learning by completing assignments in a timely manner and asking for help when needed. Going forward, we are going to be experimenting with Zoom, to further enhance our face-to-face communication and group discussions. I am looking forward to exploring more opportunities and ways to enhance our online learning experiences!

Science 10

From Ms. Dryden

Science 10 students began their online learning with the Chemistry Unit. They had previously studied Chemistry in Grade 9 and build that information into Grade 10. Students have been reading through chemistry formulas, creating reactants and products, and learning how the Periodic table works. Students have completed a quiz to show their knowledge so far. They have been awesome at asking questions and sending in work – always diligently working! Students have also learned lab safety and the WHMIS symbols. 

Online learning has been fun for our elementary classes the past couple of weeks. Starting March 16th, we have been adjusting to a new online schedule for lessons and meetings. Let’s take a look back at some of the precious moments from last month!

Grade 1

From Mrs. Kay

Grade 1 online learning has been a challenge but it has also been really rewarding. Being able to see my class and for them to be connected to each other is really special. So much of school, especially in younger students, is about the relationships they make with each other and the ways we help each other learn in the class room. Grade one teachers are always trying to think of ways we can bring that connectivity into our online lessons.

Homework is sent home at the beginning of the week and students are encouraged to try their best to start the homework before our first Zoom Class. This way most of our class time can be dedicated to answer questions about the homework rather than introducing assignments. We also use class time to watch short videos together and to read English books together — something we used to do in class almost everyday! It’s not the same, but our Zoom Classes are a lot of fun. It’s nice to see everyone and to hear ideas about English Language Arts stories or questions about animals during Science lessons.

We are currently working through a story writing unit in ELA, our All About Animals unit in Science, Subtraction and Addition in Math, and we are completing our unit on Communities in Social Studies.

As fun as our online classes are, we are excited to get back into the classroom!

Grade 2

From Mrs. Martel, Ms. Morganna and Ms. Jacques

In the Grade 2 class the students have been working on using different adding and subtracting strategies, learning about magnets and have started a “trip” to Meteghan in Nova Scotia, Canada. 

In their descriptive text assignment, students had to write a descriptive text using sensory words and following the writing process to write about a mystery animal. When we come back to school, we will have a little guessing game to see if we can guess which animal our friends wrote about! 

In the magnetism unit, students have had various activities to complete at home that would make the Idea Lab Team proud. They had to make a toy or a game using magnets, build a magnet sculpture and another was to create a magnet painting. Currently, they doing a little scavenger hunt, looking for everyday magnets in the home, once they have found one they need to take a photo and upload it to the class Padlet. The students exemplified their creative and divergent thinking through their amazing work and discussions we have had on Zoom.

Through this difficult time, our class community is working as a team helping the students succeed, thank you to all the boys and girls and their parents for their commitment!

Grade 4

From Ms. Gee

In grade 4, online learning has been a series of tasks for students to complete. It is organized by date so that students have a clear objective of what they need to complete for each day, similar to the schedule of the day at school. In the beginning weeks, there was a fun theme to the tasks, such as a treasure map, Pokémon or Minecraft. These learning tasks has included self made videos, posters, read aloud and responses as well as the more traditional write ups.

Grade 5

From Mr. James

In ELA, 5A & 5B students as part of their unit on Extraterrestrial Life wrote a conversation between Buzz Lightyear and Sheriff Woody Pride as they talk about Buzz’s plan to find out if there is Life on other planets. Next, students were asked to perform their dialogues and video themselves. The dialogue was to be 2 minutes or more long and have a good mix of declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences. Students were asked to follow these steps to make great videos:  

– Memorise the conversation

– Practice the dialogue out loud until they were confident and clear

– Use different voices for the two characters

– Work with someone else who is the second character, if possible.

– Add actions to the dialogue, in other words, act it out. Or, use the Buzz and Woody toys as puppets to act out the dialogue.

Well, students did all of that. And they also did much more, demonstrating a wide range of additional skills and understandings. 

In Science, students have begun their chemistry unit in Science. They have recently learned the difference between solids, liquids and gases. We then continued on to learning about different kinds of mixtures. Students were tasked with being creative at home and creating a homogenous mixture and heterogeneous mixture. Here is a collection of what students came up with.

Grade 6

From Mr. Navarro

The 6th graders of class A have been engaging in online lessons in the subjects of Mathematics and Language Arts thus far.

In math, we did a lesson on ratios. Students were able to learn a simple concept and demonstrated their understanding of this concept by doing various word problems. Students were given ample time to complete these problems. As a class, we took up the answers together so that students were able to assure their understanding of the content learned.

In Language Arts, we studied different poetry terms such as similes and metaphors. During this lesson, students were given the definition for each term, followed by a few examples. Students then had to come up with their own examples by either making one on their own or researching one online. Students had to be able to explain the meaning of their example as well.

Students seem to be looking forward to these online lessons, as they tend to ask if there is one on days when there is not. As a teacher, I continue to find ways I can improve online learning for the benefit of my students and their learning.

Art

From Ms. Grkovic

Today on Online Celebrations, we are celebrating 2B in art! Students were given rules to understand and complete a one-point perspective drawing in the beginning weeks of online teaching and learning.

Students learned that in order to make a good one-point perspective drawing, they first needed to get a piece of paper, a pencil, an eraser and a ruler! Once students had their tools, they then needed a horizon line and a vanishing point to create a beautiful one-point perspective masterpiece!

Once one-point perspective was understood, students were able to move onto two-point perspective! Ms. Grkovic has received positive feedback from her students, their parents and many students not just in 2B, have shared that they are enjoying doing their art every week.

Music

From Ms. Lemay

In music class, our grade 5 and 6 students are well on their way to becoming professional recorder players! Students have been diligently practicing at home, sending their videos to Ms.Truong and Ms.Lemay to receive personalized feedback, and are constantly improving their skills. Learning an instrument is not only fun, it also helps to develop fine motor skills, increases the connections between the left and right brain, and develops the learning of a new language, music! 

The Recorder Karate method is used so that young musicians can move at their own pace. When students master a piece, they earn a “colored belt” and move on to the next level! Some students have even advanced up to 6 belt levels in a few short weeks. Here are some of our recorder karate masters….

According to GZ government, it’s not necessary for ECE to conduct online learning program. At CIS, our teachers are spending time to design online activities to stay connected with our little friends regularly, and the activities are optional to our families. Hope we’ll can meet each other and start our fun learning again!

PreK 2

Online learning with 2-year-old children can always be challenging, but even during this difficult time we have found that even the youngest of learners can adapt to difficult situations.

Many of our parents have found ways of allowing their children to take part in lessons even when they had to go off to work themselves. Without the support and help from parents, grandparents and Ayis, we would not have the privilege of being able to interact with our class and see their responses to learning.

Our 2-year-old’s have had the opportunity to take part in color mixing activities, story readings, yoga, counting, art activities and our most recently an introduction to body parts and senses.

We have seen many excited faces, heard wonderful responses and received beautiful work from those who have attended lessons.

PreK 3

Our PreK 3A friends had time for some science experiment! Parents have been actively engaged in child’s learning. We received amazing video about explaining the Coronavirus by our family. Great job!

In Prek3B online learning has been all about reconnecting. It was very exciting for the children to see each other again. They brought their enthusiasm and bright smiles to every lesson. During these lessons, we have been reviewing our colours, numbers and simple concepts such as same/different. We also learned how to draw and apple! This inspired us to have an virtual snack together. Miss Kelly taught the children how to make her favourite snack; apples and peanut butter. It has been a positive experience for all!

PreK 3C has enjoyed learning about and reviewing different topics, despite the sometimes complicated logistics involved with online learning. After going over patterns, the kids got creative and made their own using materials they had at home. In Mandarin class, the students learned how to properly brush their teeth. Although challenging, we have played various interactive games with numbers, colors, and shapes.

PreK 4

Over the past few weeks, the students in Pre-Kindergarten 4A have come together to learn and build community in our online activities. From reading stories together as a class, singing songs, creating art projects and engaging in interactive literacy and numeracy activities that focus on age appropriate skills, it has been great to see the students excited to partake in our classes!

It has also been wonderful to see how involved our Pre-Kindergarten 4A parents and grandparents are, as they sit in on our classes with their child and further support student learning at home!

Kindergarten

From Mrs. Fawcett and Ms. Hanhart

For a couple of weeks now, Kindergarteners have been learning about outer space and how the world might have begun. Students observed Mrs. Fawcett perform the volcano experiment and were challenged to perform it themselves at home. Volcanoes are believed to contribute to both the existence and extinction of dinosaurs. Thus, Kindergarteners are now simply segueing into yet another exciting unit of inquiry: Dinosaurs!

During this period of online learning, KB students completed their Outer Space unit. For this unit, students learned about the celestial bodies in outer space, how they move, and where they are in relation to one another. We prepared ourselves for our journey to space by learning about astronauts and rocket ships! Then we zoomed into space wearing our home-made space hats! Using imagination during online lessons has been essential in helping students become engaged in their own learning. We explored the different planets in our solar system and how each one is unique. Students drew and talked about their favorite planet and why they like it. We witnessed a science experiment that explored how craters form on surfaces like the moon and why some are larger and deeper than others. 

To end this exciting unit, students drew or built their own solar system giving it and their imagined planets names, describing their system in detail such as how the planets move and explaining why they like their system. The wonder and excitement that came from KB students for this unit provided the encouragement and drive that we needed to continue our learning and help strengthen our classroom community. We are returning back to Earth but traveling back in time for our next unit where we will be diving into the exciting world of dinosaurs!

Next Thursday, June 20th, at 1:30 & 6:30, the Drama Department presents: “An Evening of One Acts.” The students have been working hard to produce this show. Each class, from Grade 7 through Grade 9, in addition to the high school drama class have each produced an amazing one act play. There will be four total plays. Each one runs roughly 20-25 minutes. They are fully produced with lights, sounds, and costumes.

The content is appropriate for G2 – high school children, and of course adults. Both shows are open to public, you’re welcome to come at either time.

Grade 7

Eat Sunshine, Not Zebras

by Dara Murphy

The field believes in uniformity. Lovely rows of blades all the same height. Lovely rows of blades exhibiting standard behaviour of green grassness. Nothing stands in the way of their orderly life. Until they wake up one morning to see a yellow dandelion in their midst. Sunny (that’s the dandelion) is bright and warm and just wants to be friends. The field wants nothing to do with her nonstandard, non-green ways. A dandelion will turn their orderly way of life upside-down. A dandelion must be destroyed. Isn’t that what you do when something is different?

Grade 8

The Distracts…Oh, Look, A Kitten

By Ian McWethy

Today’s teenagers face many…look a squirrel! All Mica, a 15-year-old girl, has to do is write the last paragraph of her essay on the Great Gasby when she has to face the hurdles of the internet. Trying to get the right details is not so easy when all you have is Wikipedia to fact check. Your friends keep asking you to watch cat videos and play games.There’s a break up in your class and you NEED to remain neutral…but all you want to do is write the last paragraph of your… “boxing cat, boxing cat, boxing cat.” Come watch the trials and tribulations a teenagers faces when interfacing with the interwebs.

Grade 9

School Daze

By Lindsey Price

You remember middle school. That first day can be a funhouse or a hall of horrors. Will I fit in or be left behind? Did I wear the right clothes? How will I find the right class? Why do those eighth graders look so big…

Middle school is the tricky tightrope between being a kid and being a teenager. How did you fare? Did you fall off the tightrope? Did you hold on?

See the characters in School Daze try to keep their balance on the first day of middle school.

High School

5 Worst Break Ups, EVER!

By Ian McWethy

Katie thought she had the worst break up in history when her boyfriend dumps her the day before prom to go with another girl that he’d been dating for the past three months. That’s when Eve Tonsil appears. She puts things in perspective as she takes Katie through the 5 worst break ups in the history of mankind.