UBC Math Department Students Visit Grades Six & Seven

In October, the Grades Six and Seven classes of ICS had some UBC students visit and lead us in an educational math workshop. In the workshop we were separated into five groups, each group had five ICS students and one UBC student .  We were all given a sheet with a lot of difficult word problems, then the groups had to solve as many of the questions together with the help of the UBC student.  We all enjoyed working with the enthusiastic UBC students so much.  

The feedback from Grades Six and Seven was overwhelmingly positive. Read on for some student quotes….

“It was very helpful, and the students helped my group and I understand the questions.  It was a very good experience.”

“I thought it was very generous for the UBC students to come to ICS. And it was interesting how they thought through the math problems.”

“It really pushed us to the limits, and we really had to think of the problem carefully.”

“It was a good chance to practice word problems.”

"It was really challenging.”

"It was fun, some of the questions were pretty challenging.”

“There was a math question that was pretty challenging, and one person got it.”

"I really enjoyed doing the math questions with my group, the UBC student helping us really made us think and understand the question thoroughly.”

Written By Grade Six Students

Hear ye! Hear ye! The IC Times!

We are excited to announce that we have a new club at Immaculate Conception - the Newspaper club. 

The first edition of The IC Times was published at the beginning of December, under the guidance of Grade 5 teacher Mr Formosa, and the editor in chief is Daniel G (Grade 7 student). Many students, from Grade 4 to 7, contributed articles ranging from culture and literature to what the various classes have been up to in the past few months, and a feature story on Christmas traditions.

Enjoy!

Grade Seven Outdoor Education Adventure

It is a privilege for Grade Seven students of our school to attend outdoor education at Camp Summit in the Squamish Valley. Here are two accounts of what outdoor education was like for the Grade Seven class.

“October 16th to October 19th was one of the best times of our lives. The Grade Seven students went to Camp Summit. At Camp we made amazing memories with our classmates, teachers, and counselors. We met new people and had the chance to do some amazing activities. The activities were so much fun. We went rock climbing, mountain biking, archery, hiking, and learned some survival skills. We played night games and even went canoeing. And after we finished the activities and dinner, we sat around the campfire to learn new songs, and listen to funny stories. And when the fun day was over we went back to our cabins, wrote in our journals and went to bed and woke up to another fun day at Camp Summit.“

“Last October 16th - 19th the Grade Seven class attended outdoor education at Camp Summit. The trip was very fun and full of adventure. For example, we did whole day trip to Alice Lake. We learned how to canoe and go geocaching. We also went on a hike through the Alice Lake  forest. Even though it was pouring rain, everyone enjoyed themselves.

Mountain biking, ropes course, archery, and rock climbing were all the activities we did while we were at camp. Also we learned how to make a fire and homemade chocolate-chip bannock. After dinner we weren't even finished with the day.  We would play a night game and have a big campfire where we sang songs and did funny skits. While camp was cold,wet, and everything I had was drenched I still had the best time. Not just because of the great food but because my classmates and I all created a close or even closer bond with each other.”

A New Crew of Garden Buddies

The first unofficial Garden Buddy session was on a fitting day as it was the first day of Fall!  Our study of the day was seeds - their adaptations for survival as a species, the great diversity found in seeds, seed dispersal methods, and the basic structure of seeds.  We enjoyed finding seeds in our gardens and had a little fun playing with our seeds (who doesn’t enjoy playing with helicopter maple seeds!?)

Another of our recent experiences had us visiting Pacific Spirit Park and the Camosun Bog!  It truly was a magical day exploring, learning, touching, smelling and listening to God’s beautiful creation. We started our day learning about the “web of life” and how intricately everything is connected to each other in the forest ecosystem.  

Our main outdoor tasks in our first sessions included dismantling last year’s trellises, removing all garden refuse and chopping it to small bits to add to the compost.  We even discovered that some compost soil was ready to add to our garden beds.

Highlights of the 2016-17 School Year: Garden Buddies Share Their Bounty!

To sum up our final months of Garden Buddies, this parent shared her family’s experience with us . . .
"Our child has loved, loved, loved this whole gardening experience! We have had so much information on the process of planting and harvesting, the progress of the group’s vegetables, the challenges of the trellis, the making of the “keep out” signs, etc. And yesterday was clearly the best day of all!  We enjoyed the butter on bread at dinner last night, and are looking forward to picking up some radishes and baguette so that we can experience (with some trepidation!) a French breakfast!  Thanks for providing the students with this rich learning experience – a great combination of group work, problem solving, self-reliance and sustainability."

Garden Buddies Care for Our Common Home

The Grade Four class at ICS is in its third successful year of Garden Buddies, a co-curricular effort shared by students, staff, parents, parish volunteers, and community Master Gardeners. Here is what our students have to say about this comprehensive and very special program ...

“We do Garden Buddies because it teaches us not only how to plant but to work as a team and try our hardest. Most importantly, it helps us know how to care for our common home.”

“We have done lots of planning about where and when to plant the plants. We planted a cover crop in November and have turned the soil many times and we have planted potatoes in tubs. Additionally, each group picks the seeds that they need and plant these. We have also made the trellises.”

“We have the opportunity at Garden Buddies to learn about nature and seeds, how to garden, how the ecosystem works, and why gardening and bugs are important.”

“Some of our roles in gardening are tool cleaning, compost monitoring, watering the plants, hilling up the potatoes, planting, and helping each other.”

Bucket Truck Visits Kindergarten

On April 5, 2017, a Kindergarten dad, visited our class with a bucket truck. The students were so excited to learn about his job and his work truck! They had many questions prior to, and during, the visit. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity.

A Visit to the Museum of Anthropology

On Thursday March 2nd my class went to the Museum of Anthropology at UBC for a field trip. It was amazing! There was a dance with hoola hoops. The lady that did the dance made many different animals with the hoops. The costumes were beautiful -it was so fun!

During the Museum of Anthropology field trip we saw the different exhibits. Our guide, Liz told us all about the Museum and a few interesting stories. I liked looking at the Musqueam masks. My favourite part was watching the Coastal First Nations Dance Festival. It was a great day!

Written by a Grade 6 student

Le Carnaval d’Hiver at ICS

Today Mr.René Tumel came to visit ICS. We participated in many traditional events such as making a wooden doll dance, making music with two wooden spoons, and a taste of traditional maple toffee. Mr.Tumel owns his own maple tree farm. It was passed down to him from his father and grandfather before him. He still uses all of the traditional methods and produces all Canadian maple syrup. Mr. Tumel will always be an inspiration to my generation as we uphold true French Canadian culture.

Written by a student

Preparing maple syrup ice for the students

Aujourd’hui Mr. René Tumel est venu visiter ICS. On a participé dans plein d’ événement traditionnel comme fair danser une poupée fait en bois, jouer les cuillerée, est goûter la tire. Mr. Tumel tient sa propre ferme d’érable. Il la héritier de son père qui la héritier de son père avant lui. Il utilise encore les méthode traditionnel pour produire son sirop d’érable. Mr. Tumel sera toujour une inspiration pour ma génération pour soutenire la culture Canadiennes françaises.

Kallie George Visits Grade One!

On Monday, February 6th, Kallie George came to our Grade One class. She taught us about being an author.  Kallie George did a writing activity with us. She drew a neck on a piece of paper and a person in our class had to draw a head.  It was fun.  We named our new magical animal “Snuggles the Merbunny.” Kallie George showed us her books.  Kallie George is a famous author.  It was a great visit! If you would like to learn about Kallie George, visit her website www.kalliegeorg.

Written by a Grade One Student