Grade Six Visits the Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre

As a part of our of learning about citizenship and justice, the Grade Six students are looking at the case study of the internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II. Our studies have included looking at the cultural heritage of the Japanese in British Columbia. In addition to wearing traditional garb and learning Japanese dances, the students learned about the first Japanese immigrant to British Columbia, the process of interning Japanese Canadians, and the conditions under which they lived during internment.

Grade Five Explores the Camosun Bog

Photos taken by Grade Five Students

Over three weeks this term, the Grade Five class has been visiting Camosun Bog as part of our Science and Math curriculum. On our first visit, we explored the bog, then sketched and took photos of the various plant, insect, and animal species, such as ferns, moss and lichen, spiders, and even a squirrel making his home in a birdhouse! We prepared for our second visit by splitting into groups of two and constructing cardboard grids which we took to the bog, and placed on the forest floor. Then, we plotted the species located in the grid on a piece of graph paper. For our third visit, we identified the different species on a handout and took even more photos! This is what one of the students had to say about the trips:

“ It was very fun making the grids and going to the forest!”

We learned a lot at the bog, like how to plot a piece of land on a grid and how to identify different species. Going to Camosun Bog was a very fun and educational experience and I hope that we can go there again!

Written by a Grade Five Student

Grade Seven visits the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra!

When we walked into the lobby of the Orpheum, we saw numerous classes from other schools, all there to see and hear the symphony!  The show started off in the setting of a living room and kitchen with a man snoring on the couch. The phone rang, and he discovered he was “late” to perform at the Orpheum. Trying to cover this up, he invited the orchestra over to his house. He began to talk about how you can make instruments out of everything and he makes a shaker out of a soda can, some tape and rice. The symphony played songs like Sabre Dance, Xylophonia, Mission Impossible’s Theme song, a bass solo and a cello and piano duet. There were also some kids who came up on the stage to play some of the handmade instruments. All in all, it was a really cool and interesting show, which I would recommend to everyone!

Written By a Grade Seven Student

Grade Six Student Researchers

A trip to the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library in September inspired these words of thanks from the students in Grade Six to our host librarians . . .

Learning to use the mircofilm reader in Special Collections

Reading historical maps of Vancouver

A quiet moment . . .

Searching for books . . .

Reading historical Vancouver newspapers

Searching for books . . .

“I had a lot of fun but I really liked the historical maps, they were so fascinating. It was interesting how in different time periods, the maps changed.”

“I liked the index cards better than Google because there was only one card for each event that happens instead of ten gazillion different websites with all sorts of strange things that don’t even have to do with what you looked up.”

“My favourite part of your tour was when you showed us the microfilm reader and explained how old newspapers crumbled over time as well as describing how scientists took photos of all the newspapers ever produced!”

“I am very grateful to the librarian who worked downstairs in the kids section, for showing us how to take and and put a book on hold.”

“I would like to thank the librarian for teaching me how to use one of the VPL computers. With that new knowledge, my friend and I found some information and printed it. We printed documents about Japanese Canadians such as information on the Asahi baseball team, the relocation of Japanese Canadians, and about Japanese Canadians themselves to share with our class.

“I especially liked learning how to find a book using the Dewey Decimal System. Now, it is so much easier to find what I am looking for.”

“My favourite part by far was using the microfilm reader because it was amazing to zoom in on all of the little pictures and see newspaper articles from years ago.”

Due to popular demand, the Grade Six class will be making a return visit to the Special Collections Room at the Vancouver Public Library to engage in some more research around the topic of citizenship and justice . . . stay tuned!

Ellen Schwartz Visits Grade Six

On Tuesday May 24th, Ellen Schwartz, a New Jersey born author who now lives in Burnaby, came to Grade Six to talk to us about some of her experiences in writing and to share her latest book, Heart of a Champion, with us. During her visit, Mrs. Schwartz assigned us some writing in which we would need to compose a scene inspired by one of the many paintings we have learned about in our art history studies. When we completed writing the scene, Mrs. Schwartz read and edited each one. She visited us one week later to individually conference with us. Since then, we have been working on using that scene in a story… stay tuned for the final results!

We anxiously await the start of the 2016-17 school year because Mrs. Schwartz will be back at ICS to lead a Writer in Residence Program with our Intermediate students – how lucky we are to have such an opportunity! To learn more about Ellen Schwartz, visit her website at:

http://www.ellenschwartz.net/

Written by a Grade 6 student

Vancouver Children’s Festival 2016

On Friday, June 6th the Grade One and Grade Two classes went to the Vancouver Children’s Festival at Granville Island to watch Splash’N Boots live in concert. They had us all singing, dancing and laughing during the fun-filled show. After the show, the students spent the afternoon exploring the various activities at Sutcliffe Park. It was a fabulous afternoon shared with friends in the warmth of the sun.

Grade Six Responds to Picasso’s Work

On June 15th, the Grade Six class of ICS went to visit the Vancouver Art Gallery to look at the Picasso Exhibit. I asked some classmates what they thought about his work . . . One person said that Picasso “puts his emotion onto canvas.” Others said things like “He has a very unique style that no other artist bothers to use.” I personally think that Picasso’s work is unique and fun to look at, but I wouldn’t like to actually own one. Another question I had for classmates was “Why do you think Picasso was inspired by African masks and statues?” Almost all of the responses were like this one, “Because they had different shapes and forms that Picasso seemed to like.”

At the end of the exhibit, we were all able to recognize that Picasso was an extraordinary painter with an extreme set of skills. Having the chance to look at his work was an amazing opportunity. At the end of the day, after seeing many Picasso paintings, I asked around the class to see which one was most appreciated. People said Guernica because it showed the emotions of all the villagers who lived in Guernica.

Reflecting on Guernica . . .

Bust of a Woman (Dora Maar), 1938

Learning about Picasso and the Spanish Civil War

Written by a Grade Six Student

Spring Miracles!

This Spring, the Kindergarten students witnessed the process of metamorphosis in butterflies! It was very exciting to watch as our tiny caterpillars grew into larger ones, and then changed into chrysalides.

We eagerly waited for the butterflies to emerge from these chrysalides! The transformation was magical for our student and teacher scientists. Along with Father Paul, a Grade 6 student documenter and two expert parent-gardeners, we released 24 butterflies in Father’s garden and prayed for safety in their travels.

Throughout the process, we posed many questions and posted these on our Wonder Wall. Some of these questions were:

• What do caterpillars eat?
• How much do caterpillars eat?
• Why do caterpillars shed?
• Do some butterflies have pink and purple on their wings?
• How does the caterpillar change into a butterfly?
• Why does the caterpillar turn into a chrysalis?

To find the answers to our questions, we read stories, engaged in learning activities, asked experts and enlisted the help of our Grade Four buddies. What an amazing learning experience!

Grade Four School Gardeners!

Last week, we harvested our lettuce to make salad. We shared our salads with the school. We harvested arugula, head lettuce, carrots, kale, basil, pea shoots, and kohlrabi for our salads. The classes thought our salad was amazing!

Many students asked for seconds and one student asked for our dressing recipe. One girl said she didn’t like salad before she tried ours, but now she does now.

We also learned about bolting. Bolting is when the plant gets too hot or too dry and it thinks it might die, so it makes seeds. Sometimes bolting makes the vegetable taste different.

We had a fun time in the garden and making salads. We are really grateful to our garden buddies who volunteer to garden with us.

Written by Grade Four Students

Grade Five Field Trip to Westminster Abbey

In April we traveled to see the Benedictine Monks at Westminster Abbey. We learned that monks teach the high school kids how to train to become monks as well as seminarians. We also learned that Benedictine monks were the only order of monks that existed in the Middle Ages. Our class also took part in the prayer service. At the prayer service, we listened to a very spiritual hymn. Inside the church were beautiful stained glass windows, which our class drew. Afterwards, to stretch our legs out, we took a walk through the forest, which led to a sunny field where we could look down and see the Fraser River. We started to walk back, and saw a statue of our Immaculate Mary. We also walked to the church to see the old graveyard. Our class picked flowers and laid them on the gravestones. Our class had a wonderful time at Westminster Abbey.

Written by a Grade Five Student