Gold performance at the Chancellor Music Festival

On Monday, May 4th, the ICS choir participated in the 34th Annual Chancellor Music Festival at Our Lady of Mercy School in Burnaby. They performed two songs: Shout with Joy! by Mark Patterson and The Beginning of Love by Greg Gilpin.

We are very proud to share the news that our students were awarded a gold! Gold standing is awarded for receiving a mark of 88% or higher. This means that the choir sang to almost technical perfection!

During our time at the Festival, the choir had a chance to work with a trained professional who gave them a 15 minute clinic on choral technique to enhance their already successful learning of these songs. She commented favourably on their singing in two-part harmony, their wonderful energy, and strong voices. What an opportunity for our choir members!

At our assembly next Monday, May 11th, (10:45 in the gymnasium) the choir will be reprising the songs they performed at the Festival.  All are welcome to join us!

Speech Arts at our Little Blue School

UPDATE:  Congratulations to the ten students who represented ICS at the Archbishop Carney Speech Arts Festival in April. Gold and silver medals were achieved by all ten of our participants – we are so proud of you!

Originally posted April 15, 2015

On Friday, April 10th, we held our Speech Arts Competition to determine which students will be attending the Archbishop Carney Speech Arts Festival later this month at St. Joseph’s School. What a talented group of orators we have at ICS! There were two categories for the intermediate students: prepared Bible reading and poetry recitation. The poems ranged from the engaging verse of Shel Silverstein and Roald Dahl to the pensive and contemplative verse of Mary Oliver, Robert Frost, and Matthew Arnold. Bravo to all of our competitors! The decision was not arrived at easily; one Grade Four student and one Grade Five student will be advancing in this category. In addition, we have two students representing ICS in the prepared Bible reading category. Best of luck to you all!     

The primary students shared equally fun poems with the audience and also included some Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky gems. One student from Grade Two and one student from Grade Three will be advancing in this category. Theprepared Bible reading is always challenging, as our students must prepare three of the readings but do not know which one they will read on the day of the competition . . . congratulations to our Grade One and Grade Two winners! Finally, the primary students also take part in Prose Recitation and the selections this year were most challenging, ranging from Mercy Watson by Kate diCamillo to Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling.  Kudos to our Grade Two and Grade Three students who have advanced to the Archbishop Carney Speech Arts Festival in this category. 

We wish all of our contestants the best of luck and we will be thinking of you on April 22nd!

Author Mentor Ellen Schwartz Visits Grade Six

Grade Six has had a three year working relationship with local author Ellen Schwartz. Our most recent workshop sessions with her included a sneak preview of the editor’s notes on her latest novel, Heart of a Champion, the story of Vancouver’s historic team of Japanese Canadian baseball players. Mrs. Schwartz shared the tribulations and triumphs of editing and revising a beloved piece of writing. Next, she lead the students through an exercise in fiction writing. Our very own ICS authors toiled over their writing pieces for several days and then  the writing was sent to Mrs. Schwartz, who became our Editor-in-Chief, returning to meet with each student the following week to conference and provide a “critical review” of the writing.  What a strong contribution Mrs. Schwartz has made to our writing program and to each student’s ability to live a “writerly life”!

Dear Mrs. Weaver and class
 
Thank you so much for the photo and card, and for your kind words. I had a great time working with you and reading all your funny, scary, spooky and true stories. Good luck with your writing, and remember: strong nouns and verbs!
 
All the best,
Ellen Schwartz