NEWS AT THE MABIN SCHOOL

“Schools Plant The Seeds of Knowledge. Children Make Them Grow.”

Our whole school Anniversary picnic and ceremony in May was a touching commemoration of our first 30 years and a celebration of what the future may hold.

After a delicious picnic on the grass and a chance to run and play, the students came together in their mixed age Integration groups and walked down to Roycroft Park. There, they gathered around the new Kentucky Coffee Tree which was planted earlier in the morning (with some help from the city) in recognition of the school's 30th anniversary.

The ceremony portion of the afternoon consisted of a variety of music, a blessing from a First Nations elder, speeches and the launching of our 30 year Time Capsule. There was even a chance to rise up together and do a very active version of The Mabin School song. And before returning to school, students and staff found a moment to add their special and individual 30 year wish to the base of the tree, which was then carefully watered and covered with fresh soil in order to allow new roots to grow.

 

Hail To The Bard

“We’ve been working really hard and it all paid off,” said Hunter with a satisfied grin after two fabulous Grade 6 performances this term of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

The class production was the culmination of a year long class study of Shakespeare and Elizabethan times. "They studied at a very high level," says MJ. "By the third day of school, they all knew the plot of Twelfth Night and were already thinking about how best to perform it."

Studying and learning the play formed the bulk of the year's work, but the students also found time to compile a scrapbook with all their reflections, research, activities and assignments around Shakespeare.

"I have things like information about the Globe Theatre and a character comparison between the play Twelfth Night and the movie, She's The Man," says Ryan looking through his collection. "There's our idiom comics. And I wrote a pretend love letter from Sir Andrew to Cesario. I made it sound like it was coming from an idiot... because Sir Andrew kind of is."

The play took shape when the class did readings to get a feeling for the characters. They were then set with the task of memorizing the lines for two roles—one for each performance. "I was Fabian and Maria," adds Ryan with a grin. "That was sort of tricky because I had to switch from being girly in one role and then act like a guy's guy who feels pretty good about having a beard!"

As things tend to do at Mabin, the study quickly branched into other areas of the curriculum. In Music class, the students used the new ukuleles as lutes to play and compose some Shakespearean music which was performed throughout set changes in the play. There were also recorded pieces using the Garage Band software and they wrote the lyrics for the closing song using Shakespeare's original words.

The backdrops and the props for the shows were all designed, painted and constructed in Art class, as were the colourful and intricate costumes. The students designed, sewed or made portions of their own costumes and had the expertise of a make-up pro and costume designer to help bring their characters to life.

"I was so pleased and proud of the children's efforts in both performances," says Mary Jane. "Their acting was terrific and it was obvious they understood their roles and the words deeply. The class learned so much more than their parts and Shakespeare's words... they learned they can do anything when they set goals and work earnestly to achieve them! "

 

The Kindie Basketball League

“We’re helping with shooting, dribbling, passing and defence,” explains Max in Grade 5 about the basketball clinics he and some of his fellow leaders in Grade 5 organized this term for the Kindergarten students during recess. “We’ve made an obstacle course to practice dribbling and we lower the net for shooting baskets. It’s really good. I like the Kindies and doing this stuff with them is super fun!”

Facilitated by Jill, other activities include ball handling drills and learning the basics for a strong defense.

"I really like doing all the different basketball things and I like the Grade 5's," says Owen in SK. "They show us tricks!"

 

Lettuce Eat Lettuce!

Our JK and Grade 1 classes raided the Mabin vegetable garden like voracious rabbits one sunny afternoon this term, harvesting the school crop of lettuce and radishes for one giant salad tasting party.

“There was a really hot weekend and it grew so much,” says Emily in JK. "We had to eat it or it would get sour,” explains Max.

Not to worry. The students loved all the different flavours of their garden options.

"I liked the radishes best," says Ruby in Grade 1. "Me too!" says Amanda. "They tasted better than the lettuce. Only if you had a lot of them were they a bit spicy."

Planted by the whole school during our Earth Day celebrations, it was our JK's and Grade 1's who took on the big responsibility of tending to all the lettuce, radish and pea crops.

Initially planted in small boxes, the JK's later teamed up with their Grade 5 buddies to transplant some of the lettuce plants into larger blue boxes. The class diligently watered the lettuce and other plants every Tuesday and Thursday, observing the daily growth of their plants and watching the greens begin to bloom.

“The sun comes down from the sky and goes down into the lettuce,” explains Addy. "We watered it some days with Pam and it just kept growing," adds Mykola.

Meanwhile, our Grade 1's are also immersed in a nature and growth study, doing their bit to water the Mabin garden on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Not only are the 1's keeping the soil nice and moist, but they are measuring the growth of each of the plants and documenting their observations and data in their Science journals.

"We keep track of the weather and then circle whether to water the plants or not," explains Fraser. "We also write down the date and the measurement of our plants and things that we notice. And we draw a picture of what we're seeing."

"The students are quite impressed with all the growth and are cheering their plants on," says Pam. "Some of them were worried about who would care for the plants while we went on our class trip to the zoo. Jordan in Grade 1 told me she had a flowering plant at home that was growing like a pea. This is a reference to just how well our pea plants are growing!"

 

Team Robotics

They did it! Our two Grade 5 Robotics teams, the Robot Rebels and the Transportationators, both competed in the Lego League Challenge held recently at Crescent School. The high energy Saturday was filled with excitement and challenges for both teams. "I feel we did pretty well in general," says Robbie. "Unfortunately, our robots didn't perform as well as we thought they would. It was just bad luck and a lot of pressure."

After the first round, the two teams were placed 5th and 12th and ironically were paired against each other in the playoffs. The Tranportationators emerged from that good natured contest, but were eliminated in the Final Eight. Nonetheless, both teams came away with awards. The plucky Transportationators won the Against All Odds Award while the Robot Rebels picked up a second place prize for Creative Presentation.

Both teams have spent the past two months, under the guidance of Chris and Pam, getting ready for the tournament. The students built and programmed their robots and did lots of collaborative problem solving in order to score as many points as possible on the big day.

There was also a research portion of the challenge to complete and then present to a panel of judges before the robot competition could get underway. The theme for this year's challenge was Transportation and for the research portion the class decided to explore travel safety and its evolution over time.

"Both teams decided to make a video to present our research," says Owen. "We wrote the scripts and shot and edited the movie. In my team's video (The Transportationators), we turned the school into a museum for all different forms of transportation and tourists were exploring the rooms to learn more about safety."

"The Robot Rebels video is based on the MTV' show, Cribs," jumps in Greer. "We are also touring people around. Sophia and Lucas are the hosts and they show people around their crib. In each room, there are team members who did research talking about their room and information in a funny and creative way. We show how the safety has improved over the years. Like with cars, they made seat belts and added roofs and now you can't even hold a handheld devices like iPods and cell phones."

Says Chris, "The students have demonstrated a strong sense of ownership and commitment to task through the roles they have taken on. This project constantly required them to come up with solutions... a wonderful life skill. I am amazed and inspired by the students' energy, excitement and creativity."

 

Who Ya Gonna Call?

SRR stands for Safety, Respect and Responsibility and the new Mabin SRR Crew is a determined bunch of Grade 4, 5 and 6 leaders out to promote these shared values on the playground and throughout the school.

"I saw other kids in the past being playground helpers and I've always wanted to try it," says Alexandra in Grade 6. "It's fun. Sometimes it's uneventful, but that's a good thing."

"We get band-aids and ice if a student is hurt," adds Lily in Grade 5. "And if there's a problem, we help the kids work it out. We listen to both sides of the story and problem solve with them to find a resolution."

Respect is promoted by watching for students who are doing things well and then noting them on the special tree downstairs by the Gym. The tree was set up to celebrate those who are promoting safe, respectful and responsible behaviour.

The crew had two training sessions, one on conflict mediation and one on first aid basics, before taking up their role on the school yard at recess.

"Doing this is preparing you for challenges coming up in your life," says Sophia in Grade 6. "Like in your new school— if someone gets hurt, you'll know what to do. Or maybe you want to become a doctor?"

They're completely excited to take on this role," says Jill who, along with Lisa Grassa, has facilitated the initiative. "More and more students are asking to be trained to join The Crew.”

 

Strumming Along

"It's very much a folk instrument," says Ian about the new colourful class set of ukuleles in the Music Room. "We are strumming chords and singing songs. Everyone can easily play a C chord and we sing, Sally Go Round The Sun."

A direct Annual Fund donation from a Mabin family and towards the Music program allowed for the purchase of a class set of ukes. "Every grade is having a chance to try them out," says Ian, "but it's really Grades 3 to 6 that are going to a deeper level, learning notes and chords.”

Our Grade 6 students are integrating with their Shakespearean studies and pretending the new instruments are lutes, using them to compose some Shakespearean themed songs.

"The students find it challenging, but they're learning quickly," says Ian. We asked Max in Grade 4 to clarify just how challenging. "I find it medium. It's hard to remember the notes, but we've managed to learn one tune in our class. I know the C chord and a few others. It's definitely fun!"

 

Dem Bones

"We're making a whole human skeleton," says Lucas about his class Grade 1 bone study. "I made a skull out of tin foil, yogurt cups and bandages."

The bone rattling skeleton project in the Art Room is part of a larger class study of bones which began back in September. During an early Integrated Project Time, the students had a chance to explore a number of objects such as a cicada, deer antlers, a wasp, a human skull and shells. It was the skull that generated the most interest. Over the following weeks, various students and teachers brought shark teeth, a beaver jawbone and a mouse skeleton into the class, all of which the students examined closely, making observations and posing their questions. They wrote about the bones and even sketched them. In Art class, the students located the femur bone on their bodies and spontaneously constructed some 3-D models. But, it didn't end there.

"They all decided they wanted to work together and build a life sized skeleton of a child," says Bonnie. "It was amazing how onboard they all were. They are using recycled objects covered with plaster bandage. They've made a skull with a hinged jaw—they had to problem solve how to make that happen. They've done the spinal cord, the tailbone, the clavicle. Now they're working on the ribs and a hip bone. A few students are working on fingers. How to connect them all is another problem we need to solve."

"We might try using wires," proposes Cordelia. "I made a foot with toes. I made it with Gabriel and it was easy, but attaching it will be harder."

"I made a sternum, shoulder blades, part of the skull and a leg,"says Olivia R.

"There's so much learning going on," says Bonnie. "It's a really fluid process. When they're done working on one piece, the students buddy up and help out who ever is working on something else. We're going to be raising a generation of young doctors. Their vocabulary is amazing around what they know."

"They're definitely really excited about it all," says Sandra. "During a recent class crosstalk, I asked, 'How many bones do you think we have?' and everyone had their shirts up, counting their ribs. They are really engaged and doing a lot of problem solving. We're also incorporating it into math, counting out the bones in the hand and wrist."

What's next? “We want to work on the different joints with Pam in CSI and figure out how they work, maybe even construct them,” says Sandra. "And they're thinking about making brains," adds Bonnie, "and other internal organs."

 

Our Mabin Nation Integration

"My buddy was Lauren in Grade 5. She helped me get up on the monkey bars," says Carys in JK.

On a mild autumn afternoon, the whole school picked up and moved operations to High Park for a few sunny hours, a chance for our mixed grade Integration groups to get together and make some new friends.

Integration is a favourite time at Mabin, an opportunity for children of different ages to work and play together. Strong interpersonal skills are modeled by older children who act as group leaders and friendships are built across the grades to create a thriving school community.

Owen was my big buddy," exclaims Kalen in JK. "We ate lunch and played together." After a tasty picnic, the students chased a few soccer balls and frisbees before moving over to the giant "castle" playground for some real action.

The best part of the day? "When we all went down the twisty slide," decides a grinning Elijah."That was really,really fun!"

 

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