Constructing Cold Frames

Rein Tammemagi Environmental Stewardship, Healthy Living, Science and Math No Comments


Teaching a course like Green Industries can be tricky in the fall season, headed into a cold Canadian winter, as a big emphasis of the course involves growing plants. This presented a perfect opportunity to introduce the concept of “cold frames”, which allow gardeners to keep growing crops outside even in Canadian winters. What’s more, we were able to upcycle the pallets that we had our soil delivered on, and use them as the material to construct our cold frame. Waste management is another emphasis of the course, and learning about reusing materials to build something practical and productive, as opposed to sending them to a landfill is a win-win-win. Stay tuned to see how our crops flourish in the next month!

Effective Leadership Skills

Zareh Demirdji Healthy Living No Comments


The grade 12 recreation and healthy active living class has worked diligently, solidifying their knowledge of the various leadership styles. More importantly, they have been putting their knowledge to practice, by analyzing various leadership scenarios and identifying the most suitable leadership style for each and why it would be the most effective. The class has also shifted into looking at the major leadership skills and how they help a leader lead more effectively. Students have delved into communication, conflict resolution, decision making and goal setting skills, looking at the features of each, and how they help improve a leader’s effectiveness in various situations and scenarios. As the leadership unit winds down, we will continue our analysis of leadership skills and styles in various contexts before moving on to unit 2.

Planting Native Species With the TRCA

Rein Tammemagi Beyond the Classroom, Environmental Stewardship, Science and Math No Comments


After being put to work outside in the cold rain and ice, during many of our Green Industries classes, I was hoping that Mother Nature would make it up to us for our trip to a natural area in Etobicoke to team up with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA). Fortunately, we were treated to a sunny day and 18*C weather. The sun energized our group as we spent 2 hours of hours planting a variety of different native plant species, while learning the importance of establishing and propagating such species for ecosystem health and improving biodiversity. The students worked hard, and were rewarded with leftover halloween candy and lunch at the Sherway Gardens food court. The TRCA crew was so impressed with our effort and attitude that they are eager to maintain a partnership with our school and excited to invite us back out to a variety of different efforts and initiatives that they’re working on around the city.

Check out more photos from this event on our Facebook page!

The Y-Fi: Creating a Digital Student Magazine in Magazine Club

Katie Freeland Community, English and Humanities No Comments

Y-Fi Magazine

This year in the magazine club, a group of students has been working to publish a quarterly magazine for their YMCA Academy peers. In creating the first issue of The Y-Fi Magazine, available to the student body next week, the group has learned a lot about collaborating with each other: sharing ideas, making decisions together, giving feedback, and sometimes compromising.

The magazine includes all sorts of sections: puzzles, birthdays (of those who’ve opted to have them shared), seasonal recipes, music, movies, opinions, and more. Each section has a different editor, but students have also been eager to help each other out and offer encouragement. Many of the skills students are making use of, from writing and editing to design and digital literacy, have been developed in different courses, and it has been wonderful to see them apply these outside of class.

The process of creating a first issue has taken some time, but the learning opportunities have been many along the way. We had initially started out working with Canva, which would give us both a print edition and an online version of the magazine. However, with the move to fully virtual extracurriculars, we ran into a few challenges with this platform. Specifically, students wanted to be able to edit simultaneously without accidentally losing anyone’s contributions. With this in mind, we settled on Google Sites, as this free tool checked off all the boxes students felt they needed in order to work together successfully, and to create something that would appeal to their peers. For now, the magazine consists of text and visuals, but future issues will likely include video and audio content as well.

Finally, active Magazine Club members aren’t the only ones whose voices can come through in The Y-Fi Magazine — all Academy students can submit their ideas, artwork, letters, or feedback, and new contributors are always welcome.

Leadership in Recreation and Healthy Active Living

Zareh Demirdji Healthy Living No Comments


Leadership is a position that many chase. What exactly does it take to be a leader? Do you need to be in a position of authority or have a specific title to be a leader? Are some better suited to be a leader than others? The grade 12 recreation and healthy active living class looks to answer all of these questions, as well as look at the various skills and attributes of effective leaders. Students have been analysing many leadership scenarios and determining which leadership styles are being used, which are best suited for each as well as which would be the worst. In later units, we will look at how to facilitate and plan recreation and healthy active living events for various target groups and how to mentor development in others by making healthy active living plans for them.