Learning to Plan

Zareh Demirdji Academics, Healthy Living No Comments


With the first unit on leadership in the rearview mirror, the grade 12 recreation and healthy active living class is headed into its second unit, the facilitation of recreation and leisure. In this unit, students will be learning how to collect relevant information about a target group, analyse the data, and use it to plan a physical activity event. They will learn about the nitty gritty of planning by learning to take into consideration the who, what, where, and how of events, while also being mindful of safety guidelines, procedures and considerations. By the end of the unit, students will have the necessary knowledge to plan a physical activity event for a kindergarten class with various needs.

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.

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.

Halloween: Pumpkin Carving

Rein Tammemagi Community, Experiential Learning, Healthy Living No Comments


For the spirit of fall and Halloween, Reinman’s green industries class ventured to Loblaws to buy pumpkins to carve, but as we learnt whilst in the course we have to be prepared for the unexpected. They were out of pumpkins! So in replacement we all got different sorts of squashes, gourds, and pink pumpkins. A few students even got kombucha (a healthy kind of soda!) another important lesson we learnt that day was to always check the receipt to make sure they charge you correctly and that they add the sale prices.

As we returned to school we had to make some changes to the carvings so they could fit on the various vegetables.

Than the final step began. The carving. We went on the terrace and carved some spooky, creative designs! Overall it was a fun day with many lessons along the way.

Student blog by: Krys M