When Life Throws you Lemons, Sell Them

Luka Ilic English and Humanities, Experiential Learning No Comments

The Marketing class has been exploring and learning about ten important components of marketing. This week, students took on the challenge of running a lemonade stand in an online game. Through the game, they were able to learn about the importance of research, product development, pricing, sales and inventory management. They had complete control over pricing, quality, inventory and supplies, and their goal was to make as much money as possible over a 14 day period. It’s not as easy as it sounds though, as students needed to account for the weather, customer satisfaction and feedback, popularity, money, and inventory.

Although some students were more successful than others, everyone had fun trying to find the perfect balance between all the different factors at play. In addition, the game did well to demonstrate that marketing is more than just about sales and advertising. Soon enough, students will take these newly learned skills to put together a marketing plan of their own.

Applications of Acid-Base Reactions in Everyday Life: Antacids

Zareh Demirdji Experiential Learning, Science and Math No Comments

Acid-Base reactions are a part of everyday life. In the previous lab, students identified everyday substances found in the home as acids or bases. In their second chemistry lab, the grade ten science class explored the practical applications of acid-base reactions, specifically looking at the use of antacids to stop acid reflux (“heartburn”). The antacids used were: Alka-Seltzer, Tums, Rolaids, and Life Brand.

In the experiment, the different antacids were reacted with an acid (soda pop – coke) to determine which one neutralizes the acid best (increases the pH). After the experiment, students explored the results, and reflected on the effectiveness of the antacids and considered possible explanations for their observations.

Identification of Acids and Bases

Zareh Demirdji Experiential Learning, Science and Math No Comments

Although we have temporarily returned to fully online learning, the show must go on. One of the more “colourful” experiments in chemistry is the one where students try to identify everyday household items as either acidic or basic, and not having access to a lab wasn’t going to stop the grade ten science class from the experience. Having “commandeered” some basic pieces of equipment (test tubes, litmus paper, and a funnel) the identifying acids and bases lab was relocated to my kitchen. Students were given a list of everyday household items (vinegar, pepsi, lemon juice, liquid soap, baking soda, orange juice, mouth wash, and milk) and had to hypothesize whether they were acids or bases.

Each substance was reacted with a bit of red cabbage juice, which contains a natural pH indicator that changes colors depending on the acidity of the solution (very acidic solutions turn the indicator a red color, and basic solutions a greenish-yellow color). This gave students a quick, surface level indication of whether the substance was an acid or a base. To be a bit more accurate, however, we also tested the pH of each substance using a piece of litmus paper. This lab nicely sets up our next experiment where we will look at the applications of acid base reactions.

Creating with Code

Ada Miller Technology No Comments


In Introduction to Computer Studies we have spent the past week working with python, a simple programming language that is the basis for many programs and games that some may be familiar with. We have been creating basic programs that allow users to input commands and interact with the program. This includes a question and guessing game where users are trying to guess what the computer is “thinking of.” It can be a challenging unit for some learners, but most find it the most rewarding because they have a list of products to look back at and see how far they’ve come.

Cooking Comfort Foods

Katie Clay Beyond the Classroom, Community, Healthy Living No Comments


With winter upon us and another lockdown in place Cooking Club has been making some warm and comforting meals to get us through!

Last week everyone made their version of fried rice. We discussed some key tips to making delicious fried rice including using leftover rice, sesame oil, and fresh ginger. Once again, there was a wide variety in the ingredients that students chose, including chicken, tofu, beef, shrimp, egg and lots of different veggies. The end results were even better than the take out versions.

This past week we made a fan favourite – macaroni and cheese. Impressively everyone made their mac n cheese from scratch, no KD in sight. We discussed how to make a roux for the base of the sauce and shared what kind of cheeses we were including. Some students chose to make a different kind of pasta dish to suit their needs, leaving everyone satisfied.

With just a couple sessions left for the year the club plans to make Potato Latkes next week ahead of Chanukah and then finish off 2020 (finally!) with some holiday baking.