Team Unbreakable Virtual 5K!

Rein Tammemagi Community, Healthy Living No Comments
Students participate in last years Team Unbreakable running event
Photo from last years Team Unbreakable event

Well, while this whole pandemic has put a damper on our training it can’t keep determined athletes from keeping fit! The YMCA Academy’s Healthy Active Living classes hit the ground running when the lock down struck and spent the first couple of weeks researching the best ways to keep active during this predicament and constructing plans to keep fit at home. And If I have been led to believe correctly, all of my Healthy Active Living students have been doing just that.

Now it’s time to put our money where our feet are and cap off the year by taking on the Team Unbreakable Virtual 5K. This year, we won’t be gathering in a large group to complete the distance, but rather participants can run or walk 5 km on their own, at their leisure, at any point between 9 am and 9 pm on Father’s Day, Sunday June 21st. It happens to be the perfect way to celebrate your dad! If you feel like joining the team please check out the Team Fundraising Page of YMCA Academy where you can sign up.

I hope to see you all out there! … virtually, of course.

Writing for Change: Advocacy Letters

Katie Freeland Beyond the Classroom, Community, English and Humanities No Comments

Students learning to write Advocacy letters during social distancing

Over the past years, Academy students have been known for making their voices heard in both the school and in the broader community. Whether it’s the Civics class organizing a walkout in support of a current, relevant health curriculum, or several students from our school speaking from the podium at Toronto’s first youth climate rally, they have shown themselves to be eager advocates for their communities, and for a better future.

Of course, there are fewer opportunities to get involved in community action under the circumstances, but students in the literacy skills class have been doing just this by writing thoughtful, persuasive advocacy letters to various leaders and decision-makers. This is not my first year assigning and preparing students for this task, and each time I love to learn what issues matter to them. There is always such a diversity of ideas! Here are just some of the (student-chosen) topics this year:

  • why we should do more to combat racism
  • homelessness and affordable housing in Toronto
  • neighbourhood traffic safety
  • the importance of art, music, and physical education in schools
  • funding for autism services
  • the need for more library branches

In writing their letters, students are learning not only to express and support their opinions in organized paragraphs, but also to write for a real, authentic audience. Moreover, they are learning that literacy skills are not just for school or for getting a job, but can be powerful tools for bringing about positive change. And especially right now, it’s my hope that we can equip them with more of these.

Grade 9 Science Unit 4 – Sustainable Ecosystems and Human Activity

Zareh Demirdji Beyond the Classroom, Science and Math No Comments

 

The year is drawing to a close, and what an adventure it has been on many fronts. In the microcosm of grade nine science, we ended the virtual year off by examining ecosystems. First, we looked at some of the basic concepts and terminology related to ecology, and then zoomed into the various ecosystems Earth has to offer. After examining the living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components of ecosystems, we spent some time examining how the biotic factors interacted with the abiotic factors, as well as how the biotic factors interacted with one another. We discussed symbiosis, predation, energy flow, limiting factors, and competition (for food, resources, shelter, etc).

Students played an interactive online game called Mountain Scramble, where they had to try balancing all the living things in an ecosystem over a twelve day period, giving them a hands-on look at how difficult a task it can be (way to go nature!). For the end of the unit, we looked at the similarities and differences of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the impacts various human activities have on them. To demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the unit, students worked on an assignment where they analysed the impacts housing development and fertilizer use can have on local ecosystems, and proposed some ways to lessen the negative impacts.

A Source of Escape

Luka Ilic Beyond the Classroom, English and Humanities No Comments

 

The Travel and Tourism class let their imagination run wild as they designed an itinerary for their dream destination! Starting from scratch, they were responsible for choosing their travel dates, booking a flight and accommodation, keeping track of their budget, and thoroughly researching their chosen city.

Students have been both diligent and thoughtful with their work. They have developed a wide-ranging, seven-day itinerary that includes maps, photos, directions, hours of operation, prices, and a variety of attractions. While nearly every step was carefully calculated, there was also time set aside for spontaneity and ingenuity.

It has been a lot of fun following what students were up to and reviewing their plans. The next step is presentations. Each student will share their research and findings with the rest of the class in a creative and engaging format. Now, I will let their work speak for itself. Enjoy!

What does a can of tomatoes have to do with Geography?

Colleen Whelan Beyond the Classroom, English and Humanities, Science and Math No Comments

 

Unit 3 of the Grade 9 Geography course focuses on natural resources.  We use a “simple” can of tomatoes to explore what natural resources are, how humans use them and how we use energy resources at every stage of production.  The class had to brainstorm the production steps required to start with a tomato seed and end up with a can of tomatoes sitting on a supermarket shelf.

Once we brainstormed the steps in production, we traced back which natural resources were used in each step. As a class, we investigated several of these in depth.  For example, if you want to put the tomatoes in the can, you first have to make the can.  What natural resource would you gather?  What impact might gathering that natural resource have on the environment?  What energy natural resource would be required to manufacture the can?  What resources are used in transporting the can?

At the end of the lesson, students started to understand that there are hundreds of steps in the production of even a simple item, and that resources and energy are used in every step.  Ultimately this led us to a larger discussion of how to reduce the amount of natural resources and energy that we use in our daily lives.