Message from the Principals 2/21/2025

School Account

Feb 213 min read

Today's Topics:

1: Important Reminders

2: Curriculum Focus - Recording Activities

3: Learning Highlights - Prep class & G6

4: House Points

5: Photos of the week

1: Important Reminders

Feb 24 - Open School
- Session 1: 8:30-10:00
- Session 2: 10:10-11:30
- Everyone is welcome to visit one or both sessions. Please ensure to leave the classroom from 10:00-10:10 to allow for students and teachers to have a short break.
Mar 14 - Hope Family Day
Mar 28 - PTC (student led conferences)
Mar 28 - Parent Workshops
- 4:00-5:00pm
  - IPC - What is Knowledge, Skills, and Understanding at Hope?
  - IMYC - How do we make meaning at our school?
  - High School - Curriculum Update for High School
    - NOTE: Grade 8 parents are HIGHLY ENCOURAGED to join
Mar 31 to Apr 4 - NO SCHOOL (Spring Break)
- School resumes April 7

2: Curriculum Focus - Recording Activities

In the Curriculum Focus section of the blog on Feb 7th, we explored the mini-cycle of Research, Record, Reflect that takes place multiple times over every IPC and IMYC unit, with a focus on how the students at Hope approach the research elements of a task.

This week we’re exploring the second stage in this mini-cycle: Recording tasks. Once the students have conducted their research of a particular topic, they need to find a way to digest and share the research. During the recording activities, students think about, process and interpret the learning they have researched. Teachers promote choice and challenge when supporting learners with Recording tasks as well as providing opportunities for learners to further develop their strengths and interests.

Recording tasks can be expressed through a range of different mediums - written reports, posters, presentations, videos, news reports, cartoons, artwork, projects and more. The Recording tasks allow the students to process all of their research and develop new skills in sharing information.

Recent Example from Grade 3 (IPC):

Our current unit is "Footprints from the Past". For research, students reserached information about creatures that survived the Cretaceous extinction and recorded why they survived into a table. At the end, we discussed what some of the commonalities were, and the students said small creatures that needed little food survived because they were able to hide and were adaptable.

To display this learning in the recording task, students made a poster on "How to Survive an Asteroid" after analysing what different creatures did to survive the Cretaceous extinction. They were challenged to write commands and elaborate on why they were a good tips to follow.

Recent Example from G6 (IMYC):

History - Geography Learners' Rubric

Our current unit, Celebration, explores the Big Idea: "There is value in recognizing and observing special events through ritual, joy, and happiness." In geography class, G6 students have been assigned a country and tasked with creating a country profile using Canva. Their learning objective is to analyze data to draw conclusions, with a key focus on visualizing data through graphs, diagrams, maps, or charts. (Learning goal - 4.04: Be able to analyze data in order to draw conclusions)

Each country profile includes basic information such as the capital, population, flag, and land area, along with unit-related data on cultural elements, traditions, and unique characteristics. A key research task in class centered on understanding demography, including analyzing the Gender Gap Index. Based on their findings, students visually represented their country's characteristics. They were encouraged to choose both the data and their preferred method of presentation—some created physical maps, others focused on population demographics, and some used pie charts to illustrate religious diversity.

3: Learning Highlights - Prep class & G6

The Prep class had a mini field trip around the Baba Park and the farm for their unit, "The Earth, Our Home". The students pretended to be a Botanist, observing the difference between the deciduous and evergreen trees with its leaves, barks, twigs, fruits, and flowers that fell on the ground which they all collected for their specimens. They were also amazed of the tiny farm with many different types vegetables. ☺️

The G6 Exit Point yesterday was a great success! All students received very positive and inspiring feedback for development and future improvements. Thank you to those students and parents who visited to view our presentations!