THE PACE OF THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Spring has sprung and we are definitely looking forward to sunny days ahead! March and April brought more adaptations and changes to our learning environment but yet again P.A.C.E. Students have adapted and thrived!

Before we jump into our highlights from March and April we want to acknowledge our amazing Grade 5 students!!! This year, in partnership with the North York General Foundation and in collaboration with Mr. Godfrey and Mr. Hosein, Ms. De Caro spearheaded another successful, online fundraiser with our Grade 5 students! Inspired by the severe impact of Covid-19, the purpose of this initiative was to raise funds for The Phillips House – the home of North York General Hospital’s child and adolescent outpatient mental health programs. Our Grade 5 students raised funds by creating and selling unique items to family and friends through their own, individual websites. The students raised a total of $8,326 for the hospital to purchase art supplies for North York General Hospital’s Eating Disorders Program! Congratulations to Ms. De Caro and our Grade 5s for this extraordinary initiative!

MARCH + APRIL HIGHLIGHTS

We started off March with an amazing underwater initiative from one of our Grade 11 students, Mark! As some of you might know Mark has had his diving certification since he was 10 years old and with diving the warmer waters of international tropical destinations off the table this year he has been spending his time at Humber Bay! While enjoying his weekly dives Mark has taken the initiative to clean-up trash while he’s down there! He was recently featured in Blog TO  for this amazing project! Way to take the plunge for planet earth!

In late February we participated in Pink Shirt Day which aimed to Lift Everyone Up, especially those who live with bullying! Our Grade 6s and 8s created designs on pink shirts for this important day! They put words of encouragement onto the shirts to uplift anyone who is struggling and then we hung them up in the hallway so people walking by can appreciate the messages and learn about the anti-bullying initiatives of this day. Way to show your leadership skills!

Our Grade 9 students have started their Optics unit in Physics. Through experimentation, students are learning how light reflects through plane, concave and convex mirrors and refracts through a lens. The goal in this activity was to shine a ray of light that reflects or refracts through different mirrors and lenses. This experiment was illuminating!

Our Grade 7 science students started their “Structures and Stability” unit with a challenge – to build a one-story structure that will support a load. This friendly competition allowed the students to use problem solving skills, logic and creativity and work together toward a common goal. It was a heavy workload but the students stood tall under pressure.

The Grade 7 science class participated in a STEM virtual science competition!! The students competed against other Grade 7 kids across Canada. In the first competition, the students built an insulating device that can keep life-saving medication cold for 2 hours. The students used a variety of materials to build and test their insulators.

The Grade 11 Biology students learned about the structure and function of DNA in their Molecular Genetics unit. Our first step, building models of DNA. Did you know Google is set to come out with a new browser that manages search results based solely on your DNA – It’s going to be called Google Chromosome. (Just kidding!)

On March 20, 2021 the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, met via Zoom with the participants in the 2019 and 2020 Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competitions. Our very own, Ms. Stewart, spoke about why the Commonwealth Essay Competition is important to P.A.C.E. and its curriculum. Our very own Grade 10 students, Ian and Rohan, were selected to ask the Lieutenant Governor specific questions regarding the commonwealth. Finally, our Grade 5 student, Leonel, and Grade 12 student, David, lended music performances on the piano and violin, respectively to the ceremony. Given P.A.C.E.’s tremendous past success in the competition, we were humbled and excited to play such a major role in this ceremony.

To learn about how the Ancient Egyptian Civilization bartered for their needs, Grade 3 students created their own Class Market, where only bartering and negotiation were used. Students used different coloured sticky notes to represent various categories, such as food, clothing, tools, toys, and household items. On each sticky note, they wrote down items that they wanted to barter with. Students, both virtual and in-person, then had the opportunity to walk through the market and barter items with one another, simply through discussion and the switching of sticky notes.

SETTING THE PACE

We have had a very successful start to this transitional season of Spring! We have achievements to be proud of but still have work to do! As we look ahead to May and June we are excited for:

• May 6 – Sir Isaac Newton Physics Exam
• May 12 – Gauss Contests (grades 7-8)
• May 13 – Chem 13 Contest (grade 12)
• May 20 – Avogadro Contest (grade 11)
• May 24 – Victoria Day (school closed)
• Jun 15 – Last day of school! (school closes at 12:00 p.m.)

Keep pace with what’s going on with our students with our bi-monthly blog updates. For an insider’s view into your child’s enriched learning experience, join the P.A.C.E. community on Instagram.