Highlights of the 2016-17 School Year: Garden Buddies Share Their Bounty!

To sum up our final months of Garden Buddies, this parent shared her family’s experience with us . . .
"Our child has loved, loved, loved this whole gardening experience! We have had so much information on the process of planting and harvesting, the progress of the group’s vegetables, the challenges of the trellis, the making of the “keep out” signs, etc. And yesterday was clearly the best day of all!  We enjoyed the butter on bread at dinner last night, and are looking forward to picking up some radishes and baguette so that we can experience (with some trepidation!) a French breakfast!  Thanks for providing the students with this rich learning experience – a great combination of group work, problem solving, self-reliance and sustainability."

Highlights of the 2016-17 School Year: The Wizard of Oz

Immaculate Conception’s March 8th production of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz was like no other! The cast was made up of incredibly talented intermediate students, including, Auntie Em, who was played by a Grade 4 student, The Witch of the North, who was played by a graceful Grade 7 girl, The Witch Of The West, played by a lively Grade 5 student, and and The Wonderful Wizard of OZ himself, played by a sage Grade 7 student. Dorothy Gale was played by a Grade 6 girl who wowed us with her likeness to the “real” Dorothy Gale! Finally, Dorothy’s friends, who accompanied her on her journey to Oz were played by a trio of fun-filled Grade 7s who kept us laughing every step of the Yellow Brick Road!

I think the best part of being in The  Wizard Of OZ was getting to know everyone, and making new friends – similar to the Scarecrow’s words to Dorothy. That brings me to the special memories shared by the cast members in our production:

“It was really fun working with people I had never worked with before,” said the Scarecrow.

“I loved getting into character,”  said one of the munchkins.

From others in the crew and cast:

“The sound effects were really cool.”

“My favourite part was getting dressed up in costumes.”

“My best memory was acting in front of people. It made me feel very special.”

“My favourite part was on the day of the performance…there was so much excitement in the pitch black waiting for the curtains to open.”

It was all very exciting, and we were sad that it ended so fast. It was hard work to get ready for The Wizard of Oz, but when work is fun, time flies, just like Dorothy’s journey Over the Rainbow.

Written by Dorothy Gale

Archbishop Carney Speech Arts Festival

There is a wonderful tradition of Speech Arts at ICS. During the month of February, each student chooses and prepares a poem to deliver in a class competition. Students may also choose to prepare a series of pre-selected bible readings, one of which is picked for recitation during the class competition. Several students from each class are chosen to compete in a school-wide Speech Arts competition in one of two categories: Poetry or Bible Reading. This is always a most entertaining day for us as we listen to the beautiful, humorous, and poignant delivery from our competitors.

Our students performed exceptionally well and we are proud of how many Gold Certificates they earned. We are very proud of you!

Garden Buddies Care for Our Common Home

The Grade Four class at ICS is in its third successful year of Garden Buddies, a co-curricular effort shared by students, staff, parents, parish volunteers, and community Master Gardeners. Here is what our students have to say about this comprehensive and very special program ...

“We do Garden Buddies because it teaches us not only how to plant but to work as a team and try our hardest. Most importantly, it helps us know how to care for our common home.”

“We have done lots of planning about where and when to plant the plants. We planted a cover crop in November and have turned the soil many times and we have planted potatoes in tubs. Additionally, each group picks the seeds that they need and plant these. We have also made the trellises.”

“We have the opportunity at Garden Buddies to learn about nature and seeds, how to garden, how the ecosystem works, and why gardening and bugs are important.”

“Some of our roles in gardening are tool cleaning, compost monitoring, watering the plants, hilling up the potatoes, planting, and helping each other.”

Bucket Truck Visits Kindergarten

On April 5, 2017, a Kindergarten dad, visited our class with a bucket truck. The students were so excited to learn about his job and his work truck! They had many questions prior to, and during, the visit. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity.

A Time to Share . . .

On Thursday, February 23rd, ICS held its annual Student-Led Conferences. This is a much celebrated event at our school as our students have the opportunity to share their learning with parents. The students demonstrate their understandings, skills, and knowledge through hands on activities, written work, and reading. This year, each of our students had the opportunity to teach his/her parents about our school “Be-Attitudes” by posting ideas about how to live out the following tenets:

Be safe
Be respectful
Be responsible
Be like Jesus

What do parents have to say about student-led conferences?

“I was happy to see my son present his most excellent work.  This was to be expected. What wasn’t expected was him showing us a piece of his ‘underperforming’ work.  The point was to explain how he has made efforts going forward to make his work better.”

“I learnt that children at ICS immerse themselves profoundly in specific topics and analyze these topics from the perspective of all their different subjects. This in-depth study is done as opposed to gleaning many different topics in each individual subject rather superficially. The intent of this method is that kids will learn how to research and dissect a topic from multiple viewpoints and have a more meaningful understanding in the end. Personally, I can see as a result of this method, my son has a new appreciation for a topic he previously thought very little of. I’m happy he is learning to see things from different points of view- a great life skill!”

“We LOVE the student-led conference.  Our son gets an opportunity to teach and show us what he has learned in the term.   He is always so excited and proud of his accomplishments, and we enjoy listening to him as he walks us through the subjects.  It is just him and us.  This is such an important day for increasing our son’s confidence in himself and his abilities.” 

What do students have to say about student-led conferences?

“Student-led conferences are important because it gives your parents a hands-on experience of what you have been doing in class, such as the enchanted forest, you can describe it but it is better if they can see it for themselves.”

“I think my parents enjoyed observing how many ‘in the field’ projects we really have been doing and how that helps us learn. . .”

“I really like student-led conferences because I love to see how interested and happy my parents are with my school work.”

“I enjoyed seeing my grandma walk around the class and look at everything. It made me feel proud of what I did.”

“I think student-led conferences are important because it’s good for your parent(s) to know what’s going on, what you are learning, and how you're doing in school (plus they won’t nail you with questions at the end of the day!)”

Primary Classes Visit the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

The Grades One, Two and Three classes had the wonderful opportunity to watch the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra perform at the Orpheum Theatre. The concert was titled “What a Wonderful World” and featured songs by composers from all around the world. The students had the opportunity to sing a song called “Siyahamba” with the rest of the students in attendance and the symphony. Many students said “Mambo” was their favourite song, which they studied in music class together.

A Visit to the Museum of Anthropology

On Thursday March 2nd my class went to the Museum of Anthropology at UBC for a field trip. It was amazing! There was a dance with hoola hoops. The lady that did the dance made many different animals with the hoops. The costumes were beautiful -it was so fun!

During the Museum of Anthropology field trip we saw the different exhibits. Our guide, Liz told us all about the Museum and a few interesting stories. I liked looking at the Musqueam masks. My favourite part was watching the Coastal First Nations Dance Festival. It was a great day!

Written by a Grade 6 student

Le Carnaval d’Hiver at ICS

Today Mr.René Tumel came to visit ICS. We participated in many traditional events such as making a wooden doll dance, making music with two wooden spoons, and a taste of traditional maple toffee. Mr.Tumel owns his own maple tree farm. It was passed down to him from his father and grandfather before him. He still uses all of the traditional methods and produces all Canadian maple syrup. Mr. Tumel will always be an inspiration to my generation as we uphold true French Canadian culture.

Written by a student

Preparing maple syrup ice for the students

Aujourd’hui Mr. René Tumel est venu visiter ICS. On a participé dans plein d’ événement traditionnel comme fair danser une poupée fait en bois, jouer les cuillerée, est goûter la tire. Mr. Tumel tient sa propre ferme d’érable. Il la héritier de son père qui la héritier de son père avant lui. Il utilise encore les méthode traditionnel pour produire son sirop d’érable. Mr. Tumel sera toujour une inspiration pour ma génération pour soutenire la culture Canadiennes françaises.

Kallie George Visits Grade One!

On Monday, February 6th, Kallie George came to our Grade One class. She taught us about being an author.  Kallie George did a writing activity with us. She drew a neck on a piece of paper and a person in our class had to draw a head.  It was fun.  We named our new magical animal “Snuggles the Merbunny.” Kallie George showed us her books.  Kallie George is a famous author.  It was a great visit! If you would like to learn about Kallie George, visit her website www.kalliegeorg.

Written by a Grade One Student