Primary Students Visit the Vancouver International Children’s Festival

On Friday, May 29th the Grades Ones and Twos went to the Vancouver Children’s Festival at Granville Island to listen to Inuit poet, storyteller, and throat singer Taqralik Partridge, who brought lively stories and tales from Canada’s north to this year’s Festival stage.

She recounted an Inuit legend, The Owl and Raven, as well as two of her own stories, The Little Boy and The Giant and There’s a Whale in That Puddle. The stories were about children in the north who found extraordinary treasures in ordinary places. After the show, the classes spent the afternoon exploring the various activities at Sutcliffe Park. It was a fabulous afternoon shared with friends in the warmth of the sun.

Sharing Musqueam Culture

Nora S. spent several weeks teaching Grade Four how to weave in the traditional Musqueam style. She told us about the Musqueam people and how they wove quarter bags. The quarter bags held quarters that would be given to people who helped during ceremonies and Potlatches.  Quarters would be given to people who cooked or sang for the ceremony.  Four chiefs of different tribes promised that they would remember the Potlatch day and would tell their children and grandchildren and anyone who asked. They also were given $ 0.50 –  it was quite an honor to be given that!

Instructions for Weaving a Quarter Bag:
Begin with a base for the quarter bags which has fourteen, one centimeter cuts. Tie a knot and weave down and straight back up and keep repeating the same action. After that weave in the opposite direction.  The yarn is always woven from left to right. When you are done a row you would twist the yarn and keep going until the end.   Next you take the little loops at the top and take them off and slide it off but it will be inside out you just put it right side out then you’re done.

Above Blog Post Written By Grade Four Students

When the quarter bags were all completed, each Grade Four student invited a special person to attend a Sharing Ceremony in which he or she would give the quarter bag to the attendee as per the Musqueam tradition, in which the first of anything one makes is given away. Nora led the Ceremony and we had many wonderful speakers, including Deborah Sparrow, who shared Musqueam history and song with the students. We are so grateful for the opportunity to learn and grown in our knowledge about Musqueam tradition – thank you Nora for leading the way!

All Stars at CISVA track meet

On Wednesday, June 3rd, the ICS track team took part in the annual CISVA Track & Field Meet at Swangard Stadium. After Day 1 of the track meet, ICS is in 11th place out of 36 teams.  We earned two firsts, two thirds, two sixths, one seventh, and one eighth place finish.   We also had one 4×100 relay team and one 100m runner qualify for the finals next week.

Kindergarten Scientist for the Day!

Each week in Kindergarten, two children have the opportunity to be Scientist for the Day! After preparing at home, the children bring their equipment to school, put the lab coat on and share their experiment and research with the class. We have learned so much from our classmates! Some of the experiments that we have enjoyed:

• oil and water fireworks •  float or sink? • density • transfer of energy • erupting volcanoes • Ooblek • jumping pepper
• lava lamps with alka seltzer (seen in photo) • static electricity • circuits • growing our own crystals

Here’s what some of the Kinders have to say about Scientist for the Day:

Spectacular!

They were just like a real Scientist!

Calling up classmates to help was fun!

Awesome!

Spectacular and wonderful!

They were surprising!

At the Bandstand!

Well done ICS! What a great matinee and evening performance of At the Bandstand! – we were all smiling from ear to ear last Wednesday!

When Rockin’ Robin, host of the hit TV show At the Bandstand!, announces an on-air dance-off to join the popular Bandstand Kids, Cindy and her gaggle of girlfriends jump at the chance! But in order to succeed, Cindy will need to out-shine the spoiled daughter of the show’s corporate sponsor…

All grades, from K to 7, participated in this fun musical with familiar ’50s songs, great characters and funny punch lines.   They danced and sang their way through the ’50s hits At the Bandstand!,  Rockin’ Robin, Save the Last Dance for Me, Johnny Angel, Sh-Boom, Splish Splash,  Shake, Rattle and Roll and Great Balls of Fire!  

A big THANK YOU to all who made this production such a success; the cast members, all the students, the staff members and the parents

Track and field season off to a great start

Every child in Grades Three through Seven has the opportunity to participate in Track and Field at ICS.  There are early morning practices twice a week (rain or shine!) for runners and long-jumpers. Those involved in shotput and discus also practice twice a week after school.  Having completed many weeks of practice, the participants go on to compete in a number of events against other CISVA schools at various track meets.

The first “friendly” track meet was held last Thursday on a beautiful sunny day, hosted by St. Joseph’s School at Swangard Stadium.  We competed against six other schools and did really well in many events.  Next week, we have another friendly meet at Vancouver College and then it’s onto the CISVA competitions which are also held at Swangard Stadium.

Good luck to all our sprinters, long distance runners, long-jumpers and throwers!

Honoring Mary ~ Living Rosary

Roman Catholics traditionally give special honor to Mary during the month of May. With that in mind this past Wednesday morning, our whole school prayed the Living Rosary. A Living Rosary is made of students, each representing a bead.  The Grade Seven students lead the scho0l through one decade of the Rosary. It was a truly holy and peaceful way to begin the day.

“The word rosary comes from Latin and means a garland of roses, the rose being one of the flowers used to symbolize the Virgin Mary. If you were to ask what object is most emblematic of Catholics, people would probably say, ‘The rosary, of course.’ . . . The rosary is a devotion in honor of the Virgin Mary. It consists of a set number of specific prayers. First are the introductory prayers: one Apostles’ Creed (Credo), one Our Father (the Pater Noster or the Lord’s Prayer), three Hail Mary’s (Ave’s), one Glory Be (Gloria Patri).” – excerpt from http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-rosary

For more information about praying the Rosary see http://rcav.org/prayer-and-spirituality-pray-the-rosary/

Grade Four Garden Buddies

The Grade Four students have taken on the great responsibility of planting and tending to the ICS gardens over the course of this school year. Several times a month they meet with a group of Master Gardeners and gardening enthusiasts to learn about the fine art of planning, planting, tending to, and harvesting vegetables and flowers.  It has been a wonderful experience in which they have involved the rest of the school community in the areas of composting and taste testing. They have harvested and tasted many micro-greens and the most recent and deliciously crunchy harvest was radish. Thank you Grade Four for your dedication and hard work with our gardens!

The following excerpts were written by two Grade Four students:

Garden buddies are people that come to work with us when we garden.  They help us plant seeds in the garden.  The garden is in the back of the school.  Our buddies come every other Tuesday.  I feel happy and excited to work with our Garden Buddies.

This picture is about a group of students building a trellis to support the peas they’re about to plant. They’re going to plant Arugula. I chose this because they used teamwork to build the trellis. Each student is trying to do his or her best. I really like my garden buddy because she’s really nice and she tries to help when we need help.

Gold performance at the Chancellor Music Festival

On Monday, May 4th, the ICS choir participated in the 34th Annual Chancellor Music Festival at Our Lady of Mercy School in Burnaby. They performed two songs: Shout with Joy! by Mark Patterson and The Beginning of Love by Greg Gilpin.

We are very proud to share the news that our students were awarded a gold! Gold standing is awarded for receiving a mark of 88% or higher. This means that the choir sang to almost technical perfection!

During our time at the Festival, the choir had a chance to work with a trained professional who gave them a 15 minute clinic on choral technique to enhance their already successful learning of these songs. She commented favourably on their singing in two-part harmony, their wonderful energy, and strong voices. What an opportunity for our choir members!

At our assembly next Monday, May 11th, (10:45 in the gymnasium) the choir will be reprising the songs they performed at the Festival.  All are welcome to join us!

AGM notice and PEC Annual Report

We are happy to present the ICS 2014-2015 Annual report. We hope you will find it informative and useful.

Please remember that the Annual General Meeting is on Wednesday, 13 May at 2:15pm (in the school library). Join us for a brief presentation (related to the report) – and bring your questions.  We look forward to seeing you there. (Childcare will be provided.)