Middle School: Haunted House

YMCA Academy Arts, Community, Events No Comments

What is the Haunted House?
Our class created a haunted train that we called the Train to Corpses (TTC). When you went through all of the stations, you exited the train and were in a fashion show. Staff and students came through our haunted house and used a pretend Presto card as their ticket to come in. The train was a replica of a TTC subway car, except it had fake dead bodies! We set up the chairs in the room to look like the chairs in the subway car and even had marked accessible seating. We had posters and advertisements. We made our own subway map and displayed it above the doors. We made large subway doors. Zoe’s Media Arts class made soundscapes of ‘creepy subway’ sounds and we played that along with a video with the point of view of riding on the front of the subway. We had LED lights and Georgia flickered the lights when people came in. MJ, John and Dayna dressed up as TTC workers too!

The fashion show was in a long hallway. We set up a LED starlight and played upbeat fashion show music. We had homemade ghosts hanging from the ceiling, spider webs throughout and a bloody sign welcoming people to the fashion show. As people came through, Elliott met them and encouraged them to strut down the runway, passing Mark who was hiding in a box. Mark did a jump scare and slammed the door as people were leaving.

Process of making the haunted house
We spoke about what we wanted the theme of the haunted house to be. We discussed some of the roles and responsibilities to create it. We then each did a job and when we finished, we would help another person who needed support. Each of us had our own task:

  • Samuel: Painting, taped posters, Train to Corpses (TTC) sign and played a corpse during the haunted house
  • Elliott: Co-created and presented the fashion show section of the haunted house with Mark
  • Shea: During the haunted house I was in the subway train and did creepy jump scares
  • Georgia: I made the doors for the haunted house and worked with Matteo and helped to tape up everything on the day of the haunted house. I sort of helped out wherever I was needed. On the day of the haunted house I flickered the lights to create a creepy vibe.
  • Matteo: I painted the subway doors. During the haunted house I wore a mask and shook the chair to scare people.
  • Charlie P.: I painted the subway platform using egg cartons and yellow paint. My job for the haunted house was to tour groups through the subway car.
  • Nico: I created the ‘next station’ signs and helped other people with their jobs. I was the subway expert and shared specific details about the TTC so our subway looked real! During the haunted house I was a train conductor and yelled out the subway stops as groups were touring through.
  • Charlos: I created the posters, painted the subway doors, hung up the different sections of the fashion show and hung up the posters I created. During the haunted house I scared people as they were going through and covered Dayna in spider webs.
  • Mark: I helped to paint parts of the fashion show props. During the haunted house I did a jump scare and toured people through the fashion show section.
  • Julian: I helped MJ put up ghosts on the ceiling in the fashion show. I also made the Train to Corpses map with creepy stations. During the haunted house I ushered people to Charlie P.
  • Alex: I hung up accessible seating signs. I put spiders on the floor. During the haunted house I did my creepy double jointed arm thing as I was collecting students tickets.
  • Rhys: I painted one of the doors with Charlie C. and made a body sketch that we put on the ground of the haunted house. I helped MJ and Julian put up the ghosts. During the haunted house I acted on the TTC car and followed people out.

Favourite moment

I liked how we set it all up! It was a big haunted display with fake blood. I liked how we collaborated with each other and worked together to put on a haunted house for the whole school – Shea

I liked painting – Samuel

I liked making the haunted house and being able to talk to friends at the same time – Georgia

I liked to scare the teachers! I liked using Charlie P. to trace as a dead body – Rhys

Written by: Middle school students

The Power of Yet – Growth & Fixed Mindset Exhibition

YMCA Academy English and Humanities No Comments


This assignment was about reminding students their job is to become the person they want to be- citizens who can and should meaningfully contribute something important to the world.
And…how can they start doing this? With the ‘Power of Yet!’

A simple way to start changing to a growth mindset is by the use of a little word, yet –
a realization that some things are worth waiting for and those things take work. No one can be expected to change their mindset overnight. We all have fixed mindsets about certain things without even realizing it. Changing your mindset is a process. It’s not always easy. It takes patience, coaching and lots of practice but the power of this small word allows for success.

In our Learning Strategies class, we learned about the ‘Power of Yet’ and Growth & Fixed Mindsets. We talked about the things we were not able to do before and have since learned how to do, how to reframe mistakes as examples to the class and make sure to use the word yet in frustrating situations. Every student then chose a creative way to promote these concepts-through slideshows, videos, drawings, word art.

“I chose a happy face word art for my assignment because it is a positive image and I covered it with positive words. It fits in with the theme of the Growth Mindset. While I was thinking of words I wanted to give them a bit of flare. Also, there are different fonts because I wanted to shake it up and make the words more interesting.” – S.R.

“I picked these videos because I think they are great and they tell good things about getting things wrong and how we try to make them right. For example, sometimes we think we don’t know the whole song but once we try to sing it, we realize that we do know the song.” – J.G.

“I picked the ‘Power of Yet’ music video by CJ Luckey to include in my assignment because it was inspiring and very helpful. It is very positive with powerful words. Every person will now think positively about themselves and other people and kids will be happy.” – J.G.E.

Here’s the link to a student produced video:

(Movie Compilation by Oliver R. and Lucas F.)

Worms Compost Food Waste in Middle School

John Cuthbert Environmental Stewardship, Experiential Learning, Science and Math No Comments


Vermicomposting began by setting up two worm bins on the Academy’s main floor, preparing a habitat for the wiggly decomposers before placing them in their new home. From here, students used the worm bins to deepen their understanding of natural and human-made systems, learn worm anatomy, graph and analyze waste management and much more! The amazing vermicomposter was the perfect tool for integrating multiple curricula at the start of the middle school’s Living Things and the Land unit.

Middle School: Expedition to the Toronto Island!

MJ Duggan Beyond the Classroom, Events No Comments


The students were grinning from ear to ear with backpacks full of lovingly packed snacks as we boarded the ferry to head over to Toronto Island. It was a magnificently sunny day, and the sky was a crisp blue. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect way to begin a new school year. The students continue to remind each other of fond memories from the trip such as…

“Having fun collecting wood for the fire.” – Matteo

“Taking the subway. It was fun to ride! The streetcar was also pretty satisfying” – Nico

“We were exploring the forest!” – Georgia

“The red ant bites were… PAIN. But, the rest of the trip was FUN!” – Charlos

“All I want to say is… YMCA” – Julian

“We had the creamiest hot chocolate ever!” – CP

“When Charlie and I were running from the wasps. We were almost crying, we were laughing so hard. It was so fun!” – Elliott

“When we got to eat gooey smores!” – Shea

“The moment when the whole class raced to the top of the play structure” – MJ

Thanks for the memories, Toronto Island! We hope to come again soon!

Annual Cedar Glen Trip

Zareh Demirdji Community, Events No Comments


After missing our beloved yearly trip to Cedar Glen for the first time in 2020, Academy staff and students made the yearly trip once again. Given current circumstances, this year’s trip was a day trip instead of our usual overnight outings. Students departed from the Academy at 9:30 am on the morning of October 22, new maroon and navy swag baseball caps on their heads. The excitement level on both buses was high as staff and students travelled down the highway.

After arriving and disembarking from the bus, the school was greeted by Cedar Glen staff, who after a brief welcome, led us in various short games. Afterwards, students split into one of 2 groups for the morning activities. One group participated in archery while the other in low ropes activities and games. At the halfway point of the day, the entire school gathered at the amphitheater where we were served pizza.

With lunch and the morning activities complete, the trip’s main event was ready to begin. Students were split into their advisory group squads (maroon and navy) and began the yearly anticipated Academy Games. Groups from each squad rotated amongst five stations, racing against the clock. Rock climbing, archery, trivia, and ragata challenges awaited every group as they ran from one station to the next. The game culminated at the fire building station where both squads raced to be the first to build a fire and burn through a string. After a competitive race, the maroon squad ended up on top, winning their third consecutive Academy Games. In a show of sportsmanship, the maroon squad cheered on the navy squad until they too could burn through their rope. We can’t wait until we can do it all again!

Check out the rest the rest of the pictures on our Facebook page!