Annual Cedar Glen Trip

Zareh Demirdji Community, Environmental Stewardship, Experiential Learning, YMCA of Greater Toronto No Comments

October is that time of year where the leaves turn red, orange, and yellow, presenting us with a breathtaking display of the best of nature. It is also the time of year where Academy staff and students gear up for one of the year’s most anticipated and loved events, our annual trip to Cedar Glen. Whereas most years our pilgrimage to Cedar Glen is around the middle of October, this year’s excursion was at the end of the month, the latest we have ever gone. As such, we experienced a much colder experience this time around.

For the second year in a row, in lieu of our tree planting as our school’s means of environmental stewardship we spent the first day at Cedar Glen working their on site farm. This year’s farm was much more advanced than last years, which gave our staff and students the opportunity to try their hands at many new farming activities. On our second day the weather decided to test us and turned cold, overcast and gave us intermittent rain.

Not to be intimidated by cold or precipitation, more than half of the staff and students chose to be outside for programming, while the remaining minority settled for warmth and board games indoors. Our last day was one with a bright blue sky and beautiful weather (which we wished would have made an appearance the day before) and as always, a bit of excitement about going home to our own beds, as well as sadness for having to leave a place that we love visiting. We impatiently wait until our next year’s visit.

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

Album One | Album Two | Album Three

‘We Scare Hunger’ Food Drive

YMCA Academy Community, English and Humanities No Comments

YMCA Academy students participate in the 'We Scare Hunger' Food Drive for the Fort York Food Bank.

Our annual ‘We Scare Hunger’ Food Drive for the Fort York Food Bank was a success in giving! We had a goal of six boxes and we ended up with 10!

Thank you so much for all the amazing contributions. One family even chose to forgo giving out candy at Halloween and went shopping for their donations instead.

A special thanks to the Integrated Arts class for their organizing, promotion and schlepping. Well done!

Visiting the Ontario College Fair

Zareh Demirdji Beyond the Classroom, Experiential Learning No Comments

On October 18th, the Academy’s senior grade eleven and twelve students made their yearly pilgrimage to the Ontario College Fair. The students journeyed from booth to booth with the opportunity to ask questions to current college students and professors. The visit was a first for the grade eleven students. This first visit is meant to get them prepared and thinking about what they may like to study and which schools they may want to study at a year in advance of their actual application process. For the grade twelve students, it was their second visit, this time focusing in on the schools and programs they have already chosen for their applications.

The Elephant Toothpaste Lab

Zareh Demirdji Experiential Learning, Science and Math No Comments

Chemical reactions occur all the time around us. Whether it is a cookie baking in the oven or a battery producing electricity, chemical reactions drive the world around us whether we notice them or not. There are eight types of chemical reactions, four of which we focus on in grade 10 chemistry. These reactions include:

  1. synthesis
  2. decomposition
  3. single displacement
  4. double displacement

Learning about the chemical formulas that represent chemical reactions although important, is no where near as exciting as seeing what these chemical reactions look like in real life. In order to help students see past the equations, we can carry out slightly scaled up chemical reactions in the classroom to bring them to life. One such reaction that is a perennial favourite is the “Elephant Toothpaste” reaction, so called because the end product looks like a large tube of toothpaste being squeezed out of a bottle large enough to clean an elephant’s teeth.

The reaction is an example of a decomposition reaction. Hydrogen peroxide is mixed with some dish soap (and food colouring for effect) and then mixed with either potassium iodide or baker’s yeast mixed with warm water. The hydrogen peroxide decomposes into water and oxygen. With the aid of the potassium iodide or baker’s yeast as catalysts to speed up the reaction, the oxygen enters the soap bubbles causing the substance to quickly expand out of its container and overflow like squished toothpaste all over the table. The result is an exited room of students and a happy science teacher.

Another demonstration of a chemical reaction that is very captivating is the dehydration of sugar by sulphuric acid. In this demonstration, sulphuric acid is added to plain granulated sugar. Sulphuric acid being a dehydrating agent strips the sugar molecules of water leaving behind carbon. The outcome looks like a spectacular display of what looks like a giant snake appearing out of no where and which is quite the spectacle to witness.

Check out more photos from this event on our Facebook page!

Feast of Thanks

Katie Freeland Community, Healthy Living, Native Studies No Comments

On Tuesday, October 11th, the YMCA Academy community celebrated the school’s Feast of Thanks for the fifth year. With dozens of families contributing food — from savoury turkey and ham to delectable desserts — for the potluck feast, we gathered in the cafeteria at lunch, to hear and view presentations from students and from our special guest, and, of course, to feast.

Students from Katie’s Aboriginal Voices class presented to the whole school their research and ideas on the Indigenous past and present of the Toronto area, as well as inquiring into the question of how to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday in a way that is inclusive and respectful of Indigenous experiences and perspectives. Meanwhile, Brandon’s Origins and Citizenship class contributed visual displays looking at Thanksgiving and related festivities from a newcomer point of view. As teachers committed to inclusiveness and other social justice principles, we cherish this event as an opportunity for diverse voices to be heard, and for our community to gather together in learning from and sharing with one another. And while students were most vocal in expressing their love of meat and homemade cookies, they also expressed plenty of thanks for such opportunities, and desires to learn more.

For the second time, we were fortunate and honoured to welcome Darlene King, who took time out of her busy day at the nearby Native Women’s Resource Centre to speak briefly to students about her own experiences, as well as to bless and open out feast. After thanking our students for their thoughtful presentations, Darlene spoke of her own background and the importance of learning about, and in some cases reconnecting with, Indigenous knowledge and cultural traditions. She also opened our feast with an Anishinaabe prayer, and then began it by preparing a “spirit plate,” a plate of food reserved to acknowledge our ancestors. Darlene would later take this food with her in order to return it to the earth.

The Academy community is also thankful for the contributions of students from the Literacy class, who helped set up on Tuesday and had created posters to advertise the event.

Of course gratitude should never be confined to just one weekend, but we look forward to seeing this particular tradition of learning, sharing, and thanks continue for years to come.

Check out more photos from this event on our Facebook page!