Dec 6th, 2013 – The life of Nelson Mandela

YMCA Academy Beyond the Classroom, English and Humanities

Celebrating the life of Nelson Mandela.

Students from the Ontario Literacy Course led a school-wide an assembly to celebrate peace and human rights. We gathered in the afternoon to hear about the life of Nelson Mandela, his work as a global activist for equality and peace and as well to honour the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada. We were reminded of the importance of peace in our lives and the work of those who have come before us. We ended with the reading of “Our Deepest Fear” by Marianne Williamson. This is a poem made famous around the world by Nelson Mandela and became symbiotic with his message of peace.

Our Deepest Fear
By Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us;
It’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we’re liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

Nov 28th, 2013 – Gargoyle Glazing at the Gardiner

YMCA Academy Arts, Experiential Learning

The clay gargoyles made by students in the grade 11 media arts and grade 10 visual arts classes a few weeks back came out of the kiln intact (for the most part).  Students returned to the glorious clay studios at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art to apply coloured glazes to their pieces.  Once fired, they will be ready to be packaged, picked up and displayed at the Academy.  It’s been a rewarding and educational experience where students learned about the whole process of ceramic art and had the opportunity to work with two professional artists.  Stay tuned for photos of the final pieces!

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

Nov 18th, 2013 – Popsicle stick Catapults!

YMCA Academy Experiential Learning, Science and Math

Fire Away!

Learning about simple and compound machines and how they increase mechanical advantage to help us do work is pretty cool. Building a simple or compound machine and measuring its mechanical advantage, however, is awesome! The grade 12 physics class spent a period building catapults using Popsicle sticks, rubber bands, tape, alligator clips and a spoon. Once their catapults where built, they measured the mechanical advantage they had.


 
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Nov 15th, 2013 – Kensington Market Trip

YMCA Academy Arts, Experiential Learning

The 4th period Visual Arts and Media Arts classes visited Kensington Market last Friday to view the work of multi-disciplinary artist Moses Kofi. The students checked out Moses’ dynamic outdoor installation of ‘Robot Alien’ sculptures made of found and donated metal materials. Moses  shared his techniques, approach and his view of art making in society. The budding artists also had the opportunity to visit Moses’ dynamic studio space and see a demo of the artist at work.  Lots of “oohs” and “ahhs” and the opportunity to see street art in process.

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Nov. 6th, 2013 – A Place to Stand

YMCA Academy Experiential Learning, Science and Math

Archimedes (of Eureka fame) provided explanations of how levers worked and is purposed to have said, “Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world.” But what is a lever and how does it provide mechanical advantage? The grade 12 physics class set out to find out by performing a lab to answer the questions (1) What class of lever is a door, and (2) how does the length of the effort arm in a lever system affect the lever’s mechanical advantage? With just a tape measure, post it notes, their index fingers and their minds, they set up their experiments and pushed their way to the answers.