Millarville’s Cool News

Principal Notes
One of our parents came in this morning and suggested that it was “the perfect storm” today in reference to the early morning snow and today being the eve of Hallowe'en. This combined with the presence of several guest teachers in the school today made for an interesting comment.
I am sure, that as I write this, the students are looking out the window and wanting to be actively engaged with the white stuff covering the ground out there. They don't want to be sitting in their seats. Howard Gardner (Multiple Intelligences, 1999) states it best when he says: I believe in action and activity. The brain learns best and retains most when the organism is actively involved in exploring physical sites and materials and asking questions to which it actually craves answers. Merely passive experiences tend to attenuate and have little lasting impact.
I remember some years ago, a community member coming in to the school and seeing students sprawled across the floor, some sitting on tables or walking about. Few of the students (if any) were sitting in chairs. The visitor then made comments that questioned how the students could possible learn anything in such a state of “disarray.” A student's view of how he/she learns best is not always the picture other's might have of what learning should look like. Current research into learning and brain function shows that sitting in a chair for periods longer than ten minutes at a time can negatively affect learning. We evolved as doers – we were active as we walked, ran, bent over, squatted, lifted – engaged in a physical manner to survive. Chair sitting does not mesh with that level of active development. Apparently the pressure on the spinal discs is thirty percent greater when sitting than when standing. This then creates fatigue. Students then become distracted and less able to concentrate and even self-esteem can suffer.
One has to wonder about the children who spend their evenings and weekends planted in front of the TV or computer with no other movement except to get a snack. Effective learning is so much more than book work. There is a whole domain made up of many facets that contribute to one's well-being and being an effective learner. Learning is about neuron growth and one Henriette van Praag using rats, discovered that running (versus swimming, learning, control or enriched environments) is the top brain-cell producer. She also found that four weeks later, more of the new neurons survived (from running) and became functional.
We promote the whole well-being of the child at MCS through a balanced approach involving the physical and emotional as well as the academic growth.
~Ted Thorne

Grade Five
Grade five students have been very busy completing their first IB Inquiry Unit on Who We Are. The focus for this inquiry was how we connect personally to learning and how various topics in school all connect. Examples of student connections are:
One student who recently transferred from another school shared: “It's strange to speak English all the time. It's hard at the start but after a while it's ok. If I am not sure what to do, I ask other students and I watch what they are doing. Now I have friends here and I have friends back home. I will be able to talk with anyone in two languages now.”
“My dad drills in the oil sands so he has to do lots of math to get in the right spot to get the oil and he has to calculate the length of the oil from the drill bit so they don't go off course.”
“The Atlantic is the second biggest ocean in the world. It divides north and south America from Europe and Africa, important. When Europeans discovered Canada they had found the most wonderful country in the world.”
“Weather - when I studied clouds I never knew that there are so many types of clouds. My favourite type of cloud is the cumulonimbus but the cumulonimbus cloud means bad weather so if you see a cloud that is very tall and puffy, get to shelter.”
“Sable Island is located 300 km from Halifax. It was known as a death place for sailors because they never knew where they were going to land because the whole island is made of sand. The sandy beaches always changed because the waves and water washed it away.“
Our class has been very lucky to have Mrs. Glanville, a peace officer, come and teach us about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. We have learned about tobacco and marijuana. Tobacco is very dangerous because it has so many poisonous chemicals like tar in it. It can cause lung cancer, breathing problems and even death. One cigar is as bad as smoking ten cigarettes. Marijuana has at least 400 known chemicals in it and it is illegal in Canada. This course is helping us resist drugs, cigarettes and alcohol.