CISH MAPLE DRAGON (May Week 3, Part 4)

Grade 1

This week, students used their imaginations by designing original monster characters. After sketching their ideas, they brought them to life using air-dry clay. Along the way, they developed unique personalities and backstories for their creatures, making thoughtful choices about colors and details based on each monster's character.

Grade 2

Our I Am an Artist unit is progressing beautifully. Students spent time reflecting on what inspires them creatively, what makes their artistic voice unique, and what they feel compelled to express through art. With access to a wide selection of art history books for inspiration, they began developing ideas and sketching the first drafts of their personal artworks.

Grade 3

This week, we explored the concept of curating art. Students are beginning a mini gallery project where they will select a theme, plan their exhibition, and create artworks that reflect their chosen focus. They’ve started drafting and brainstorming ideas, preparing to organise their galleries with purpose and creativity.

Grade 4

Grade 4 students are continuing working their bold and colorful project inspired by the rich traditions of Huichol yarn art. As they prepare for the upcoming art show, their focus is on transforming their hand-drawn scenes—featuring animals, landscapes, or imaginative blends of both—into textured masterpieces using vivid strands of yarn. Each piece is coming to life with vibrant detail as students thoughtfully layer color and texture.

Grade 5

Students explored Gelli printing this week, learning how to build up layers to create vibrant, textured backgrounds for their portrait paintings. While some were busy at the printing station, others focused on adding gesso and paint to their ceramic sculptures.

Grade 6

This week, students began translating their photographic compositions into drawings. They had the choice to abstract their photos—focusing on movement, shape, and rhythm—or to create realistic renderings. This creative decision encouraged students to consider both stylistic expression and compositional intent in their artwork.

Grade 7

Grade 7 students are in the final stages of developing their optical illusion artworks. They are refining their drafts and preparing to complete their summative pieces, using techniques inspired by their research into artists such as M.C. Escher and Bridget Riley. Strong craftsmanship and personal voice are key areas of focus.

Grade 8

Students in Grade 8 continued working on their perspective drawings, adding depth and dimension through shading and shadow. These final compositions demonstrate their understanding of space, form, and light in one- and two-point perspective.

Grade 9

Stop motion animation is a type of animation that uses a film-making technique where objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames. When these frames are played back in sequence, the objects appear to move independently or change. While any kind of object can be animated, puppets with movable joints (puppet animation) or plasticine figures (claymation) are most commonly used. During this unit, students will work in groups to experiment with various types of objects and digital software to create their own animation films. By the end of the unit, students will be able to describe the concept and provide details relating to stop motion animation, correctly operate the production equipment, and produce a five to ten-minute short stop motion animation film. This hands-on experience will enhance their understanding of the animation process and develop their technical and creative skills in visual storytelling.

This week, Grade 9 students completed their research on stop motion animation to support their upcoming film project and began developing their storyboards after finalising the story they plan to produce.

Grade 10

This unit serves as a comprehensive guide to understanding, interpreting, and appreciating works of art and architecture. While it includes elements of art history, its fundamental purpose is to equip students with the skills to 'read' a work of art or architecture, enabling them to explain and discuss it in an informed and meaningful way. Students will learn to recognize the significance and value of an artwork's qualities. When observing works of art and architecture, we encounter a variety of elements. In a painting, these may include colours, lines, shapes, the artist's application of paint, the painting's size, and more. These are known as formal features, and understanding them is key to interpreting the artwork. Alongside formal analysis, students will also explore the contexts in which art is produced and received. This includes the historical, social, cultural, psychological, and other circumstances that influence a work's creation and its subsequent reception. By integrating formal analysis with contextual knowledge, students will develop a holistic approach to art appreciation. Throughout the unit, students will practice using these two methodologies—formal analysis and contextual understanding—side by side. By the end of the unit, they will be able to analyse and discuss works of art and architecture with a deeper, more nuanced understanding, recognizing both the intrinsic qualities of the works and their broader significance.

During this week, Grade 10 students continued working on their tasks, expanding their understanding and skills on analysing works of art and architecture.

Grade 11

In DP and NB Programmes, our students continued working on their 2D and 3D units adding to their portfolio, while developing their concept based sketches of ideas into finalised pieces.

Grade 9

This week, students performed or showcased their recorded modernised Commedia dell’Arte scenes, bringing their updated characters and comic scenarios to life. It was a great chance to celebrate their creativity and comedic timing. Following the performances, they completed reflective tasks, thinking critically about their process, group work, and how effectively they captured the spirit of Commedia in a modern context.

Grade 10

This week, Grade 10 students focused on final preparations for their Spring Concert performance. They rehearsed scenes, finalised prop lists, and worked on designing or sourcing simple backdrops to support their school-based play. With the performance just around the corner, the focus has been on polishing details and making sure everything is in place for a confident and cohesive show next week.

Grade 6

This week, Grade 6 students explored 3D solids by drawing their nets and calculating surface areas. They practiced visualizing solids by redrawing given figures on isometric paper. Students also learned to identify and draw the front, back, left, right, and top views of various solids. These activities supported spatial reasoning and helped reinforce their problem-solving skills. By engaging with both 2D representations and 3D models, students deepened their understanding of geometric concepts and improved their ability to interpret and construct visual information accurately.

Grade 7

This week, students began with a timed research challenge exploring the life and work of Blaise Pascal. They investigated Pascal’s Triangle and applied its patterns to real-world probability questions, deepening their understanding of mathematical connections across history and curriculum.

From Tuesday to Thursday, we reviewed key concepts in probability, including simple events, compound events (both independent and dependent), and expected values. Students practiced applying these concepts to various problem-solving contexts in preparation for assessment.

We ended the week with our Probability Games Festival on Friday. Students showcased their creativity and understanding by designing and playing their own probability-based games. The event was especially exciting as we were joined by Grade 10 students, who are also currently studying probability. Their participation added an extra level of energy and collaboration to the experience.

Grade 8

Grade 8 students began their statistics unit by learning how to design effective surveys and distinguish between numerical and categorical data. They collected data, constructed various types of graphs, and analyzed data using measures of central tendency such as mean, median, and mode. These foundational skills enabled students to interpret real-world data more critically and accurately. Through hands-on activities and collaborative discussions, they developed a deeper understanding of statistical representation and analysis, laying the groundwork for more advanced statistical thinking in future lessons.

Grade 9

This week in Grade 9,

- This week the G9’s continued with the Statistics  Unit.

- This week the G9s was introduced to the Standard Deviation as a measure of spread. They studied the strength of this as measurement vs the range and Interquartile Range.

-Students were also informed of the upcoming Criteria B assessment, support material is available on Managebac. Students are highly encouraged to study the support material before their Practice Next week.  

- Revision material for the End of year exam have also been made available on CanGlory. Students are encouraged to work through these and ask any questions they may have.

Grade 10

This week, students engaged in hands-on scientific inquiry as they collected real-world data for their summative assessment on Newton’s Law of Cooling. The task required students to boil a hot liquid and measure its temperature every two minutes over a 30-minute period, carefully recording the changes as the liquid approached room temperature.

This real-life investigation marked the application phase of their learning, with students designing their own experiments (Criterion D), identifying key variables such as initial temperature, room temperature, and time. Using the collected data, they began the process of building a mathematical model to represent the cooling process.

Students also started analyzing their results by applying logarithmic transformations to estimate the cooling constant and construct their final model. They used digital tools such as Desmos and GeoGebra to present clear and well-labeled graphs (Criterion C), overlaying their model on the real data for comparison.

Throughout the process, students demonstrated their ability to apply mathematical thinking in a scientific context and communicate their findings through organized, structured reports. We're excited to see how they reflect on the accuracy and limitations of their models next week as they complete their final submissions!

Grade 11 (AA)

This week, we launched our new unit on Calculus, beginning with an exploration of the foundational concept of derivatives from first principles. Students engaged in unpacking what it means to differentiate a function and practiced deriving simple functions where all exponents are integers.

We also introduced SL 5.4: Tangents and Normals, focusing on how to find their equations at a specific point on a curve. Students applied these concepts through guided examples and collaborative discussions on how the slope of a function informs both tangents and normals.

To strengthen their understanding, students attempted timed exam-style questions, encouraging them to apply their learning under pressure and identify areas needing further review. It was encouraging to see their critical thinking in action as they connected graphical interpretation with algebraic processes.

Grade 11 (AI)

This week, students deepened their understanding of statistical analysis by exploring Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient. They compared it to the Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient (PMCC), discussing when each measure is appropriate and analyzing how they reflect different types of relationships between variables.

In the second half of the week, we began our study of Hypothesis Testing by introducing the Chi-Squared Test for Independence. Students practiced formulating hypotheses, calculating expected frequencies, and interpreting test results in the context of real-world categorical data. This marks the start of an important unit focused on making data-driven decisions through formal statistical methods.