Grade 7: Preparing for Success

Posted on September 7, 2011 by admin

LCC grade 7 students are spending the first week of classes in a special orientation program to help them prepare for a successful Middle School experience. Here are two reflections from our grade 7 students:

Today we had a class about your brain. We did an activity where you were supposed to be an event planner. Part of the time, the entertainment, food, and the location of the event were chosen by you, and the other half of the activity was you rolled a die to determine place, entertainment and what you ate. Luck, or chance, was mostly to do with this, and the thing is, to be a successful student, you can’t rely on luck alone. To be a successful student isn’t really about being smart. It’s about having good organization, writing things down so you remember them, and planning ahead and not leaving everything to finish on the last night. If you never do well in one subject doesn’t necessarily mean you’re bad at the subject, it may just mean you forgot to do an assignment or didn’t ask for another explanation in class even if you didn’t get what was going on. The successful student tries hard, studies for tests, does their homework on time. All in all, there are not really unsuccessful or successful students. There are simply those who don’t try their best, and those who do.–Grade 7 Student

Today we learned a lot about the brain. We learned things that I didn’t know yet. Even though we learned a lot of things about the brain, there are three things that really amazed me about it. I learned that you only use approximately 12% of your brain. I learned that the brain controls everything that you do such as walking, talking and moving around. Those things were pretty neat but the coolest thing about the brain that we learned today is that your brain is like a big filing cabinet. You have different sections of the brain that remember important things that you hear everyday. The brain is really neat and very cool to learn about. There are many things I still don’t know about the brain but I think that it is the coolest part of your body. The most fun I had all day was learning about the brain and I can’t wait to learn more about it tomorrow.–Grade 7 Student

Learning by Experience in Thailand

Posted on September 7, 2011 by admin

On August 21 I found myself in a new part of the world. I kept telling myself, “I am in Thailand. I am in Thailand,” but somehow it never fully hit me that I am on the other side of the world without anyone I know or can to whom I can go.

As I travelled to The Regent’s School I kept certain Thai rules in mind that I had read in a guide: never touch peoples’ heads, no revealing clothing (shoulders & high thighs) and NEVER say anything disrespectful about the King His Majesty or the Queen. At first, these rules seemed pointless to me because these types of behaviours were never a problem at home, but I knew that here I would have to adapt for the next six weeks.

After an hour-long drive from Bangkok airport to Pattaya, I arrived at the school. After leaving my bags in my large three-person (at the time) empty room, I went for a small tour of the beautiful red brick campus with two new boarders from Lithuania. The thing that has stayed with me was the humidity in the air. What I did not know then was that the next day scorching heat would also be part of the daily weather here in Thailand.
Like most youths, I can dismiss the advice of my elders, so when I was told on that August night that the “pesky tiny gnat-like flies” bite and leave nasty marks, I had the uncomfortable pleasure of seeing what they did to me the next day. Any mosquito bite would have been ten-times better than the marks that these almost invisible flies had left!

The next day, things started to become more promising as I had my first hot meal (which was delicious) and went swimming with all of the girls in the boarding house. Little did I know that when I returned from the pool, my roommate would be waiting for me. Antaya and I got along the minute we saw each other.

Everything, so far, is great here! I’ve met many new friends, experienced a whole new way of living and learned to be even more independent. There are still a lot of things to be done here such as elephant trekking and visiting “Community Partners.” It is just the beginning of the trip and I already worry about when it will end. —Olga Jablonski ’13

A Welcome Experience at the Welcome Hall

Posted on September 2, 2011 by admin

Today we started our Youth Philanthropy Initiative by volunteering at a grass roots organization called Welcome Hall Mission. This organization affects the lives of many; the young, the old, families and new immigrants through their many services offered. This organization serves as a shelter, a food bank, a rehabilitation centre for men, women and youth, and as a counseling centre.

The grade 10 Woods House advisory visited this centre yesterday to give much needed help. We made food packaging for the people who will be coming in today, we inventoried school supplies from their recent ”back to school drive,” and we organized clothing that would later be given out to the clients of the Hall.

Working with such a great organization that helps so many people in our city was a fantastic experience. Knowing that the food we were distributing would go to kids and families who really needed it felt good. It was great to work with our advisory. As a whole I think we all realized how fortunate we are and that in a city like Montreal, there still is a great amount of poverty. –Alexa Dlouhy ’13

Grade 8 Students Engaged in Community Service PSAs

Posted on September 2, 2011 by admin

Lower Canada College’s grade 8 class wasted no time hitting the academic stream with vigour. On the first full day of classes, students were participating in community service trips and researching environmental issues. All of this hands-on experience will serve as the foundation for the production of public service ads on Friday, using numerous production tools in the i-Life Suite that is installed on their MacBook computers.

A particular emphasis this year is being placed upon ensuring that student work is publishable on-line, providing them with an authentic audience. To that end, the school is highlighting the importance of producing work that includes creative commons media licensed media or original content generated by the students. LCC has also established partnerships with companies such as www.libertymusictrax.com, who are supplying students with licensed music for their presentations that can then be freely published on our portal. — Chris Auclair, Teacher

Quebec City: Bringing History to Life

Posted on June 3, 2011 by admin

I went to Quebec City with grade 5 this year and it was a great experience. Even though we had to wait three hours on the bus, I had so much fun when we got there. My friends and I talked most of the bus ride and played truth or dare. When we got to Quebec city we went to the Citadelle where we saw old canons, lots of soldiers, a bunch of giant old bullets, some muskets and, at exactly 12 pm, a canon fired telling all the soldiers it was lunch time. The canon firing was the best part about the first day. The canon was so loud and we were so close! The explosion was amazing!

After a well-deserved lunch on the Plains of Abraham, we listened and watched as actors playing the two generals, Marquis de Montcalm and James Wolfe, told us about the Seven Years’ War. We also reenacted the battle on the Plains of Abraham. The actors treated us as if they were the real generals of the French and British armies.

Later, we went to see the National Assembly. It was a really fancy mansion-like building with the statues of all the important people who helped Quebec throughout the years in front of the building. The parliament was very impressive. Inside, our tour guide told us that the parliament had a clock that someone had to wind every week but, before he would wind it, he had to climb about 200 steps. What a workout! Inside the parliament there was a lot of detail in the decorations and it had lots of very nice paintings and crests that represented the different periods of Quebec City.

After a delicious dinner at la Vielle Maison du Spaghetti and a scavenger hunt around Old Quebec, we got on the bus and headed to Ste-Foy where our hotel was situated. The hotel was awesome! It was very nice and comfortable. We even had a TV! On how many school trips do you have a TV in your room?

The second day we saw an awesome 3D movie about Quebec. The effects were really cool. Muskets came out of the wall, there was a real waterfall, and there was even a talking 3D video of a decrepit old man, Jacques Cartier. After the movie, I went shopping with my group. Shopping was so much fun, even though we only had 40 minutes. After the shopping, my group and I went to another museum. When we got there we discovered that there was a closet full of old clothes that they used to wear in New France. We all put on the silly clothes and went on the set that had been prepared for us. Everyone looked funny! When we were finished we got on the bus and headed back to Montreal. After three hours we arrived, invited by the cold wind in Montreal. All in all, I really enjoyed the trip. –Erika Kaperonis ’17