Blue Sky School

I have been at Blue Sky School for a little over a year, and it has recently come to my attention that the core skills of Tae Kwon-Do and Blue Sky overlap in many ways. In Tae Kwon-Do, there are the five values, or as we call them, Tenets. The Tenets of Tae Kwon-Do are; Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control, Indomitable Spirit At Blue Sky School, we also have values, or Ideals. We believe that the ultimate Learner will show all of these. The ideals of Blue Sky School are; Kindness, Curiosity, Responsibility  At first, you might not think that these overlap, but once we get into dissecting them, they all work together to create the best learner there can be. First, let’s tackle Courtesy . This one was the easiest to dissect for me. First of all, it’s a direct synonym for Kindness, as seen on Thesaurus.com. Courtesy and Kindness can also be shown in very similar ways. In Tae Kwon-Do, courtesy is shown by saying ‘Yes Sir/Ma’am’, and standing straight with hand...

Top Ten Best Moments - Part 2 “Grace and Will at the conference” https://tedxottawa.ca/speakers-2019/ Intro The Power of a Dime - Frank O’Dea (Will) The first speaker to take the stage was co-founder of Second Cup and Officer of the Order of Canada Frank O’Dea. He started off his speech by talking about his youth and how he used to be homeless in Toronto. He said that it was a rough and sometimes violent existence. He shared about his drinking problems when he was homeless, saying that he would panhandle with his buddies trying to get enough for a bottle of wine and talking about what they would do tomorrow, “Tomorrow I’ll get a job, Tomorrow I’ll quit drinking, Tomorrow I’ll call my family” then having to choose whether or not to sleep inside or out. He finally realized that he had two choices, “Die or change.” That’s when he thought about an ad he heard in a shop that was about alcoholism that kept repeating a phone number. He went to the nearest payphone a...

This debate, and politics as a whole, are serious business. But, seeing as I’m not a very serious person, I feel like it’s only fair that we get to make light of it. Now, I know that the title say that they were talking about Canada, and they sort of were, but it was really just a bunch of children that were piloting mechs shaped like business people arguing about who was the best. I’m not saying that normally, they’re not great, but the fact that Scheer and Trudeau couldn’t get over the fact that OH NO THEY WERE BOTH THERE kind of speaks for itself. I feel so sorry for the poor moderators. The day after the debate took place, we had a big discussion about it, and how each party leader carried themselves- specifically about what made each party special. Like I said before, politics are very serious, but after watching the debate recap, it was really hard to believe that those are the people in charge. It was funny, but filled me with an existential dread, and everytime...

We have had an amazing experience this year to have at least one guest speaker come into our school each week. One of the incredible guest speakers that have come into our school is Anya. Anya works for a charitable organization called Ausome. Ausome is an incredible organization that makes sure that children on the autism spectrum have the opportunity to participate in group sport activities that they would not normally be able to participate in due to sensory/anxiety issues. Every session they experience a new sport to try to find a sport that the children will excel in and enjoy. Since Ausome is a charitable organization they rely heavily on volunteers, to volunteer with their organisation all you need to commit to is volunteering to at least one session a month and be at least over the age of 15.  That was our amazing time with Anya from Ausome! “ This was so inspiring, I have always wondered how children on the autism spectrum play sports and now I know how!”-anony...

Happy Hallowe'en Blue Sky! This Thursday, the 31st, Blue Sky will be executing some fun Hallowe'en activities, including the following: Special effects makeup,  Murder mystery  Some spookily fun baking In terms of costumes, students are not allowed to bring any type of weapon. We hope you all  have a spooky Halloween! Our “Hallowe’enies” learner team has organized a day of Hallowe’en adventure Learners may wear costumes to school, please note that masks and makeup are OK, but weapons of any kind are a no-no Learners who would like to wear a costume, but are having trouble coming up with an idea can join a theme that a few learners have created - “Proud Canadians”: wear your Canada, hockey or plaid clothes and have your face painted at school! Special events: 9-10 a.m. - as learners arrive, they will join in with several rounds of Werewolf 10-11:30 - Deagan and B are planning a spooky and sweet Culinary Science 11:30-12 - Lunch ...

Top Ten Best Moments(Part 1) “Grace and Will at the thing” https://tedxottawa.ca/speakers-2019/ Intro I think I can speak for both Grace and I when I say that we had an amazing time at TEDx Ottawa. But before we get into that we should talk about how we were invited. We were invited because of our participation in a program at our school called Eloquent Ottawa which was created by the, you guessed it Canadian Institute of Mass Communications(Or CIMC). The CIMC just so happened to be a sponsor of TEDx Ottawa. With that out of the way time for the story of getting there. After school on the big day we jumped into Karen’s car and went straight to Pita Pit  to fuel up. Then we hit the open road and drove to the Tunney’s Pasture LRT station. We rode to Rideau and then set off on an adventure to find the NAC. We walked in the direction we thought it was for a few minutes until we were on some bridge. That’s when we admitted that we had no idea where it was. So we broke out...

Numeracy Groups - by Michael This week we started math groups. The coaches had noticed that some people where not accomplishing their math goals independently, so they had everyone sit at tables with people at a similar math level to them. Deagan works with a group of mathematicians! Numeracy Tutorial Videos - by #charlotteworldwide This week, all Blue Sky learners made a priority to make a Numeracy tutorial video teaching a  specific math trick or strategy relating to operations. In some groups, we presented our tutorials and asked for stars and planets afterwards. This feedback was also recorded and sent to learners through email, They are soooo excited to watch their own faces talk! 

One day, a normal day at Blue Sky, Emi and I used the secret garden passageway again. It was so messed up from the tornado and was forgotten. Anyone who didn't know the way would get lost in there for sure. As Emi and I slowly wormed our way in and out of there, we both started thinking about what this place would be if it was clean. Then it hit us, we could start an activity with us and whoever wanted to help clean up the secret garden! The next day, we started right away moving trees, pulling out weeds and fixing it up. Now today, we are going to send an email the school to see what they think and if they want to help out. Bye! See you in the next post.

There was a lot of talk about climate change in the past few weeks with Greta Thunberg, the climate strike, and the Canadian English debate. Students of Blue Sky School took part in the strike happening around the world. Climate change was also a large topic, one of the five main topics in the English language debate that took place in the Canadian history museum in Gatineau. It is pretty clear to me that climate change is a disaster that is almost imminent and anyone who doesn’t think that can go soak their head. Or they can get more credible info. “Climate action is important!” said Will. I feel personally that climate action and enlightening yourself about the emergency is the best thing you can do. I did not attend the Ottawa climate strike yet I feel like it was needed to help convince some people. People who have the power or run large companies seem to not care about as long as the dollars keep rolling in. The streets of downtown Ottawa were PACKED with ...

Last week, we started a new club called Run Club. We get together twice a week. When we get together we stretch then we run half of the run then we stretch then we finish the run then stretch again. The best part about Run Club is that it is no pressure and no judgment and we run at our own pace. B and Emi - two members of our Run Club running the Trans-Canada Trail!

On Monday the student vote was revealed after the Canadian election. In the Canadian election the Liberals won 157 seats. Conservatives were the official opposition with 121 seats. Bloq Québecois has 32 seats, 22 more than in the last election and the NDP lost over 20 seats, down to 24. The PPC did not win a single seat. In the student vote, a Liberal minority was also “elected” at 110 seats, with the NDP as the official opposition, with 99 seats. The Conservatives had 94 seats. “I felt that a lot of students were influenced by their parents, and that the NDP is more liked by the students,'' commented William, after being asked about the student vote. I personally feel that the student vote is a good show to hear the next generation of voters are going to stand. NATE

My name is Michael and I am working on an eco-friendly project where I am attempting to convert an entire household into a waste-free environment. The inspiration for this project came from hearing the family talk a lot about wanting to go waste-free but then watching as they continued to shop and live without being waste-free. So I took on the challenge; I decided I would do a three phase plan to slowly start the waste-free journey. Phase one is to stop purchasing any food with single-use plastics. Phase two is to purchase food with zero waste including recycling. Phase three is to eliminate all household waste like hand soap bottles, razers, cleaning supplies, etc. By the end we will be completely waste free! So far we are on phase one (stop buying foods with single-use plastics). To start, we looked at everything that we purchase on a regular basis to see what produces waste. All the items that did make waste were put on a list. We realized that things like fruits and vegetabl...

I have had many first-days-of-school, but never have I had a smile still on my face by the end of the day. Blue Sky School is a safe place to try and be yourself with no judgment. A soon as I step through the front door,s I am greeted with friendly faces and welcoming hugs. I’m new here but only after 2 days here I can tell that this school is one-of-a-kind. Blue Sky School is equipped for every child’s needs, whether it be a “Zen Den”  to take a break or a kitchen to develop culinary skills,They have a way of making it seem like every learner belongs here and that they have a place. No matter your age or how good you are at a certain subject, every learner is equal. Blue Sky School’s priorities are all about kindness, respect and responsibility and how you use those skills inside and outside of the school. ​ I’m really exited to join this incredible community!

Last Thursday Blue Sky had yet another guest speaker, One of this week's guest speakers was Katie Hession. Katie is the community director at Mealshare Ottawa and an instagram influencer with over 20k followers! Katie began her career as an instagrammer in 2015 when she had her first child and moved back to Ottawa. She didn't like the fact that when she asked someone about the best things about Ottawa the answer the majority of the time would be “There's nothing in Ottawa” or “Ottawa's boring”. She felt like she needed to change this so she started her instagram account @Yowcitystyle to showcase the fashion industry in Ottawa and showcase stylish people in stylish places around the city. In the past 2 years she has gained yet another amazing career with Mealshare as a community director, she is in charge of getting new restaurants to join the Mealshare platform. Incase you don't know what Mealshare is, it is an organization that restaurants partner with, if yo...

I disagree with climate change being called climate change. Change is almost always talked about or explained as a good thing, something you must accept, or it's completely neutral, which in this case is wrong. It's bad. It's literally the end of the world. Therefore, to get people to pay attention, to care, change the name. I suggest calling it climate crisis or climate damage. People may argue that it sounds too severe. But, let me ask you, shouldn't the name of a big problem sound as severe as the problem itself? No. No it's not.

Payday for Thomas On Monday of this week , Deagan ran a workshop on universal basic income. At the start of this workshop we were handed professions with salaries that were either fixed or variable. These jobs would pay different amounts depending on the job, and if it was variable your pay was dependant on the roll of a die. In this workshop the people with fixed income did quite well, whilst the people with variable income struggled and scraped by because of social services. That was the first round of the game. After we debriefed that we moved onto the second round where each person could receive income from the government no questions asked, no paperwork and no strings attached. This helped everyone but it helped the people who were struggling so much in the first round most of all. They got to live life and not have to look on in envy as everyone else bought lavish items but buy them for themselves. “I found that the learners were instantly grasping onto the learning ou...

Goal posts! Now you’re probably wondering, what the heck are those? Let me explain.  As you may or may not know, each of the learners here at Blue Sky School have their own individual goals. They have all chosen these goals to work on during their free time, and we have had many systems to track these goals over our time in operation. But our newest way of tracking our goals are Goals Posts. Each goal post is different, and they are very customizable. We have already done around 3-4 iterations of them, each time adding something new. Today we added checking emails, and 20 minutes of numeracy every day.  As you can see from the photo below, each goal post is like a mini whiteboard with a permanent portion inside the whiteboard that allows us to check off our goals each day and then reuse it each week by simply erasing the dry erase. Will, a Blue Sky Learner says, “I think they’re very helpful to keep people on track while working and to be mindful of our goals” in reg...