Académie de la Capitale

The grade 7, 9, and 10 classes of Académie de la Capitale went to Les Bergeronnes in Québec for their yearend marine biology trip.  Little did they know, they we being supervised and chaperoned by two of the greatest heroes this side of the houses of parliament!  What began as an innocent outing to Tadoussac quickly became a scene of such bravery, of such heroics, that our two heroes Dr. François Jacques and Professeur Michael, almost resigned from their current career choices to become fully fledged fire fighters!

In Tadoussac Québec, while walking up to a visitor lookout tower at the sand dunes park, Professeur Michael spotted a horse drinking water in a river.  He didn't realize that the horse was stuck in the mud and chaperoned the students to the lookout tower.  Dr. Jacques on the other hand noticed that the horse was in trouble.  He dashed through the forest to reach the horse and noticed a farmer also on his way to the rescue.  

The mud was heavy, wet, and thick like cement.  Each step that François took resulted in his rubber boots getting firmly set in the brown sludge.  His boots were sucked off his feet many times as he navigated the horse to the water's edge. Unfortunately the horse hit another deep pocket of mud on its way out and its front legs were now planted deep.  The horse was in trouble.  It was going to die if it stayed there so, they called for more help.  Thankfully, the fire fighters and police were on their way.

At this time, Professeur Michael returned with the students wondering where the rest of the chaperones were.  All he could see was Mme. Lucie excitedly documenting François' and farmer Simon's daring rescue with her camera.  François called for Professeur Michael's help and both men were quickly in a muddy tug-of-war involving one mud stuck horse, a farmer, a police officer and ten fire fighters.  After a long battle, the horse was freed.  François and Michael returned to victorious cheers and congratulations ringing from the audience that had gathered on the banks of the muddy river.

 

Here is an email from Stéphanie Gagnon, our hostess who knew the farmer:

Bonjour Mme Lucie ainsi que toute la bande de l'Academie

Le cheval s'en est tiré saint et sauf. Suite à notre départ, ils ont laissé le cheval se reposer. Le propriétaire est arrivé, c'est un capitaine de bateau, Simon ne faisait que s'en occuper à l'écurie. Plus tard, le cheval a traversé la forêt pour se rendre à la route. Le cheval a ensuite embarqué dans une remorque jusqu'à l'écurie, et depuis elle se repose.
Quelle histoire!!!
Simon m'a remerciée plusieurs fois pour votre implication.
Merci
J'espère que votre séjour par Québec s'est bien passé. Pour ma part, ce fut un plaisir de passer la journée avec vous. Vous êtes un super groupe
Au plaisir


Stéphanie Gagnon
Directrice aux opérations, biologiste
stephaniegagnon@explos-nature.qc.ca
www.explos-nature.qc.ca
1-418-232-6249

And everyone lived happily ever after!

David Khazzam, 10, will be taking part in an international dictation competition next month in Montreal where more than 1,000 students will be vying for top spots in two divisions: French as a second language and French schools. The Grade 6 student attends Académie de la Capitale, International Baccalaureate, in Ottawa West will compete in the French as a second language division. Three champions will be determined in both divisions. “This is the first time our school has competed in it,” said David’s teacher, Melanie Bernard. “We are very excited for David. He has been studying hard and getting help from his classmates. This competition helps to promote French and gives students a goal.” La dictée involves three months of activities both in and out of the classroom. It includes an educational component for pupils from kindergarten to Grade 8 as well as a competition component for grades 5 and 6 students. David says he is a bit nervous, but is looking forward to the weekend in Montreal where he will learn more about biodiversity, which he has studied for his previous competitions. “If I can make the top 10 or 20, that will be good,” said the personable youth, who enjoys math, learning different languages and sports. Together with his family, David also enjoys travelling and spends about a week a month in James Bay. “My parents are both doctors and we go to James Bay a lot,” he said. Bernard said during those periods, David checks in with his class by webcam. He also has a unique way of studying for his dictation, which is by logging onto La Dictée Paul Gérin-Lajoie’s foundation website for practice sessions. “I try to do it every day,” he said. He studies French, Spanish, Hebrew and Mandarin, but he says he also loves to play sports. Soccer and hockey are his top choices. He doesn’t play video games, but he does play the violin and the piano. “I like defense in hockey and I play all over for soccer, but I don’t know which one I like better,” he said. “I like them both. My favourite subject is math and I really like reading.” David is the middle child of Dr. Marie Carmen Berlie and Dr. Charles Khazzam. He has an older sister, Emma, 12 and a younger sister, Anne, 8. He will be among 1,000 other students in the international competition next month. In most regions, local celebrities, artists, politicians, radio or television celebrities are asked to host the event and give the dictation. This year, Michaëlle Jean, the former governor general will be reading. The foundation’s mission is to contribute to basic education in some of the poorest countries of the world. It helps introduce elementary school children in Canada to international realities. Through its awareness-raising activities, the foundation provides children in elementary schools with a wider vision of the world. Working with teachers, the foundation helps children realize the importance of solidarity and sharing. Each year, the foundation organizes the event for Canadian school children which aims to improve the quality of written French while introducing children to international realities. Themes are carefully chosen to further these objectives, giving this educational activity a much larger scope than a simple school exercise in French dictation

We chose Académie de la Capitale because it offers a strong academic curriculum, small class sizes and an opportunity for our son to develop global, environmental and cultural awareness and understanding – an important learning foundation for the future. Since joining the school, our son has made extraordinary progress in math, reading and writing in both French and English. He is excited about learning, and he has made new friends in a very caring, almost-family like environment. The teachers are wonderful, attentive and dedicated to helping the kids learn in new, creative ways. The small class sizes also provide the flexibility for the school to offer extra-curricular activities within the regular day that would be too logistically difficult for larger schools (e.g., double music classes which includes learning to play the violin, Visual Arts, Math Enrichment, Mandarin or Spanish, Globalization, leadership and innovation GLI, Jiu-jitsu, TaiChi, downhill skiing, skating at the local rink and many relevant outings linked to the units of inquiry.

I spent a fair amount of time researching different schools in the area. We were looking for something that was relatively central (as I work downtown and we live in the suburbs), had small class sizes, would be challenging academically and was French. ACADECAP fit the bill perfectly. While I was convinced that private school was the way to go (as I attended private schools growing up in Europe and then public school when we came to Canada), my husband (who was always in the public school system) wasn’t convinced, until we went to an Open House at ACADECAP. We attended the open house in January of 2010 and after spending about an hour talking with Lucie and having her show us around the school and explain how they work and how the IB PYP programme works; we walked out of the school with my husband saying “sign her up”. We were sold! I am happy to say that it was the best decision we ever made. Our daughter loves the school. She loves it to the point that if I give her the option to stay home because I am off or her Oma wants to spend the day with her, she will ALWAYS choose to go to school. Previously, when given the option to miss school, she always chose to stay home, so a big change! Academically she is doing better than I could have expected, she is doing math at a higher level, she is able to read with minimal assistance from us, she writes very well and best of all she enjoys doing all those activities! She is learning to play the violin; she is learning Jiu Jitsu and loving every minute of it. Her JK teacher is an absolute gem, who is extremely in tune with the children and treats them with respect and love. They love her to bits (as do the parents!).

We came to ACADECAP for summer camp four years ago and never left. We chose ACADECAP for a variety of reasons, many of which are unique to this school. We like that extracurricular activities like Jiu-Jitsu and Violin are simply part of their school day, leaving evenings and weekends for family time. We feel that the small class size makes a big difference in our children's learning experience and allows for a more individualized approach. We appreciate having before and after school care at the school, which minimizes disruption to everyone's day. The hot lunch program offered thru the school is amazing and demonstrates yet another aspect of the school's holistic approach. The kids obviously love the school and often need to be convinced to come home each afternoon.

My school of choice should offer Mandarin; instruction in martial arts (like jiu jitsu); have proper music lessons integrated into the programme; create opportunities for customised learning either through accelerated studies, or by taking more time when needed; it should adopt a global approach to studies within an international setting; and finally, an ideal school should provide easy, informal access to teaching staff. I found all this and more at l’Académie de la Capitale. After her first week in their grade four class, my daughter was delighted and said “it’s strange, but this is the first time that I have felt at home in a school!”

Nous avons choisi l’Académie de la Capitale parce que nous vivons dans un monde en transition où les postes qu’on voudra combler dans dix à vingt ans n’existent probablement pas encore – nous avions besoin d’une école qui le réalise. Grâce à l’approche de la démarche de la recherche du Programme primaire du Baccalauréat international, notre fille reçoit une excellente éducation qui dépasse de loin les exigences provinciales tout en incorporant des thèmes tels la globalisation, l’innovation, l’inter-culturalisme, l’environnement, etc. Plus encore, elle développe de bonnes bases en techniques d’apprentissage, une aptitude qui lui servira bien dans notre monde de changements rapides. Le nombre réduit d’étudiants par classe permet une meilleure interaction avec les professeurs ce qui répond bien à son esprit inquisiteur. Une atmosphère chaleureuse et dynamique y règne et ce, à un tel point que c’est la seule école que nous connaissons où les étudiants (et parents) ne veulent pas quitter à la fin des classes.

On June 4th, our class of grade 7 and 8 students from Académie de la Capitale, Ottawa, Ontario, arrived at Pearson College. We were immediately impressed and overwhelmed by the welcoming and positive attitude of the College’s summer teaching and operations personnel. Our experience at Pearson College was remarkable in many ways. We learned more in five days there, than we would have sitting in a science classroom for several months. We experienced a greater connection with wildlife and plant life as well as the night sky, and teachers allowed us to challenge ourselves in our learning environment. They made everything exciting by having us snorkel at Swordfish Island and explore Pedder Bay in a sea kayak. The Scuba experience with Erik Schauff in the pool was so cool! Learning how to use the Race Rocks online scientific tool will also prove useful in studying our local ecosystem and setting up a website. Our Pearson College teachers, Ryan Murphy and Nazim Acar, were able to answer our questions and helped us broaden the scope of our learning, whether it focussed on marine biology, ethology, black holes and/or quantum physics. On the way to Race Rocks, our instructors made us aware of DND’s demolition and training activities on neighbouring islands, which we found disturbing considering the uniqueness of the ecosystem. We also learned Race Rocks was originally a native burial site and were informed of the different levels of government involved in its history. The diversity and quantity of wildlife on Race Rocks was astounding. It was fascinating to learn how people adapted to life on the island using alternative power sources. The experience of tasting fresh skate eggs at Race Rocks is one of the stories we will tell for years to come!