My Week Without Walls - September 30, 2011 Emma, Grade 6
Week Without Walls was an amazing adventure! I loved spending time with all my friends. The places we went to were the ROM, botanical gardens, Variety Vil-lage and Puck's Farm.
My favourite part of the ROM was going into the section that had amazing rocks and other cool, beautiful gems! There were some rocks that glowed in the dark. I enjoyed seeing them immensely.
The botanical gardens were also a lot of fun! I enjoyed a scavenger hunt that my teacher Beth had made for us! I also enjoyed looking at the amazing flowers. At the end we played hide and go seek tag and that was also really fun.
Now Variety Village! Where do I start? I loved every part of that day! Trying out those wheel chairs was the most fun part for me. It was a bit tough ast first, then it got easier. I think I would love to go there again. It made me realize how lucky I am. We had to use a wheel chair for an hour and I thought it was hard. Some people will need them for the rest of their lives.
The last field trip we went on was to Puck's Farm. It was my favourite field trip of them all. I loved the pony rides! There were 3 ponies named Spot, Buckaroo and White Socks. I only went on Spot because I thought Buckaroo would buck me right off of him! White socks was just too tall. If I fell off Spot I would not be too far from the ground. The last thing we did that day was to look for a pumpkin to bring home. I loved my pumpkin! It was perfectly orange and exactly the right size!
Week Without Walls was great! What I loved most of all was spending time with my friends!
Linden Alumna receives Nancy Ruth Award - June 17, 2011
The Nancy Ruth Award was created to recognize one of Linden’s founding supporters, a woman who herself has made enormous difference to the lives of so many girls and women in Canada. This award is presented to a woman in the greater community who has demonstrated, in her life and in her work, a real commitment to girls and women.
At this year's Celebration to Greet the Summer, we presented this award to Emma Ruby Sachs, Linden graduate from the class of 1999, for her contribution to the lives of girls and women.
Emma is a writer, a lawyer, and an activist. She currently writes political commentary for The Huffington Post and has written a novel entitled, The Water Man's Daughter. As a lawyer, she follows the footsteps of her mother Harriet Sachs, Justice of the Superior Court of Ontario, and father, prominent civil rights attorney, Clayton Ruby. In the Linden fashion of wearing many hats and of taking her commitment to global citizenship to heart, she is also the campaign coordinator of Avaaz, an 8-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decision-making. “Avaaz” means “voice” or “song” in many languages. As part of her work there, she is working to have corrective rape classified as a hate crime in South Africa.
Emma Ruby Sachs came to Linden in Grade 7 and graduated from Grade 12. A true Linden girl, she is quoted in a recent article about the effect of being valued as a young person. “From the age of 5, I was expected to show up at every dinner party and participate in the conversation and have opinions, and I did. I loved it. My opinions were respected.” We celebrate her accomplishments as she embodies our mission of excellence and is making a difference in the world.
Though she was unable to attend Celebration to receive her award in person, Emma sent us this lovely video acceptance, which was aired for the Celebration audience:
The Class of 2011 - June 17, 2011
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On Thursday, June 16, Linden's 14 senior students became our graduating class of 2011.
Our graduates were accepted to 74 programmes at 24 post-secondary institutions for their studies next year. They were also offered scholarships totalling almost $200,000! Thanks to their hard work and dedication throughout their years at Linden, they were able to select from the following schools:
Bishop's University
Brock University
Carleton University
Concordia University
Dalhousie University
McGill University
McMaster University
Neuchâtel Switzerland
OCAD University
Queen's University
Sarah Lawrence College
Trent University
University of Alberta
University of British Columbia
University of Chicago
University of Guelph
University of Ontario Institute of Technology
University of Ottawa
University of Toronto
University of Victoria
University of Waterloo
University of Western Ontario
University of Windsor
York University
Congratulations, girls!
Our grade 12 graduation ceremony is steeped in tradition, and one of these traditions is giving every graduating student the opportunity to make a valedictory speech. This ties in to their first day at Linden, where each student speaks in front of the school at our annual Linden Birthday Party.
Unfortunately, it's not possible to show you every one of the wonderful speeches our grads made at Celebration. However, here is one of the many wonderful speeches we heard, delivered by graduate Ayesha. Ayesha will attend Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario next year to take economics and global development.
Flinging into Spring - June 8, 2011
Linden was abuzz with activity after school on Friday, May 27, as the families of our grade 7 and 10 students joined us for our first Spring Fling.
Board member Kimberley Noble conceived of Spring Fling as a way to encourage Linden families to connect in real, meaningful ways. A team of parent and student volunteers stepped up to the challenge, and together they planned a fun-filled night for students in grades 7 and 10 and their family members. The evening featured a three-legged race, a BBQ, and lots of great conversation.
This was the first in what we hope will be a series of small community-building events, encouraging families from two or three different grades to build connections with each other. Stay tuned for news about future events!
To see photos of the May 27 festivities, check out the Picasa album below:
See the Video Intro from Health & Phys. Ed. Evening
Our grade 11 students started the festivities at our inaugural Health & Physical Education Evening with a video they put together about health and wellness. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is an excerpt from that video.
To read more about the event, scroll down!.
Celebrating Health - May 27, 2011
On Thursday, May 19, Linden's grade 11 health and physical education class hosted our inaugural Health & Physical Education Night. Here is how Nora, a grade 11 student, describes the event:
This past Thursday was our first annual Health & Phys.Ed Night. During this wonderful night we had a great, informative conversation about both mental and physical health and the strategies we use in achieving a healthy lifestyle. After, we played fun and lively games of both ultimate frisbee and soccer. We ended the night with yummy, nutritious snacks!
This night was definitely a night to remember, filled with excitement and newly acquired knowledge about health.
Check out our Picasa album for photos of this event:
Even when not hosting, preparing for this event is a massive undertaking. It takes months of work to get ready for the many academic, athletic, and creative competitions taking place at the conference. Add in the responsibility of coordinating the entire conference for 428 students, and the Classics Club has been very busy.
However, their hard work paid off, with 1st place prizes in several categories, and placements in many others. Of particular note is the 1st place award for Archeological Dig. This competition is a combination of an initial report, creation of artefacts, excavation and measuring technique of another school's artefacts, a research report on the excavated artefacts (including a critical analysis of what the site could be), and an oral presentation to a panel of judges. The Classics Club has been steadily improving in this category over the last four years, and their efforts did not go unrecognized.
In addition to their awards, Linden's delegation received great feedback from other Conference attendees on their organization. Congratulations to the Classics Club and to their faculty supervisor, Jenn Haines, on their stellar work and dedication!
To see photos of preparations for the conference, and the conference as it unfolds, check out our Picasa album below. For a complete list of awards, click here. You can also view tweets for the conference on our Twitter feed.
See Performances from A Night of Many Voices - May 6, 2011
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Music filled the gym on Wednesday, May 4, when Linden students of all ages (and some faculty members) picked up their instruments, warmed up their voices, and performed at Linden's inaugural Music Evening.
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This new event was an opportunity for Linden's many music classes and groups to share the songs they've been working on this year. The night featured performances by our strings classes, our Junior and Senior Choirs, and our Guitar Club, to name a few. Many students also took the initiative to prepare other pieces using instruments such as cello, violin, piano and voice. The result was a diverse range of musical performances that made a great addition to Linden's calendar.
Watch the two videos below for a small sampling of what the evening had to offer:
Grade 6 students Lauren and Samantha perform "What's Going On", by 4 Non Blondes.
The grade 6/7 strings class performs "String Scene" by E. Del Borgo.
The Linden Gallery: Our Annual Art Show - May 5, 2011
On Monday, May 2, art took over every corner of the school for Linden's Art Show. This annual event is an opportunity for our student artists - from grade 1 to grade 12 - to showcase the projects they've been working on throughout the school year.
From sculpture to photography to installations, the resulting work demonstrated incredible ingenuity and creativity on the part of our students. Want to see for yourself? Check out our Picasa album with photos of the artwork, and of our community enjoying it!
On Monday, March 7, Linden students arrived at school to find the halls decorated with purple, yellow, and green for our annual Spirit Week Celebration.
Spirit Week is five days of celebrations organized and hosted by our oldest students. Inspired by their recent service trip to New Orleans, our grade12s decided to give this year's Spirit Week a Mardi Gras theme.
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The festivities started at lunch on Monday, when tragedy struck: the Queen of Mardi Gras was kidnapped! Her fellow queens, such as the Queen of Hearts and the Dancing Queen, were desperate to get her back, and enlisted the help of our students in doing so. Through activities such as creating human floats and making Mardi Gras masks, the students and the queens saved Mardi Gras - and managed to rescue the missing queen.
Each day of the week also had a dress-up theme, because what would Mardi Gras be without costumes? To check out some of the great get-ups our girls put together, and to see the week's activities in action, visit our web photo album below. You can also look for more Spirit Week fun in our upcoming Spring 2011 edition of The Linden Letter.
Linden students sampled several potential careers on Wednesday, March 2, when we invited speakers from a wide variety of professions to join us for our annual Career Day.
Our grade 10 students traditionally organize this event as part of their Career Studies course. They surveyed students in grades 7-12 to learn about their career interests, and then worked to find speakers in jobs that fit with those interests. As a result, our speakers ranged from an orthopedic surgeon, to an Emmy-Award-winning actress, to a university professor, to a product developer. Each student heard from three speakers, getting an inside look at a few of the many career paths open to them.
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Look for an article about Career Day, along with more photos, in the Spring 2011 edition of our quarterly newsletter, The Linden Letter.
An Evening of Discovery - January 31, 2011
On Thursday, January 27, Linden science students spent the evening sharing their knowledge with fellow students, teachers, friends, and family at our annual Science and Technology Fair.
All Linden science students - from grade 1 to grade 12 - complete a project for the Fair. Each budding scientist starts with a question that makes her say "I wonder...", and uses her curiousity, critical-thinking skills and knowledge of the scientific process to investigate her question. Examples of questions asked this year include "Does interacting with dogs lower your blood pressure?" and "What type of hand sanitizer kills the most bacteria?"
Continuing a Linden tradition, grade 8 and grade 11 students are asked to do specific, special projects. Grade 8 students used Lego Robotics kits to build and program a robot to perform specific tasks in response to an external stimulus (e.g., sound or movement). For example, one group created a dog that responded to voice commands like "play dead", and another built a snake that rattled its tail and struck when it sensed a person or object close by.
Our grade 11 students used their knowledge of biological systems to create a new animal from two existing animals, and to create internal and external models of this new creature. The resulting animals ranged from the fearsome weaglerine (a wolverine-eagle hybrid) to the feisty rabunk (a rabbit with the appearance - and defense mechanism - of a skunk).
On January 27, it was time for our students to present the results of their investigations at the Sci-Tech Fair. They were eager to share, and our many Willing Listeners (volunteers from the community who listen to, and give feedback on, student presentations) were eager to listen, learn, and ask questions of their own.
Presenting to Willing Listeners is one way we provide leadership opportunities for Linden girls. Developing their presentation skills and sharing their findings also encourages our students to discover more questions, and to acknowledge the value in what they have to contribute as both a budding scientist and a learner.
See Sci-Tech Fair for yourself - check out these photos, and check back soon for video from this year's event.
Celebrating at the Festival of Lights - December 21, 2010
On Wednesday, December 15, we at Linden held our annual Festival of Lights. This event celebrates the end of the Fall term and the holiday season ahead, and features performances by the Linden Band, several music classes, our homerooms and and our Steel Pans groups. Most importantly, the Festival of Lights provides an opportunity for our students to share their hard work and accomplishments throughout the term with the Linden community.
What was in store for those who joined us for this year's Festival? We'll show you! Check out our video of our Advanced Steel Pans group performing, as well as our Picasa Web Album from the evening's festivities:
Advanced Steel Pans Group Performs "Carol of the Bells"
Linden Co-Founder Published in New Story Collection - December 3, 2010
Eleanor Moore, one of The Linden School's co-founders, shares the story of how she came to feminism in Feminist Journeys, the first book to be published by the Feminist History Society. In this collection, women from across Canada explain how they made the connection between their girlhood or womanhood, and what was happening in their lives.
There is another Linden connection to this book - it is edited by Marguerite Andersen, a well-known francophone author and former Linden French teacher. Over her career, Marguerite has published more than ten works of fiction, short stories and poems.
Congratulations to Eleanor and Marguerite on their accomplishment!
Science Olympics Feature Fur, Feathers, and Fun - November 25, 2010
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On November 19th, The Linden School hosted its annual Science Olympics. With great activities organized by high school science students, Junior and Middle School students participated in science-inspired fun that included: an egg-drop challenge; a biology scavenger hunt, and a marshmallow catapult contest.
We kicked off the event with a fascinating presentation by Creature Quest and the Ontario Falconry Society. First, the school walked to nearby Rosehill Reservoir Park for a flight demonstration starring a beautiful falcon and her handler, Ed. Several students held the falcon with the handler’s assistance. Next, the girls met a collection of animals from all over the world. All students saw up close (and even touched) the animals.
Crowd favourites were the Tamandua (anteater) and the soft chinchilla. Animals that caused the biggest crowd reactions were the Chilean Rose Tarantulas and the Ball Pythons. A grade 3 student and a grade 9 student had the opportunity to feed a beautiful blue and green chameleon, named Ebeneezer.
The Olympics ended with the awards ceremony. Our Senior science students congratulated Junior and Middle School students on their participation and their spirit. When girls in grades 1-4 were asked if they had a good day, the question was met with a resounding “yes!” Congratulations to the student organizers; the event was a great success!
Student-Written Works Shine at Senior Drama Night - November 23, 2010
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On Monday, November 15, Linden drama students in grades 9-12 put on captivating performances at our first Senior Drama Night of the school year.
The girls treated the audience to several different types of performances. Grade 9 students performed movement pieces to songs they composed themselves. Grade 10 students enacted a scene from Girish Karnad's play Hayavadana. For their performances, students in grades 11 and 12 put on one-act plays that they wrote and workshopped themselves.
The performances received rave reviews from the audience, and we're already looking forward to the next Senior Drama Night!
To see more photos of this event, check out our Picasa web album:
On the afternoon of Tuesday, November 9, Linden's gym was abuzz with learning and sharing at our annual Social Justice Data Fair. This unique event encourages students to use their data management skills to tackle real-world issues such as homelessness, hunger, and environmental problems.
Just like at every Fair, the problems investigated by Linden students varied widely, and reflected issues about which the girls are passionate. Here is a sampling of what the girls worked on this year:
The grade 1 class is learning about poverty in Canada, and surveyed the school to find out what each student and teacher knew about it.
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The grade 6 class conducted a waste audit of the school in order to reduce the amount of garbage that goes to the landfill.
Students in grade 7 to 12 worked on individual projects. For example, one student investigated whether there is a correlation between female primary school enrollment and the number of female members of parliament in various countries, and another analyzed whether the United Nations will meet its goal of significantly improving the lives of people living in slums by 2015.
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On November 9, students had the opportunity to share their findings with fellow students, teachers, parents, friends and family, and to learn more about the issues other girls had studied. They also had the unique opportunity to hear from Armine Yalnizyan, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Armine spoke to students about the elimination of the long form census, and the impact it will have on Canada.
Learning Without Walls - October 25, 2010
From September 27-29, students in grades 1-11 learned outside of the school for our annual Week Without Walls. Students in grades 1-6 went on exciting and educational day trips to the Ontario Science Centre, a puppet-making workshop, and Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. Students in grades 7-11 headed to Camp Wahanowin for three days of team-building. Our grade 12 students used this time to plan for 2011, when they will go on a culture-service trip they are organizing and fundraising for collaboratively.
Visit our Picasa web album to see photos of Week Without Walls 2010.
Math Mavens and Science Sisters - October 19, 2010
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On October 5, Junior School students and their female guests took over the gym for an afternoon filled with math and science. At this annual event, students and their mothers, aunts, grandparents and friends create new shapes with tangram puzzles, investigate the insides of machines at the take-apart table, and fight the effects of gravity at the Egg Drop station.
Celebrating Our Origins at Linden's Grandparents' Day Celebration - October 19, 2010
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The Linden School's inaugural Grandparents' Day Celebration, held in early September, was an opportunity for grandparents and special elders to see their granddaughter's school, get to know other grandparents, and become more involved in the Linden community.
We held two separate celebrations - one for students in grades 1-6 and one for students in grades 7-12 - which allowed each gathering to be small and intimate. At both events, we invited students' grandparents, or a special elder in their lives, to share a story with their granddaughter about an experience that was important in their lives, and asked students to do the same. Students participated in a story-telling workshop at the school during the week of September 7 to help develop their story-telling skills. The girls also worked on their stories with fellow students during our first All-School meeting of the year.
Our Grandparents' Day Celebration was the first of its kind at the school, and helped lay the foundation for future intergenerational projects. This community-building event also supported our theme of "origins" for the 2010-2011 school year.
During the event, a photographer from SNAP North Toronto dropped by to take some photos of the girls and their grandparents and special elders - he snapped the wonderful photo that accompanies this article. To see more like it, click here!
Linden's Celebration to Greet the Summer
Marks End of Another Eventful Year- June 30, 2010
Linden students, teachers, families, alumnae
and friends ended off the 2009-2010 school year on a high
note on June 17 at the school's 16th annual Celebration to
Greet the Summer.
In keeping with tradition, the event was
filled with laughter, tears, music, fun and farewells. In
addition to being an opportunity to celebrate the many amazing
accomplishments of Linden girls throughout the year, Celebration
to Greet the Summer is also our official graduation ceremony
for students in grades 8 and 12.
Throughout the night, the audience was treated
to several performances by students in all grades. Interspersed
throughout these performances were awards celebrating outstanding
achievements in academics, athletics, commitment to social
justice and involvement in the Linden community.
The event also marked an important milestone
for two groups of Linden students, as our grade 8s move on
to high school next year and our grade 12s look forward to
post-secondary education. As part of the ceremony, each grade
8 student shared a few of her favourite memories and accomplishments
from the school year, and each grade 12 student - as is tradition
at Linden - got the opportunity to deliver a valedictory address.
Several Linden alumnae also attended celebration to carry
on another important school tradition: crowning each graduate
with a woven wreath of Linden leaves.
We thank all of the members of the Linden
community who joined us for this special night. Special thanks
go to Jenn Stewart, Nancy Hurst and Lidia Salvador for their
key roles in organizing Celebration.
Have a wonderful summer, and be sure to
check out the photos below from this great evening!
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Post-Secondary Acceptance Update - May
31, 2010
The acceptance letters have been rolling
in for this year's graduating Linden students. Today, we bring
you an update on the many schools to which our girls have
gained entrance. Our grade 12 students received offers of
admission from the following schools:
Acadia University
Dalhousie University
Fanshawe College
Humber College
McGill University
McMaster University
Queen's University
Ryerson University
Seneca College
Sheridan College
Trent Unversity
University of British Columbia
University of Guelph
University of King's College
University of Ottawa
University of Toronto
University of Waterloo
York University
The programs to which the girls were accepted
are too numerous to list here. However, this sampling gives
you an idea of the many prestigious programs that said "yes"
to Linden students, as well as the breadth of interests and
skills among our graduating class:
Congratulations to our 2010 grads on their
outstanding achievements!
Caring for Mind, Body and Soul: Linden's
Inaugural Wellness Day - May 21, 2010
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On Tuesday, May 18, at our very first Wellness
Day Fair, Linden girls learned about some of the many ways
they can keep themselves healthy and happy.
Wellness Day, which is the brainchild of
guidance counsellor Kate McEvenue and Linden parent Patricia
Koine, was founded with two main goals in mind: helping students
discover various methods to care for their physical, mental
and spiritual health, and raising awareness among the girls
of health issues faced by many Canadians today.
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After a keynote speech by Talya Rotem of
the International
Schizophrenia Foundation, students had the chance to visit
representatives from many different health practitioners throughout
Toronto. Our guests represented many different approaches
and organizations devoted to maintaining physical fitness,
mental wellness and spiritual balance, including:
Yoga
Boxing
Athletic therapy
Naturopathy
Art therapy
Holistic nutrition
Personal training
Focusing therapy
Self-help resources
Chiropractic
Diabetes awareness, prevention and treatment
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Our girls really enjoyed hearing about these
approaches to wellness from the people who practise them,
and especially liked getting to try many of them firsthand.
Throughout Wellness Day, the gym was filled with students
practising yoga poses, getting creative with art therapy materials,
working on boxing technique, and generally having fun as they
learned.
Faster than Achilles, More Clever than
Quintus, Stronger than Hercules - May 12, 2010
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From May 6-9, Linden's Classics Club experienced
the fruits of a year's worth of labour at the annual Ontario
Classics Conference, held at Brock University. With the guidance
of Classics Club teacher advisor Jenn Stewart, the team was
a force to be reckoned with in the Academic, Athletic and
Creative categories, finishing 6th overall out of 17 teams
in total points earned. Here are their overall and per capita
rankings for the competition:
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Overall rankings:
Total points: 6th
Academic points: 8th
Athletic points: 7th
Creative points: 3rd
Per capita rankings:
Per capita overall: 6th
Per capita academic: 11th
Per capita athletic: 2nd
Per capita creative: 4th
Congratulations, girls!
An Artful Production - May 12, 2010
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On Monday, May 3, Linden was transformed
into an absolutely astounding art gallery. Every room throughout
the building featured paintings, sculptures, videos, photos,
textiles, installations and more, representing the projects
our art students have worked hard on throughout the year.
Congratulations to all of the girls whose art was represented
in the show, and to Linden's senior art teacher, Jennifer
Ross, for her incredible work as curator.
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We want to thank everyone from our community
who joined us to celebrate the girls' achievements and share
their work. A special thank-you goes to our dedicated parent
volunteers - your help was invaluable in making this event
a success. Our food sale raised over $600 for the Native Canadian
Centre Youth Program, and this would not have been possible
without you!
It's In the Numbers: Social Justice Data
Fair - May 6, 2010
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On Thursday, April 22, Linden math students
of all ages took over our gym for the annual Social Justice
Data Fair.
This event encourages students to apply
their math and statistics skills to the analysis of social
justice issues. Once they have completed their analysis, they
share their findings with other Linden students, and with
members of the wider community who volunteer to act as Willing
Listeners.
Here are just a few of the questions Linden
girls used math and statistics to investigate this year:
Grade 1 and 2 students asked: How does eating only the
food found in a single Food Bank basket affect health and
well-being? In particular, the girls looked at the experiences
of the participants in The Stop's Do The Math! campaign,
in which ten prominent Torontonians and their families attempted
to live off the food found in one basket over the course
of a week. The campaign highlights the fact that current
Ontario social assistance programs often don't allow people
to regularly obtain food and shelter.
The grade 5/6 class asked: How does Linden fare when it
comes to sorting garbage, recyclables and compostables?
They collected and analyzed a day's worth of garbage, recycling
and green bins to get their data - you can see detailed
information about how Linden fared in our summer edition
of The Linden Letter.
A grade 8 student asked: Do countries with lower gross
domestic products have higher adolescent fertility rates?
The statistics she found indicate that there is a significant
negative correlation between these two factors.
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The event also featured two keynote speakers.
The first speaker Linden parent Adam Adamou, spoke to the
girls some alternative ways to analyze social justice data.
In many cases, social justice data is measured using a “normal”
distribution that is commonly referred to as a “bell”
curve because of its bell-like shape. The normal distribution
is a powerful analytical tool – but is it the best tool
to use? The “Power” distribution – also known
as the “hockey stick” curve - may be a better fit
for some social justice matters. Adam showed the girls some
of the surprising results that were revealed using this alternative
strategy.
The second speaker was Susan MacDonnell, the Director of Research
at United Way Toronto. She spoke about why and how the United
Way collects data, analyzes it, and how they use it to further
their work. She focused on United Way Toronto's recent "Poverty
by Postal Code" report that analyzed the level of
poverty in each neighbourhood in the city over a period of
20 years.
While the content of the projects
centred on social justice issues, the girls were also careful
to be environmentally conscious when deciding how to present
their results. Many projects were displayed on recycled Science
and Technology Fair boards, leftover bristol board, and even
on open pizza boxes!
Great Tourneys for Linden Ball Hockey Teams
- April 30, 2010
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Last week, Linden's junior and senior ball
hockey teams had fantastic showings at the Small Schools Athletic
Federation (SSAF) ball hockey tournaments.
After a month's worth of running hard and
learning fast at practices, both teams were ready to put their
skills to work against other SSAF teams. Their tenacious play
earned the senior team a second-place finish, and the junior
team, after a nail-biting final game, came home with a first-place
finish and a banner!
We congratulate all team members and their
coaches for their terrific accomplishments!
Dramatic Happenings - March 16, 2010
During the week of March 8, Linden students
in grades 5-8 shared their dramatic talents with friends,
family and faculty - in two languages.
At Junior Drama Night on Tuesday, March
9, girls in grades 5-6 performed The Thirteen Clocks,
a play by James Thurber in which a heroic prince battles an
evil duke who claims he has forever stopped time. They are
both fighting for the hand of Princess Saralinda, but neither
is prepared for the obstacles they'll face along the way.
On Thursday, March 11, it was time for our
grade 7 and 8 students to take the stage for Junior French
Drama Night. Our two grade 7 classes performed their adaptations
of famous fairy tales, while our grade 8 classes creatively
presented their projects on francophone countries throughout
the world.
Check out our photos of these events below:
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A Spirited End to Spirit Week - March 15,
2010
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On Friday, March 12, we wrapped up a wonderful
Spirit Week at Linden with our annual Awards Ceremony and
Carnival.
The Awards Ceremony began with a final battle
between Charlie Chaplin and Darth Vader, who had been squaring
off with our movie heroes all week. Charlie Chaplin defeated
the evil Vader, the presenting of awards could begin!
Our grade 12 hosts presented two awards
for best costume for the primary, junior and senior grades,
as well as for faculty members. Each class also received a
Spirit Award (individually crafted and personalized by the
grade 12s), with awards given ranging from "Most Spirited
Lip Sync" to "Most Enthusiastic".
Once the awards were given out (and each
class had a chance to pose with their statuette on the red
carpet), the Carnival could begin! This event, organized every
year by our grade 11 students, gave students and faculty the
opportunity to sign their name on the "Walk of Fame",
get their picture taken under a "Welcome to Hollywood"
sign and try their hand at "Star Toss", a variation
on ring toss.
After a great week, we're already looking
forward to next year!
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Sing Along If You Know the Words - March
12, 2010
As is Spirit Week tradition at Linden, Thursday
was lip sync day! Each class choreographed and performed a
routine to present for the entire school during the second
half of lunch period. After each routine, our grade 12 hosts
offered scores out of five. (The evil Darth Vader, seen below,
was initially quite stingy with his scores, but was soon won
over by the enthusiasm and spirit of our students.)
Thursday was also the day for girls to dress
up as their favourite movie genre. This abstract theme was
slightly more difficult than the week's previous themes, but
our students certainly rose to the challenge, representing
genres from comedy to romance to French new wave.
Check out the photos below from Thursday's
festivities:
