Activities
The Buddy System at Bayview Glen
The Buddy System at Bayview Glen is structured to make new students feel welcome – even before the first day of school. When students visit the Lower School as part of the admissions process, they are welcomed into a class and paired with a buddy. The buddy is there to answer questions and help our visitor feel comfortable.
New students and their families also come to an orientation before school starts to meet their teachers and new classmates. It is a supportive and exciting day geared towards easing the transition into Bayview Glen.
After admission, buddies remain paired with new students to help them through the initial school days. At the end of the first week the teacher will phone all families to confirm that all is well and that both family and children are off to a positive start.
Lower School Trips
At Bayview Glen, we believe students learn most effectively by experiencing first hand and field trips are planned for each grade level. In Lower School, Grade 4 and 5 students participate in end of year trips that complement the curriculum learned that year.
Grade 4 – Ottawa
In the spring, usually in June, students take a bus trip to Ottawa. This can be both an adventure and a time of anxiety as it is often their first overnight trip away from home, friends or family. With the help of their teachers and guides, students spend three days and two nights in the Ottawa region touring Canada’s capital city and region. The trip fosters students’ independence, while it also introduces them to concepts learned in social studies such as government structure in Canada.
Grade 5 – Montreal
Students and teachers head off to Montreal at the end of the spring term. The focus of the trip is to prepare the students for the Grade 6 Science unit on Space, visiting the Space Centre. A stop at the Biodome compares the environment of eastern Canada with three other ecosystems. There is also a visit to Old Montreal, Notre Dame Cathedral and the Montreal Archaeological Museum, which introduces learning about the explorers and settlers of New France, the major focus of Grade 6 Social Studies. Finally, the trip gives students an important opportunity to see and hear French as a living language, and occasionally to speak a phrase or two in French.
Grade 5 Green Team
The Grade 5 Green Team meet once a cycle in the Jean Hart Resource Centre and plan to educate students in the Lower School about saving water and electricity, sorting their garbage properly and using less paper. Many of last year’s Green Team graduates have moved onto the Prep Green Team, bringing their enthusiasm with them!
Mandarin Programme
The Mandarin programme was first introduced at Bayview Glen in 2009. It is a comprehensive programme ranging from beginner levels catering to non-native speakers with no previous exposure; to advanced levels focussing on reading and writing skills. It is currently offered as After School classes to students from JK to Grade 10. For Grade 8, 9 and 10 students, they could earn high school credits by taking the Grade 9 and Grade 10 Mandarin Credit Courses. In its third year of running now, only 10% of the students who are currently enrolled in the programme speak Mandarin at home, while the remaining 90% are non-Mandarin speakers. We are happy to report that the programme has enjoyed enthusiastic welcome from both the students and the parents. We would like to share with you some of the parents’ testimonials here:
“Max is learning so well and speaks with very good pronunciation especially considering he only hears Mandarin at school with no help from us at home. The teachers make it so fun to learn by teaching with the use of games like Bingo and many others. I was so excited when we were on vacation in Hawaii last year and Max could read the signs that were posted in Chinese……Max is already planning a future trip to China with his older sister when he is in university. Thank you to the teachers for giving the students such confidence.”
– by Mrs. S. Apitz-Grossman, parent of Max (Grade 4)
“With no previous experience, Katrina started at the beginner level and is now enjoying her third year of Mandarin. She wholeheartedly embraced the programme as a regular part of her school life. The programme involves far more than vocabulary with the teachers supporting an appreciation of Chinese culture, traditions and music. We are thrilled that students have this opportunity at Bayview Glen. Exposure to new languages expands our view of the world.
– by Ms. K. Sorra and Mr. P. Stanfield, parents of Katrina (Grade 2)
“My children have been attending Bayview Glen’s Mandarin programme for two years and it’s been great seeing their progress. Since we don’t speak Mandarin, I was initially concerned that we would not be able to help them along the way. However, the teachers are patient and conscientious, and with their help, my children are now teaching me some new words!”
– by Mrs. G. Ng-Gonzalez, parent of Brianna (Grade 3) and Daniel (Grade 1)
For further information, please contact mandarin@bayviewglen.ca.