Next up in the Dragon's Den ... OSC!

Hi all!

Today spring break officially kicked off with an amazing Dragon's Den in-day! To start off the day, the kids were shown a clip of children around their own age who appeared on Dragon's Den and actually got a deal! With excitement and inspiration, our kids soon got into groups and began to invent their own products, sales pitches, posters and presentations. 

They really got in to the activity and worked hard the entire morning on their projects.  After lunch the time for presentations began.  The OSC staff took on the roles of the Dragons and were all specialized in different areas such as The Food Baron, The Franchising King, The Digital Guru and much more!  Each group took turns coming up in front of the Dragons and the rest of group as they presented their creative ideas.  

Some of the products included a retinal scanner to keep anything from your front door to your home computer safe, an automated reusable tissue box called the Sneezie,100% healthy and organic candy called Candy Next, the incredible Stain Remover 2000 and the remote item-locator called Finding Fusion.  There were many more awesome products as well; each with their own unique pitches for the Dragons. 

By the end of the day each team had made some cold hard (fake) cash and the Dragons had earned a piece of each company. Afterwards the money that the kids had earned was put to good use in a surprise auction that allowed them to bid for prizes!

All in all, this Dragon's Den in-day was not only tons of fun, but also educational as the kids got to learn about things like profits, equity, royalties and all the thought that goes into marketing a product.  With all its success, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw another OSC Dragon's Den in-day in the near future!

Cheers,

Stuart

When Geese stop by for a visit!

Hey everyone,

The weather has been improving over the past week or so, and that means that we get to spend more time outside! Although we had a lot of our kids enjoying the sun and warm weather, we also had some visitors: GEESE! LOTS OF GEESE. They even interrupted our game of Capture the Flag by “tagging” Justin and Adrian. Take a look at the video we took of our flying friends.

If you haven’t had a chance to take a look at the bulletin boards around the room lately, we have a board right by the door that is home to our annual challenge. This year’s challenge, Clash of OSC-lans, is a fun way to get our kids to practice teamwork and responsibility. This is an initiative to challenge the kids, as once we split them into their “Clans”, it is up to them and their teammates to make sure they are doing the required tasks to gain point for the day. We even integrated our new Grade 2 friends into the challenge on Tuesdays, as we offer them fun activities and games to help everyone bond as a team. At the beginning of this challenge, we told the kids that if all 4 teams reached a minimum points goal of 1500, there would possibly be a reward for all of them. I’m happy to report that as of March 5^th, all of our teams have reached our goal! Be on the lookout for some awesome stuff coming soon!

Take care,

Ryan M

Anti-bullying week

This past week was anti-bullying week. The goal of this week was to bring awareness to bullying and to get people thinking about what they can do to help stand up for themselves and others.

On Wednesday, OSC did an activity to compliment the theme for the week and get our kids thinking and talking about anti-bullying. We asked everyone to take the time and write a message on a pink t-shirt cut-out about possible things they could do to stand up against bullying. 

The message read: “I will _________________ to stand up against bullying”.

Once everyone had finished they’re own message, we compiled all of them together on the board….

 

One last thing I learnt about anti-bullying week was something Dixon put in place to help bring awareness to the different forms of bullying. They designated a different colour for each day of the week to represent the different types:

Monday – red -  physical violence

Tuesday – yellow -  discrimination

Wednesday – green – cyber bullying

Thursday – blue – emotional bullying

Friday – pink – homophobia awareness

Bullying is a serious issue that everyone should be aware of and have zero tolerance towards.  As one of our kids put it: “Stand up, Look up, Speak up” - Cara

Best Regards,

Matt

Jack Attack!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone!

My name is Jack, and I am the new guy here.  I just recently joined the OSC staff this past fall. So far it has been a blast!! I hope to get to know everyone better.

Last week one of the kids, Malia, decided to make a chart about me; including my favourite colours, foods, sports, and movies. When I pointed out that she spelled my name wrong, she just calmly responded “I know. I just wanted to spell it like that.” Looking at it, this way of spelling is pretty cool. Maybe I should change my name’s spelling to JAK….

Anyways, a few weeks ago some of the kids asked if I know the cup song. It was so out of the blue I confusedly answered no. So the kids decided that they should teach me how to play it. This resulted in an interesting lesson from the kids, as they worked together to try to teach me how to play the cup song. So now I can add the cup song into one of my skills. Sweet!

Jack

Celebrating the year of Goat!

Chinese New Year is here and this year is the year of the goat. Over here, at West Richmond Sr. OSC, we celebrated the year of the goat by making Chinese New Year decorations as our art activity.

First, we started with origami & construction paper to cut out the word “SPRING.” Since Chinese New Year is also referred to as “Spring Festival” in the Chinese culture.

Second, we made the firecrackers by cutting construction paper into several pieces and rolling them into cylinder shapes as the shape of firecracker. Then we decorated the rolled paper with glittered duct tape.

Third, we punched holes on the firecrackers and the word, “Spring”. After that, we used string to connect them. Then, we have our Chinese New Year decoration!

You must be curious about why Chinese people use firecrackers as decorations during New Year. According to old Chinese legend, a monster called “Year” will be seeking food in the village on New Year’s Eve. Villagers do not want “Year” to eat all their food, which they have harvested over the entire year so they used firecrackers to scare the monster away so they wouldn't suffer from hunger. Although the monster had disappeared and had never be seen since, Chinese people still keep the tradition alive by lighting firecrackers on New Year’s Eve. Nowadays, having a firecracker has become a decoration for the Chinese people during the New Year.

In this 15 day long festival, Chinese celebrate with family and friends, and also enjoy great food. It’s fortunate to live in a diverse community like West Richmond so we can experience different cultures and their holidays throughout the year.

Gong Xi Fa Cai and Happy New Year

Dennis

Our Revamped Welcome Banner

 Hello OSC friends and families!

It’s hard to believe that we are already one whole month into 2015…time sure does fly by! We hope you are all finding your groove with school, extra-curricular activities, work, and of course, time for fun!

We have a fantastic addition to our room at Gilmore, a new welcome sign! Take a second to check out the bright and colourful “Welcome to OSC” sign on our doors. The sign was designed, decorated and cut out  during an art activity ran by Ryan.  Each child and leader has included his or her name on it.  Come see if you can find your child's name!

In the past few weeks we have been lucky enough to get some consistent sunshine in Richmond, and we have definitely taken advantage of it. It has allowed for some great playground days enjoying the beautiful warm weather together!

We hope you are enjoying February and what will continue to be another great month! Keep on enjoying the sunny days, being active and staying healthy!

Take care,

Tatiana

Farewell from James

Hello OSC Families!

I hope everyone is doing fine and dandy as we make our way into February. Last Monday we had the pleasure of visiting Richmond Ice Center with some of our Dixon juniors and seniors. One of West Richmond's preschool classes was also able to come along for the fun. They looked like they had a great time learning from the more experienced skaters, as well as gliding in pairs with their balance bars. What a treat!

A few Fridays ago I got together a group of OSC kids who were interested in making fresh pasta for the first time. It was my first go at it as well so I would knead all the help I could get…haha. We watched a quick tutorial and then the kids were keen to get their hands dirty. I found it to be a great activity to do with kids because it is hands on, no knives or tricky things, just elbow grease and some ingenuity.

The dough was tough to flatten but the kids were persistent. With a little help we eventually portioned out the dough, rolled it, floured it and cut it, and voila it was ready for the boiling water. Hopefully it tasted as good as it looked!

In case you don’t see my face for a little while, I will be leaving OSC for a period of time to pursue my artistic endeavors. I wish the amazing staff, our OSC families and the kids in our program all the best! To your continued great health and great memories throughout 2015 and the years to come.


Take care!

James