Month: April 2026

Dear Families,

Our school is proud to be participating in Heart & Stroke’s Jump Rope for Heart on May 15. Students will learn healthy habits and raise funds to support lifesaving heart and brain research.

Please check your child’s planner or backpack for a postcard that includes more information!

Help us reach our fundraising goal by donating or register to create your own fundraising page to share with family and friends.

Visit our school’s fundraising page to get started:

https://jumpropeforheart.crowdchange.ca/114144

Why we participate in Jump

While research may be hard to see, its impact is impossible to ignore. Thanks to generous donations through Jump Rope for Heart, Heart & Stroke is driving groundbreaking research led by Canada’s top medical minds, like Dr. Lori West. Her research has made it possible for infants to safely receive heart transplants from donors with different blood types—saving countless lives.

Watch this video (https://youtu.be/c-mc5fc1i-c) to see Dr. West meet the children and families whose lives have been changed by her discovery and what her work meant for their hopes for a healthier future.

Learn more at jumpropeforheart.ca and support our school’s fundraising efforts by donating or registering here:

https://jumpropeforheart.crowdchange.ca/114144

Thank you for your support!

There’s nothing quite like seeing science come alive right in front of your eyes, and that’s exactly what happened during this exciting chemistry workshop!

Students dove into the world of elements, compounds, and pure substances, exploring how these building blocks interact in real chemical reactions. Instead of just reading about reactions, they experienced them through a series of hands-on activities that made abstract concepts feel real and memorable.

The Star of the Show: The Iodine Clock Reaction 

One of the most exciting moments came when students performed the iodine clock reaction. At first, everything looked calm—clear liquids, no visible changes. Then suddenly—blink and you’ll miss it!—the solution rapidly changed color.
This dramatic shift helped students understand that chemical reactions can happen at different speeds and that sometimes, important changes aren’t obvious until a critical moment. It sparked curiosity and plenty of “Whoa!” reactions around the room.

Investigating Chemical Change
Through guided steps, students carefully mixed solutions, measured liquids, and observed outcomes. They practiced forming hypotheses (“If we mix this, then what will happen?”), and then tested their predictions by carrying out experiments and recording data.

They also learned how to identify evidence of a chemical reaction, such as: colour change, formation of new substances, energy changes, and the power of catalysts (substances that speed up chemical reactions without being used up in the process).

In today’s workshop, students were also introduced to manganese dioxide as a catalyst. They observed how it accelerates the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, producing visible bubbling and a “smoking” or steaming effect. This demonstration helped students clearly see how catalysts can dramatically change the rate of a reaction.

This workshop was a powerful reminder that science isn’t just something you read, it’s something you do. From sudden colour changes to bubbling reactions, students experienced chemistry in action and gained a deeper understanding of how substances interact in the real world. And perhaps most importantly, they learned to stay alert… because in chemistry, sometimes the most exciting moments happen in the blink of an eye!