Oak Hill Academy of Hamilton, Ontario

Our SK's got to make Christmas cookies to take home! They loved the experience of being able to bake and decorate cookies to share with their families!

Today the Grade 4-6's studied the Horse Chestnut trees lining Oak Hill's driveway and compared the nuts to the edible nuts they sell at the grocery store. The biggest difference was that the edible grocery store variety, Castenea, came to a point making a shape like a clove of garlic. The Horse Chestnut was rounded all around. This was an especially important point to note when we learned that the Horse Chestnut is toxic and neither horses nor squirrels will eat them. So if your children ask to roast chestnuts on an open fire, such as we did today, please make sure they are shaped like a garlic! The chestnuts we ate today tasted like yummy salted potatoes. The students loved this new (to them) Christmas tradition!

Our Grade 1&2's have been studying the artist Henry Ossawa Tanner in Picture Study. Here they are looking at his painting The Thankful Poor. After studying the picture and narrating on it, students were given a pencilled outline and asked to colour it in using the same colours as Tanner. We learned last week that Tanner shines a light in what he thinks is the most important part of the painting. The students remembered that and we're so eager to tell that the light was on the table, the food, and on the boy, because that is what the Grandpa was thankful for.

Here is a look at Nature Study in Gr. 4-6. They have been studying the three sisters - winter squash, climbing beans and corn. Corn provides a natural pole for bean vines to climb. Beans fix nitrogen on their roots, improving the overall fertility of the plot by providing nitrogen to the following years corn. Bean vines also help stabilize the corn plants, making them less vulnerable to blowing over in the wind. Shallow-rooted squash vines become a living mulch, shading emer...ging weeds and preventing soil moisture from evaporating, thereby improving the overall crops chances of survival in dry years. Spiny squash plants also help discourage predators from approaching the corn and beans. The large amount of crop residue from this planting combination can be incorporated back into the soil at the end of the season, to build up the organic matter and improve its structure. Native Americans used this combination for years and shared this knowledge with European settlers allowing them to survive their first winter. Today they looked at corn. Here are some of the observations made: - the sweet corn was plump and juicy, and squirt out water when squeezed, while the cow corn was totally dehydrated and when ground down looked like flour - the stalk of the cow corn smelled!! When asked what it smelled like, some thought apple cider vinegar, others fermented juice.

Don't miss out on our virtual Gala! Join us to hear Bob Ingram talk about Christian Classical Education and his experience at The Geneva School. Book your tickets now! http://oakhillhamilton.ca/annual-gala/

Today was a very special day at Oak Hill! The grade 3-6's have been learning about Petra Zantingh's work in picture study as our local artist of the year and today they got to meet her! She answered their many questions and demonstrated her technique, creating a new piece before their eyes. Petra's primary subjects for her paintings are trees and each is titled after a verse in the Bible. The large painting behind Petra is based on Romans 11:17. 'If some of the branches have ...been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root but the root supports you." It is a beautiful way of remembering that we are all one body, drawing life from our roots, namely, our life-giving Saviour. See more

Last week in Jk the read aloud was Pancakes, Pancakes by Eric Carle. It is the story of a boy, Jack who would like pancakes for breakfast but first must collect all the ingredients to make them. He milks a cow, churns butter, uses a sickle to cut down wheat and a flail to separate the chaff and mills it into flour. The picture study was The Gleaners by Jean-Francçois Millet and it tied beautifully into Jack who also needed to collect wheat. Mrs. Tamming made little felt pancakes for the students to make their own pancakes in their kitchen. She also used them for teaching math concepts which the students loved!

Come out to 557 Garner Rd for our Christmas Market tomorrow. There will be drinks, baking, games, gifts, decor and more! COVID protocols will be in effect; masks required

Our wonderful music teacher Miss Budd demonstrated to the SK students how sounds waves work by using water. The students could make their own sound waves, high ones by making fast waves and low by making slow waves. Being able to visualize concepts makes it much more memorable for students!

Tomorrow's the big day!