Virtual Elementary School

VES is thrilled to be a certified EcoSchool thanks to the commitment of our staff and students to helping the planet! EcoSchools Canada

Congratulations to Principal Steve Baker as he is awarded an honorary degree from Western University along with Virtual High School colleague John Smallwood! Recognizing their contributions to education.

Leading the Way: VHS Founders Awarded Honorary Degrees | Virtual High School Virtual High School Principal Steve Baker and his long-time friend and colleague, John Smallwood, receive honorary degrees from Western University.

Though our VES student community events have wrapped up for the summer, there are still LOTS of other opportunities out there for your child to stay connected and keep learning over the next few months!

💻 Check out virtual summer coding camp with for kids interested in Scratch, Python, Minecraft, Roblox, and AI machine learning.
🎨 Sign up for an art subscription box to have craft kits, step-by-step instructions, and supplies delivered right to your door.
🐘 Participate in a citizen science project with to help with cutting-edge research, like classifying animals in the Serengeti or identifying new exoplanets.

Students in Grades 7–8 are joining Let's Talk Science today to learn all about climate change in the ❄️ ARCTIC ❄️. We'll touch on all of the following topics:

Drinking water in Nunavik 💧
Plants in the tundra 🌱
Algal blooms 🤢
Marine animals 🐋

With 🌎 Earth Day 🌍 just around the corner, it's the perfect time for another EcoSchools Challenge!

For our final challenge, we're focusing on litter! Did you know that littering contributes to air, land, AND ocean pollution? More than 85% of the world's plastic is not recycled, so it often ends up releasing toxic chemicals, sitting in landfills, or travelling as debris in the water where it contaminates habitats for humans, plants, and animals.

For the month of April, we encourage you to get outside to collect litter in your local area, whether it's a park, beach, or the roadsides around your house. Be sure to wear gloves, sort out the recycling from the trash, and stay safe!

Simply snap a pic of your clean up efforts and send it to us so we can mark your involvement in the project!

🍏 Reminder that applications are due April 15th! 🍏

Visit the Bursary Program page on our website for more information on how to apply.

https://www.virtualelementaryschool.com/our-school/bursary-program/

It's springtime in Ontario, and some of our favourite pond creatures are starting to get out and about!

Together with Ontario Parks, our primary students got to look at all of the amazing adaptations that beavers and turtles have developed to survive in their shared habitat.

Did you know that there are approximately 10 QUINTILLION insects on the planet?!

That's 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 BUGS!!

Students in Grades 4–6 explored what makes insects so successful at survival by using their scientific skills of observation and illustration with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History today!

Did you know that a total solar eclipse is about to cross over North America soon? The next one won't happen until 2044!

We had experts at the Ontario Science Centre show our students how to safely view the solar eclipse so we're ready for this special astronomical phenomenon on April 8. How are you preparing for the solar eclipse??

Picture yourself living in Canada 300 years ago. 🍁
How would you have stayed healthy? 🍏
What would you do if you got sick or injured? 🤧

Students in Grades 7 and 8 travelled back in time with the Museum of Health Care to discover what treatments and medical practices were available. We took a peek inside a doctor's bag and then used our knowledge to save a village in a Choose Your Own Adventure game!

Abracadabra 🎩

Alakazam 🌟

Hocus Pocus 🐰

We watched the amazing WonderPhil perform his greatest magic tricks on camera with the Toronto Public Library today!

Did you know that a Tyrannosaurus rex egg has NEVER been found?

Or that some dinosaurs laid their eggs one per day over a period of weeks?

We learned these fun facts and more during our latest program from the Royal Tyrell Museum today! Students in Grades 1–3 learned about egg-citing discoveries and how different dinosaurs took care of their babies.

It's almost springtime in Ontario, which means it's 🍁MAPLE SYRUP🍁 time!

Students in Grades 7 and 8 are tuning in to AgScape's virtual tour of Wheeler's Pancake House & Sugar Camp today.

Here's what we'll get to see!
🌳 A farm with more than 40,000 sugar maple trees
🥞 The maple syrup production process (from sap to syrup)
🍁 The world's largest collection of maple syrup artifacts

How did people survive the long, cold winters in Canada hundreds of years ago?

What did they do to pass the time? What did they eat? What did they wear?

VES primary students will be joining Fanshawe Pioneer Village for a virtual show-and-tell program today to learn the answers to these questions! We'll find out how early settlers prepared for the winter months, kept busy, and survived the cold. PLUS, our museum educator has all kinds of mystery artifacts from the time period to show us.

Who doesn't love a good old-fashioned myth?!

Students in Grades 4, 5, and 6 are off to discover the art, mythology, and storytelling of the Mediterranean with experts at the J. Paul Getty Museum today! We'll be taking a peek at some of the museum's ancient objects while we hear stories of ⚡️heroes⚡️ and 😈monsters😈.

Our students and staff have been busy donating books this year for our EcoSchools Challenge!

Want to join in on the fun? Head to the Little Free Library page to find the closest one to you!

Reminder that applications are due February 15th!

Visit the Bursary Program page on our website for more information on how to apply.

https://www.virtualelementaryschool.com/our-school/bursary-program/

Things are a little bit frosty in Canada right now, but imagine what it's like in the ❄️ ARCTIC ❄️!!

Today, junior students get to participate in a live program with the Manitoba Museum to discover the resourcefulness of the Inuit communities and their use of skin, stone, bone, and snow! We'll look at how traditional Inuit clothing, weapons, and tools have helped human beings survive for thousands of years in freezing temperatures.

Our friends from Kids Code Jeunesse are back with another 3-part series of workshops for VES students!

Students in Grades 6–8 will get to learn about micro:bits (a.k.a. mini computers), code basic scripts, and create their own animations this month.

Did you know that animals at the zoo have to go to the doctor just like us??

Students in Grades 1–3 will get to step behind the scenes at the Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute to learn all about animal health while watching one of our wild friends get a check-up from a veterinarian!

We'll become animal doctors for the day as we take medical notes, select which tools we need to use, and practice diagnosing our patient.

An Algonquin Provincial Park educator is virtually joining our intermediate students to teach us all about wolves!

Here's what we'll be learning about today:

🐺 Statistics on wild wolves
🌎 How the lives of wolves have changed in Ontario
🐾 The differences between native and invasive species
➕➖ How human interactions can have positive and negative impacts on wolves
📷 Wildlife research techniques

VES junior students got to learn some amazing facts about cacao trees with the Royal Botanical Gardens today!

🍫 Residents of Switzerland eat more chocolate on average per year than any other country. A whopping 10 kilograms of chocolate!
🌍 Africa grows about 74% of the world's cacao trees.
💰 Cacao beans were used as currency in Central America hundreds of years ago, but only important spiritual and political leaders were allowed to eat it.

Become a VES insider by subscribing to our eNewsletter today!

We'll occasionally send quick, fun, and informative emails so you can keep up with all of the latest and greatest news and activities happening at Virtual Elementary School.

https://app.cyberimpact.com/clients/47732/subscribe-forms/A834B415-423F-4B24-ABA3-56498E859E39

It's time for our second EcoSchools Challenge!

Little Free Library is an international nonprofit organization that aims to build community ties and expand book access for all. There are also many environmental benefits to joining a Little Free Library community, such as reduced paper waste and the promotion of a sustainable reading culture through used book sharing.

This January, we invite you to research the closest Little Free Library to you where you can take a book and leave a book! Can't find a Little Free Library in your area? Consider starting your own OR donate your gently used books to your local library book sale or thrift store.

Simply snap a pic of your donation and send it to us so we can mark your involvement in the project!

Please note that the Virtual Elementary School administrative office will be closed on the following dates during the holiday season:

December 23 – December 26
December 29 – January 1

You're welcome to continue registering for courses through our website on these days. Any students who register during this time will be enrolled in their courses on the following business day.

You will still be able to access your current courses within your account. If you are in a course with teacher support and have questions about your teacher's availability over the holidays, please contact them directly!

Warmest wishes for a safe and happy holiday!

We thought we'd squeeze in just one more space activity for 2023!

Our students in Grades 4, 5, and 6 are blasting off for a special edition of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution virtual planetarium show! We'll journey through Earth's sky to investigate the solar system and how it affects our everyday lives.

Did you know that an oak tree can live to be 1000 years old??

Or that a group of sharks is called a shiver?!

Our intermediate students got to showcase their knowledge of random facts in our first ever student trivia competition today!

Meet Aranza Charles, an imaginative, enthusiastic, brilliant, cat-loving Grade 2 student at Virtual Elementary School!

Aranza first came to VES in Grade 1 last year, and we’ve been honoured to get to continue to be a part of her education again this year. Find out why Aranza and her mom, Ingrid, think VES is the perfect fit for their lifestyle over on the VES blog this month!

Student Spotlight: Aranza Charles Meet Aranza Charles, an imaginative, enthusiastic, brilliant, cat-loving Grade 2 student at Virtual Elementary School! Aranza first came to VES in Grade 1 last year, and we’ve been honoured to get to continue to be a part of her education again this year. Let’s find out why Aranza and her mom, I...

Our junior students are AMAZED by all of the history they learned about the First Peoples of the Northwest Coast in Canada today!

We took a virtual tour of the Canadian Museum of History's Grand Hall, and we cannot recommend it highly enough! We got to see totem poles, house fronts, baskets, hats, ceiling paintings, and sculptures. Be sure to check it out if you're ever in the Ottawa area.