Classroom Blogs

From September’s opening day to June’s closing ceremonies, we document and share events from all over our campus in an attempt to continuously communicate all the diverse goings-on at The Unquowa School. From school-wide events, assemblies, visiting presenters and other highlights from around campus, this blog feed from our teachers gives a sample of what’s happening at Unquowa!

Robotics with Precision!

Posted by Lloyd Mitchell

Sixth-grade robotics students have officially launched their unit with a challenging precision test: programming their robots to drive as close to the edge of the table as possible without sending their object tumbling! This initial trial showed some serious programming chops, with one standout group achieving an incredibly precise distance of just 1 mm from the drop. This excellent start is just the beginning; as they move forward, students will build on these skills, ultimately working toward the exciting goal of mastering autonomous robot programming.

Building With Light and Color

Posted by Maureen Diallo

Our first graders had a wonderful time exploring how light travels through different materials and how it can create amazing colors and patterns!

We began our investigation by learning some new science words: transparent, translucent, and opaque. We discovered that transparent materials allow all light to pass through, translucent materials allow some light to pass through, and opaque materials block all light.

After testing different classroom objects, we took our learning outside to the courtyard! The students brought their Magna-Tiles to build colorful structures in the afternoon sunlight. Because Magna-Tiles are translucent, the sunlight was able to shine through them, creating beautiful, glowing reflections of color on the ground.

The first-grade scientists were amazed to see how the light changed as they added more tiles or stacked colors together. They shared thoughtful observations, made predictions, and used their new science vocabulary to describe what they noticed.

This hands-on exploration helped students understand how light can filter through translucent materials, while also fostering creativity, collaboration, and curiosity. It was a bright and beautiful afternoon of science and imagination!

Are You Kool?

Posted by Ariel Warshaw

PreK & K Perform the “Backpack Song”!

Posted by emilyhall

PreK and K, enjoyed showing off their backpacks with this rendition of Emily Halls “Backpack Song” at assembly. With their syncopation, rhythm and voices, they really rocked it! Performing this back to school song, our Early Childhood students really wowed us with their poise… and cool backpacks! Go Gators!

Sing Sing Sing – 3rd Grade Rockin’ It!

Posted by emilyhall

The 3rd grade class put on a wonderful performance of this 1936 swing song. What fun to see them “sing with a swing” and boy did they entertain us. The composer, Louis Prima, would be proud. As we continue to learn the FUNdamentals of music, theory, dance and drama, I can’t wait to watch them grow. Bravo!

Comeback Can!

Posted by Joshua Bartosiewicz

To kick off the year in science, our 8th graders started learning about forms of energy, energy transfer (when a specific type of energy stays the same through a system but is passed from one object to another) and energy transformation (when a type of energy changes to another type). Some types of energy we covered included Potential Energy (stored energy), Gravitational Potential Energy (energy due to gravity pulling down), Kinetic Energy (energy associated with movement), Chemical Energy (like batteries or gasoline), Sound Energy, Thermal Energy (energy from heat), Electromagnetic Energy (like light energy), Magnetic Energy, Electrical Energy, Elastic Potential Energy (like energy from stretching a rubber band), and Nuclear Energy. In this lab, our students built contraptions known as the “Comeback can” or the “rollback can”. This lab demonstrated a couple of different principles in which there was energy transfer (kinetic energy from the students hand to kinetic energy in the can) as well as energy transformation (kinetic energy in the can to elastic potential energy in the rubber band within the can, then back to kinetic energy in the can itself). If the students built the models correctly, when they roll the can away from them there is a rubber band with a weight tied to it on the inside of the can which causes the rubber band to twist as the can rolls. The can eventually will stop rolling because all of the kinetic energy transforms into elastic potential energy in the rubber band which very quickly unwinds causing the energy to transform back into kinetic energy and it rolls back to the student. In the end, students had a better understanding of energy transfer vs energy transformation all while having a blast!