Early Childhood Imagined….Eighth Grade Created!
Posted by Krissy Ponden
The eighth graders have been busy bringing our youngest students’ drawings to life! The Pre-K, Kindergarten and First graders drew imaginative characters for the eighth graders to turn into stuffed toys. Staying true to the original designs, the students have been carefully sewing and stuffing football players, colorful cats, dragons, and mermaids. These finished toys will be given back to the original artists, who are anxiously awaiting their completion!
Concept to Reality!
Posted by Lloyd Mitchell
Equipped with their design, power tools, paint and a block of wood, 5th grade tech students were tasked with the job of developing their own boxwood derby car. They successfully completed this multi space project, starting in the Tech Lab with the design process, to the Makerspace for the actual construction of their design and finally to the Art Room where their creativity came to life. Students proudly took a concept and turned it into a reality. Bravo, 5th grade!
Constructing Homes For Others!
Posted by Lloyd Mitchell
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- Team pride inspired!
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- Jackson Pollock inspired!
6th grade tech class ventured down to the Makerspace to tackle a two week project working with a different kind of tech! Students were tasked with constructing a birdhouse using power tools, screws, wood putty and paint. It was clear that this was a fun project by the amount of paint that made it onto our clothes instead of our birdhouses. But in the end, the projects were a great success and the neighborhood birds got some new homes as well!
Remapping the Middle East
Posted by Ariel Warshaw
1. What is the Middle East?
2. What countries does it include?
3. How do you decide what countries “belong” in the region, and what countries do not?
Students were shown different map projections that centered continents in varying ways. While the term “Middle East” might make directional sense if the Americas were all the way to the west, does it still make sense if we look at a map where Asia is positioned westward? We discussed the Eurocentric nature of the name, and then explored different definitions of the Middle East. Finally, students were tasked with remapping the region. In teams, they had to consider the (potentially new) boundaries they would establish for the region typically called the “Middle East” – and explain why. They could either create one cohesive region, or make smaller ones if they felt that made more sense.
The end results were fascinating! All teams chose to subdivide the region, and most used geography and proximity to one another to determine which countries should be grouped together. That said, others created subregions based on shared religious beliefs, diplomatic relations, and language. Our conversations around this exercise revealed the complexity of defining the area we know as the Middle East. This activity will act as a springboard for our subsequent lessons around how the West perceives the region, imperialism, colonial histories, religiosity, and the ramifications of these factors for the modern day Middle East.
What’s all the Buzz About ?
Posted by Sarah Raggio
The fifth graders have been ferociously reading all year. They each read 5 nights per week, with a goal of 20 minutes per night. Each month, we add up the minutes and our monthly totals have reached between 7,000-8,000 minutes. That’s impressive!
This week they were buzzing about their independent book choices in the month of January. Their January book report assignment was to design a book jacket for their book. Some students volunteered to do a “Book Buzz” for their classmates. Using their persuasive skills, in about a minute, some were able to inspire their classmates to read their book, therefore, creating a little buzz about that book! There was a great deal of interest in some books that were shared that were set during WWII and another favored book was a creepy mystery. We all agree, this chilly weekend will be the perfect time to pick up a book , get cozy and read!
Gummy Bear Wave Machine
Posted by Karen Engelke
Grade 4 has been studying Energy in Science. As part of the unit, they have been exploring wave properties. What better way to explore a concept in science than with the use of some kind of candy? So they created a Gummy Bear Wave Machine! It’s just duct tape, wooden skewers, and gummy bears, but it makes some really striking, beautiful effects when set in motion. As the gummy bears move up and down, energy is being sent from one end of the wave machine to the other. The duct tape twists in between each stick and passes it onto the next bit of tape between the sticks. This process continues until it reaches one end and then continues back the same way in which it came from. Once the wave machine was complete, guess who got to eat the leftover gummy bears?
