Presenting Utopia Projects
Posted by Eric Snow
Throughout the year, students in Humanities 7 have been learning about the different aspects of culture that create the different societies we know today.
Students needed to engage those various aspects of culture (religion, clothing, government, etc.) to try to, from scratch, create a perfect society.
Today, those groups presented their wildly divergent utopias – one based on the governing principle equity, and the other on health and wellness.
Unquowazine – Volume 5
Posted by Karen EngelkeIt has been such a pleasure working with the Lower School Art and Literary Club members on Unquowazine Volume 5. They have worked tirelessly on various stages of magazine development. This year they have included more original content in the form of interviews, comics, and book reviews. Together with their staff, Salma, Grady, and William reviewed much of the work themselves. They did an amazing job of being mindful of each student’s work while honoring its authenticity. As their advisor, I guided them and gave them structure and support. Kudos to all of their hard work and dedication!
Holocaust Survivor, Agnes Vertes, Shares Her Story
Posted by Ariel Warshaw
Engineering Electromagnets!
Posted by Joshua Bartosiewicz-
- A battery and a copper wire coiled around an iron nail are used to create a magnet!
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- Picking up paperclips with the magnet.
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- “Wow, that’s a strong magnet!”
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- Creating a coil or solenoid for the electromagnet.
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- More coils!
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- “Woah, I didn’t expect it to work!”
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- A strong magnet being used to hold other nails.
The 8th grade was able to build their own electromagnets in the science lab! The students have been learning so much about electricity, magnetism and electromagnets (the movement of charged particles in a coil can create a magnetic field). For this lab, the scholars were given batteries, copper coils, iron nails and paperclips and were asked to build an electromagnet. They had a general understanding of the material but after completing this lab, there was no question on how electromagnets function. Students were able to play around with their designs by using different types of wire, changing the number of loops around the iron nail (more loops would make a stronger magnet due to the overlapping magnetic fields created from the charged particles flowing through the wire which is from the battery), and using different types of batteries. In the end, the 8th graders thoroughly enjoyed creating their own magnets and comparing the strengths of their magnets to each others.
Early Childhood Earth Day at Unquowa
Posted by Faith Barbuto
While grades 1-8 went off to explore Webb Mountain, the early childhood classes had the whole school to ourselves! Our focus was bugs and students really enjoyed making bug homes and working together to create bug hotels for the community. Once we collected our materials construction began as well as some good old fashioned bug hunting! While one group was playing outside the other was making environmental art with Mrs. DesGranges. The students were really excited to make their own snack and lunch with our school chefs in the dining room! We could not believe our eyes when the snack was creating your own edible bug. We used fruits and vegetables along with healthy dips and spreads to create edible art! Lunch was hands on to as we created our own French bread pizzas- they never had that for lunch when I was a kid! The meal was rounded out with a hummus and veggie platter and Caesar salad which almost everyone tried! To finish off a sweet sprinkle cookie that looked like the Earth. Next we headed back outside for an Earth Day sing along with Mr. Coe. We put our finishing touches on our big hotels and placed them out in the woods with hopes of all vacancies being filled. Both Mandarin and Spanish were taught outside where students learned nature words and played games in those languages. A fun, exciting day was had by all. Thanks to all the teachers and staff who made this day so memorable for our kids!
A Step Back in Time
Posted by Sarah Raggio
Recently Grade 5 has been working on different reading strategies for better comprehension of text. One of our strategies is Making Connections and it involves relating your personal experiences to the text you are reading for better understanding. Our text, My Brother Sam is Dead, set in Connecticut in 1775 and narrated by a young boy, tells of the human aspects of the Revolutionary War. The 5th graders are comparing and contrasting their lives to that of the narrator, helping them to have a deeper understanding of the novel and time period. This week, we put the strategy to the test and fully immersed ourselves in the colonial time period by making butter by hand and baking bread. While we did use a modern oven, the butter was made with a lot of muscle and plenty of shaking! Some students concluded that they would simply forgo eating butter all together if they had to work this hard to have it, with the added inconvenience of no refrigeration only complicating the situation. The following day, we had the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of our labor, by reading a chapter of our book in class, while eating our homemade bread and butter. Now that’s making a connection!
