St. Patrick's Day Math/Reading/Science

In the afternoon of March 17th, we broke into groups to become specialists with different topics related to St. Patrick's Day.  After reading and sorting through information, students presented the information to the rest of the class.

Next, we built off of the information about the potato famine in Ireland in the mid-1800's.  We explored what part of a potato is "edible", considering that most people peel potatos for cooking.  Through the process, students also discovered why the mass of their peels added to the mass of their pulp didn't equal the original mass of the potato.

We finished the day by turning regular copper pennies into "gold".  Students cleaned their pennies in an acidic solution (Taco Bell sauce).  Next, they watched as Dr. Brock galvanized the pennies in zinc.  They soon held a zinc coated penny in their hand.  Finally, Dr. Brock circulated around the room so students could watch as their penny became the alloy brass (when zinc and copper are heated they create brass).  The brass pennies were now shinny, gold colored.

Happy Pi Day

March 14th was Pi Day (3.14). After measuring many different baked pies in the classroom (diameter and circumference) and discovering that Pi= circumference/diameter, we reversed the process and found circumference of different circles using the formula C=Pi/diameter. We also found the area of circles using pi.

Overall, it was a successful, math filled day.  A wonderful way to spend an afternoon after CRTs.

Elk Buglers Enter World Bugling Contest

On Friday, March 4th, eight students from the Jessie Beck Elk Club entered the Rocky Mountain World Bugling Championships at the Reno Convention Center.  Competing on a massive stage in front of many onlookers, each student demonstrated their best cow calls and bugle calls.  Four students made it to the finals on Saturday. Ben, Tucker, and Joe will compete in the finals for the Pee-Wee division and Morgan will compete in the Jr. Division.

Using Snowshoes to Learn!

What a week! Our reading focused on learning about the science and history of the Lake Tahoe area.  Science and math were even threaded into instruction as students learned the science behind how snowshoes help.  Students calculated their PSI (pounds per square inch) based upon their weight and the shoes they had on that day.  Then, they did the same thing with a variety of fake snowshoes to understand how they help spread out a person's surface area.

The trip on Thursday worked out great. We didn't even have to chain up to get to Heavenly!  The forest rangers were great and expanded upon the learning that had taken place in the classroom.