Without a P.E. teacher currently, Dr. Brock excitedly gets to teach one of his favorite units, that of floor hockey. The first day involved learning how to use a hockey stick, weaving in and out of cones with a hockey ball, and passing to an opponent both without a defender and with one. We also focused on the safety aspects, especially high sticking. This will be a fun unit (unless we get snow and lose our "field".
We have begun the first phase of our collaborative art project. This week students learned the technique of making a moon scene, where each student did their own painting. We will take this concept and apply it to a larger scale. Even trying to print a 3D moon on the 3D printer and attaching it to the art.
We spent a week learning all about bighorn sheep and the early people who depended upon them. For science, we utilized recent bighorn data provided by the Nevada Department of Wildlife to study 6 different sheep herds in our state. Six different groups investigated and became experts on 1 of these particular herds and the factors affecting the herd when it comes to conservation of it. After reading background information, compiling data, making an intense line graph, and completing questions, each group then created a PowerPoint presentation to teach the class about that particular herd.
We kicked off the new year with a new unit is science: mixtures and solutions. The first lab involved creating mixtures of water and diatomaceous earth, water and gravel, and water and sodium chloride. After discussing mixtures, students were given the task to separate them. The gravel was separated with a simple screen. The diatomaceous earth required a filter, and the sodium chloride was soon learned to be a special mixture called a solution. None of the tools worked. Today students brainstormed how they may separate the sodium chloride from the water, as the salt had totally dissolved. We are trying evaporation. Some students think it will work while others are not so sure.
We enjoyed a wonderful ballet production at the Pioneer Center on Monday. Well written, beautifully performed, and a perfect kid's production.
For the past week, student groups have been learning a particular Colonial game that was played during during the time period of the original 13 colonies. After learning the game and making all supplies by hand (tearing apart a straw broom, cutting rope and tying it together to make rings, etc.), each group then taught the class the game. Time was spent playing the game in small groups before rotating to learning about another Colonial game. In all, by the end of this week, students will have been introduced to 7 different Colonial era games. It has been neat to see them take these games out to recess. The most popular ones this week seen played at recess are marbles and Fox and Geese (a tag game).
We visited our school garden today and had a lesson from some former Beck students on composting. In fact, they put our class in charge of taking care of the red wiggler worms, gathering food scraps, and composting some good soil to add to the garden. We now have 1,000 red wiggler worms in a composting container in our classroom.
