UNR Basketball

 Attended an event at the University of Necada, Reno today. Learned about some different colleges and got to watch part of the women's basketball game. 

Mixtures and Solutions

Today we got to see how evaporation impacted our salt solution, which has been sitting in our classroom since last Thursday. We broke out the microscopes and hand lenses to analyze the crystal structure and will later compare this to those crystals produced in a sugar water solution that is also evaporated.

Instruments in Music

Mr. Unruh has borrowed a collection of violins for the students to learn the basics of music with. Since next year students have the opportunity to choose what their music program is (choir, strings, or band), this presents a great opportunity for everyone to get some hands-on experience with a stringed instrument. It also fits nicely in with our recent field trip to see the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra.

Vortex Canons

After reading all about the fluid dynamic principals of vortices all week in reading, we began making vortex canons in science yesterday. Today we incorporated all 4 articles we have been reading by writing about the topic knowledgeably and using citations. Students refined their vortex canons and tomorrow we have our Vortex Challenge (trademarked?). Let the science begin!

Campfires and "Spooky" Stories

In capitalizing on the time of year, and specifically Halloween, our class embraced the possibly distraction of the holiday and instead incorporated into the motivating factors of our learning. For the past two weeks students have been writing a "spooky" or "mysterious" story, focusing on the elements associated with those. Adding detailed adjectives into their story, peer editing and then printing, students were ready to celebrate their work. Sitting around various "camp fires" in class, students read their stories in the manner they were developed.

Polygon Attributes

We are deep into our unit on geometry. Students today cut out many different polygons and then sorted them according to their attributes, such as: all convex polygons, at least one pair of parallel sides, at least one reflex angle, etc.

Surface Tension

Today Mr. Green, our practicum student from UNR, taught a lesson on surface tension. Students tested water and soapy water to see the differences in surface tension and cohesion.