A Lil' Chemistry

Finishing the year, we have accomplished so much in science that we have some time for chemistry. Today, students learned about reactants and used three of them to produce a chemical reaction that produced a color change, heat, and gas. To say the students liked today's lab would be an understatement.

Kids Court

Today we visited the court house as our capstone project in learning about the 3 branches of government and our focus on the judicial branch. Students either had specific reading theater parts that had been worked on for the past five days or were the jury and got to decide if the defendant was innocent or guilty (guilty was our verdict).

Pen Pals at UNR

Students were finally able to meet their pen pals, with whom they have been communicating with all year. The pen pals, who are University of Nevada, Reno student ambassadors, helped students tie dye and gave a tour of the campus. A highlight was being treated to the cafe where most of the UNR Freshmen eat. So many choices to choose from! I think for some students, it was the food that might perhaps convince them to attend UNR in coming years.

Solar Cooking

Yesterday we had just enough sun to break out our solar ovens and do some cooking. Although shadows from clouds came and went, we had enough solar radiation to convert to heat energy. Hot dogs were cooked and consumed.

Solar Ovens

After learning about the basics of how our atmosphere and Earth turn light energy into heat energy to keep Earth warm, students were challenged to use engineering skills and these science concepts to build a solar cooker that can cook hotdogs. We began the construction yesterday. With weather not ideal for using the sun's solar radiation to cook with this week, we will bring out inventions out into the sun next week to test them out.

Digital Textbooks?

This week, students wrote persuasive essays regarding textbooks. First, we learned what digital textbooks look like, what they are capable of, and their drawbacks by watching a few three-minute videos. We then read an article on the topic as well. Students then had to commit to either being for the move from traditional textbooks towards digital ones or believe that traditional textbooks are still best for learning based on current drawbacks to digital ones. Next, they wrote a speech, which used information from our multiple sources to back up their claim, aimed for Mrs. Williams, our principal. The speeches were written and then practiced. Finally, they were given to their peers in class. Coincidentally, the USA Today just had an article come out about New York City and Amazon signing an agreement regarding digital text books for that school district, which is the largest in the country. We connected this article in on Friday.

Revolutionary Era Games

Students read about three different games that kids played during the times of the Revolutionary War. Each student became a specialist in one of the games and taught it to a small group of students.