Day 3: Breakfast

Students once again said they slept well. Surely more tired last night. While waiting for Green Cabin 3 to set up for breakfast, the rest of the students played Bucket and Boots. Breakfast sandwiches then filled students stomach’s preparing them for the challenge course today. 

Day 2 Afternoon/Evening

After lunch the students who didn’t do pond Ecology went to the pond while those who hadn’t done forest ecology went into the forest. One of the lessons with forest ecology was understanding a healthy forest and the distribution of trees when it comes to reducing forest fires. Student set up three scenarios of forests, using matches to represent trees. Then one match was lit to see how the fire spread from canopy to canopy throughout the forest. During recreation time this afternoon the gaga pit definitely was the place to be. Students seem to really enjoy the high paced thrill of this unique dodgeball game. After another delicious meal of spaghetti and meatballs, breadsticks, green beans, and Caesar salad, the students gathered for an indoor evening activity. The activity involved understanding adaptations of bird beaks. Students rotated through five stations using different tools to try to extract “food” from a variety of devices to better understand the unique shape of different beaks. 

Pond Ecology and Lunch

After breakfast on Wednesday morning half the groups went down to the pond to study pond ecology while other groups went into the forest to study forest ecology. At the pond, the groups did an overall assessment to determine if it was a healthy pond or not. This involved basic observations as well as testing for pH and dissolved oxygen. Students then captured macro invertebrates to help determine further the health of the local ecosystem. Tadpoles, mayflies, snails, frogs, snakes, and various other organisms were observed.  Quite amazing, as a few hours later we are back eating lunch. Students couldn’t get enough of the food. They are sure enjoying meal times.
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The Second Day Begins

All students appeared to sleep well the first night. They all showed up on time for breakfast and ready for day two. Breakfast consisted on pancakes, bacon, hash browns, yogurt, fruit, and granola. An added benefit to breakfast were deer outside the window as we ate. Today will involve forest ecology and pond ecology. 

Day 1: Outdoor School

A great first day!  All groups spent time in the forest. Most hiked up to Bald Spot, the tallest mountain, to overlook the mountain range and valley below. Community time took place and some kids played chess, others basketball, and most learned Gaga Ball. Dinner was amazing, enchiladas, and no one went hungry. Lots of food. After dinner the night experience took us into the woods to learn about adaptations such as deer ears for hearing, rhodopsin of the eyes, and even why quartz when struck together makes sparks. 

Dreamhouse: Calculating Flooring Costs

Now that floorplans are drawn, area and perimeter for each room are calculated, students today selected flooring samples and molding samples for their dreamhouse.  Using real samples and costs from Home Depot, students really enjoyed selecting samples and seeing how much they cost for each room. Finally, they added up the total cost (minus labor and tax) for their house. 

 

Math: The Dream House

 The beginning of this week we have a math project involving a dream house.  Students visualized this morning about a time when they have graduated high school, found a good career after college or trade school, became sturdy in their career, built up financial security and had the funds to build the ultimate dream house.  Today they drew out a floorplan of their house. Many included game rooms, swimming pools, archery ranges, and other unique rooms.  The next few days students will calculate the perimeter and area of each room (some will require great skill, as many rooms are not the basic rectangular shape). Following this, they will select floor samples and molding samples (from actual samples from Home Depot) to calculate the price of flooring/molding in each room.  Finally, a total price will be calculated for the entire house's floors and moldings.