Roller Coaster Design
Students in the Roller Coaster Design class went to Busch Gardens to get a close up look at what it takes to design and create a world-class roller coaster. A behind the scenes tour allowed students a chance to see the design process at work and to grasp a better understanding of what they will be doing when they create their very own scream machines in the weeks to come.
Mr. Wyche’s 7th grade English class re-enacted Midsummer’s Night Dream
To incorporate the IB’s mission of a intercultural understanding, Mr. Kasselberg’s sixth grade IB class has written letters during the school year through ePals.com to students in Imabani-city Ehime, Japan. The students’ pen pals range in ages from 12-15 years old and are in their second year of learning English. To celebrate the New Year’s festivities across the ocean, the pen pals in Japan wrote letters and included traditional Japanese snacks for the students!
Ms. Forester’s Life Science 6th grade class
Collaboration, innovation, and the design cycle were practiced by having students do the marshmallow challenge. They worked in groups of 4 to 5 to build the tallest tower out of 1 meter of string and tape, 20 pieces of spaghetti, and a marshmallow. The trick was that they were only given 18 minutes and the marshmallow had to be on top of the tower!
Ms Shaw’s 7th grade Language A class
The students present skits with the vocabulary words. Each time the skits may be the same format but the words will change. This is a skit about two friends speaking on the phone. They had to improvise as they had four individuals who must speak and the skit called for two. Then the three vocab words must be entered into the conversation easily and clearly. This activity helps the students see how the words are used in everyday life.
Ms. Linette’s 8th grade Band class
Ms. Wolfgang’s 6th grade Social Studies class
The students finished connecting the American Indian tribes and their contact with European explorers. Each team of students were given an American Indian tribe to present. They hosted the “Today Show” with the following segments: Fashion, Food, Home Edition, Weather and Geography, Sports and Hobbies, and a Breaking News.
Ms. Mayhall and Ms Robertson’s 8th grade Language A class
For their unit on Motif in Whirligig by Paul Fleischman, 8th grade students built their own whirligigs using symbols to represent their strengths that make a positive contribution to the community and society as a whole.
Language Level II Mrs. Robertson’s class wrote and performed their skits based on Midsummer’s Night Dream
Whirligigs
Mrs. Forester’s 6th grade Life Science class
Students participated in a biomimicry lesson with the math science center. They learned how engineers use designs in nature to create lots of useful man-made designs like Velcro which came from observing plants with seeds that stick to animals fur. Students also created their own seed dispersal design to mimic how seeds are dispersed in nature, then tested and measured the distance their design flew in fan generated wind.
Ms. Forester’s 6th grade Life Science class
Baby chickens were hatched from eggs in an incubator in the classroom. Students enjoyed watching them develop and hatch, and were sent pictures of them as they grew up from the farmer who took them to raise to lay more eggs. Students also observed tadpoles turn into frogs, and caterpillars turn into moths and butterflies as they learned about life cycles and growth and development in life science.
Ms. Wilcox 7th grade Algebra class
