Semester 3- Week 9
- Voula and Janira
- May 21, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: May 27, 2024
Tuesday
Morning Gathering
In wrapping up our map/orienteering unit, today we focused on the coordinate system of longitude and latitude. Students learned how to find and list coordinates on a map through a Map Skills Escape Room exercise! The main goal of this lesson was to have students apply knowledge of relative/absolute location, using maps, using a key, latitude/longitude, and a scale.
Ancient Civilizations -
Today, we unlocked the secrets of ancient history through the thrilling world of archaeology. We learned how archaeologists act like detectives, piecing together the past through artifacts, ruins, and even geology!
We explored some of the most incredible archaeological finds ever made, and then got hands-on with our own mini-dig! Students became archaeologists themselves, carefully excavating a "Raising Delco Dig" to unearth hidden artifacts and piece them together. It was a blast uncovering the clues of the past!
The Living Wax Museum is just Next Week , and we're excited for students to showcase their hard work!
This is a whole-class project, and everyone's participation is essential. Each student will be a living exhibit, bringing history to life for the entire school.
Your child's participation ensures a successful and engaging experience for everyone. It allows them to share their chosen historical figure and collaborate with classmates to create a truly immersive museum experience.
We encourage you to discuss the project with your child and offer support in their preparations.
This week we discussed numerous influencers, I look forward to whom they choose!
Ideas
Instructions
Writing:
In our last writing class, students completed a semester long, collaborative research paper! Students learned how to filter through pertinent information, organize and document their findings, write rough drafts, proof read, practice their grammar, and structure their final drafts into their very own masterpiece!
Thank you Ms. Lorraine for a full year of creative writing and inspiration!
Wednesday
Morning Gathering
Today in class, we stitched our way into a new creative tradition – embroidery! We learned the basic techniques and then transformed simple tablecloths into keepsakes with a personal touch. Each student embroidered their initials, making the cloth uniquely ours.
But this is just the beginning! As the years go by, this tablecloth will become a collaborative masterpiece. We can add new designs, messages, or even photos, turning it into a visual record of our journey together. It’ll be a beautiful reminder of the friendships and memories we make along the way!
Marine Biology
For our last class, we explored the world of sharks! Sharks are amazing creatures that have been around since long before dinosaurs! They live in waters all over the world, in every ocean, and even some rivers and lakes. Sharks belong to the class called Chondrichthyes which is a class of jawed fish with cartilaginous skeletons. That's right, sharks do not have bones! Sharks also have keen senses that help them find food. A line of sensitive nerve cells along a shark's side helps it pick up vibrations made by other creatures moving in the water (especially when a fish is struggling). Little openings inside a shark's snout contain other sensors that allow it to detect electrical signals. Since tiny electric charges are given off by other animals' bodies, this sense also helps a shark find food. It can sense electric charges from the heartbeat of a fish hidden in the sand! As humans, our sense of smell is connected to our breathing, hence the reason we inhale through our nose when we smell something (and then our brains tell us what we are smelling). Sharks on the other hand, have receptors that detect chemicals in the water. These sensors send the message to the brain, telling the shark what it is smelling. Students watched a video on all the different senses sharks utilize when hunting for food. We even discussed the misconception that animals like sharks can smell fear. If a shark can detect a struggle, and an accelerated heartbeat, then instinctively it can sense the fear through the multiple senses mentioned above. Students learned the best way to handle a shark encounter, is to not swim away or splash, remain vertical, keep eye contact, and try to keep the heart from racing (easier said than done)! We then conducted an experiment on a shark's sense of smell! In this experiment, students smelled 8 cups filled with a substance (blood, just kidding, tomato juice), that was diluted 8 times. Cup 1 represented 1 part per 10. Cup 8 represented 1 part per 100,000,00. Most sharks can detect something from cup 8, where most students began smelling something about half way through, but none were able to detect its actual substance until cup 1. Lastly, students were able to view shark teeth found in New Jersey (Big Brook), that date back millions of years. Students were also able to hold a few Megalodon teeth (a shark that went extinct about 3.6 million years ago)! This shark was said to reach lengths of 60 feet and 140,000 pounds!!
Energy 101
We completed the semester reviewing our favorite Energy 101 tools and practicing one of the tools of Access- Access Bars.
We discussed the importance of taking time for you and doing what you love. Taking time to be in nature, learn, create, explore, encompass and capture all the elements that encompass us.
The younger kids were energetic and also shared a fun yoga set to connect with movement, stretching, strength and somatic release and relaxation.
It has been an extreme honor to spend time with your kids. These moments are fleeting and you chose Raising Delco to nurture your child. We appreciate and value this time and experience more than words can express.
May your children continue to thrive and be open to all that is available to them. Peace, love, respect and expansiveness!!
Art & Sculpting
For our last class, students created their own nature journals! We discussed drawing from observation before we went outside, in search for inspiration! Students were encouraged to use different coloring materials such as water colors, oil pastels, color pencils, etc., while drawing and painting their natural surroundings.
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