Visitors

We had a couple of special guests today: 

Kermit the Frog (and nephew Robin) visit French class. 

This isn't a photo from last year. Summers-Knoll alum Adi's school is off today, so she elected to come visit for the day! 

Separating iron, salt, and sand

As part of an ongoing study of water, filtration, compounds, and mixtures, students are currently working in small groups to design a procedure to separate this:

A mixture of sand, salt, and iron

Into this: 

Separated samples of iron, salt, and sand

It requires a deepening understanding of many of the concepts we've been working with this year, including filtration, mixtures, and evaporation. It also requires brainstorming a plan with their partners, as well as crafting a detailed procedure to follow. 

Checking out the magnified structures of iron, salt, and sand 

Scenes from the final week of 2014

Now that the energy and excitement of the play has crested, we have a week left before a well-earned break. The final week in December can often be a tricky one, as people are starting to burst at the seams, but we're still getting a lot done! 

On Monday, the first of our book groups presented to the class, telling us a bit about the characters and themes of Mockingbird, the book they had read. 

Later in the day, Gabe and David gave a presentation teaching us about tiling and tessellation, which included a group activity designed to illustrate what shapes are able to tessellate. (It's difficult to photograph a slideshow in low light, so please know that David is actually pointing out a detail of a tiling, as opposed to just a blob of white light.) 

In Math today, what was meant as a warm-up exercise wound up taking over much of the morning, as kids worked together (using manipulatives, drawings, paper, and white boards) to solve a logic puzzle involving checkers on a board. 

Today was also one of our days for PE, so after working through the morning, they were ready to run off some energy in the afternoon. 

Our class lately. . .

It's been difficult to adequately sum up what's been happening at school lately, as we've been very busy! 



First and foremost, our upcoming school play looms over everything. Rehearsals for Alice have taken over this week, and things have been coming together nicely! 

A full dress rehearsal underway in the atrium

Meanwhile, the students who aren't in the play are working on a variety of other projects. 

Gabe and David are working on a tessellation presentation. Marcellin and Keira are working on creating a fraction game. 

Owen began working on an S-K themed newspaper, and Oliver has started contributing as well. 

Meanwhile, our entire class continues our investigation into water, water purity, and filtration. Here, Sam uses a student-built filter to see if it can remove green food coloring from a cup of water. (It can't! Why not?)

Nick shows off a jar of water that has been driving a lot of our investigations. It was pulled from the standing water just behind the S-K playground. We've been watching as it settles and changes, and learning about the processes that cause the jar to re-pressurize every time we open it and re-seal it. 

We've also been conducting an experiment in evaporation. We placed the same amount of water into differently shaped containers. At what rate will each evaporate? (If they're different rates, why might that be?) Not only is it an exercise in surface area, evaporation, and filtration, but also one involving experimental design and good data collection. (Students are also writing a set of procedures that are precise enough that someone else could replicate the experiment.) 

On top of this, we're also continuing with our book groups. Some groups are finished with their books and have moved onto preparing presentations to share with the rest of the class. It's a busy time! 

Grandfriends Day!

We had a number of special visitors to our school today! Students invited grandparents (and other grand friends) to spend the morning in our class, getting a taste of what we do in school each day.

We began the day with a warm-up, as is our custom, and our guests and students worked together to puzzle through it. A little later, a few kids performed portions of their magic acts. We also had a few class discussions to give a sample of what daily life is like here at Summers-Knoll.

Keira finds Evan's card. 

Brainstorming a math puzzle

Welcoming such important people into our classroom was a lovely day to spend the morning before a long, well-deserved holiday break!

Distractions

Sometimes you just have to abandon the pretense of productivity and surrender to the allure of watching workers servicing the power lines outside the window...

Stream table workshop at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History

On Thursday, we visited the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History for a stream table workshop. We built and tested filters in small groups (and using different materials than our classroom filters), and spent time exploring a large stream table. We used it to observe water flow and erosion, and experimented with methods of curbing it.

The greenish tint to the right of this tiny ranch is food coloring, which represents agricultural waste. When the water starts flowing, it quickly finds its way into the river. 

Using plants to reduce erosion 

Deciding where to build a town along the river 

Building filters as part of the workshop 

After our workshop, we spent some time exploring the museum in small groups. Everyone found plenty of things to investigate.

Comparing the the DNA of humans and chimps. It's amazingly similar. 

Ariana turns the tables on the dinosaur. 

Group photo in the giant canoe 

Magic act run throughs

As part of our exploration of the theme of Magic, we've been developing acts in small groups. It will culminate with a series of performances this Friday afternoon, when we'll be performing for other a few of the other classes (and any family members who would like to drop in!). 

We've spent this week putting the finishing touches on our acts, and performing them for each other for peer review. They're really coming together! Ask your child about how their act is going!

Design, Build, Test: "Filtration Investigation"

In stage one of the investigation the class was given a list of materials, their costs and their maximum budget to build a system to filter "muddy" water with the goal of collecting water as pure as possible.

Stage 2: Evan going over some ideas for 

improving the filter design of another group. 

Stage two of the investigation was previewing, discussing, and giving feedback on the designs in small groups.
Stage three was actually collecting the materials and attempting to implement the design.
For the climax of the activity we poured "muddy water" through each of the student's filters.
The final takeaway from the lesson is a reflection sheet (what worked, what didn't and what would I do differently next time) that the kids are completing for this checkout.

Book groups

Joanna talks about A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LaGuin.

Starting next Monday, we'll begin our new book groups. Each group of four-to-five students will be reading one of five different books:

Not pictured: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. (Our copies are on order...)

Rachel Goldberg, our resident librarian, came in and gave inspiring book talks about each novel on Monday. We then asked each student to rank them in the order of greatest-to-least interest. We'll be announcing the groups soon, but everyone seems likely to get their first or second choice.

Each group will be led by an adult, who will be reading the novel along with the students and guiding discussions. Everyone seems very excited about it!

Science: Filtration investigation

Various filter designs

As part of our ongoing study of water, watersheds, and water quality, we began a discussion today about water filtration.


We began with a reading to build some background knowledge, making note of (and discussing) terms that were unfamiliar to the class.

Then, students were tasked with creating two different designs for potential water filters, given a list of materials and their costs. Their budget was $8.00 per filter.

The groups set to work, brainstorming ideas and crafting designs.

The next step will be to present their designs to the class to get feedback.