What Christmas Means

By CM, 8th Grade 2017

Simple chemistry-Loads of gooy fun!

For something fun and hands on, we made foam slime.  The students witnessed the chemical reaction in front of their eyes and hands.  They also learned that proportions make a difference.  Too much shave cream, color or manipulation and the outcome is less than ideal.  Colored hands, stiff goo, and lack of cohesion followed.

Gametophytes and capsules - Vortex cannons in nature

We are exploring plant classification in science right now and we are finding amazing things in our outdoor learning lab area.

Mr. Harvey also brought us something to try that was a fantastic tie-in to our lessons on moss and fungi.  Who knew there were cool vortex cannons as small as that!

Gametophytes and capsules - Vortex cannons in nature

We are exploring plant classification in science right now and we are finding amazing things in our outdoor learning lab area.

Mr. Harvey also brought us something to try that was a fantastic tie-in to our lessons on moss and fungi.  Who new there were cool vortex cannons as small as that!

Cutting ice blocks with wire without breaking it....could you?

Passing a wire through a block of ice without breaking the ice?  Sure enough!  Mr. Harvey rigged up quite the display that not only showed the wire passing through the ice without the block being cut in half, but he also demonstrated how the pile of salt on the block would slowly melt the ice through.  Amazing!

PBL and STREAMS Friday

Yes! We are finally getting our hands dirty in our outdoor science area.  Actually, we got more than our hands dirty. 😃  There was so much mud from the recent rain that we grew a couple of inches in height with the mud on our boots!

We had several tasks to accomplish outside.  The cleared hillside needed to have some silt fencing put up to prevent erosion, until we can get it replanted. The eighth graders managed to pound stakes in, and with the help of their teacher and Francisco, we got the soil packed at the bottom.

The rest of the class was occupied at the "shed" emptying the junk from inside, and searching to see if the building had footings supporting it.  Good news! There are footings. Bad news, there are some sill  plates that need to be replaced.  What better problem-based learning could we ask for! The students had fun and are excited to be actively making a difference on their outdoor learning lab!

Local person of fame visits

That's right! We had Nick Tomihama visit our classroom today. How exciting to see his work and hear firsthand how he makes his bows, arrows and arrowheads. He knows his stuff!

He even managed to show use how the geometry we had just studied that morning, is used in the making of arrowheads!  Yes! Practical, everyday use of math! Warms a teachers heart! Thanks Mr. Tomihama!

Nick took the students out to try their hand at throwing large darts with an atlatl. After some warm up shots, they were able to send those darts flying fifty yards or so.

  Check out Nick's YouTube channel- Nicholas Tomihama