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

Salmon delivery

Our salmon arrived today!  Columbia Springs Fish Hatchery delivers them to us twice a year.  The students had fun reviewing the life cycle, habitat and feeding habits of the Coho salmon.  There appear to be 15 of them, although it is hard to keep track as they move around so much.

Folks who walk through our halls love to stop and take notice of the newest inhabitants of Riverside Christian School.  We will release them in December.  This Salmon in the Classroom program enriches our ecosystem studies this quarter and makes the students more aware of taking care of the river across the street from the school.

STREAMS COMING TO LIFE

So....our studies this year are summarized in the acronym STREAMS:  Science Technology Religion, Engineering Art Math and Service.  This week a backhoe showed up to clear out more of the black berries out of our outdoor play area.

With the extra amount of rain, drainage has shown itself to be an issue out there and causing our neighbor some distress as well.  Something needed to be done to divert the extra water.  The men worked hard and forged a "path" for the spring water to flow, thus by-passing the neighbor's yards.  The good news....we appear to have a year round stream that must have been traveling in a mysterious direction.  We'll have to spend some more time observing and researching it's source.

Connecting with some experts seems to be in order too!  Could this be some place salmon use to come? There are many exciting options as well as challenges for our students to explore, brainstorm and solve.  We'll keep you posted!

Here's Lookin' at You!

It was a whole new world of micro size!  Mr. H came with his marvelous microscopes this week and demonstrated how they worked, how to take care of them and even let us try them out.  Mr. K even came to demonstrate and assist with the contrast microscope.

The students had collected samples from around our campus and their homes.  We had pond water, dead bugs, live bugs (mostly spiders!), and even saw a mosquito larvae (circulation and all!).

Students were able to witness that ecosystems exist even in a drop of water.  We could spend a whole month of days like this one!

Thanks Mr. H and Mr. K, for volunteering your time and thoughtful insight into the world of microscopes.  We loved it!

Riverbed find! Class pet?

Sure enough!  We were gathering samples from our river ecosystem, and found a friend.  The students are observing, researching and caring for this little guy.  We may get a chance to observe him up close and personal with our microscope day coming up.  Looking into the water he lives in will be interesting too.

So blessed to be able to walk to a river bank and explore the amazing things in nature that God has given us.

STEM Friday Measure Up

We went outside for our STEM Friday!  Our outdoor classroom play area is a "diamond in the rough" and has sooo much potential!

The students measured the area, marked where existing trees and bushes are and basically evaluated how much space we have to work with.  Next week we will draw up a "map" on graph paper to document that space.  From there, they can brainstorm different uses and layouts.

They found an apple tree!  With apples!  Samples were taken of course!

2016-17 JUST BE......

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> Greeting the students at the door is this display. I want them to continually be aware of what they are, but also what they can be with JESUS.
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STREAMS FRIDAY

The end of the first week of school and we had such a blast!  Today we spent most of the day building...

Building with our KEVA blocks that are so nicely balanced that you can build amazing things!

We learned some key things about teamwork,
leverage,
                balance, structure
                              and art (bridges and staircases need to look nice too! :).

CD-  "[We] built a bridge big enough so a kindergartner could crawl under it.  It was tough to get each side to connect to the other."

TB- "The hard part of the building was that if you put a piece on the wrong spot it would fall down or lean over."

EC- "My building project was like a spiral staircase....it was hard to make it balance and its like us and God...it's hard to get closer to Him when we keep on sinning."

CM- "I built a mini golf course, 3 holes.  All holes you get a hole-in-one if you pick the right slot.  If you pick the wrong slot you lose.  Getting the ball to hit the block was hard, except the first hole."

Some of the boys worked on a challenge requiring them to balance 11 nails on one!  It helps to have a buddy supporting and brainstorming!

STREAMS in our ecosystem

Yes.  We have great plans for the school year.

There are secret places on our beautiful campus that have been uncovered by wonderful volunteers over the spring and summer months.  In these areas lie great possibilities that we are on a mission to discover over the next 9 months.

The possibilities run right along our STREAMS initiative for the coming years.  STREAMS stands for Science - Technology - Religion - Engineering - Art - Math - Service.  Each of these elements are important to our mission from a community stand point as well as an academic one.  As the year progresses, we will post notes, pictures, and plans for our activities.

Our first focus....
To define our campus ecosystems and resources so we can manage them responsibly. Grab your gear!

A brand new year!

Students and parents-
Our new school year begins this coming Monday!  Can't believe how fast the summer went.  We have great things planned for you this year!
We will focus on sharing Jesus with others, becoming Expert Writers and Technology Gurus.

Come and join me on this new adventure!

Outdoor school a great adventure!

The sixth graders and I went to Camp Magruder for outdoor school this year!  What a GREAT time we had.  There were 4 divisions for the students to participate in for field study:  Water, Earth, Animals, and Forest.  The weather was fantastic, the food great and everyone had fun.
We were able to play on the beach, have cabin time, disect squid, and make new friends.  I can't wait for next year!

More baby birds!

The youngsters from the Jones' nest have ventured out and are entertaining us with their antics.  The four are each quite different from their parents in coloring.  Time will tell if the colors change to the zebra finch coloring the parents have.  One is almost white....hummm.

Our second couple, the Society Finches, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, have announced that their eggs are hatching!  Monday we saw one little pink baby.  By Friday all five should be hatched.  Now for another week and a half before those young ones emerge!  What excitement!

We will be looking for home for these lively, sweet little birds if any one is interested.

On another note.....Sixth grade outdoor school was fabulous!  We will be posting a few pictures from those adventures soon.

Baby Birds Liven Our Room

Well, after much waiting and anticipation, the little birds hatched!  We have four little bald heads bobbing in the Zebra Finches nest.  The happy couple where named Mr. and Mrs. Jones.  :)  The babies hatched on Thursday, September 6, 2012.  They are expected to emerge from the nest by next week--September 24-28.
We can already hear them begging for food as the busy parents try to keep up.  We are feeding them extra bread, apple pieces, carrot and egg-yolk to help the little ones get off to a good start.

Other breaking news:
The Society finches, who live next door to the Jones' have also made a nest and are currently setting!

Mr. and Mrs. Smith have found the basket hung in the center of the cage to be the suitable location for their little brood.  As of Sunday, September 16, there were four little eggs being incubated.  What fun we are having watching this new couple peek out from their little domain!

New Additions

They just moved in!  We now have birds for observation in our classroom.  The first pair have already begun to build their nest.  We will need to name them of course....so come prepared to suggest names for our new residents.

The first couple is a pair of Zebra Finches who are very energetic!  Mr. and Mrs.  _____________?

The second couple are Society Finches and boy can he sing!  Mr. and Mrs.  _______________?

As the year progresses we will be documenting the daily life and life cycle of the birds.  They will be here to greet you on Tuesday, August 28 for the First Day of School!

See you soon!