Thanks for coming in!

What a delight to have our parents come in last Friday! It was fun to see the kids proudly sharing their stories and work. I loved seeing students reading their favorite books to their parents, and parents drawing Viking ships next to their children. Thank you all so much for coming!

Artifacts Math Adventure

Given a set of shapes that were found in some ancient ruins on a deserted island, students were asked to think like archaeologists to hypothesize what they might be and any possible uses. Possibilities suggested were: an ancient puzzle, some kind of runes, a navigation system map, a pyramid blueprint, hieroglyphics, etc. Then they were asked to think like mathematicians and document any patterns they noticed. After a lot of experiment and discussion, many students worked out that the pieces fit together into six smaller squares and then the those squares fit together into a larger rectangle. Some students started figuring the areas of the shapes using graph paper.

This was also our first time using the i-pads - everyone had fun taking pictures of their work and creating short movies. Looking forward to a lot more of this in the future!

Explorer Reports

The Explorers and Navigators shared their reports at Gathering Friday -- each student shared the name of the explorer they researched, what that person was best known for, and the dates they voyaged. Everyone did a great job!

Construction Project

We did some writing last week with the prompt "If I were an explorer..." and talked and wrote about WHERE we might go and HOW we might get there.  Ideas for modern-day explorations like going to the bottom of the ocean in a special kind of submarine (named a "Gup") or exploring space in a super-powered jet rocket came out of this, as well as desires to go back in time and sail in a ship like the ones used by many of the explorers we've been researching. Some students wanted to design a tank-like tracked land vehicle to explore the desert, and some thought the best way to get around was just good old fashioned foot power (with, of course, special shoes designed for this purpose). So, in true Seabury style, the Explorers and Navigators got down to the task of creating these vehicles. It took a lot of imagination, and a lot of TAPE...