- Goal-setting Conferences: March 2 - 6
- Minimum Day: March 4
- Buddy Meeting: March 6
- Community Meeting: Akers Crew: March 13
- All School Assembly: March 20
- Middle School Minimum Day: March 25
- Community Meeting: Santos Crew: March 27
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The Bell Crew has been learning all about black bears! Students created a cozy bear den under the loft in their classroom—“gathering” leaves, branches, boulders, and twigs just like those amazing four-legged mammals. Students spend time each day, as field scientists, in the classroom den observing video footage of a wild black bear digging a den and caring for her newborn cubs. They record observations in a science journal.
Also, as part of their character curriculum, SELS alumna, Alia Synoff, began her four-week series of lessons on emotions and managing one’s feelings. Today she led students through a t-shirt making process to create a symbol that reminds them of happiness.
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The Telfer Crew celebrated the 100th day of school by creating hats with 100 stickers. Students also worked on making 100 with tally marks, counting by 10s and 5s, among other counting activities. First Graders are winding down their Light and Sound Engineers Expedition. In the photos, students practice their final shadow puppet performances that go with their learning target "I can use the engineering design process to tell a story using light and sound." Students will be starting their final Telfer Crew expedition in March, Amazing Animals, Amazing Me. They are very excited to start this revamped expedition and cannot wait to show off their end of the year products and performances!
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The MinBorg Crew has begun their new expedition, Ready, Set, Go! In this sports science expedition, they will be using inquiry science and student-driven questions to investigate snow sports and ball sports. Students are eager to get started in their new science notebooks and brainstorm testable questions and follow through with student (and teacher-guided) hands-on experiments. These inquiry notebooks will contain a wide range of notes, detailed drawings, and various types of data tables to make sense of their findings. We can’t wait to see their discoveries about the world around them!
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Promoting literacy is key in the Welch Crew. Each month, their crew walks to the Nevada County Library to learn how the library works with fun activities and scavenger hunts. Students locate books in the children's section and then choose books to check out for reading during the month. Students search for GOOD FIT books that are promoting their reading and comprehension skills in literacy. They love spending time with the new children's librarian, Piret. Thank you, Nevada County Library, for supporting students in their reading adventures.
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Akers Crew has started their new Sierra Scientist Expedition with the first case study titled, "What’s the Matter?” They have been conducting water science experiments with Ms. Landis as they make observations to identify materials based on their properties and develop models to describe that matter is made up of particles too small to be seen. Students also visited the Winter Discovery Center by SWEP, at the Tahoe City Cross Country center, where they investigated how thermometers work by making their very own thermometers and learned about monitoring winter weather. They learned about the scientific principles of thermometers such as conduction, convection, and kinetic energy. After conduction experiments, the crew went to Commons Beach to enjoy some February sunshine, as well as do some activities related to Lake Tahoe and water.
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The Brisbin Crew is having some exciting exploratory science fieldwork with Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships. They had their first round of “Science in a Yurt” where students built thermometers and looked at kinetic energy. They enjoyed working together to determine what happens when thermometers are exposed to warmer and colder temperatures. Students also participated in a lake Tahoe formation workshop on Commons Beach!
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To kick off the spring science-based expedition Weather We Change, the Worster Crew learned about snow, weather and climate by digging, shaping, and sleeping in snow shelters. Local snow scientist and Sierra Avalanche Center forecaster, Andy Anderson, came to give his insights into what snow can tell us about weather and climate. The crew persevered through a long day of building their shelters and getting set up for the night, only to be rained on in January. Many were fast asleep when they had to call the kids into the Hutchinson Lodge, but the experience provided great discussion for an expedition based on climate change.
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The Santos Crew has been examining microscopic organisms with their expedition "Is Anything Alive in There?" They have been patient in observing cells from various kingdoms under microscopes and learning about all the parts of cells. Students also got to extract the DNA from strawberries. As part of their service to the community, they started doing some research about the SELS Better World Day Project. Santos Crew went to the local landfill and transfer station and learned all about the trash. 7th grade is leading SELS in finding ways to help Truckee reduce the amount of trash that ends up in the landfill.
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Weather We Change science expedition finds McMains Crew monitoring their own waste production, conducting physics experiments, modeling energy transfer, and heading to the coast at the end of March for their Coastal Science Tour. 8th-grade mathematicians tackled Math Fair style-puzzles and wrote results in mathematical papers. Their reading experiences are rich-monthly book talks, inspirational quote-board, and Coffee Shop conversations engage them all at a higher level. The Crew has also been diving deeply into text analysis that will "wow" their high school teachers! Students are looking forward to high school course selection next month!
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Please donate to the wonderful fieldwork program you see in this newsletter. This is only possible with your continued support.
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Sierra Expeditionary Learning School
Phone: (530) 582-3701
Fax: (530) 582-3703
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