- Memorial Day | No Distance Learning: May 25
- Last Day of School: June 12
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The Bell Crew kindergartners are becoming PLANT experts! Like true scientists, they are learning to observe, measure, compare, question, and investigate. The students have made careful scientific drawings of the various parts of a plant. They have done field research and made observations about how their indoor seedlings compare to outdoor plants. The students have even dissected flowers using tweezers and a magnifying glass! One student created a video presentation to teach her crew about the job of the roots; she dressed in a handmade ponderosa pine costume to demonstrate her learning. Another student made a giant sunflower seed out of paper to illustrate her understanding of seeds and how they help a plant grow. This week, the Bell Crew is embarking on a maker project to highlight their learning; each child will build a model of a plant with all of its important parts (roots, stem, leaves, flower, fruit, seeds). Meanwhile, the seeds that they planted weeks ago are growing even faster than the kindergartners themselves! Hooray for SPRING!
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The Telfer Crew has been working hard from home! We finished our first case study, Amazing Animals, with an amazing crew book. Each student wrote an informational piece on a local animal and made a beautiful art piece to go with it. Nice job crew! We are now in our second case study, Amazing Me. Students are creating a scroll to show how they are unique and special. A new distance learning piece that we have been working on is The Daily News. Students are reporting on stories from around their house. They are becoming amazing journalists, and we all enjoy reading the happenings around their homes. Parents and students alike have been working hard to make distance learning a success. I appreciate all the time and energy going into the school work at home! Thank you, everyone!
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The MinBorg Crew continues to move forward one day of Distance Learning at a time. Second and third graders are showing the SIERRA norms and great Habits of Work as they come prepared and on time for Zoom meetings, persevere through new and challenging tasks, and practice new academic skills independently. Students are documenting their lives during this historical time by creating slideshows, all while practicing various writing skills. Additionally, SELS science teacher, Ms. Landis, has helped gather a collection of at-home expedition activities including marble runs, cardboard pinball machines, straw rockets, and catapults to learn key concepts about force and motion. Nothing can get in the way of these students’ learning! We sure miss seeing our students every day but find it so refreshing to see their smiling faces during our crew meetings. Keep up the good work!
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The Welch Crew continues to work hard on their expedition during distance learning while we work on our case study titled May the Force Be With YOU! With the help and collaboration of Brooke Landis and Jill Stevenson, students in the Welch Crew have been playing games and designing ramps using force and motion to learn about speed, velocity, and gravity. Using common household items, students used engineering processes to create marble ramps of all types. The goal was to hit a target. You can see for yourself that we have many budding scientists and engineers in our crew! Excellent job, Welchitos!
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In this last month of distance learning, the Akers Crew has been studying watersheds, including our very own Truckee watershed. The students have met with experts to learn about the watershed, how water shapes our Earth, and understand a timeline of the Earth and its land features. We were lucky to have Mr. Manahan lead a lesson! We also met with Mr. Worster’s father, a state park ranger at DL Bliss Park, who is an expert on dams. The students got outside and created their own dams, landforms, and rivers in their backyards. They will complete this with a project called Map My Story, where they will map the local watershed and include import landmarks. The students continue to shine, completing daily distance learning work, reading our all-crew read, “A Wrinkle in Time,” and finishing a geometry math project called Design a Town. I am really proud of their dedication to learning, perseverance through hard lessons, and love seeing them at our crew meetings. These students have shown SIERRA norms throughout distance learning, and I hope they know how much I appreciate their hard work. Also, a HUGE shout out to our supportive parents who have helped us navigate through all of this!
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The fifth graders are really catching their stride with distance learning! Students have been studying how water shapes land by learning about the Truckee River watershed and glacial carving of the Sierra Nevada. Students participated in a Zoom meeting with an expert to learn more about the positive and negative effects of damming rivers. They are slated to participate in virtual field work with an expert from the east side of the Sierra. Students are also wrapping up their final assignments for the year by completing their argumentative piece on damming rivers, finishing up their anchor text “Fish in a Tree” book clubs, mapping their story of life in Truckee, and participating in their Survivor Game Board on Wednesdays. I love connecting with the crew on Tuesdays and Thursdays through Zoom. Sometimes we make silly faces!
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The Worster Crew has been hard at work interviewing experts and creating podcasts during our climate change expedition. However, hard work must be balanced with a good dose of play. The crew has been getting creative with morning meetings, including Flipgrid video dress-your-pet/stuffy shenanigans, a trash can basketball challenge, and of course, a disco party.
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As we get into the rhythm of learning online, the Santos Crew has continued to find ways to spread joy and kindness in the world. Many students got outside during Earth Week and planted sugar pines. Positive messages were delivered in parking lots to mail carriers, hospital staff, and extended family. The students have also been honoring their mentors by representing them in artistic portraits. Academically, the students explored the world around them and photographed plants and animals. They examined taxonomy and created a tree of life to show the relationships among species. We will finish up the year by looking at the advancements in genetic editing.
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What a unique time in history to be learning and preparing for high school! The McMains Crew continues to investigate the effects of climate change on our food systems, tackle the challenges of growing their vocabulary, tighten-up writing skills, and build the geometry and algebra foundations to ensure success next year. All the while, they have begun preparing their Zoom-style Passages presentations, choosing their own formats for sharing who they have become, how their successes and failures will drive them in high school, and support who they hope to be.
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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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