ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT – Natural Disasters, Preventative Architecture
For the past two months the Swifty Squirrels have been expanding their knowledge on natural disasters. We have done individual research on the major national disasters and created pamphlets to warn people about them. We have also gone on many journeys to further our understanding of earth’s powerful phenomenon’s that endanger people’s lives.
As the Swifty Squirrels got to understand more about national disasters they started to wonder what they could do about them and how they could protect people from them. So with these wonders in mind the Swifty squirrels decided to embark on a project that could save millions of Lego people’s lives. The project was to create a national disaster proof building. The Squirrels split into groups and found a disaster they wanted to withstand, and with that they were off. The Swifty Squirrels worked tirelessly for six days building their structures. The buildings came in many shapes and sizes but they all had one thing in common. A mission to survive and the goal to save Lego people from peril. As the building process came to an end the anticipation of the testing mounted and the ominous feeling of failure was definitely present. Today is the day that these buildings will be put to the test and pushed to their limits. Will they save these Lego people? That is the question. Stay tuned to see if they reached their goal or failed to save lives.
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT – Local Government
Recently, the Middle School has started to learn about government, laws, and leaders in Language Arts. With this project came a wonderful journey to the courthouse to meet Mayor August and learn all about her job, the courthouse, and all else to do with laws and the works of a town, more specifically, Teton Valley. The Squirrels had a lot of fun over this journey, and could probably talk for 45 minutes about all that they learned while asking, listening, and wandering. While taking a tour of the courthouse, the Squirrels learned about all of the people who worked there and how they helped the valley be its very best. There were many jobs, such as finding out if and where a house can be placed, or fixing problems in the community. Mayor August told a few stories relating to the court meetings they held recently, allowing The Squirrels to know more about what had been happening in the valley and the courthouse lately. Overall, the journey to the courthouse was a great learning experience, and we were all happy to see August again.
COMMUNITY FOCUS – Student council, field day and pizza
The TVC Student Council had a big week last week moving forward with their first initiatives – full school pizza lunch, and a winter field day. Last Wednesday the entire school was treated to Pinky G’s for lunch. Claire Fay, Student Council President, was determined since early in office to host a full school lunch. Furthermore, on the Friday half day, Student Council organized and ran a winter field day for K-8 students. Classes were divided into four stations; snowball accuracy toss, speed snow sculptures, winter relay race, and a hot cocoa station. The TVC spent the last hour of the half day romping around and enjoying each other’s company in the unseasonably warm weather. Student Council is determined to continue providing the student body with exciting community activities throughout the remainder of the school year. Thank you to all the families who contributed to the pizza fund!
Physics
The month of January the Swifty Squirrels had a very engaging and exciting project in science about energy and sound. This project was about instruments and sound where we got to make our own instruments which was very fun but there was a twist. It had to have three pitches or it didn’t count. In the beginning of the project we made a blueprint on what we thought we were going to make (although most of the ideas did not follow through). We then started gathering materials for our instruments and started building. We started grabbing things like pvc pipes, wood, fishing line, clay, etc. The students started to make things like flutes, drums, guitars, and even bagpipes. A Lot later during building almost all of the people who were making flutes quit to make things like drums and other abstract instruments. After two or three weeks the project was finished and it was time to present the project. In the end the people who stuck with the flute did not finish because as it turns out flutes are really hard to make because we weren’t allowed to make the sounds ourselves the instruments had to so everyone who stuck with the flute did not finish. There were lots of drums and other made up instruments that were really cool. Two people made guitars which were also really cool. All in all this project was very fun and really engaging. We learned so much about energy and we really enjoyed it.
