Presentation of Learning

We culminated the year with a Presentation of Learning. It is an opportunity for families to get a glimpse into what our days, weeks, year was like. The class presents an overview of the year and then the students present their Personal Learning Projects to the public. The class chose to do a version of the "Bluff the Listener" segment from the radio show, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." They were groups of panelist who told three stories about a class during the day. The audience had to figure out which story was not true. Each group had an "expert" share what really happened during these classes this year.

It was a humorous, informative, and lively evening!

If you would like to see the slideshow from the beginning of the evening, you can view it here.

I hope you all have a restful, fun summer!

Independent Science Projects

In the final weeks of the school year, the class experienced and learned a lot about a variety of topics. Each student had three weeks to research a topic of their own choosing. They had to identify essential questions they would answer, document their learning, and share with the class. There were many great presentations and discussions that I wish we could have spent the whole year doing work like this!

I had hoped to collect links to all the presentation tools that the students shared, but the end of the year happened and they were gone!  Here are a few links and I will continue to populate this post as I receive them.  They are not the whole presentation, but it should give you a taste of what we experienced.
 
LC: Tracking of Marine Animals
KK: Solar Panel for Charging Laptop
KS: How to Make Ice Cream
CL : DNA Mapping Prezi
NW: Coral Reefs
SW: Oil Spills
SO: Color Preferences with Food
MG: Parallel Universes
IR: Dreams
MHS: Fetal Development
MDS: Science of Baseball Pitches
TD: Earthquakes
KG: Anger
MR: Chemical Reactions

Meet Lucinda!

Thanks to LC, the Class of 2015 is now the proud sponsor of Lucinda, the humpback whale. LC's Personal Learning Project (PLP) was to raise funds to sponsor a whale for each class at The Children's School. 

If you would like to read more about Lucinda, you can find the information here.

Wacky Word of the Week: Doleful

dole·ful  

Adjective Expressing sorrow; mournful: "a doleful look". Causing grief or misfortune: "doleful consequences".

Synonyms sad - mournful - sorrowful - lugubrious - dismal - woeful

Wacky Word of the Week: Serendipity

ser·en·dip·i·ty  

Noun

The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way: "a fortunate stroke of serendipity".