Expedition News:

Worlds of Wonders Expedition Question of the Week: How did geography affect the early settlement of Egypt?

Learning Targets:

  • I can explain how geography affected early settlement in Egypt, Kush, and Canaan.
  • I can use the skills of craftsmanship to produce high-quality art related to our expedition.

As we are exploring the geography of Ancient Egypt, we are learning to navigate all the great resources in our online text and creating interactive student notebooks (ISN). Our ISN will serve as our own personalized expert journal on each ancient civilization.

We are also creating art that represents our own personal wonders and expressing them through the art processes of the ancient civilizations. This week we practiced the ancient art of Mehndi. In ancient India, mehndi was a temporary body decoration created by applying henna to the skin. The decorations were used in weddings, festivals and other sacred rituals. Crew created their own designs and painted them on a partner’s hand. Each artisan chose a background to showcase their hand art and photographed it. Afterward, each student completed a creative writing piece in their Who Am I? journals related to the experience. Photos will be displayed in the classroom.

Who Am I? Character Expedition: We learned about the life of Alfred Nobel and Nobel Laureate, Rigoberta Menchun Tum. Crew defined peace and designed and created their own “Peace Prizes” which are displayed on our window ledge.

Crew News:

The first cross-country skiing day is under our belt and the crew had a day of adventure! From the first-time skiers to the experienced crew, everyone took personal risks in trying new experiences – including Mrs.McMains! The whole day was possible thanks to our parent drivers and skiers – THANK YOU to Mike for teaching Mrs. McMains how to get up off the ground, to Brooke for supervising the tree-climbing, to Emily for booking it up the mountain with the experienced crew, and to Karen and Mike for organizing the race!

March is Literacy Month and SELS will be hosting a Literacy Day on Friday, March 16th following Community Meeting. Each crew will be engaging in activities – McMains Crew would like our parents and family members to be part of our book clubs! Please plan to come to our classroom and participate in book club activities and discussions for about 30 minutes.

Conferences will be held March 28 and 29 from 11:30 to 3:30 each day. Please watch for the details and sign-up document in your email this week.