I can feel the excitement in the air as we approach the holiday season. This is a time of celebration and reflection. The students are hard at work as they put the finishing touches on various projects and themes. There is a lot to be done in the next week and a half. I’m sure the students are all looking forward to a well-deserved winter break.

Expedition: We have finished up our physics case study, May the Force be With You. We studied force, motion, and energy and how they relate to our every day lives. Our fieldwork included visits to the Truckee Tahoe Airport and the Sacramento Aerospace Museum; both trips funded by the Truckee Tahoe Airport – thanks to Hardy Bullock! We learned more about the physics of flight and had a great time using flight simulators and boarding all kids of different airplanes. As our final Celebration of Learning project, the students are demonstrating their knowledge of the link between every day activities and physics through the medium of poetry. Our Poetry Slam will take place on Thursday, December 11 at 6:00 pm at the Truckee High School auditorium. Anyone and everyone are welcome to attend. I am asking that the students arrive at 5:30. We will be displaying other projects we have been working on throughout the year at Celebration of Learning on December 18 at 6pm. Our next and last case study, It’s Elemental, will focus on the atom, the periodic table, and chemistry.May the Force be With You 

Math: The students are working quickly through the new curriculum. We are currently working on chapter 5 as the students continue to focus on writing equations from word problems. They will be introduced to solving systems of equations where both equations are in y = mx + b form. They did great on the Chapter 4 test.

Literature: The students are reading their last book club book linked to our current expedition. We will be transitioning to an all class read as we move toward our social studies expedition and focusing on writing quality responses to literature.

Writing: We have begun writing our first short story. We are writing a science fiction story and exploring character development, setting, and the elements of plot. We will also be working on descriptive language, simile and metaphor, and other forms of figurative language.

Thank you to the families in our crew that continue to make this year’s experience so great for the students. I couldn’t do it without you; you are very much appreciated. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!!