Expedition Name: Building STEAM
We have started looking at buildings and structures and connecting them to math and art. We went on an architectural walking tour in Sacramento in which students took pictures of buildings and looked for evidence of art and math. Back on campus, students put together Sacramento Architectural Scavenger Hunts for future students to complete. We finished reading The Martian, and students have been assigned different books to be read in small book clubs. While reading they will be creating factual, interpretive, and evaluative questions to be shared with their book clubs. Their answers to their questions will be backed up with evidence from the text. Riding on the theme of science and science fiction, students have just completed their first narrative – a science fiction story in which they used style, tone, and foreshadowing to strengthen their stories. Next week students will begin examining various structures and relate them to physics (wells, bridges, dams, biodomes, windmills, and watermills). I am planning our next day trip for sometime when we return from the Thanksgiving break when we tour the various bridges in Truckee with an engineer.

We also had Aaron Dettling come and present to the class. Aaron is an expert in designing jumps for cars and snow sports. He has built jumps for the X-Games and other competitions around the world! He spoke with the students about how he uses physics and math in his designs.

Questions to Ask Your Child:
Where do you see evidence of art in different buildings and structures? How does architectural art from the past differ from the present?

Crew News
Jungle Jars is killing it! The crew gave a top-notch presentation to the SELS student body last Friday. We have already sold 54 Jungle Jars. We are currently packaging them up and delivering them next week. Thank you for your support! Please tell your friends and family about us… We are working to raise $1,000 to help Water for South Sudan buy a new drilling rig – The Iron Giraffe.

SELS News
No school November 21 – 25

Highlights
I would like to highlight Johan Sotelo for spearheading everything around Jungle Jars. He has put in an incredible amount of time and effort to market our product. He was contacted by EdCorps to contribute an article for their blog!

I would also like to highlight Katie Pruski, Marcy Thompson, Glenn Whitlow, Katie Benty, and Kari Sinoff for chaperoning our Sacramento day trip! Thanks for all you do!