Expedition Express: Cartographers and Commanders
The KidZone Exhibit project is going well. Students are understanding the design principal of success and failure every step of this process, but now that their final product is beginning to take shape, and they are realizing how all of those struggles are paying off. We were very excited to show off all of our hard work over the past four months at Celebration of Learning last night, thank you for joining us.

Math:
We finished chapter four last week. Many of the students are starting to understand that if you keep up on the math, and work hard to fully understand each lesson/problem, you will be successful on the test.
Chapter five will start when we return from break, and focus on algebraic equations, as well as probability.

“Who am I?”:
Students were assigned the mentor shadowing assignment at the beginning of this month. They need to shadow their mentor sometime before the end of January.

End of the semester:
The official end of the semester is January 27. Teachers will be compiling grades and sending home progress reports in the beginning of February.

Crew News
Our next expedition “What the Cell?!” (focused on cellular biology) will start in February. Students will also begin planning Bay Area Fieldwork (taking place April 25-28) in February.

SELS News
• 12-17 to 1-2: Winter Break
• 1-16: MLK Jr Day, No School
• 1-26 and 1-27: Minimum Day (for middle school only)

Highlights
I wanted to highlight all of the student groups and the strength that they have shown during the KidZone project. All of the groups have had their share of mistakes and failures. Some of the failures include restarting the project 3 times, making the wrong cut (too many times to count), having the wood stain or spray paint not look right, and just learning how to use the various tools necessary to complete a project like this. The students have all bounced back to create a better product because of those experiences.

I wanted to thank and highlight all the parents who helped gather supplies and make cuts for the KidZone Exhibits. I don’t know all of the parents that contributed, but I know that boards, plywood, and wood stain among other things showed up at the class on Monday. All of those supplies have been crucial in making these exhibits so high quality.