Week 32 -- Reflections and running

Soccer with Friends School

We had an exciting morning today. First, we held auditions for our upcoming school play Alice in Wonderland. 

Immediately afterward, we hosted the Friends School In Detroit for a cordial soccer match in County Farm Park. It's part of our burgeoning interscholastic athletic organization, which our own Karl Sikkenga has been masterminding. Read more about the schedule on Karl's blog. 

It was a lovely way to spend the morning, and everyone had a great time! Ask your child about the game! 

Nik takes a shot.

Investigating Water

Water, Water, Everywhere

Last Thursday, as part of ongoing science unit on water use and water quality, the 5-6s collected samples from various locations in and around SK.

Eva and Niko make observations of their water sample.

Then, on Tuesday, we had a class discussion about the kinds of observations they made and whether or not those observations were objective or subjective.

Collecting water samples....

Today we collected water samples around the school to see how we can assess water quality.

Water color in County Farm Park

We got out in the sunshine today and worked with water colors!

Designing a study

We're back to a project involving observational science this week, as students are tasked with creating individual studies to document the fluctuations of temperature in the middle school, the flow of traffic on Platt Road, or the mysterious travels taken by pencils in the S-K middle school. 

Pencils with odd markings are showing up all over the middle school. Each one is from the study of a different student, attempting to track its movements through Summers-Knoll. 

The inspiration for the pencil banding.

Each student is designing their own study, developing a data collection instrument, and attempting to gather data in a useful, meaningful way. By the end of the week, we should be able to draw some conclusions based on the information that we've collected.

Block prints

The first round of block prints are in, and they're really cool! 

Block printing workshop with Gregg Perez

Guest Artist Gregg Perez was back today to help us create our own block prints today. Each student selected a drawing of their own (mostly line drawings of things we've studied at County Farm Park), then set to the task of carving their block. The results were impressive... 

Friday County Farm Project time

Last Friday, we spent most of the afternoon in County Farm Park collecting data for our projects. Jules, one of our advisors from the University of Michigan joined us to help out. 

In the field, exploring Fox Prairie. 

County Farm Park projects with City of Ann Arbor Naturalists

We spent this afternoon tromping through Britton Woods in County Farm Park with two guest speakers from the City of Ann Arbor. 

The kids explained their various projects to our guest speakers, then set off to data collection and discussion with our experts. Questions were asked and advice was sought. Some students were able to refine their studies a bit, setting the stage for a full afternoon in the park this Friday afternoon. 

Malletts Creek

County Farm Park project research

We spent part of the afternoon in County Farm Park again, planning our projects. Today's focus was on trying out some of our data collection ideas, and preparing questions for our naturalist guest experts on Monday afternoon.

Exploring Britton Woods in County Farm Park

For PE this morning, we sprinted/hiked out to the Britton Woods section of County Farm Park (the old Summers-Knoll building is right on the edge of Britton Woods). This is the area that most of us will be targeting for our County Farm Park projects. While there, we looked for things relevant to each of our studies. We were on the prowl for fungus, squirrel nests, invasive species, poison ivy, berries, and more. Margaret and Grayson looked for evidence of ancient glaciers, and Luke tried to determine how water would flow through the area. 

Those studying wildlife got a definite bonus: we spotted a deer in the woods, quickly trotting away from our group. As we've designed our studies, we've been making our peace with the idea that well probably have to settle for recording the evidence of animal life, rather than actually spotting things in the wild. Today was a nice reminder that keeping your eyes open and staying alert can yield rewards! (Sorry, I didn't get a photo.) 

This was just a quick visit to get our blood flowing and our minds active. We'll be spending most of the afternoon Friday in these woods working on our projects in earnest. 

Conferring with Jules on County Farm Park projects

Jules came in this afternoon to help us really focus on our County Farm Park projects. We spent a lot of time discussing each individual's project, exploring how it might be narrowed down, and helped us think about how to meaningfully collect data when we're out in the field. We looked at maps, read through guides, and began creating procedures and data collection instruments. 

They're shaping up to be an interesting blend of studies! Mapping deer trails, conducting a tree census, comparing the same species in different biomes, and mapping the flow of water through the park are just a few of the different projects that individuals are developing. 

Jules will be back next Friday, which will be spent in the park collecting data. 

Topographic Maps

This afternoon, we learned about topographical maps, using sliced potatoes as tiny model mountains. We learned to read and draw them, then we looked at USGS maps of the Ann Arbor area, focusing on County Farm Park.

Dichotomous Keys

After working with Jules this morning, we created our own dichotomous keys. First, we did one as a group to categorize four objects; an apple, a banana, a clementine, and a pack of Sour Patch Kids. We were only allowed to classify things based on observable physical characteristics. For example, color, shape, or size, as opposed to "delicious," or other subjective terms.

After a discussion, everyone was tasked to make a key of all the kids in our class.

Art class in County Farm Park

We had a special, extended Art class with Monica on Wednesday. We spent it doing close observation drawings of various plants in County Farm Park. Here we see kids observing and admiring the results. These drawings are the first step toward learning how to make block prints later this year. (And they'll likely be included in our County Farm Park class project.)

Factor Tag!

Factor Tag: Each student is assigned a number, then a number is called out. If you're a factor of that number, RUN! If you're not, chase those who are! 

For example, if the number 16 is called, 2, 4, 8, and 16 would run, while everyone else would try to tag them. When tagged, you must freeze and strike a ridiculous pose.