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Spring Saturday SAVY, Week 3, Molecular Genetics (5th-6th)
Feb. 12, 2024—Thank you all for joining SAVY for the final spring session day on Molecular Genetics. Today we repeated one of our earlier experiments with strawberries. We extracted DNA from the traditional red strawberry as well as genetically modified pineberries (white). The students saw noticeable differences in the amount of DNA they were able to retrieve...
Spring Saturday SAVY, Week 3, Harry Potter: The Science Behind the Magic (5th-6th)
Feb. 12, 2024—Our last day of wizarding school was a blast! In Herbology Class, we compared plants from the wizarding world to their muggle counterparts. It was amazing to see how regular plants can have magical properties. Sneezewort can be used as a sneezing agent, while others have healing or poisonous properties. After our lesson, students potted...
Spring Saturday SAVY, Week 3, Media Mania: How We are Impacted by What We Watch (5th-6th)
Feb. 12, 2024—Hello, media researchers and fans, alike! It was bittersweet to finish the course yesterday, as we said goodbye to all your students and saw how much they learned over the past three weeks. Before diving into the work, we played a fun version of 20 questions. Students broke into groups and decided on a piece...
Spring Saturday SAVY, Week 3, The Science of Senses (Whiting)(3rd-4th)
Feb. 12, 2024—On Saturday in Science of the Senses, we reviewed the journal prompt from last week, as well as some of the highlights from Day 2. Afterward, we explored the neurobiology of our skin. The students learned about the layers of skin and the role of melanin in protecting our skin from the sun, and then,...
Spring Saturday SAVY, Week 3, The Science of Senses (Dunlap) (3rd-4th)
Feb. 12, 2024—On Saturday in Science of the Senses, we reviewed the journal prompt from last week, as well as some of the highlights from Days 1 and 2. Afterward, we completed our study of optical illusions. The students have defined optical illusions as tricks our senses play on our minds. They also know that illusion means “to mock” in Latin....
Spring Saturday SAVY, Week 3, Secrets of the MoLi Stone (3rd-4th)
Feb. 12, 2024—In the morning, we embarked on our journey back to China to explore our final number system! Together, as a class, we discovered that the Chinese system operates with groupings of ten but doesn’t adhere to a place-value structure. Instead, they express numerals in an expanded notation style. Although the position of a digit doesn’t...
Spring Saturday SAVY, Week 3, Spatial Smarts: Diving into Dimensions (1st-2nd)
Feb. 12, 2024—Dear SAVY Families, We had another fantastic day of SAVY Spring 2024: Spatial Smarts. The mathematicians once again blew me away with their knowledge, curiosity, and creativity. I am confident that each one is walking away from this course with an increased spatial awareness. We started our day reviewing the concepts from week 2....
Spring Saturday SAVY, Week 3, Biomedical Engineering (1st-2nd)
Feb. 12, 2024—Dear Families, We had a great last session in Biomedical Engineering! As a culminating project, our young engineers were presented with the challenge of creating a knee brace that would stabilize a model of an injured knee. They went through the entire engineering design process. We began the morning with Step 1: Ask. In this...
Spring Saturday SAVY, Week 3, Animal Connections (1st-2nd)
Feb. 12, 2024—Greetings! Saturday was such a dynamic day! We started with animals and their adaptations, and I was amazed at how many great examples the students were able to brainstorm! After a great discussion, we talked about invertebrates, and I loved hearing things like “I always wondered what that word meant!” and “How can things exist...
Spring Saturday SAVY, Week 3, Beyond the Pyramids (K)
Feb. 12, 2024—The junior Egyptologists had a busy final day of research. First, we studied mythology. I read the students the story of Ra and showed them illustrations of some of the gods and goddesses. We did virtual tours of the tombs of King Tut, Ramses I, Ramses II, and Queen Meresankh III. Students looked for paintings...