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Summer SAVY 2018: Session 2, Day 3 – Animal Adaptations (Rising 1st)
Jun. 20, 2018—Happy Third Day! Today our scientists continued to observe their mealworms and document how the mealworms are adapting to their habitats. They used millimeters to measure the mealworms and illustrated other developmental changes they observed. They discussed what their mealworms needed in order to survive and thrive in their environments. They also observed the adaptations...
Summer SAVY 2018: Session 2, Day 2 – Archetypes and Literature (Rising 5th and 6th)
Jun. 19, 2018—Happy Tuesday! Since yesterday’s session covered identifying archetypes in ads, today we shifted to an exploration of how narrative texts make use of archetypes. Our focus: picture books. Like ads, these employ the shorthand of archetypes to deliver often-times profound messages in very little space. First, we worked as a whole-group to try to unpack...
Summer SAVY 2018: Session 2, Day 2 – Puzzles and Problem Solving (Rising 5th and 6th)
Jun. 19, 2018—We began class today by delving deeper into the problems studied yesterday. Each day will begin with two questions designed to have the students apply the knowledge learned in the previous day to a new scenario. Today’s questions dealt with the 21-card game and ZipZap, and both questions led to interesting discussions about factors, multiples,...
Summer SAVY 2018: Session 2, Day 2 – Story Gardening (Rising 3rd and 4th)
Jun. 19, 2018—Today we zoomed in to look at language and discussed how word choice can impact a story. Students went on an alliteration hunt as we read My Blue is Happy aloud. After discussing similes, they created their own, expressing their ideas about color through text and images. They also made bookmarks out of paint sample strips, labelling...
Summer SAVY 2018: Session 2, Day 2 – Animal Communications (Rising 3rd and 4th)
Jun. 19, 2018—Today we were all field biologists! We started the day observing animals communicating on campus. We observed squirrels chattering, robins and cardinals singing, chipmunks peeping and much more! During this activity, students marked the location of the animals they observed on a map of campus. Students were much better at orienteering than many adults! Using...
Summer SAVY 2018: Session 2, Day 2 – Investigations in Forensic Science (Rising 2nd)
Jun. 19, 2018—Another great day here at SAVY! The students were eager to reevaluate the crime scene and review our findings from yesterday. The excitement is tangible throughout the room as students predict and share thoughts about possible outcomes! Today, we built our knowledge of DNA. We combined what we knew about fingerprinting and proteins and dove...
Summer SAVY 2018: Session 2, Day 2 – Animal Adaptations (Rising 1st)
Jun. 19, 2018—Happy Second Day! Today the students continued their work toward earning their Scientific Investigator Certificate by thinking as scientists, particularly zoologists. Students began their day showing off their knowledge of change by illustrating five ways in which a tree could change. This led to a discussion about the meaning of life cycles. They learned that...
Summer SAVY 2018: Session 1, Day 5 – Biology and the Body (Rising 5th and 6th)
Jun. 15, 2018—Today is our last day in Biology of the Body, however we still learned a lot and had a lot of fun! We first reviewed the material we learned throughout the week. Then, we finished our cell structure models and the microscope slide observations. To conclude our learning week, dove deep into exploring DNA, its...
Summer SAVY 2018: Session 1, Day 5 – Bioarchaeology (Rising 5th and 6th)
Jun. 15, 2018—Today was all about having the students tap into their newfound bioarchaeological knowledge and take the lead on teaching activities. The students began the morning by becoming detectives and solving real-life crime scenes that they began to build yesterday, using model skeletons, leaves from outside, and hand-made “artifacts” and “clues”. In their groups, the students...
Summer SAVY 2018: Session 1, Day 5 – Mighty Metamorphosis (Rising 3rd and 4th)
Jun. 15, 2018—Hello! For our final session – that makes me genuinely sad to write! – we turned to perhaps our most important topic: the transformative power of positive actions. We watched several videos to introduce the idea. The first communicated this idea through the metaphor of colors spreading in a colorless world. The students analyzed this...