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Summer SAVY, Session 6 Day 1, “Numbers Big and Small” (3rd-4th)
Jul. 21, 2025—Dear Parents, Welcome to Numbers Big & Small! We really enjoyed the enthusiasm of your children today. Their contributions to our math discussions were impressive. We briefly discussed how we know students are coming to math class from different schools, grades, and background knowledge. We are having fun and playing with math. This morning, we...
Summer SAVY, Session 6 Day 1, “Forces of Nature: Wind, Energy, and Engineering” (3rd-4th)
Jul. 21, 2025—Day 1 – July 21, 2025 | 
What Is Technology? and Catching the Wind! We had an exciting first day diving into the world of engineering! We started with an activity called “Technology in a Bag,” where students explored everyday items and discovered that technology is much more than computers and smartphones – it...
Summer SAVY, Session 6 Day 1, “Engineering Design: Full STEAM Ahead!” (1st-2nd)
Jul. 21, 2025—What a wonderful day we had in our Engineering Design class! We started the day with a fun get-to-know-you Bingo game and learned all kinds of exciting things about our classmates. Then we dove right into the world of engineering and bridges! This is a marvelously curious class, and we made of list of all...
Summer SAVY, Session 6 Day 1, “Earth Science Rocks!” (1st-2nd)
Jul. 21, 2025—Hello, families! Welcome to Earth Science Rocks! I’m so happy to be teaching your children this week! This is our “introductory day”, so we do A LOT to set the stage for the week. We discussed what scientists are, what geologists do, and pre-assessed their knowledge of erosion and rock/soil types. It was actually exciting...
Summer SAVY, Session 6 Day 1, “Dive Into Design” (1st-2nd)
Jul. 21, 2025—Happy Monday and welcome to Dive into Design! Our class is off to a great start. We had a wonderful day getting to know each other and diving into the world of measurement and design. We started off by observing assorted objects, such as dolls, paperclips, toy cars, toy food, blocks, rulers, etc., and played...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 5, “Writing History: Truth and Lessons in the Past” (7th-8th)
Jul. 18, 2025—Today, we introduced Eleanor Roosevelt and her letter of resignation to the Daughters of the American Revolution, with the response from the DAR’s president at the time. We reviewed Mrs. Roosevelt’s 1939 newspaper edition of “My Column,” where she addressed the decision to resign from the nation. Together, we analyzed the situation (Should E.R. Resign...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 5, “Utopia or Dystopia: The Nature of Power” (7th-8th)
Jul. 18, 2025—Hello Families and Students! I am so sad that today is our last day of Utopia v. Dystopia, but I have had such an amazing week with y’all! I have been blown away by the depths of our discussions and very impressed with how y’all handled our simulations and real-life scenarios, such as supply chain...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 5, “Hidden Chemistry: Everyday Chemical Reactions” (7th-8th)
Jul. 18, 2025—SAVY Families, Today marked the final day of our journey through Hidden Chemistry: Everyday Chemical Reactions, and what an exciting conclusion it was! Your children have spent the week exploring the invisible forces and chemical reactions that shape the world around them, and today, we dove into the intriguing world of acids, bases, and pH. We began...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 5, “The Origins of Math: Discovery or Invention?” (5th-6th)
Jul. 18, 2025—The big day has finally arrived! Student groups presented the Number Systems they worked so diligently on. Each group had a task of creating two: one with a visual reference to quantity, another with a cultural one (dozen eggs represents 12, New Year – 1, bike 2, etc). Students were required to include numbers 1-100,...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 5, “Programming and Robotics” (5th-6th)
Jul. 18, 2025—Our last day in Programming and Robotics was a blast! We started our day thinking about how robots impact human jobs. We discussed and thought about the ethics of using robots. We then developed 3 laws for robots in small groups and discussed why these would be important. After our recreation time, students brainstormed and...