SAVY Category
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 3, “Utopia or Dystopia: The Nature of Power” (7th-8th)
Jul. 16, 2025—Hello Families and Students! Well, everyone, it is the middle of the week, and things in the Utopian universe are devolving fast! Today, we began thinking through different scenarios that we as country leaders might face and have to make difficult decisions about. We questioned why utopian ideals devolve into dystopian realities and what things...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 3, “Hidden Chemistry: Everyday Chemical Reactions” (7th-8th)
Jul. 16, 2025—SAVY Families, Today in Hidden Chemistry: Everyday Chemical Reactions, we dove into the fascinating chemistry of water and space! Students explored how water’s unique properties shape life on Earth and how chemistry plays a crucial role in space exploration. We started the day by discussing why water is often called the “universal solvent”. Students...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 3, “The Origins of Math: Discovery or Invention?” (5th-6th)
Jul. 16, 2025—We started the day with cognitive puzzles, which have been slowly increasing in difficulty, going from a mix of hard to challenging. Our students have been rising to the occasion using collaborative work, well-formulated questions to the teacher, and simple perseverance. For every solved puzzle, a paper construction was taking flight across the room. We...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 3, “Programming and Robotics” (5th-6th)
Jul. 16, 2025—Day 3 of Programming and Robotics was packed with robot builds and programming! We started our day reviewing the rules and procedures of our classroom. We then jumped right into learning about prosthetics and building our own robotic arm and hand with our LEGO Spike Primes. Students were tasked with using their hands to stack...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 3, “From Myth to Modern Legend: Greek Mythology” (5th-6th)
Jul. 16, 2025—This morning in Greek Mythology: Myth to Modern Legend, we picked up where we left off by reviewing the Hero’s Journey and creating our own hero stories in groups. Then we turned our attention to a study of Hercules, the most famous Greek hero in the canon. After studying the original myth, we watched short...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 3, “Space Academy: Exploring the Work of Astronauts” (3rd-4th)
Jul. 16, 2025—Today was all about discovering where each student shines within the Cosmic Cadet program! We began with the Space Crew Task, where students learned about the science of flight, an essential skill for astronauts, who must complete at least 1,000 hours of jet flying. Students explored the four forces of flight: lift, thrust, drag, and...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 3, “The Making of America: Rebellion, Revolt, and Resolution” (3rd-4th)
Jul. 16, 2025—Hello, Families! It’s been TOURNAMENT and REVOLUTIONARY WAR BATTLE PROJECT Day! After a brief review of a very content-heavy Tuesday, we jumped right into a lesson on the 13 Colonies… but with a twist. We had a “March Madness” style tournament where the students had to determine which colony was the “Weirdest”. The students...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 3, “Exploring Epidemiology One Microorganism at a Time” (3rd-4th)
Jul. 16, 2025—Dear parents, Our epidemic is continuing to grow! This morning, in groups of 2-3, we created map posters of our (made-up) Tennessee towns that we must protect against the disease. The class worked really cooperatively and diligently on their creative maps. These included public parks, bodies of water, government and emergency offices, businesses, residential areas,...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 3, “Water and Weather” (1st-2nd)
Jul. 16, 2025—Today in our Water and Weather course, students explored the fascinating world of meteorology! We began our day by continuing our exploration and discussion of density, reinforcing what we learned through hands-on observations and thoughtful conversation. To conclude our exploration of water, students created a concept map as a post-assessment to demonstrate the knowledge and insights they’ve...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 3, “Intro to Coding” (1st-2nd)
Jul. 16, 2025—Our overarching theme today was engineering. Our morning read-aloud was Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty. After reading the book, I introduced the engineering design process using an anchor chart in our classroom. We did a picture walk through the book and reviewed how Rosie used the engineering design process. Students made connections to times when...