Summer SAVY 2022/Session 1 – Matter Mysteries for Rising 1st/2nd Grade
Coming Soon!
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...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 3, “Encounters with Measurement” (1st-2nd)
Jul. 16, 2025—Dear SAVY Families, Hello! We had another day filled with learning and discovery at SAVY Summer 2025 Session Five: Encounters with Measurement. The mathematicians once again exceeded expectations today, and I am eager to share the news with you! We started the day reviewing linear measurement (length, perimeter, and area). We discussed that...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 2, “Writing History: Truth and Lessons in the Past” (7th-8th)
Jul. 15, 2025—Today in our Writing History class, we incorporated the filters we created yesterday as writers being storytellers by examining the choices people make and the results of their consequences. Writers are scientists who create theories about events in history and research evidence supporting those theories as they test for validity. And finally, writers act as...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 2, “Utopia or Dystopia: The Nature of Power” (7th-8th)
Jul. 15, 2025—Hello, Families and Students! Today, we finished creating our city-states, and it is clear that some of our societies are already leaning in a dystopian direction (warning all citizens of RIVER! Don’t participate in CHAOS!). For the morning session, we participated in a few ice breakers and began mapping out our ideal societies on a...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 2, “Hidden Chemistry: Everyday Chemical Reactions” (7th-8th)
Jul. 15, 2025—Dear SAVY Families, Today in Hidden Chemistry: Everyday Chemical Reactions, our classroom lit up as we explored the fascinating world of light and chemiluminescence! Students discovered that chemiluminescence is a unique type of light production where chemical reactions produce light without heat, unlike incandescence or fluorescence. They learned about the specific chemical reaction happening inside glow...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 2, “The Origins of Math: Discovery or Invention?” (5th-6th)
Jul. 15, 2025—We started the day with a cognitive puzzles medley, giving students an opportunity to choose the order they solved the puzzles. To encourage collaboration, students were introduced to research on the study habits of university students taking advanced mathematics courses. Students who formed study groups spent less time completing their work and struggled less because...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 2, “Programming and Robotics” (5th-6th)
Jul. 15, 2025—Today in Programming and Robotics, we had the goal of learning how robotics influences biology and healthcare. We started our day reviewing the rules and procedures of our classroom. We then explored the idea of Systems. We focused on the generalization of “systems have parts that work together to complete a task.” We generated as...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 2, “From Myth to Modern Legend: Greek Mythology” (5th-6th)
Jul. 15, 2025—We had another great day in Greek Mythology: Myth to Modern Legend! This morning, we wrapped up our discussion of the Greek gods/goddesses and learned about some minor figures. We even had the opportunity to simulate our own Olympian council vote, and then we created our own new gods/goddesses! From there, we dove into the...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 2, “Space Academy: Exploring the Work of Astronauts” (3rd-4th)
Jul. 15, 2025—We began our day with an incredible visit from Billy Teets, the director of the Dyer Observatory. Billy introduced us to the wonders of the sun and how astronomers use specialized telescopes to observe features like sunspots and prominences. Students had the rare opportunity to look through a solar telescope set up right on campus...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 2, “The Making of America: Rebellion, Revolt, and Resolution” (3rd-4th)
Jul. 15, 2025—Hello, all! It’s been a wild ride from the Stamp Act to the Boston Tea Party to the First Continental Congress to the Declaration of Independence (and everything in between!). This is a content-heavy day. The rest of the week will be much more project-oriented. I’m 100% certain that their brains are full! In terms...
Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 2, “Exploring Epidemiology One Microorganism at a Time” (3rd-4th)
Jul. 15, 2025—Dear parents, Your children continue to work well as a group, and have fun ideas, examples of illnesses, and fine questions. We started the day learning about different kinds of microscopes and examined 5 new slides, including pumpkin skin, rabbit spinal cord, and pine stem. We talked about ways to stay healthy. And the class...