Running Across America: Think it, Ink it!

Ms. Krebs arranged for us to hear a special speaker during our assembly on Tuesday. Chris Sams left from Maryland and ran for 5 months across the United States, finally arriving in San Francisco. Chris's final message to the lower school was "If you think it, ink it!" as a reminder to record and strive for our goals!

Egg Drop Projects

The boys completed the annual Egg Drop project this week! They did a wonderful job creating "drop-proof" creations and were good sports whether their eggs cracked or survived both drops! Terrific job, 9-1!


Egg Drop from Ms. Gentry on Vimeo.

Student Blogger

Today we worked a lot on our Egg Drop composition and finishing our Alien composition corrections. Also, we did our egg drop project, and learned a new song in music. Lastly we are starting LAX in P.E.!
 -D.O.

Are You a Waiter or an Eater?



Image from The New Yorker's article on the Marshmallow Test

In character class we watched a video of the famous "Marshmallow Test" from Stanford University. We discussed how the young participants were followed for years, and how the ability to display self-control correlated to success later in life. The boys discussed why this was, and whether they thought they would have been a "waiter" or an "eater." We also discussed how we can work on our impulsivity and our ability to monitor our executive function throughout the school day. I was impressed by how well the boys understood the future implications of determination, self-control, and focus; I look forward to watching the boys as they develop into successful young men throughout their Calvert careers. 

Google Earth: Latitude and Longitude

To extend our latitude and longitude lesson from before spring break, we used the Google Earth app on the iPads. Each student determined the latitude and longitude of a specific location (of their choosing) on each of the seven continents. We enjoyed the 3-D properties of Google Earth, which made visiting Mount Everest, the Louvre, the Great Wall of China, and many other locations even more exciting!

Witches' Ingredients

Our reading group has finished learning about the mysterious ingredients necessary for the "Delayed Action Mouse Maker" recipe. We challenged ourselves to draw as many of the ingredients as we could find! Our class record was ten ingredients, which required very careful reading! 

Iditarod Research

Did you know that the oldest and youngest winners of the Iditarod Race are related?
That all teams must start with between 12-16 dogs, and they must finish with at least 6?
That race temperatures have reached -170 degrees?

Descriptive Word Activity

The readers worked together today to identify descriptive words in our text. They were challenged with finding the words and acting them out. It was interesting to see how each group used the same instructions and resources to complete the assignment correctly, while doing so in unique ways. Some groups wrote the words, others typed or photographed them. Some chose to video their actions, others photographed them to connect the images with their text. This is one of the biggest reasons that I enjoy providing more open ended assignments: When I do not set specific parameters, the results tend to be more successful than I had expected.



Pi Day Celebrations

We will be on spring break for the actual Pi Day, (3.14) so we have celebrated early this year by memorizing the first ten (or more for some!) digits of Pi, having a Pi throwing event for the students, bringing in circular objects to measure and calculate Pi, and creating a chain which represented the first 100 digits of Pi (each color represents a unique number).

Grand High Witch Performances

Our reading group practiced our fluency, expression, and text awareness today by performing part of The Witches as the Grand High Witch, a lesser witch, and the narrator. The students had to perform the lines with the necessary emphasis, while being aware of speaking parts and narration.

Witches Interview

Our reading group spent time reviewing the main character's first interaction with a witch from The Witches. Each student got the opportunity to take the perspective of the main character to show his and her knowledge of the interaction, as well as to develop and ask questions as an interviewer.

 

Latitude and Longitude

We spent time working with latitude and longitude in geography this week. The boys enjoyed reviewing the hemispheres and the introduction to latitude and longitude using a map skill website and testing their knowledge on the map skills quiz website.

Vocabulary Connections

In reading class we are working with our "Wild Words." We spent time creating connections between some of our new words. Not only does this activity reinforce the words' definitions, but it also helps with parts of speech, synonyms, and analogies. 



Iditarod Race Begins!

This week we will be following the progress of the 41st Iditarod Race in homeroom and reading classes. The race will last for several days, so we encourage you to follow along at home as well!

Student Posting

This week in composition we learned about polar bears for National Polar Bear Day. Polar bears are also called "Old Man in a Fur Cloak."