Students have been grappling with the science and implications of Earth’s climate this week. We started our week off with an exploration of the greenhouse effect in the form of an experiment. Students compared the temperature in a sealed jar and an open jar, after being placed in a warm, sunny location.
We learned about and discussed the composition of Earth’s atmosphere and the percentage of solar radiation that is absorbed by Earth’s surface and atmosphere, and then students were ready to make hypotheses about what would happen to the temperature in each jar. After over an hour had passed and we had visited a real greenhouse at the farm, we returned to find some jars with a large temperature differential, and some still close in temperature. Every group found that the sealed jar was warmer, confirming many hypotheses. The following day held a graphing activity, with students taking raw data of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and charting them over time, some going back as far as 1700. This yielded excellent observations and questions. Students clearly saw an increase in CO2 around 1800. There was a small dip in the year 1983. Exploring just why and how the composition of gases in our atmosphere has shifted will be our upcoming focus, giving students a larger context in which to learn about sustainability, and why it is important to be active stewards of the natural world and of our planet.
By Emily Bell-Hoerth (Grades 4/5/6 teacher)
This week we have started running down to the farm regularly to hopefully see a lamb being born. Some students stayed after school on Wednesday and got to see Hermione give birth to two little lambs. Posie and Edith have also had lambs. We have started studying sustainability by learning about waste and energy. This week we are trying to finish a first draft of our astronomy research. It has been really fun being able to research whatever we want to about space. It was a spring-tastic week!
By Piper McKane (Student- Grade 5)
Our new theme study
They leaned in to look at the light shining on the paper and noticed it was an exact image of the forest outside; however something was very
By Annie Nixon (Grade 7 teacher)
This week in physics we studied two properties of light: the properties of reflection and refraction. After we studied the properties of light we got to experiment on our own. My partner, Gavin, and I chose to fill glass beakers: one with oil, one with rubbing alcohol, one with water, and one beaker with Dawn dish soap and water. Then we put a ruler in each of them. We noticed that the ruler looked warped inside each glass/beaker. We then had to measure the ruler’s original size which was 1 and 1/16 of an inch, and then we measured each rulers’ size inside of the liquids. In the water with Dawn the ruler looked 5/16 of an inch bigger, in the rubbing alcohol the ruler looked 6/16 of an inch bigger, in the oil it looked 12/16 of an inch bigger and in the water it looked 8/16 of an inch bigger. This proved that the light was being refracted differently in each liquid, with the oil having the largest difference in refraction. It was a super fun and exciting experiment to do on our own.
By a student- Grade 7
Grade 7 Art
Grade 7 students have just wrapped up their still life studies. Students first learned the basic techniques for drawing a three dimensional cube, cylindrical, and spherical objects and drawing from observation with a special focus on light and shadow.
With those basic drawing skills under their belt, they moved on to color mixing theory and were then asked to take those techniques and apply them to a composition using acrylic paint.
All of the foundational drawing/ painting skills will now support their work during a social justice unit. To introduce this next project, students began by learning about a local human rights advocate, Frances Perkins. We watched a documentary about her life and contributions to society, we then visited the Frances Perkins Center in Damariscotta.
Next week students will brainstorm current social justice issues and choose three topics of personal interest to research. Students will use specific online resources from the United Nations, World Health Organization, and the American Civil Liberties Union (and select NGO websites if needed) to learn more about their chosen topics. We will also use various visual provocations to inspire us, including works from historical social muralists, like Diego Rivera to contemporary social justice artists like Tatyana Fazlaizadeh and Jenny Kendler. Students will receive their own canvas for this assignment. So far students are very excited by this project and I am hearing ongoing student conversations about social justice outside of art class.
Grades 4/5/6 Art
Students have enjoyed many of the winter/spring integrated art lessons from theme studies, including their planetary mini-world and plaster relief mythology projects. We are now starting to build skills in drawing from life, and using farm animals to increase our understanding of proportion, scale, and perspective. Students have just completed their watercolor guides using ‘spring’ as the theme. As a group we worked on three specific techniques for wet watercolor: wet, dry brush, and wash. Students were then given resources that described over seven techniques and they were asked to choose three to explore on their own. Many students chose the alcohol, oil, salt, and rice techniques. Please ask your children to share with you which were their favorites.
After creating individual watercolor compositions, we will combine work to assemble a collaborative composition. We have begun the democratic process of collaborative work by voting on specific composition goals as a group. We have also developed our collaborative list of expectations, which includes talking through conflict and identifying the needs of ourselves and others.
The Grades 4/5/6 watercolor project and the Grade 7 social justice lesson will scaffold the skills necessary for the final all-school art project, a mural on the farm. As I begin to plan the last few lessons of the year and reflect on the many art experiences from the past nine months, I am very proud of how much creative work all these students have engaged in. I am also excited to end the year with collaborative work to help remind us that we are a part of a larger community, and that each piece we contribute to the whole has value and helps complete the larger picture.
By Coreysha Stone (Visual Arts Specialist)