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Day 6: Green Builder Visit

2/10/2014

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The fifth through eighth graders participate in a year-long project-based learning experience based on a theme.  This year’s theme is about ecology and living sustainable lives.

We focused on alternative energies in the middle part of the year.  Students learned about harnessing wind and solar power, hydropower, nuclear power, geothermal power, and the use of biofuels.

Jeff Auberger, of Preservation Homes in Elkhorn, visited us in January to show our students how he uses alternative energies in the construction of his homes.  He brought along some alternative building materials, blueprints, and presented photos of the types of homes he builds.

At the end of his presentation, he even gave away a water-saving shower head!  Blake was the lucky winner.

We want to give sincere thanks to Jeff for taking the time to talk with our students.  His passion and enthusiasm for building greener homes made for a great presentation!

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Food Web and Earthquakes

10/16/2013

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The 5-8 students are learning about the Earth and its spheres in Day 6.  They have learned that each sphere: biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere, are all connected and depend on one another. 
One example to show those connections was an activity that simulated a food web.  Mr. P had cards of living things and each student received one.  Students had to learn how each things was dependent on others.  A looooong piece of yarn was used to connect each of the students in a large web.  Then, Mr. P gave scenarios that would destroy one or more of the living things.  Students let go of their yarn and we watched the web collapse.  Students learned that taking a living thing out of the web, especially the bottom of the food chain, could be devastating.
The next Day 6, students did some activities with the lithosphere.  They made the layers of the Earth in a sweet way: a Red Hot candy for the core squished into a marshmallow to represent the mantle followed by a dip in some chocolate for the crust.  Later, they practiced how seismographs work by making their own "earthquakes".  They shook the tables while their partners tried to stay on the "seismograph" paper.
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Valentines in Spanish Class

2/18/2013

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The kids in Spanish classes spent the class period learning Spanish vocabulary related to Valentine's Day, creating an acrostic poem and eating some sweet treats!
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Amazing Race

2/1/2013

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Fifth through eighth grade students at Traver School participated in an “Amazing Race”-style activity last Wednesday as part of “Day 6” activities.  Instead of a race around the world, they raced around Traver School.

Students were introduced to the “Amazing Race” concept via YouTube videos and were instructed on how the Traver version would be played.  Students were then put into mixed-grade level teams of three and handed their first of many envelopes they would receive during the race.

The teams ripped open their first clue and were off!  Students had to answer questions about European countries, then use the clue to arrive at the correct classroom.  If they found the correct classroom, the staff member in the room would give them an envelope to their next clue.

Some envelopes led to challenges of physical and mental ability, such as a game called Kub (from Sweden) or a game on the Internet that challenged knowledge about identifying European countries.

After answering all the questions and completing all the challenges, students completed the final challenge by alphabetizing all fifty European country names.  And, by the way, they had to figure out that alphabetizing was what they were supposed to do with fifty slips of paper!

The winning team was Zander, Rigo, and William F.  They finished in one hour, three minutes. The other teams averaged about one hour, forty minutes to complete the race.  Unfortunately, three teams got stuck in challenges and didn’t finish in the time allotted.

Wondering what “Day 6” is? Day 6 is Traver’s modified six-day schedule that allows the fifth through eighth graders to meet in the morning all together.  About once a month, students meet all day for more activities.  Themes of Day 6 curriculum are based on global awareness and issues.  The middle school team strives to bring in speakers to help students learn different perspectives as well.

Students choose sessions hosted by the middle school team on various topics on a given theme.  This year’s theme is “Our World: Part II-Europe and South America”.  

This is the fourth year of Day 6 activities.  Past themes were: “The Earth Will Be Yours--What Will You Do With It?”, “Living in the 21st Century and Beyond”, and “Our World: Part I-Africa and Asia”. 

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Tech Trade-In

1/21/2013

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Shortly after winter break, the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders traded in their Macbook laptops for iPads.  The iPads are the students' new technology that they will carry with them at school and take home.  Their are lots of similarities with the iOS and the Mac OS, so students transitioned easily.  Students learned about changes in file storage and navigating through different apps to do work.  They are having fun with their new equipment!
Picture
The seventh grade shows off their iPads
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Day of the Dead

12/3/2012

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Grades 5-8 participated in learning about the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) in Spanish class. They also created some Day of the Dead crafts.
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6th Grade Guitar Recital

11/15/2012

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Recently, the 6th graders showed off their new musical skills by playing guitars in a small recital in the music room.
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Racine Trip

10/10/2012

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The fifth through eighth grade students went on a field trip to Racine. We started our morning meeting a fisheries biologist from the Wisconsin DNR at the Root River Steelhead Facility. The biologist showed us how they artificially propagate Great Lakes Steelhead and Salmon at the Facility. From there we went to Zoo Beach to meet an environmental ecologist. The ecologist showed us how they restored the beach and how they monitor the water quality and keep it safe for us to swim.  We even got to bring our E. coli test back to school to look at the results the next day!
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Day 6 Experiences India

4/26/2012

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This last Day 6 (our 5-8 Project-based learning time), students were able to experience some of the cultural practices that stem from India.  Students tried out yoga as will as visualization/meditation.  The students will tell you that some yoga positions are pretty challenging!
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Mrs. Kutschenreuter's Math Update

4/26/2012

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Students in 5-8 grade math classes have been busy working on projects since
Spring Break. Geometry is a unit that allows for many hands-on activities. Fifth graders
created bi-lateral bunnies by following careful directions and cutting out specific polygons. Later they also had a chance to see math in real life by measuring various
boxes and items in the classroom and calculating the volume.

On a bright sunny day, sixth graders were able to get outside to apply their
knowledge of proportions. By measuring a friendʼs height and shadow, they were able
to calculate the actual height of large objects by measuring their shadows.

Students in seventh grade became the experts in geometry. Each student
studied a various topic and created a Keynote presentation to teach the rest of the
class. They did a great job incorporating various learning styles as well!

Lastly, eighth graders became authors and illustrators to write their own
childrenʼs story about geometry. Each student created an inventive story using twenty
geometry terms, illustrated their pages, and then shared them with the first grade. It
was great to see how students put their creativity and intellect to use!
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