Winter break

It's hard to believe the year is almost half over, but here we are in the middle of December already! We've finished our second round of benchmark testing (expect results in January), are about to wind up our study of weather, and will take chapter five math tests on Thursday. We'll be all ready for a fresh start when we come back from break on January 7th. To celebrate the end of school in 2008, we have a party planned for December 18th, from 12:30 to 1:30. Please come join us! If you would like to bring food for the party, healthy treats would be much appreciated. After the party, students will be watching a movie in the auditorium, sponsored by the Student Council.

My due date (February 18th) still seems far away to me, but it is beginning to approach ever more quickly. I have five interviews scheduled this week with potential replacement teachers. I really look forward to meeting them all, and to hopefully finding someone who will lead the class for the remainder of the year. When we do hire someone, I will let you know -- and invite everyone to meet the new teacher before he or she starts work. Thanks for all of your support through this process!

Balarat!

From Balarat

Well, we all survived our Balarat adventure, and I think everyone had a wonderful time overall. Sure, there was some moaning and groaning, especially when we had to get up at 6:30 for a sunrise hike, or make it to the top of the hill before we could eat lunch, but I was really impressed with how well all the students followed directions, paid attention, and learned new things, including four types of trees, how to bake biscuits in a wood stove, and how to assay ore samples! Highlights of the trip have to be the solo night walk, the low ropes course, and the Big Swing. To find out more about our trip, read the articles below, all written by fifth graders, and visit our photo album!

History of Homesteaders, by Kory
My favorite part of the [homesteading] activity was making biscuits and cleaning the house. The reason why I like the biscuits is because you get to actually make it step by step. The biscuits tasted really good. The reason why I liked the cleaning is because you get to wash the dishes old-school style. You also get to wash, sweep, and wipe off the tables.

CSI Balarat: Microscope Station, by McKinley
At CSI, we had to solve a "crime". There was a person who built a fort and we had to find out who did it and what animal the person killed. At the microscope station, we looked at the samples they collected from the sleeping bag and collected four different hairs from people. You had to match the hair they found in the sleeping bag to the hair from the other people. And they found some fiber from the sleeping bag the person slept in, and you had to match the fiber from the sleeping bag to fiber from the shirts of the four suspects.

Solo Night Walk, by Monique
The solo night walk was the scariest walk ever because you would have to walk by yourself in the dark. There were five landmarks to follow so you wouldn't get lost. Also, you can just follow the road and you won't have to look at turns because the road will turn you.

Ropes Course, by Lety
The ropes course needed us to work together a lot! We all needed to support each other just in case one of us fell and they needed to get us back in place. The ropes course was really fun. The best part was working together and getting to know people!

Native Americans, by Angelica
When we went to Balarat, we learned about how the Indians made their tipis. Then we learned that the Indians had to make sure that the door to their tipi faced the same way as the others [to the east]. We had to work together to make it right! Lany (our highschool counselor) helped us too.