Kindergarten and First Grade celebrated a successful year with a Scooter Day! They decorated their scooters and paraded around the nursing home. A huge thank you to everyone who helped make this fun for the kiddos! We are scooting right into summer!
Last week Kindergarten had a special visitor, Ava Stock. Ava came to visit and tell us about Angelman’s syndrome. We learned that her DNA doesn’t follow the ABAB pattern. She has two dad genes next to each other. We learned how we were like Ava (she likes pizza and so do we) and how we are different (she can’t walk yet, but we can). We finished out the week supporting Angelman’s syndrome by participating in the Angelman’s syndrome walk!
Fifth graders have spent the last several months raising Rainbow Trout. Last Thursday was release day! We were fortunate to get permission from Nebraska Game & Parks to release them at Walgren Lake. After the release, we went on a “Water Bug Hunt”. Some “water bugs,” or macroinvertebrates, are more sensitive or tolerant of pollutants than others, so they can be a good indicator of water quality.
Fifth and sixth graders dissected trout last Thursday with the Trout in the Classroom program. Students learned about the functions of a trout’s internal and external anatomy. They identified different organs such as the liver, kidney, heart, gallbladder, and stomach. They also extracted the lens from the eye. A fish’s lens is spherical which helps them to see in all directions.
The second and third grade classes went on a field trip Wednesday, May 5th to Agsplosion in Bridgeport, Nebraska. We had a great hands-on learning experience about the importance of agriculture and learned about the farm to table process with beef, potatoes, swine, beans, irrigation, corn, machinery, dairy and wheat.
On Tuesday, May 4th, the fifth graders attended the Conservation Festival in Chadron hosted by UWNRD. Students visited 8 different presenters who set up hands-on stations to teach about conservation. A few of the stations students experienced were the GPS Scavenger Hunt, Weed Watchers, Migratory Birds Game, Tree Cookies, and always a favorite, the Water Rockets. We had a great day and learned more about how to protect our valuable natural resources. A few students take-aways from the day:
*I learned about aquifers and how water flows through.
*I learned that it is hard for birds to migrate.
*I learned that peeling bark off trees is bad.
*I learned how to use a GPS.
*I learned about different noxious weeds in Nebraska.
*I learned how weeds spread.
*I learned that tree rings will grow bigger if it is healthy.
Elementary HAL went to Rushmore Cave to learn about minerals, gems, and the formations in caves including stalagmites and stalactites. After a bit of learning on our tour, we had fun on the roller coaster and zip line!
Today, 5th graders developed the idea that chemical reactions create new materials that have useful and interesting properties. We learned that fireworks, rubber, and Silly Putty were all results of chemical reactions, some by accident! We experimented by combining different substances and watched for chemical reactions that created goo. Each student then created their own batch of green goo to take home!
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