It's a New Crew!!

I'm so excited to start a new year, and welcome a new class! Here is a picture from our first day celebration with our school mascot, Navi the Navigator!

During our last week of school we had Field Day! Here we are looking sharp in our team t-shirts. :)

At the end of April, our dear friend Cody left us to live in Hawaii! We had a special story reading of a Hawaiian legend by Ellely's mom and said goodbye to a good friend.

A quick look at the painted lady butterflies we raised. Over the course of just a few weeks, it is amazing to watch...

In April we visited Colonial Williamsburg. It was the most beautiful day - sunny and mid-70s, and we had a blast visiting all of the buildings and the courthouse. It is such a pleasure taking this group places - They behave beautifully, ask intelligent questions, and represent HRA so well. :)

The end of the year got pretty crazy, but I wanted to post the rest of our activities here for everyone. We'll start with our Jamestown field trip in March. After reading Blood on the River, I was quite pleased with how much everyone remembered. The guides at Jamestown were downright impressed! It was a bit of a dreary day, but the rain held off for us, and we had a great time.

It's been too long!

Wow... Things have been so busy! I realized I have not kept this updated, so here's what's been going on...

In January we conducted an experiment for our Science Expo. We took the elements sulfur and iron and mixed them. Then we separated the elements with a magnet. This is a mixture - In a mixture the elements can be separated.

We took the same two elements, added some heat, and wow! A chemical reaction! We created the compound iron sulfide. In a compound, the elements cannot be separated. This chemical change created a new substance that did not have the properties of either of its elements.

Valentine's Day was fun! We not only exchanged Valentines with the whole class, we also had a "Secret Valentine" that got revealed at the party! The kids drew creative things out of the hearts they were given. The sunglasses below were from the goody bags - What a bunch of hams!

 

The high school science students recently dissected spiny dogfish sharks. Mrs. Deeley invited us in to learn all about them!

We had a great visit by Noah's dad, Elliot Cramer, who works for NASA. It was cool seeing ourselves with an infrared camera! Mr. Cramer helped us understand how this technology is used to check for problems with our space vehicles.

Last but not least, two senior girls have been working with our class as part of their senior project. The students have been learning about diabetes, and proper eating habits that can help them avoid diabetes in the future. To wrap up after several sessions, the girls brought treats! Homemade granola bars and s'mores made with graham crackers, nutella, and banana slices.