What would a model of the school grounds look like? The 4th grade decided to find out. They took the GPS units outside and took lat/long readings for corners of all buildings and objects on the schoolgrounds. Then they transferred these to a giant grid marked off in minutes. The next step will be to make 3-D models of the buildings, playground equipment and fences, etc.

While at the EEAW conference in Wenatchee waiting to present, students visited with exhibitor from Wilderness Awareness School.

A group of 4th grade students presented with Woodland Park Zoo and The Nature Conservancy regarding using Photo-Point Monitoring to track change over time. The group included Drew Koenig, Haylee Newcomb, Tyler Worthen, Katja Wahl, and in the back row, Michelle Martin, Nancy Warner and Diane Petersen.

Here is the same group of students after presenting the Biodiversity project to k-6 students, teachers, parents and friends at a Town Meeting.

Several Waterville students presented the Biodiversity project at the recent EEAW (Environmental Education Association of Washington) meeting in Wenatchee. Sudents were Zak Kruger, Elizabeth Bourton, Kalah Toomey, Julia Hinderer, Nolan Ruud, Kelsey Browning, and Jessica Day

When our farmers came in, we knew exactly what we were to do. We helped them put dots on paper graphs for every horny toad sighting. Then we worked on the computer to put a dot on an ArcView map for each horny toad seen.

To get ready for the farmers' visit, we had a review of how to use ArcView from Karen and Dan.

Before we learned much about skeletons, we explored bones by trying to put together some models.

To remember the patella, we patted our knees and said "pat, pat, pat."
Mr. Bones gave us a full size example of how the bones in our bodies fit together. We recorded all our learning in our science notebooks. Finally, we each made a skeleton that was our own size. We measured our leg bones and arm bones to be as exact as possible.

Learning Names of Bones

These are pictures that show our class practicing the names of bones in our body. We worked with a partner to learn the names of the bones. Then we shared with the class which bones we could identify. Some of us played games to help us remember bone names. For example, we would see who could point to the bone the quickest. Also, for the humerus we would pat our upper arms and laugh.

Working on the Problem Solving in Math

Learning to Read Township, Range and Section on a map of Douglas County

Before the farmers came in with their horny toad data, we had to learn to find places on the map of Douglas County. This picture shows our technology mentor, Kathryn, teaching us how to find Township, Range and Section. We were fast learners.

The Lion and the Mouse

We read the play, Lion and the Mouse, made head pieces for costumes and read the play for each other as a Reader's Theater.

Our Class Photo

Every morning we gather in the living room corner and have a Morning Meeting. We begin by greeting each other in sign or English language. Then we bring our minds together by stating what we will put behind us and what we are focusing our minds on for the day. We also go over the daily schedule, record the temperature on a temperature graph and go outside to record the direction and shadow of the sun. This will help us understand how our orbit around the sun changes with the seasons. In the pictures you can see Mr. Day, our Math para and Julie, Colt's interpretor.