The Rookery

 The other day when I threw out a little blurb about orbital forces ("So, you know, the earth is always trying to move straight and the sun's gravity pulls it in making a circle…if we stop orbiting, we'll be pulled straight into the sun…") the students exploded with questions.  "What…

I shouldn't have been surprised when the fifth graders begged to be able to explore the electricity activities that the fourth graders were working on last week.  We were making simple circuit boards, the basic building block of a computer, with aluminum foil, masking tape and Christmas lights.  "Please, can…

   The fourth graders had a very busy day today.  It began when each group got a battery, a lightbulb, and a paperclip.  I challenged them to make the lightbulb light.  I think they were expecting a pretty simple solution and many were a bit discouraged.  Then suddenly one group…

Here are some great shots by John Andrew.  Thanks John! John was one of the chaperones who made the trip to Wolf Ridge possible.  Scott Poncelot, Dave Cleland, Linda Gallagher, Alisa Leonard, Dan Kelley, Michele Reese, Mera Colling, Chris Sawyer, Darin Christianson and Patrick Ganey were our other chaperones this…

Today dawned bright and beautiful for the Herons' last full day at Wolf Ridge.  Our group was split today so that we could do both Cross-country Skiing and Frozen Lake Study.  I went with the group that skied in the morning, so I cross-country skied for the first time in…

P.M.A. (or Positive Mental Attitude) was the theme of the Herons' day today.  We all started off at a chilly Chickadee landing, and for a while it seemed that no birds were coming.  After a lot of quiet patient waiting, the Chickadees arrived and flitted from head to head. This…

This afternoon we had Earthworks which was an environmental art class.  We began with a spirited and very, very interesting conversation about what "art" was.  Many students felt it was something, anything that had been made.  Others felt that it had to be made as "art" purposefully.  Perhaps most contentious…

This morning the Herons had Trees and Keys.  We learned all about dichotomous trees and how to use them to identify trees (IN THE WINTER!)  It wasn't easy but we learned to look closely.  As one students said, "I never realized there were so many details on trees.  I always…

We had a snowy but safe ride up.  Everything cleared up after Tobie's and then we hit a snow squall right near Two Harbors.  It's beautiful up here.  They got about eight inches of snow in the past day.  It makes it seems like we're the first people to be…

Valentines came a bit early to Prairie Creek this year so that our 5th graders, who are headed to Wolf Ridge, could participate in our time honored traditions.  The bags were made — visions of glittery excess — and placed around the gym.  As the children arrived, they rushed to…