January 26th, 2012
“Timbuktu, a center of caravan trade for almost 1000 years, is located north of the Niger River in which landlocked country?”
Grade 4 student, Ryan S, knew the correct answer, and as a result, became Riverstone’s National Geographic Bee Champion! Last Friday, Grade 4 and Grade 5 class representatives battled to be the school-wide champion. When all was said and done, Ryan S. answered the final question correctly and Maggie L (Gr 5) became our runner-up. To follow up his win and qualify to compete at the Idaho state competition, Ryan took a 70 question written test on Monday that has been mailed to the national office for scoring.
This event was organized by the Academic Excellence group of the Student Council. They requested information, announced the Bee at the assembly, and organized the actual event, including setting up the stage, keeping score and keeping the time. They did a great job!
Congratulations to all involved in the competition. And in case you were wondering…the correct answer is Mali.
January 25th, 2012
Our Kindergarten artists spent this past week “reading” art. The students were asked to use their knowledge of the visual world to interpret and describe what they saw in artwork. They were given the opportunity to share the artwork they were reading and the story of what they saw with the entire class.
Our Kindergarten artists are doing this as part of their How We Express Ourselves Unit of Inquiry, Telling a Story. Don’t they look completely comfortable sharing with their classmates?
January 23rd, 2012
One of our international students, Lily, invited our Grade 4 teacher, Kerry Fitzharris, to a Chinese Spring Festival party with other international students this past weekend. Kerry and Lily made cookies together and then gathered with the other students at the home of one of our Riverstone host families to enjoy lots of delicious food, socialize, and share Chinese traditions. When Lily woke up the next morning for Chinese New Year, she found the presents that Kerry had wrapped for her as a surprise.
The Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone. How wonderful is that?
January 19th, 2012
Our Grade 9 Science students were given the challenge of making an edible object in the form of a cell with all the parts to scale. The boys made cookies and the girls made cakes. After the students gave presentations about their cells, they ate them! Yum!
January 19th, 2012
An up-tempo pace with lots of action is the way I would describe how our Boys High School Basketball team likes to compete. They took on the Liberty Patriots in our home court, the Kennedy Gymnasium, recently. Go Otters!
January 19th, 2012
The High School Girls Basketball has had some hard fought games this season and it has been exciting to watch them represent Riverstone. Here are some pictures from their recent game against the Liberty Patriots.
January 13th, 2012
Ms. Fitz and her students were taking the first step in the National Geography Bee Competition as they completed their preliminary testing. Next week, the Grade 4 and 5 representatives will compete to represent the school. Watching them congratulate their classmates for answering questions correctly and commiserating over incorrect questions was heartwarming. We wish our class representatives the best of luck next week!
January 12th, 2012
Our Grade 1 students are learning about animal classification in our unit of inquiry, Who We Are. What better way for the students to learn about the classification system of animals then to see and touch them in real life? Middle School Science teacher, Mr. Pedersen, has the perfect room and expertise just for this! The students saw, touched, and handled animal hides and molds of animal tracks, including some endangered species items such as a green sea turtle shell and hair piece made from a green sea turtle, as well as a sperm whale tooth, carved elephant ivory, a 12 foot python hide, kangaroo hide, many skulls, and more!
The students were also able to touch live animals which included a 30 inch corn snake, bearded dragon, leopard geckos, Russian Tortoise, and box turtles. The students saw various types of animal classes and compared and contrasted how they are alike and how they are different.
January 11th, 2012
Grade 6 and 7 students learned about wind, kite craftsmanship, and Afghan culture during their last few Design Technology classes. Gudiparan Bazi means Kite Flyer in Afghan and kites were a perfect way for students to begin the Design Tech process for the year.
The creation of the kites proved to be very challenging, but the fact that there was no wind to fly the kites during class was even more challenging!
