Calendar and News
Riverstone Blog
Calendar & Upcoming Events
Updates & Announcements
Press Archive
|
Archive for the ‘IB’ Category
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
One of the best ways to help students learn something really well is to ask them to teach someone else. That’s exactly what Science teacher, Dr. Wood, did with her Grade 10 class. Within groups, students were asked to give presentations to our Grade 8 students about the human body’s organs. Slide shows, visual displays, experiments, working models, and verbal quizzes were all part of the fun.
As is often the case, science can get messy. To quote Dr. Wood, we had an episode of heart failure. Don’t miss the last photo!
Tags: Academic Excellence, IB, Leadership by Example
Posted in Academic Excellence, IB, Leadership by Example | Comments Off
Saturday, November 26th, 2011
During their Heroes Unit of Inquiry, our Grade 3 students explored the qualities of heroes and how our choice of heroes reflects our values. They each read many biographies and stories on MyHero.com before choosing a person for their summative project..someone who inspired them to go out and make a difference in the world. The students wrote speeches, made a timeline, and added other “embellishments” to their frames and costumes for our Gallery of Heroes Open House.
Tags: Academic Excellence, IB
Posted in Academic Excellence, IB | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
Recently, our Grade 4 students went to the Foothills Learning Center to continue their studies of the geology of landforms. They spent an hour in the classroom experimenting with sedimentary and igneous rocks, then hit the trails to find Old Lake Idaho, or at least the traces of what used to be a gigantic lake here in southern Idaho. Thanks to Carolyn Volk and the two BSU grad students, Emerald and Bryant, who led us on this informative and fun field trip!
To learn more about the Foothills Learning Center, visit the Boise Environmental Education website.
Tags: Academic Excellence, IB, Outdoor Education
Posted in Academic Excellence, IB, Outdoor Education | Comments Off
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011
The Riverstone community came together today in support of our larger community and the Idaho Foodbank. Elementary School art teacher, Jay Nelson, encouraged his students that their art could make a difference in the lives of other people. And that was just the start…our Grade 5 “Community and Service” leaders from Student Council led the organization of our Empty Bowls inspired event, other students and art teachers made beautiful ceramic bowls, and our parents donated their best homemade soups. Adrienne Swain Smith spoke to students from preschool through grade 12 about the power of their contributions to change lives. Thanks to everyone who took part in the event and supported the Idaho Foodbank!
The food drive continues through Friday, November 18. Let’s fill up those barrels!
To learn more about the Idaho Foodbank, visit www.idahofoodbank.org.
Tags: Academic Excellence, Community & Service, IB
Posted in Academic Excellence, Community & Service, IB | Comments Off
Monday, November 14th, 2011
Our Grade 8 class has been studying the effects of phase change. In order to fully understand the concept, we were assigned the sweet and salty task of creating ice cream. First, we mixed together some secret ingredients, which required a bit of improvisation as a result of not having vanilla (think Mentos mints). We combined the liquid mixture into a small plastic bag and froze it by shaking it inside of a larger bag with ice. We observed the effects of the liquid to solid phase change, and after a few incidents with spills, finally had the chance to enjoy our tasty experiment.
While the taste factor of the experiment certainly made it a winner, we learned quite a lot. First, we realized that plain ice wasn’t fully freezing the ice cream. Our teacher, Mr. Pedersen, suggested that we put a little salt in the ice. We learned that salt lowers the freezing temperature of the ice, causing it to melt into ice cold water, creating a much more efficient freezing material. We learned that improvising sometimes leads to better than expected results. We got to experience through hands on learning the effects of heat (or lack thereof) on phase change.
I guess you could say that watching the ice cream freeze was quite…cool.
Thanks to Grade 8 student, Carter G, for writing this blog entry and taking the photos!
Tags: Academic Excellence, IB, Students
Posted in Academic Excellence, IB | Comments Off
Sunday, November 13th, 2011
Our Kindergarten classes finished up their second Unit of Inquiry, Tree of Life, with an Open House in the classroom. They invited parents to come watch the forest of kindergarteners grow, and explain to visitors about tree parts and functions, animals that use trees, and products that come from trees. With the help of Mrs. Summervill, the students wrote a song called The Learning Tree, and performed this for parents as well. The children loved this unit of inquiry!
Tags: Academic Excellence, IB, PYP
Posted in Academic Excellence, IB | Comments Off
Thursday, November 10th, 2011
The Grade 1 students have been studying “Inventions” in our Unit of Inquiry, How We Organize Ourselves. After reading a book about the invention of the chocolate chip cookie in Ms. Nilsen’s class last week, one student raised his hand and asked, “Can we make chocolate chip cookies for the veterans?” The students were so excited to share what they had learned about inventions and to tell the veterans thank you for their service to our country!
To put their idea into action, on Monday, Ms. Nilsen’s class made enough chocolate chip cookie dough for 80 cookies. Mrs. Morgan’s class made pinwheel pencils. On Wednesday, the Grade 1 students visited the Veterans Home and shared cards, cookies, and pinwheel pencils with the veterans. The students read their cards, exchanged hugs, and expressed how grateful they are to the veterans for being so caring and great risk-takers. It was an experience that touched both the veterans and the students.
Our heartfelt thanks to our country’s veterans as we celebrate Veterans Day on Friday, November 11.
Tags: Academic Excellence, Community & Service, IB
Posted in Academic Excellence, Community & Service, IB | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
As part of their unit, “Music of Film,” Grade 9 students interviewed Riverstone alumnus and NYU Steinhardt School of Music student, Aled Roberts, about some of his recent composition and sound design projects. The students are focusing on the role of music and sound effects in helping films and advertisements communicate to an audience. Aled shared his experiences working on several commercial composition projects and students asked questions about challenges that they were facing in their own composition projects.
Aled is currently studying under Ezequiel Viñao at NYU and has also studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where his Piano Trio and Clarinet Quartet were premiered, respectively. “Narenji” and “Keisha” are two films that he has scored, in addition to many other films for Tisch students. Last spring at the Flea Theatre’s Music With A View festival, Aled premiered five films with live performances of his scores.
Having alumni who are willing to share their expertise with current students is powerful. Thank you Aled!
Tags: Academic Excellence, IB, Visual and Performing Arts
Posted in Academic Excellence, IB, Visual and Performing Arts | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
Middle School Spanish students spent last week investigating El Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Each group of students chose a Spanish speaking country to research and investigate the unique ways in which Day of the Dead is celebrated in that country. Their findings were very interesting! Although the day has similar meaning in the many countries, the traditions in which people honor their deceased loved ones differs from country to country. Each class presented their findings through an exhibition at the end of the week including altars, culturally appropriate food or drink, or dioramas.
As you can see in the photos, students were asked to answer written questions about the individual exhibitions in their class as well.
Well done, Middle School Spanish students!
Tags: Academic Excellence, IB, International Understanding
Posted in Academic Excellence, IB, International Understanding | Comments Off
Friday, November 4th, 2011
Our Grade 9 Spanish class and their teacher, Jami Whitmer, visited the Idaho Historical Museum to check out “altares de ofrenda” for Día de los Muertos. There were many different altars dedicated to local loved ones and important artists, as well as inanimate objects and mythological creatures. It was an impressive exhibit!
Tags: Academic Excellence, IB
Posted in Academic Excellence, IB | Comments Off
|
