Riverstone Blog » Students

Art at the Bank on Thursday, February 2

ris_blog — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:32:16 +0000

Stop in at Western Capital Bank from 5:30 – 7:30 PM tomorrow to see some fantastic art created by Riverstone Middle and High School students. Music will be provided by Riverstone musicians as well. The address is 1750 W Front Street, Suite 150. Hope to see you there!

A Senior Tradition

ris_blog — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:56:28 +0000

One of my favorite Riverstone traditions is that our seniors schedule several “Senior Activities” throughout the school year as a way of celebrating their friendships while giving them the chance to blow off some steam as they await college acceptance letters, take semester finals, or prepare for IB trials week.

Here are some photos from their last activity: Go-Kart races!

Chinese Spring Festival

ris_blog — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:11:38 +0000

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?

High School Boys Basketball

ris_blog — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:40:01 +0000

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!

High School Girls Basketball

ris_blog — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:27:52 +0000

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.

Grade 4 Prepares for Geography Bee

ris_blog — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:14:32 +0000

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!

Hands-On Science!

ris_blog — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:06:55 +0000

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.

Let’s Go Fly A Kite

ris_blog — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:40:17 +0000

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!

Presenting the History of Jazz

ris_blog — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 03:51:36 +0000

Grade 8 music students recently shared their final presentations and performances about Jazz. Students discussed and performed works from throughout the 20th century that represented different styles of Jazz. The performances were the result of each students research into their chosen piece. They used this research to create an engaging presentation for the audience. They also used the results of this research to create an arrangement of their piece that could be performed by the classes. They really got excited about costumes and even wore choir robes to represent one era of Jazz history!

As part of the Middle Years Programme, students in Grades 6-9 are enrolled in a semester each of music and art. Riverstone’s art and music teachers are subject area specialists and, as you can see, do a fantastic job of exciting kids about their subjects!

Physics Is Fun

ris_blog — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:58:30 +0000

Professor Steve Shropshire, a physics teacher at Idaho State University (ISU), gave Middle School students a physics demonstration on the last day of school before the winter break. Professor Shropshire travels around southern Idaho every year to promote physics, thanks to a grant from the ISU College of Arts and Sciences. As you can see, physics is fun!