How about we catch up?

Here are some of my favorite shots from the last month or so:

Reaching a consensus with our 5-finger voting model in Mila's class meeting

We learned to tie a square knot, a trucker's hitch, and a bowline

Cruisin on our bikes at Samuel P. Taylor

In the next pictures, we're working together on a series of team-building challenges at Samuel P. Taylor:

The Helium Stick challenge takes coordination, communication, patience, and trust

The Human Calculator only works if we take turns and really listen to one another

The kids communicating to solve the Human Calculator Challenge

Mindfulness with Rebekkah:

We're talking about releasing ourselves from the destructive cycle of "Bear Thoughts", those fearful thoughts that instinctively pop into our heads.  For example, when you see a group of friends talking across the playground and instantly assume that they're saying mean things about you.

Alex is typing his final draft

Playing Greatest Common Factor Sorry!

Here we are mining for vein deposits. Eureka!

Taking on Wild Bob Jr., a claim-jumping bandit!

3rd graders visualized complex 3-D structures from different angles, then built them to prove it.

Sharing our writing in small groups

Gold Country Trip!

I had such a blast last week at Scotts Flat Lake with the kids! Thank you so much to Doniel, John, Gabe, Genevieve, and Michelle for gathering supplies and food and for roughing it with us in the great outdoors. And thanks to you all for trusting us with your beautiful kids. I'm reminded this week of the togetherness and new level of community and comfort that we felt after the Fall Outdoor Ed trip. It's such a uniquely fantastic opportunity for the students to feel strong, capable, independent, adventurous, and connected to one another on these overnights. I feel like I'm always saying this, but I'm so proud of them! I'm also feeling fortunate that this trip lined up so flawlessly with our Social Studies curriculum. As a teacher, what more could i ask for than that my students be able to experience for themselves the things that we studied in class and be able to share their knowledge with the rest of the school community?

Here we are panning for gold and other minerals at South Yuba River State Historic Park. We enjoyed docent-led tours and waded about in the glorious Yuba River!

Here we're hiking around Empire Mine State Park:

Lunch time:

 Exploring the mines:

 Goof balls :)

 Here come the flying kids:

 Back at camp:

Epic Capture the Flag adventures:

 Hilarious skit for the chaperones:

AND.... Back to work on Tuesday!